There's no pearl in my oyster!

I've been told that San Francisco has some of the best food in the country. Especially seafood. I've been to a few places for some local cuisine, but due to the high price of food everything out here, I have been very selective on my dining choices. One of my recent dining experiences was probably the best since I moved here though. It came at a high cost, but was absolutely worth it.  I was meeting up with an old friend from college and he suggested the Waterbar in the marina neighborhood of San Francisco. I looked it up online before heading out there, but there wasn't much besides the menu to look at. I don't understand why because this place was..incredible. They didn't leave out one detail of the casual fine dining experience. Let me set the stage...

This was the view from the outdoor seating..

I pulled up to the front of the restaurant, gave my keys to valet parking and proceeded to check in for our reservation. I was a few minutes early so I found a seat at the bar and grabbed a san pellegrino with a lime while I waited. This was the classic after work cocktail and oyster hour joint for the local financial district area. There was everything from 3 piece suits to Banana Republic denim and t-shirts. 

The view from my seat at the bar... terrible huh?

My friend joined me and we grabbed a real cocktail while we waited for our table. We almost decided to stay in the lounge because of the incredible view, but I'm glad we decided to keep our reserved table.

The restaurant had 2 huge salt water fish tank pillars. Our table was right next to one. These cute guys were our dinner guests. You can even see the view of the lights on the bridge through the water. They probably weren't too thrilled when we were enjoying their cousins the Triggerfish and Opakapaka though. They were delicious. 

My friend is a big fan of oysters, and since they had a full raw oyster bar and I've been wanting to try oysters forever...we ordered some. He told me I'd either love them or hate them and that most people prefer not to chew them. So we ordered a dozen of the featured raw oysters.

He showed me how to take the little miniature fork, separate the oyster from the shell, drizzle it with the sauce in the middle and let the oyster slide on into my mouth. As I chose my first oyster, and raised it to my mouth, he reminded me not to chew, but swallow the meat immediately. These things were huge. The verdict? 

I LOVED them. Incredible. Can't believe I waited this long to try them. 

They were really huge though, so I tried chewing the second one, and it wasn't at all what I expected. It wasn't rubbery or chewy or snail like at all and it was much easier to swallow. I'll definitely be stopping by for happy hour sometime soon when the oysters are only $1 each. If you haven't tried oysters yet, and are adventurous at all, you need to go try them. I'm hooked.