Raw Bar Near Me on the Embarcadero: Angler's Hearth and Happy Hour

Angler sits at 132 The Embarcadero, about five minutes on foot from Embarcadero BART, and from Tuesday to Saturday between 5 and 6:30 pm its bar sells Pacific oysters at $4 each with seaweed vinegar and embered tomato. That window is the raw bar near me deal on the waterfront. At full dinner prices the ice-cold Pacific oysters are $5 each, and the embered whole lobster thermidor is $105.

Angler opened on September 18, 2018, as the second restaurant from Saison Hospitality, the group formed by Mark Bright, Jag Kapoor and Gary Gauba. The restaurant holds a Michelin star, and its chef de cuisine is Joe Hou. The idea, carried over from Saison, is cooking over live fire, and here that fire is a long wood-burning hearth that faces the Bay.

The room mixes steel beams with a bar and lounge, and there is a Game Room lined with a taxidermy collection, which surprises first-timers who expect a plain fish house. The restaurant still runs on a seasonal rhythm: it closes each year from January 1 to 7, and reopened on Thursday, January 8, 2026, after its last winter break.

Happy hour runs only at the bar, Tuesday to Saturday from 5 to 6:30 pm. The Pacific oysters at $4 each come dressed with seaweed vinegar and embered tomato, a small taste of the hearth on a raw oyster. Cocktails are $14, including a Black Manhattan, a Suntory Martini, a Paper Plane and a Shiso Sour, and wine by the glass is $12.

Get there by 5 pm if you want a stool, because the bar is the only place the happy-hour menu applies, and the terrace also closes at 6:30. A dozen oysters and one cocktail at happy hour cost about the same as two raw plates from the dinner menu, which makes this the smartest way to see Angler without a full tasting bill.

The dinner menu changes daily, and the restaurant describes the online version as representative, but the raw side recently included ice-cold Pacific oysters at $5 each, geoduck clam with buttermilk dashi at $29, dry-aged kingfish crudo with yuzu kosho at $27, and bluefin tuna with kelp and rice crisp at $29.

The hearth then takes over. Embered oysters with smoked chili butter are $38, and the whole lobster thermidor cooked over the embers is $105. For a splurge, the Ossetra Reserve caviar with banana madeleines runs $150 an ounce. At lunch, Tuesday to Saturday, the lobster buns with fries are $37.

Read the fine print before you order. The FAQ says a 20 percent service charge and a 6 percent SF Mandate are added to each check, so a $105 lobster ends up well over $130 before tax. Corkage is $75 per bottle for the first two bottles and $150 per bottle after that, which is steep enough that most tables simply order from the list.

Reservations are taken through the link on the restaurant's website. There is no valet, so plan on transit or a nearby garage. The FAQ points guests to Embarcadero BART, five minutes away on foot, which is the easiest way to arrive and avoids the parking question entirely.

An honest call: skip the caviar unless it is a celebration. At $150 an ounce plus 26 percent in house charges, it is the single most expensive line on the menu, and the kingfish crudo at $27 delivers more of the kitchen's personality for a fraction of the cost.

Share the embered oysters instead. At $38 they cost more than a dozen raw ones at happy hour, but they show what the hearth does to shellfish, and one order spread across two people pairs well with a round of raw oysters. Tables of four can add the lobster thermidor and split it rather than ordering individual mains.

The Game Room, with its taxidermy collection, gives the restaurant a second personality that suits a group in a celebratory mood. Couples do better at the bar or near the hearth, where the cooks working the embers are part of the show, and solo diners will find the happy-hour bar the most relaxed seat in the house.

After work, the bar fills with Financial District staff walking down from the towers for the 5 pm oysters, and with Saison fans who want the same live-fire cooking at a lower price. Later in the evening the dining room turns toward anniversaries and visitors who booked for the Michelin star.

The quiet rule is about timing: the happy-hour menu ends at 6:30 pm, and from then on the bar runs on dinner prices. Order your last round of $4 oysters before the cutoff, and then decide whether to stay for the full menu or move on.

The Ferry Building, at One Ferry Building, is a short walk north along the waterfront and makes an easy stop before or after happy hour. Lunch at Angler runs Tuesday to Saturday from 11:30 am to 2 pm, and the terrace is open during lunch and from 5 to 6:30 pm, so a daytime visit pairs naturally with a stroll along the Bay.

If you want a more old-school raw bar nearby, Tadich Grill at 240 California Street serves Miyagi oysters at $24.50 for six and a Tadich Platter at $37.75, and it takes walk-ins. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP to line up a happy-hour stop at Angler and dinner a few blocks inland.

Address: Angler, 132 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105. Lunch: Tuesday to Saturday 11:30 am to 2 pm. Dinner: daily 5 to 9 pm. Terrace: Tuesday to Saturday 11:30 am to 2 pm and 5 to 6:30 pm. Bar happy hour: Tuesday to Saturday 5 to 6:30 pm. Annual closure: January 1 to 7.

Prices: happy-hour Pacific oysters $4 each, cocktails $14, wine $12; dinner oysters $5 each, kingfish crudo $27, embered oysters $38, lobster thermidor $105, lobster buns at lunch $37. A 20 percent service charge and 6 percent SF Mandate are added to every check. Corkage $75 per bottle for two bottles, $150 after. No valet.