Where’s Your Greatest Waterfront Dining Pleasure?
We recently received a note from Linda Alvardo of Szechwan House in Benicia asking us to update their listing on our Boat-in Dining web page. We periodically update the page to keep it as current as possible, but we don’t have an active restaurant review department to maintain an accurate directory of the best dining places and watering holes accessible to sailors docked along the Bay Area’s waterfront.
A lot has changed since LaDonna Bubak wrote the first article in 2011, and the disruption of the last couple of years has created many new changes. One thing we do know: The Bay Area is a great place to sail and a great place to eat. What are your favorite places? Which would you recommend to cruisers passing through from Canada and the Pacific Northwest in the next couple of months?
Landing a guest berth within walking distance of a favorite restaurant is a great way to enjoy having a boat in the Bay Area. Lyft only adds to the possibilities. Bay Area municipalities are still awful at maintaining decent waterfront infrastructure such as moorings and dinghy docks for visiting yachters, but there are many yacht clubs and marinas that can fill the void. Dinner at Jack London Square on a Saturday night with a visit to the Sunday morning farmers’ market can make for a great weekend. There are plenty of options ringing the Bay, and more if you venture up the Petaluma River or Napa River, or to Benicia and beyond.
Our Boat-in Dining page lists restaurants, bars and brew pubs in the following waterfront locations: Benicia, Berkeley / Emeryville, Delta, Oakland / Alameda, Petaluma River, Richmond, San Francisco, San Rafael, South Bay, Sausalito, Tiburon and Vallejo. So what’s missing? What’s listed that’s no longer there? Sadly, Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael has closed. We just added Copita Tequileria y Comida on Bridgeway in Sausalito.
If you’ve got a favorite spot we should add, leave it in our comment section below or email us here. Bon appétit!
Eve’s Waterfront on the Oakland/Alameda Estuary is now allowing boats to dock for brunch on Saturday and Sunday:
https://www.eveswaterfront.com/
Suisun City has a long public dock that is free for several days, a small marina for longer stays, lots of nearby restaurants, and a nearby train station for easy crew transfers. While there are interesting potential stops en route, from the Central Bay it’s a viable one day cruise on a flood tide to Suisun City. But note that due to shoals at the Suisun Slough entrance, keel boats must first enter Montezuma Slough and then use a cut to Suisun Slough. The cruise to Suisun City traverses some of the most interesting geographic features in the lower Bay/Delta system. The north part of Suisun Bay has the some of the best remaining salt marches in the Bay/Delta system that Suisun Slough meanders through. It’s one of my favorite sailing routes on San Francisco Bay.