I've been to Aqua, though not for several years. I remember it being fantastic but also very, very expensive. I usually don't recommend it for that reason unless someone asks me whether they should go to "Gary Danko, Michael Minna, Cyrus or Manresa?"

I'm not a big fan of any of the Belden Alley places, including Plouf. I think there may be one or two good items on the menu but I find that to be the exception rather than the rule.

The Left Bank in San Mateo has a pretty decent seafood selection. It's no more than 10 min from the airport.

http://www.leftbank.com/database/img_49dfdbcb4a24d.pdf

Continuing with the San Mateo idea, you could try The Fish Market. About a 10 minute ride from SFO.
http://www.thefishmarket.com/locations.aspx?id=4

I have not been to this particular location but the meals I've had at their other locations have been quite good. Not sure what price point and atmosphere you are looking for. This place is casual family dining type atmosphere.

I think a 2.5 hr layover depending on where to where is cutting it close to get anywhere offsite easily for a lunch hour. Lunch places will be busy.

Anyone gone to the Yankee Pier in Term 3? I tend to trust the Lark Creek folks who own it but I don't eat seafood so have no way of judging...If that is a good place it would certainly be easy to get a meal/.

Yankee Pier is wonderful, in my opinion. I've had many great pre- and post- trip meals there.

For the original poster - while Sunday morning traffic is not that big a deal, why not just take BART from SFO to the Embarcadero and lunch at the Ferry Building. Far cheaper than a cab. Multiple choices there, including Slanted Door and Market Bar. Yes, it is kind of tight time wise, but doable from this local's view. The BART trip is 32 minutes each way.

I assume you are arriving this coming Sunday, June 21. Note that if you are looking at June 28, downtown SF will be jam packed (as will public transit) for Gay Pride.

Yes, this Sunday, and I land 10:30am and next flight is 1:50, 3hr 20 min to have lunch and get back.

Misread the prior post - sorry....

Other than that the suggestion to go to the Ferry building is a good one, but I find on Sundays ALL the restos esp Slanted Door have long waits. So if you have your heart set on a particular one you may run out of time.

And you actually don't have 3 hr 20 min, you have about 2 hr and 40 min by time you land, get out the door and come back thru the security line.

Agreed on that. By about 11:00 on Sundays the Ferry Building is a total cluster-****. Still, there is good food to be had from some of the stalls and places like Frog Hallow. I wouldn't try Slanted Door at that time, though.

Even that is optimistic. You have to get to BART, might have to wait as long as 15 minutes for it, then spend 30 mins. getting into town, etc. Then, same thing in reverse. When all is said and done, you have maybe one hour or hour and a half for the actual lunch (OK, The Banking Scot already told you this, but it bears repeating). And that doesn't even include getting your bearings, possibly getting lost, standing in line for the restaurant, etc.

The safest and most sensible suggestion made above is to catch a cab (or even a hotel shuttle) to someplace local (i.e., within a few minutes of the airport). Kincaid's is near the Sheraton Gateway SFO -- maybe you could even use that hotel shuttle? Then you might have enough time to walk along the bay shore a bit, watch the planes landing, etc. before returning to the airport.

Make that 20, eff. 1 Jul.

While not a big eater of seafood, I often drop by Farallon in Union Square for coffee and dessert after a meal. It�s a fun place to take guests for a brief visit, what with its jellyfish chandeliers and backlit seagrass columns. Does anyone have a sense where that falls in the seafood pantheon? That is, how�s the seafood there?

Hog Island Oyster in the Ferry Building.

You could also take BART one stop to Millbrae and get an In-N-Out Burger across the street. Just throwing that out there.

BART is no longer 1 stop. It is 2 stops, including a change of train, in each direction. The longest mile.

Doesn't work on Sunday, but Tadich's on every other day strikes me as a pretty darn good moderately priced seafood place -- and if you take a look and decide you need to go upscale, Aqua is right next door. I've also known locals who swore by Sam's over Tadich's but it's only open Monday to Friday.