Sotto Mare
Seafood restaurant · North Beach
552 Green St, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
Highlights
Nautical decor, Italian-style seafood, famous for cioppino.
Nautical decor, Italian-style seafood, famous for cioppino.
"When you want a classic San Francisco seafood experience, head to Sotto Mare. The walls of this North Beach spot are covered in toy boats, wooden steering wheels, and nautical memorabilia, and the bar is always full of people eating huge portions of Italian-American seafood dishes. Their cioppino is solid, but our favorite thing is the linguine (get it with the cream sauce) that has shrimp, clams, squid, diver scallops, and mussels. It's big enough to feed the entire 49ers defensive line. And if they have branzino as a special, order it—their pan-fried version with butter and capers is as old-school as it gets." - lani conway, julia chen 1, ricky rodriguez, patrick wong
"The ocean theme is full throttle at Sotto Mare. The seafood institution is loaded with life-sized swordfish, model boats, and other maritime paraphernalia, just in case you needed a reminder that you’re about to eat a lot of things from the sea. Go for the gigantic cioppino—it’s big enough to fall into and loaded with crab legs, shrimp, mussels, and squid. It comes with the requisite plastic bib, which you should proudly wear while admiring the decor and taking down another round of free bread." - julia chen 1, lani conway, patrick wong
"Sotto Mare is sensory overload. Life-sized swordfish are mounted on the walls, ticket orders fly across the kitchen on a clothesline, and bowls of cioppino are so big you could fall in. On top of all this, the wicker baskets are stocked with so much free fluffy bread that they could function as a pillow (in case you need to nap after polishing off that cioppino). You get nine slices of the crusty-fresh good stuff. Yes, nine. Everyone, take notes." - julia chen 1, patrick wong
"Sotto Mare embodies everything we love about North Beach. The Italian seafood spot feels like a divey, rambunctious party revolving around seafood—it’s where to go for bowls of cioppino so big you could fall in, and giant portions of linguine with clams. Expect controlled chaos inside. Tickets fly across the restaurant on a clothesline, and every square inch of wallspace is covered by life-sized swordfish, slightly askew photo frames, and other maritime-themed paraphernalia. Throw on your requisite plastic bib, roll up your sleeves, and get to cracking those crab legs." - julia chen 1, lani conway, ricky rodriguez
"Sotto Mare perfectly toes the line between beloved local spot and haven for tourists who want cioppino that’s big enough to fall into. And since it’s smack in the middle of North Beach, you can avoid having to brave the hubbub of Pier 39. The rambunctious seafood spot goes hard with decor that’s sensory overload—think life-sized swordfish on the wall, ship wheels overhead, and a “Welcome To The Chaos" sign. Best of all, it has the same seafood pastas, chowders, and plastic bibs you’ll find at a waterside restaurant, minus the crowds in “I Heart SF” fleeces." - julia chen 1, lani conway, ricky rodriguez, patrick wong
