Perched on the rocks at the south end of Pillar Point Harbor, Sam's is the obvious tourist anchor — a big bi-level dining room with a massive heated deck overlooking the boats and, beyond them, the Mavericks break. The lobster roll, a Maine-style cold-claw-meat-on-a-brioche-bun version, is the dish that put the place on the map and is consistently rated one of the best on the West Coast.
The clam chowder (in a sourdough bowl, naturally) is excellent and the cracked Dungeness crab in season is genuinely good — the restaurant works directly with the boats tied up fifty metres away. Service can be slow at weekends and the wait for a deck table on a sunny day can run to two hours, but the deck is worth it. There is also a separate "Sam's Chowder Mobile" food truck that occasionally parks at the harbour for a faster, cheaper experience.