A Visit to Salito’s Crabhouse in Sausalito

Last year, during the unfortunate timing of all the wildfires in the Napa, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, and San Rafael areas, I went to visit my sister L (who lives there) and my mom (who was visiting her). I was able to work from her apartment on a couple calls, and then for lunch, I took my mom out for her favorite thing to eat – crab. Usually, this means Fisherman’s Wharf since that’s where she has historically gone, but I wanted someplace with less traffic and less parking problems. And that’s when I found Salito’s Crabhouse. I would definitely recommend this over going to the famous Fisherman’s Wharf – and so does my mom! She suggested next time, we can just come back here again. So here’s a look at a Visit to Salito’s Crabhouse in Sausalito.

Before we start, I wanted to share my view of the smoke when I was flying in on October 12.

I will be going back to the Napa/Sonoma area later this month – even though the fires are out, the community definitely could use some economic help to get back on their feet, so I’ll be attending the 11th Annual Artisan Cheese Festival in Santa Rosa. If you are looking for a getaway during this dark cooler days in Portland and need an infusion of sunshine, definitely consider going to the northern areas of the Bay Area. One of the events, the Best Bite Competition on Friday evening, brings two dozen each of cheesemakers, cheesemongers, and chefs together to craft a bite using cheese and pay tribute to California First Responders, some of those heroes who will be serving as judges.

I wanted to particularly mention this because as we sat by the waterfront view, we were also watching two helicopters come back and forth to get water to fight a fire we had just driven by – we literally were only a couple yards away when we drove past those fires and a only 2 policecars and 1 firetruck on the 101 Freeway to Sausalito. We were very lucky in that at the time they hadn’t closed the freeway yet so we were able to get to Sausalito, and I took a local way back to San Rafael for a few miles before getting on the highway well down the road past where they ended up closing the 101.

We ordered the famous special here, the hot dungeness crab with their secret garlic sauce. If you order a whole crab, it will be a 2 pound or more crab, though they also offer a half crab if you’re dining alone and three additional larger sizes to share with more people. Pretty much every table I saw had some size crab on their table, and were expertly and quickly cracking away with their similar tuxedo plastic bibs. The other diners either had a whole crab like this, or the Salito’s hot iron skillet-roasted combo which comes similarly sizzling to your table but in a rectangular plate instead with crab, mussels, and/or shrimp.

They also offer a Fisherman’s Catch, which is an option of 4 different fishes (salmon, sea bass, etc.). We picked salmon. After you select your fish, then you can have it prepared with your choice of 5 different ways. The options include with Gochujang, soy, sesame oil, and honey; Garlic lemon caper sauce; Olive oil poached; Garlic, parsley, paprika butter; or a Spicy Cioppino Black Olive Sauce. We picked the Gochujang, soy, sesame oil, and honey prep. All the fish are also served with Acini De Pepe pasta and potatoes and vegetables, which you can see here include corn, carrots, onions, and potatoes and the couscous like pasta.

We loved both dishes so much – I’m pretty sure we will order the exact same thing next time. But also, hopefully order another dish too because I want to try the Skillet roasted chorizo spiced cheese bread and also order one of the sizes of their Cioppinolito, which is described as having mussel, crab, shrimp, calamari, fish fillet, potatoes, yams, onions, corn, garlic and black olives, and spicy Cioppino sauce. Man, that sounds sooooo good.

Besides, now L, who was a vegetarian, is back to eating meat so we can all go together! They did have garlic noodles too as a vegetarian option if needed. I really wish I had room for the desserts that visit, like fresh beignets or Tortuga rum cake.  They also offer all day breakfast! Definitely next visit!

This was so much easier to park at (free parking in the lot right next to it), didn’t have to cross the bridge into the city to get to it, still had a great view, and none of the tourist bustle at the wharf area. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a seafood option – it’s worth the toll to cross the famous Golden Gate Bridge back and forth since you’ll be saving on parking! If you come here for lunch, perhaps you could walk around before or after checking out the floating house boats – I shared a post about visiting them on a previous trip. Or, make it a meal stop on your way up to the Napa Sonoma area.