Formerly: The Oakdale Bar & Clam House
San Francisco, California · Founded 1861
The Old Clam House is a reopened Bayshore Boulevard seafood restaurant with a widely repeated 1861 lineage and a still-unresolved building history.
The Old Clam House operates at 299 Bayshore Boulevard in San Francisco and is widely reported to trace its lineage to an 1861 waterfront-era restaurant called The Oakdale Bar & Clam House. The exact 19th-century business and building history is disputed: San Francisco Heritage says the legacy extends more than a century but cautions that the restaurant may not date to the 1860s and identifies the existing building as dating to 1900. After a two-year pandemic closure, Filomena Florese reopened the restaurant in June 2022.
Published accounts commonly date an Oakdale Bar & Clam House at the Bayshore Boulevard site to 1861, serving sailors, fishermen, waterfront workers, and nearby residents. San Francisco Heritage later cautioned that the restaurant may not date to the 1860s, so the exact business-start date remains disputed.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, 'San Francisco's 161-year-old The Old Clam House to reopen,' April 20, 2022; San Francisco Heritage, 'The Old Clam House to Reopen Under New Ownership,' April 29, 2022; SF Weekly, 'The Old Clam House: Time-Worn Gem Turned Into Just Another Tourist Trap.'
San Francisco Heritage identifies the existing Old Clam House building as dating to 1900, conflicting with accounts that treat the restaurant structure as an 1861 survivor. The building chronology requires property and permit research.
Source: San Francisco Heritage, 'The Old Clam House to Reopen Under New Ownership,' April 29, 2022.
Jerry Dal Bozzo and partners acquired The Old Clam House and later undertook exterior and interior changes intended to evoke historic photographs and the restaurant's older clam-house identity.
Source: SF Weekly, 'The Old Clam House: Time-Worn Gem Turned Into Just Another Tourist Trap'; Hannah Blazei, 'The Old Clam House,' January 8, 2026.
The Old Clam House closed when San Francisco's COVID-19 lockdown began. The previous owners, Jerry Dal Bozzo, Jennifer Dal Bozzo, and Dante Serafini, kept it shuttered because the space was poorly suited to outdoor dining and takeout, then offered the business for sale.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, April 20, 2022; San Francisco Standard, 'The Old Clam House Quietly Reopens After 2-Year Covid Closure,' June 8, 2022; SFGATE, April 22, 2022.
Filomena Florese bought The Old Clam House from the prior ownership group. The Florese family also owned North Beach restaurants including Mona Lisa and Steps of Rome.
Source: San Francisco Standard, June 8, 2022; San Francisco Chronicle, April 20, 2022; Hannah Blazei, 'The Old Clam House,' January 8, 2026.
The Old Clam House reopened after more than two years closed, with Filomena Florese as the new owner.
Source: San Francisco Standard, 'The Old Clam House Quietly Reopens After 2-Year Covid Closure,' June 8, 2022; SFGATE, April 22, 2022.
The restaurant continued accepting reservations at 299 Bayshore Boulevard and promoted seafood and clam-house dishes through its official website.
Source: The Old Clam House official website, accessed September 14, 2026; OpenTable listing, August 21, 2026.
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The 1861 Oakdale Bar & Clam House history is repeated in recent reporting, local restaurant histories, and legacy-business coverage. However, San Francisco Heritage explicitly cautions that the business may not date to the 1860s. Without contemporaneous directories, licenses, tax records, or advertisements, the 1861 origin remains a strong traditional claim rather than a documented foundation date.
Accounts conflict. Several restaurant histories imply a surviving 1861 structure, but San Francisco Heritage says the building dates to 1900. No permit, assessor file, fire-insurance map, architectural survey, or preservation report was reviewed to resolve the conflict.
The restaurant closed from March 2020 until June 8, 2022, a more than two-year interruption that defeats an absolute continuously operating claim. The claim also relies on disputed 1861 business and building chronology. The restaurant may remain a leading historic same-site contender after further research, but it cannot be described as continuously operating under this register's standard.
