SEAGLASS Restaurant

Surprisingly not bad for a museum restaurant. A little pricey, but to be expected when you eat in at any museum. I had the poke and white rice, and the Exploratorium’s own flavor of Humphry Slocombe ice cream. Mm. I heard the carne asada fries were also good.

We did not actually get to eat here because, as many others have noted, there are very few options for young children who refuse to eat more adventurous foods. This seems strange to me given the primary visitors to this museum are children. Although other reviewers mentioned mac and cheese, this was not an option on the day we visited. I was intrigued by a few things, though also felt there were few vegetarian options. I was cursing myself for not having brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my son, but it seems from other reviews that we would have been kicked out if the other 3 people in our party had bought food there but my son ate a sandwich from home.
We had intended to eat a quick lunch and return to the museum for more fun but instead were forced to venture out in search of food that two four-​year olds would eat and ended up spending close to $ 100 for lunch at the Waterfront Café down the street. We did not have time to return to the museum. Next time I will know to pack a lunch for us both and eat outside, or eat at the Ferry Building.

First stop after arriving at the Exploratorium After Dark. Rodney H was hungry and I was thirsty! It was Thursday, October 29^th a little after 6:30pm.
*Admiral ($ 12): rye, cocchi, orange bitters, bitters
*Paper plane ($ 12): bourbon, aperol, nonino, lemon
*Mexi-​fries: house made carne asada, salsa ranchera, chipotle aioli, queso fresco, cilantro and pickled red onion ($ 10.50)
I got the Admiral. It was a little sweeter than I prefer and super weak. Not worth the price in my opinion. I didn’t try Rodney’s fries, but he seemed to enjoy them.
Based solely on my one drink, I think Seaglass is a little too pricey. Maybe if my drink was a little stiffer, I would have given them 3 stars, but it wasn’t worth the $ 12.

This restaurant is in the Exploratorium. It is at the first floor. I ordered Italian pasta and seasonal vegetables. The Italian pasta is just so so. And I don’t like the seasonal vegetables. Perhaps I’m not used to this kind of food.

Pricy restaurant, decent food. If I could rate my friends meals it would get –1 stars, since they said it was utter crap, and it didn’t even look that great (whatever vegetarian option there was). However, I got the Carne Asada fries.
It’s not easy to mess up Carne Asada what with all the Mexican food in SF, and even harder to mess up fries. Thankfully, this place delivered, and the fries came with tonnes of toppings as well (cheese, onions, sour cream, and the chef was nice enough to give me beans as well, free of charge!). And Oh my god the meat was BLESS. If you don’t know what that means, pretend the Pope blessed the pig before it was prepared into the meal that I shoveled down in a few mins. That’s bless.
It’s a cafeteria style restaurant, so you go up, order, and pay at the exit. Ended up spending $ 16 for the fries, a Rice Krispie square and a chocolate milk. For a food joint hidden inside the Exploratorium, definitely a pleasant experience.

Delicious, low cost, bayfront dining. Cafeteria style. Perfect for a quick bite even if you’re not visiting the Exploratorium. We had the pulled pork sandwich and the carne asada tacos, and they were wonderful. We’ll be back during another one of our Embarcadero strolls!

**3.5 Stars**
I loved the new Exploratorium. Both the gorgeous waterfront views and the expansive space and endless exhibits impressed me.
As for the cafeteria, I was ready to be forced to pay high prices for mediocre food and find an overcrowded space all for the convenience factor of not having to plan or drive to a meal elsewhere.
I was wrong. The space is great and there’s plentiful seating and the same gorgeous design and views that make the new Exploratorium so nice. The food selection is quite diverse and some of it surprisingly high end. I really didn’t expect to see a sashimi grade fish station here and while it’s nothing for sushi aficionados, I still appreciated the effort. It’s like when they have sashimi grade ahi at Costco or you stumble upon a decent chirashi bowl at Whole Foods.
Other notable selections included Mary’s Roasted Chicken, Fish and Chips, Tacos, and even a noodle and udon station. Yes, prices are a bit higher than I would have liked, but there was plenty for even the pickiest of adult or kid palettes. Mac and Cheese? French Fries? Yes, there’s plenty for kids with even the blandest palette.
The icing on the cake though was the great selection of Humphry Slocombe ice cream, including a ExploratoriYUM flavor, and a very nice selection of sodas.
Humphry Slocombe Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream, you made my day.
SEAGLASS accepts credit cards, including Amex, and you’ll need one.

