The standard advice about Pier 39 is to stay away from it, and for most purposes the standard advice is correct. It is the most heavily trafficked tourist destination in San Francisco, the upper level on a Saturday afternoon in summer is close to impassable, and nothing about that description suggests a good afternoon with a dog. But the pier is two decks, not one, and the lower level operates on a different logic — quieter, closer to the water, and with the outdoor tables that the upper level cannot fit.
A day out with a dog lives or dies on where you can stop, and the tourist parts of any city are usually the worst for it. Tell Karpo where you are heading this weekend and get the stops along the route that will actually take a dog outdoors.
The lower level is a different place
Wipeout Bar & Grill sits on that lower deck with a heated outdoor patio and a fire pit, and the fire pit is the specific reason to know about it. San Francisco's waterfront is the coldest and windiest part of a cold and windy city; the temperature on the Embarcadero on a clear afternoon in August is routinely ten degrees below what visitors have packed for. An open fire on a deck over the bay solves a problem that no amount of view can, and it converts an outdoor table from something you endure into somewhere you stay.
Well-behaved dogs are welcome on that patio, on the ground beside the table, for outdoor dining only — they are not permitted in the indoor dining room. That is the same rule almost every restaurant in the city applies and it is worth arriving with the expectation rather than discovering it at the door.
Why this solves a real problem
The waterfront between the Ferry Building and Fort Mason is one of the best long walks in San Francisco and one of the most popular routes in the city for anyone with a dog — flat, continuous, with water on one side for two miles. The difficulty has always been the middle of it. The Ferry Building end has options, the Fort Mason end has options, and the stretch through Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 in between is where a two-hour walk turns into a problem, because the density of people is at its highest exactly where the outdoor seating is at its worst.
Having a heated patio with a fire pit at the midpoint of that walk changes the shape of the whole afternoon. It means the walk can be a round trip with a proper stop rather than a march to somewhere and a long way back, and it means a cold day is survivable in the middle rather than only at the ends.
The food, and the hours
The menu is casual California by way of a waterfront bar and grill — appetisers, salads, personal pizzas, fried seafood, rice bowls, burritos. That range is broader than the category usually manages and it is genuinely useful for a mixed group, because a table that has to accommodate a child, a vegetarian and somebody who came for fish and chips is exactly the table that ends up on this pier.
It runs from ten in the morning to ten at night, every day. The ten o'clock close is the useful end of that: the rest of the pier winds down considerably earlier, and a table on the lower deck at half past eight in the evening, with the fire going and the pier largely empty, is a completely different experience from the same table at two in the afternoon. If you have any choice about when to come, come late.
- Dogs on the heated outdoor patio only, on the ground beside the table
- The fire pit is the reason to choose it on a cold or windy afternoon, which is most of them
- Open 10am to 10pm daily; evenings are much quieter than afternoons
- Lower level of the pier, which is consistently calmer than the upper
Doing the pier properly with a dog
A few things make the difference. Come early in the day or late in the evening and avoid the middle entirely. Use the lower level as your route rather than the upper one. Keep the lead short — the crowds are unpredictable and there are a lot of children moving quickly. And be aware of the sea lions at K Dock, which are the main attraction on this side of the pier and which some dogs find extremely interesting and others find genuinely distressing; the noise carries a long way and it is worth knowing which kind of dog you have before you commit.
For getting there, the F Market historic streetcar runs along the Embarcadero and takes leashed dogs outside commute hours, which is much simpler than driving. Parking at the pier is expensive, and the garages fill by late morning at weekends. Walking in from the Ferry Building takes about half an hour along the water and is the better version of the journey anyway. It also breaks the walk into two halves with a stop in the middle, which is the single most useful thing you can do for a dog on a long waterfront day.
Practical notes
Wipeout Bar & Grill, lower level of Pier 39, San Francisco. Open daily 10am to 10pm. A heated outdoor patio with a fire pit and bay views; well-behaved dogs are welcome at outdoor tables only and are not permitted in the indoor dining room. The menu covers appetisers, salads, personal pizzas, fried seafood, rice bowls and burritos. The lower deck is significantly quieter than the upper, and evenings are quieter than afternoons. The F Market streetcar runs along the Embarcadero and takes leashed dogs outside commute hours; pier parking is expensive and fills by late morning at weekends.
Tags: #SanFrancisco #Pier39 #FishermansWharf #DogFriendly #PatioDining #Waterfront #FirePit #WeekendPlans #SFEats #BayViews #DogsOfSF #Embarcadero #ThingsToDoSF #FamilyFriendly
Please drink responsibly. Must be of legal drinking age.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Ask Karpo first
Want a route along the San Francisco waterfront with somewhere to stop that takes dogs, somewhere to warm up when the wind picks up, and a plan that works with a pram as well as a lead? Ask Karpo for the stops along the Embarcadero and what the afternoon weather is going to do to them.
