It’s Fleet Week in San Francisco, and on the sunny waterfront patio at Pier 23 Cafe Restaurant & Bar, the smell of fried fish is in the air. Docked right across the water from my umbrella-shaded table is a massive Coast Guard ship, from which, every few minutes, emit crackling announcements I can’t quite make out.
Military personnel dressed sharply in uniform emerge from the ship, where they’re offering free tours to the public. Two Marines enter the restaurant and sit down to eat fish and chips on the patio. This is not an uncommon occurrence during Fleet Week, Pier 23 Cafe co-owner Mac Leibert tells me.
“It’s a thrill for the customers that just happen to be in here, and a lot of times people are buying them drinks,” he said. “The typical ‘thank you for your service’ and all that stuff. It’s cool. It’s a feel-good time for the city.”
The neon sign at Pier 23 Cafe on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, Calif. on October 7, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
While Crissy Field or the Marina Green are the obvious choices for watching the Blue Angels, Pier 23 Cafe is one of the best waterfront perches in the city to soak in the atmosphere with a drink in hand. The 40-year-old eatery is an island on its own between Fisherman’s Wharf and the Exploratorium, but carries endorsements from the lips of Guy Fieri and Anthony Bourdain.
“Avoid the slow movers and tourists at Fisherman’s Wharf and get your views here,” Bourdain said of the eatery in a 2012 episode of “The Layover.”
Fieri, meanwhile, loves Pier 23 Cafe so much he’s featured it on his TV shows multiple times. In an episode of “Ride with Norman Reedus,” Reedus and his “The Walking Dead” co-star Steven Yeun also ate lunch at the restaurant. Other famous fans from over the years include pop star Sam Smith, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, Nancy Pelosi and former SF Giants manager Bruce Bochy.
Pier 23 Cafe staffs up heavily and offers drink specials for Fleet Week, which typically brings at least a 20% bump in business, according to Leibert. “It’s great for all the businesses down here,” he said.
On Thursday, it was busy on the patio but still felt laid back. My colleague and I ordered Arnold Palmers and had time to luxuriate in them before our food arrived: a cheesy shrimp melt on griddled Boudin sourdough overflowing with teeny bay shrimp and crispy fish tacos enlivened by a tangy miso aioli and cucumber salad. The sky was cyan, and the air was warm – thank you, October heat wave. The crowd ranged from tourists in Yosemite hats to young families with strollers fresh from the Exploratorium. One woman blissfully sipped a glass of champagne while gazing out at the water.
The shrimp melt with cheddar cheese, onion and lemon-anchovy aioli on griddled sourdough at Pier 23 Cafe on the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
A picture from Sally Rand’s Nude Ranch during the 1939 Treasure Island World’s Fair hangs prominently on the wall at Pier 23 Cafe on the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
While Pier 23 Cafe recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, the historic building dates back even further. Overlooking the bar is a framed photo of famous burlesque club owner Sally Rand’s Nude Ranch, a hit show at the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in 1939 and 1940.
While the photo came with the bar, Rand’s connection to the establishment is unclear. The building does hearken back to that time period, when it was a java house serving coffee – and stiffer drinks – to World War II soldiers stopping along the piers.
The space also had a vibrant history as a jazz venue in the 1950s, with live music six days a week. By the 1980s, it was run by a woman named Joanie Boyer. This is where Leibert’s mother, Flicka McGurrin, comes in.
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McGurrin and her friend Peggy Knickerbocker ran a catering company and took over the kitchen at Pier 23 Cafe in 1985. They transformed the dusty music joint into a white tablecloth establishment serving Cajun meatloaf and grilled chicken with Vietnamese dipping sauce.
“They would put the roasted garlic in the oven probably around 10 o’clock, and the garlic smell would go out into the world and entice passersby to come in and have lunch,” co-owner Meighan Leibert, Mac’s sister, told me.
The covered outdoor dining area at Pier 23 Cafe on the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Bartenders and servers work under a picture from Sally Rand’s Nude Ranch during the 1939 Treasure Island World’s Fair that hangs prominently on the wall at Pier 23 Cafe on the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
By 1986, McGurrin and Knickerbocker bought the restaurant. They turned Pier 23 Cafe into a respected seafood establishment, but also kept its live music tradition alive.
“She really wanted a jumpin’ joint,” Meighan said of her mother. “And she just held strong. She brought reggae in here, salsa, jazz, and she had some amazing jazz musicians.”
Today, McGurrin runs Pier 23 Cafe alongside her three children: Meighan, Mac and Lei Levi. The restaurant is no longer a white tablecloth establishment, but it’s still a reliable place to get a good bite by the water. And it’s no longer open until 2 a.m. with live music six days a week, but it still hosts live music on the weekends. To appeal to a younger crowd, they’ve added events like DJ parties and a dog Halloween costume parade.
Surviving the pandemic was tough. But this September, the Port of San Francisco finalized a restructured lease with Pier 23 Cafe, giving the restaurant a more flexible rent structure and a brighter future.
“The Port pursued this restructuring to support the long‑term stability of a cherished waterfront establishment while safeguarding the Port’s financial and operational interests,” Port of San Francisco spokesperson Eric Young said in a statement to SFGATE. “Like many small waterfront businesses, Pier 23 Café experienced declining revenues after the pandemic and was unable to meet its rent obligations. The café’s previous lease structure no longer aligned with current market conditions and exceeded rates paid by comparable restaurant tenants.”
Customers enter Pier 23 Cafe on the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Fried fish tacos with avocado, black bean, miso aioli and cucumber salad on flour tortillas at Pier 23 Cafe on the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
The covered and outdoor deck seating at Pier 23 Cafe on the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Oct. 7, 2026. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Under the restructured lease, Pier 23 Cafe has also promised to invest up to $500,000 in facility improvements to extend the life of the building. So despite reports of the restaurant going up for sale back in 2024, Meighan says they aren’t going anywhere.
“The truth is we’ve been doing this for so long, as much as we can talk about retiring or moving on, I think some of us aren’t really sure what we would do,” she said. “This is our blood.”
And that’s all thanks to their mother, a force of nature whom Meighan characterized as a “connector,” someone with a knack for bringing people together. That’s evidenced in everything from the portraits of beloved regulars hanging over the bar to the commemorative photo from when McGurrin hosted a barbecue to recognize the iron workers reconstructing the Bay Bridge after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
“Everybody feels comfortable here, right?” Meighan said. “All walks of life can walk in and feel like they have a seat at the table. … All the characters that come in here add to our story. So the more, the merrier.”
Pier 23 Cafe Restaurant & Bar, Pier 23, The Embarcadero, San Francisco. Open Wednesday through Monday, 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m.
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This article originally published at The best place to buy a sailor a drink is SF’s 40-year-old Pier 23 Cafe.