Seaglass was a pleasant surprise for my at-​the-​museum afternoon hunger.
The restaurant looks very nice and clean. Very airy and spacious. Lots of counters for you to choose your food. They have salads, hot dishes, snacks, desserts… you name it! Quite a good selection.
I tasted the fish’n’chips, the mac’n’cheese, a pre-​made iced coffee, and a freshly made crème brûlée. The fish’n’chips were a little cold and not very fresh, but still tasty. The mac’n’cheese was quite good, but definitely it’s not the awesome oven type. The iced coffee was really good (I’ll definitely look for it in the grocery store). The crème brûlée was amazing! If anything, go to this place to have this delicious sweet treat.

Fish and chips were both a bit cold when coming here in the afternoon. Was good on a previous visit though. Iced coffee in bottles was great! And the fresh-​made crème brûlée was amazing!

I don’t remember a fancy high-​end cafeteria at Palace of Fine Arts when I was a kid exploring the Exploratorium. Who remembers the chicken fingers? Who remembers the first Wednesday of each Month being free? Of course, it was bittersweet when it moved to Pier 15 a couple of years ago. Everything moved to this side of the city along the Pier/​Wharf. My childhood memories are slowly fading away. First, it was the Musée Mécanique, now the Exploratorium. Change is good, and we’re embracing all the changes, at least my son is.
I must admit, this new venue has stunning views of the Bay indeed. For kids and adults alike, there’s so much more to choose from and healthier options — totally get it. Fresh sushi, can’t go wrong. If your kids aren’t into sushi, there are a plethora of seasonal options and desserts to choose from. Grab a tray and nosh to your heart’s content at this pristine dining hall. No reservations required. Seaglass with a sea breeze, can’t beat that!

Flavorful vegetarian pozole, craft beer, & Humphrey Slocombe ice cream, with a grand view of the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island through floor-​to-​ceiling windows.

Amazing views of the bay and great variety and taste for a reasonable price. Can’t beat the location and my brisket was soft like buttah. Really pleased with our lunch!

My instinct said to get a stamp on our hand, go to the Ferry Building where eating is a destination, then return to the Exploratorium. But we decided to try the Seaglass Restaurant and was sorely disappointed.
First, this place is not kid-​friendly. And the kid food, not very good. We ordered Mac and Cheese — Kraft from the box does it MUCH better and we don’t even buy the stuff because we get Annie’s. The fish and chips? You’re better off ordering filet-​o-​fish and fries from McDonald’s. Another customer apparently had the same feelings as they discarded practically their whole meal of fish and chips on the table. And the clam chowder? Too salty, lukewarm and goopy.
The best thing about the place is the free water. But don’t all restaurants offer you free water?
Another thing that bugged me was there were some families with really small kids who were eating baby food — they were kicked out because they didn’t buy food there. Hello, what can a baby eat? Instead of hiring someone to clean up the dirty tables heaped with dirty plates and trays, there’s a woman who just goes around kicking families out who are trying to feed their kids baby food.
California Academy of Arts does the cafeteria-​style thing much better. There food is good, and they don’t kick out parents and toddlers eating baby food. I’m telling all my Exploratorium friends to bypass Seaglass — no questions asked — and go elsewhere to eat, like the Ferry Building.

This is not a good place to take your children to eat, the kid’s menu choices are severely limited. My 6 year old daughter opted for the mac and cheese ($ 5) and said «this kinda tastes like yucky airplane food» — I ended up choking down the rest, which was a soft, mushy, salty mess.
The fish and chips were not bad, decent enough except for the price ($ 14.95).
All told, fish and chips + mac’n’cheese + 1 apple juice + 1 orange juice = $ 30
I know this is San Francisco, but at least with the high price, higher quality of food should be a given.

