Castagnola's

Castagnola's holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf, with its roots stretching back to 1916. The founder, Tomaso Castagnola, was a fisherman who fundamentally changed the local food scene by moving beyond selling raw catch directly from his boat. He is credited with inventing the Dungeness crab cocktail at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair, an innovation that proved so popular he opened a small stand on the wharf the following year to sell them to passersby. This modest crab stand eventually evolved into the sprawling, two-story institution you see today, setting a blueprint for the iconic seafood restaurants that define this waterfront.