Historical descriptions place the Oakdale Bar & Clam House in a waterfront or bay-edge setting near Islais Creek, where fishing boats worked nearby and a plank road linked the area to downtown. The reviewed evidence does not establish the candidate's more specific assertion that the restaurant stood over marshland on pilings or prove the exact shoreline relationship in 1861.
Contemporary San Francisco Chronicle, SFGATE, and San Francisco Standard reporting identifies Filomena Florese as the new owner. She said she bought the restaurant in February 2022, and the restaurant reopened on June 8 after the pandemic-era closure.
The restaurant's official site accepts reservations and lists 299 Bayshore Boulevard, while current OpenTable information lists the restaurant as an active San Francisco dining option. This confirms current restaurant operation but does not resolve the historical age or building chronology claims.
The Old Clam House has operated continuously in its original 1861 building and location.
The restaurant closed from March 2020 until June 8, 2022. The age of the present building is also disputed: San Francisco Heritage says it dates to 1900, while other accounts repeat an 1861 origin story.
Source: San Francisco Heritage, 'The Old Clam House to Reopen Under New Ownership,' April 29, 2022; San Francisco Standard, 'The Old Clam House Quietly Reopens After 2-Year Covid Closure,' June 8, 2022.
The Old Clam House reopened in April 2022.
New ownership was announced in April 2022, but the restaurant's reopening was reported on June 8, 2022.
Source: SFGATE, 'One of SF's oldest restaurants has finally reopened,' April 22, 2022; San Francisco Standard, June 8, 2022.
The current building is definitively the 1861 Oakdale Bar & Clam House structure.
The evidence reviewed conflicts: several accounts repeat an 1861 lineage, while San Francisco Heritage says the existing building dates to 1900 and cautions that the business may not date to the 1860s. The structure's construction date remains unresolved.
Source: San Francisco Heritage, 'The Old Clam House to Reopen Under New Ownership,' April 29, 2022; SF Weekly, 'The Old Clam House: Time-Worn Gem Turned Into Just Another Tourist Trap.'
The Old Clam House survived because local owners treated its reopening as the preservation of a neighborhood landmark rather than a clean-slate restaurant launch. When pandemic restrictions and the retirement of the prior operators kept the building dark from March 2020 until June 2022, Filomena Florese and the Florese family bought the business and retained its name, much of its interior character, and its clam-centered identity. Its long survival story is real, but its strongest version is adaptation across ownership eras—not an unexamined claim of uninterrupted service since the Civil War era.
The Old Clam House operates at 299 Bayshore Boulevard in San Francisco and is widely reported to trace its lineage to an 1861 waterfront-era business called The Oakdale Bar & Clam House. The exact 19th-century founding date and present-building age remain disputed, because San Francisco Heritage says the existing building dates to 1900 and cautions that the business may not date to the 1860s. After closing in March 2020, the restaurant reopened on June 8, 2022 under new owner Filomena Florese.
The Old Clam House is widely described as San Francisco's oldest restaurant at its original location, but this register does not certify that title. Its claimed 1861 origin and building history are disputed, and the restaurant was closed from March 2020 until June 2022. That documented interruption means it cannot accurately be called continuously operating under the register's standard.
Yes. The Old Clam House closed in March 2020 at the beginning of San Francisco's pandemic lockdown and remained shuttered for more than two years. Filomena Florese bought the restaurant in February 2022, and it reopened on June 8, 2022.
The answer is unresolved. Many accounts associate The Old Clam House with an 1861 origin, but San Francisco Heritage says the existing building dates to 1900 and warns that the restaurant itself may not date to the 1860s. Property records, permits, historic maps, and preservation documentation are needed to separate the business lineage from the age of the surviving building.
Filomena Florese bought The Old Clam House in February 2022 and reopened it in June 2022. Contemporary reporting identifies the Florese family as restaurant owners also associated with Mona Lisa and Steps of Rome in North Beach. This record has not independently verified the current legal business entity or ownership of the building.
299 Bayshore Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 695-2866
The Old Clam House accepts reservations and serves seafood in the Bayview. Confirm current hours, parking, menu, and reservation availability before visiting.