Won’t make the mistake of eating here again.
Got to the Exploratorium just as it opened with two adults three kids and a baby. Decided it would be genius to eat lunch first an work our way backwards so we wouldn’t be caught in all the crowds. That part was a good idea, but eating at the Sea Glass café out of convenience… not so much… It was anything but.
It wasn’t packed and the place was clean– hence the 2 stars. I figured that because the Exploratorium was geared toward kiddos, the food would have kid-​friendly options… WRONG. It is cafeteria style, so holding multiple trays is out of the question with more than one kid. The options are VERY limited, and ridiculously priced! There was a small «salad bar» with little, to no choices, sushi, mac & cheese, hot dogs, pozole, crepes and a teeny dessert bar.
The kids went with 1 hot dog, 2 bowls of mac & cheese (which even the kids wouldn’t eat because it was gross and it was $ 5 a freakin bowl!), a protein crêpe (tasted pretty good– but not worth the $ 11.50) and a side salad (mine was only spinach, avocado and Olive oil because of the poor choices available). We had two ice waters… thank goodness they didn’t charge for that! Our total was $ 44.00 and definitely not close to worth it.
So one star for appearance and another for the crêpe fellow who gave us a side of fresh fruit because it’s the only thing the kids would eat after tasting everything else (and I don’t have picky kids!).

Loved eating and drinking here. Their sushi was super fresh our bartender Jose was pretty fantastic. He creates his own drink recipes which make them extra special and delicious a lot of fresh ingredients. I tried the Orange Giraffe :)
I would have tried one of each if I wasn’t driving. Next time Jose!
The view of the Bay Area from the restaurant is spectacular specially on a clear sunny day.
Have to come back for the view, the yummy cocktails and everything in between.

I really liked the wide variety of menu options here. Sort of overpriced though, a bowl of miso soup costs $ 8. The Ranger Cookie was pretty yummy if you’re not too into sweets, the banana strawberry cake was good, and the pomegranate kombucha drink wasn’t too bad either.

tl;dr: Great place to grab lunch or dinner when visiting the Exploratorium.
I’m not sure why SEAGLASS has such low ratings. I thought the food was relatively good. I loved the Korean Taco with Kobe Beef — really delicious. I also loved the ExploratoriYUM ice cream and the Papas Bravas. Food prices are reasonable for dinner, but a bit pricey for lunch.
The drinks are alright — they don’t have a top shelf, though, but drink prices are reasonable. I asked the bartender to create something for me twice in a row, and both times was a bit disappointed — way too sweet. I ended up going with an Old Fashioned, which was fine.
I’m tempted to give it 4 stars to counteract the other reviews, but at the end of the day, it’s still a cafeteria, so I can’t quite give it 4 stars.

Full bar inside a museum, nice!!! I love the glass counter tops at the bar with dry ice in the water underneath which creates a nice effect. Great place to get a science and drink fix with a nice view of the water.
The food was decent, high end cafeteria food. I highly recommend the museum with a meal here as a great date option.

Thanks to Jamie W.‘s membership status, we were able to enter the new digs for the Exploratorium on Pier 15, a cavernous space that turns out to be an ideal fit for the plethora of interactivity to experience there. Several exhibits still appeared to be under construction including a tactile dome, but one significant upgrade from the previous location is this rather pricey restaurant at the end of the pier. Chef-​owner Loretta Keller is heading up this operation, and you may recall she was the originator of the tony Moss Room at the California Academy of Sciences (which has since been taken over by Slanted Door’s Charles Phan who just opened Hard Water nearby).
Anyway, the culinary musical chairs have little bearing on the food served here. It’s quite an eclectic selection presented at various stations like the set-​up of a Vegas hotel buffet. In fact, it looks a bit like the Aria’s interiors with sea and stone being the clear décor themes, lots of rough granite counters blended with colored tiles in hues of blue and gray. The chartreuse chairs don’t seem to match, but what do I know about decorating? (see photos) The food itself appears to veer between land and sea with butterflied Spit Roasted Organic Chickens and Porcini Rubbed Ribeye slices on one side and a full-​fledged seafood counter on the other (see photos).
You could get Welsh Rarebit if you like, and there is a cocktail bar with a see-​through pool of flowing water which probably wouldn’t be the best sight to see if you get too intoxicated. Jamie and I decided to share a chicken half for the rather hefty price of $ 12.50. Had it come with sides for that price, we wouldn’t have balked so much, but we paid an additional $ 4 for a few spears of Asparagus and another $ 4 for Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (see photo). We did manage to get a free sample of the Welsh Rarebit, which I had suspected, was nothing I had been craving. No Diet Cokes, just $ 2.50 cans of boutique sodas called BlueSky which we found nearly undrinkable.
FOOD — 3 stars… pricey and more eclectic than I would expect on a trip to the Exploratorium
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… an open dining room and the bay views are nice
SERVICE — 3 stars… attentive with opening night jitters
TOTAL — 3 stars… let’s see how this place evolves