Boudin Sourdough Bakery & Cafe

Cons: lines are always pretty long and prices are well… SF prices
Pros: bread is freaking awesome and pizza melts in your mouth. Their chowder is super good and sandwiches are even better. Service is pretty good and for embarcadero area, they really keep the store clean. I also love watching how they make the bread animals and have a transport systems via the roof, really awesome.
I recommend this place to anyone visiting the city or just going for a weekend fun day.

The soup itself was very good, but for a place that has «sourdough» in their name the bread was awful. The bread was dry and tasteless. Moreover, the price was too high compared to the amount of food. 10 $ for the smallest portion of soup I have ever gotten.

We really enjoyed the food here. My boyfriend and I ordered a clam chowder, chili, spring salad and chicken salad sandwich for under 30 dollars. Our food came out within a reasonable time and it was a pleasant experience overall.

Best food best price. The Spring Salad was incredible and is enough for a meal. I tried the grilled cheese sandwich too.

The waffles were light and tasty. Personally, I’d skip the whip cream next time.

Boudin is just one of those spots you have to stop in just once at least. We happen to stop in every time we’re in SF. Grab a good beer and some clam chowder in a fresh sourdough bread bowl. Absolutely delicious.
Don’t be put off by the line it moves pretty quickly. Also, if you’re in the mood for sit down service and a little bit fancier of a meal, you can get that too in the second floor of Boudin.

I had clam chowder in a bread bowl and it was delicious!!! The sourdough bread is so GOOD!!! Both times that I went the place was packed and I had to wait in line for over 10 minutes. I didn’t mind. It was worth it. I got my order very quickly. Tables are cleaned as soon as you leave your table. I love that because I hate sitting at a dirty table. Great place. I’m not sure about the parking situation.

Great food, the best bread and terrific views of the Bay.
There was a group of us so we ordered a little bit of everything. The Dungeness Crab with spinach and artichoke dip was delicious, shrimp and crab pizza great and the oysters were fresh and delicious.
Great spot in a tourist area but adds to the experience.

We came for the famous sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder. It was not disappointing. Although the price is a bit high, $ 16 per bowl, but it was worth it. The waiter provided good service, checking on us like every two minutes. We did give him very good tips.
The location is good. If you park next to the restaurant, you can get a stamp with 2 hours free. The seating was comfortable with a view. Overall dining experience was very nice.

If you’ve never been to the Bay Area and you’re looking to do some serious damage with Clam Chowder I totally recommend this place, it’s about $ 16 for a giant bread bowl with about 12 oz. of homemade fresh clam chowder and it is also highly rated by Zagat, and if you’re a foodie you know who I’m talking about and if not GOOGLE it! I also had the Dungeness Crab Cake appetizer which was about $ 17! YUM.
First of all the chowder is a great mixture of creamy soup and potatoes/​clams and the crab cake is THE BEST I have EVER had and I am PICKY!
Definitely recommend and will be coming back in the future!

Had the fish and chips. They were tasty, but a little too greasy.
The claim chowder bowl doesn’t have enough claims, but the bread is great

Like their sourdough soup… Pizzas are good… they also sell sourdough bread. Overall a nice experience.

Best f-​ing sourdough I’ve eaten. The tour is only $ 3 and fulfilling for a foodie. I chow down that clam chowder breadbowl each and every time.
I once dined upstairs where everything is 300% marked up from downstairs. Worth it if you want the view. Good people watching of Asian tourists and local businessmen.

Must go and have their clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl! It’s SF and completely necessary! Also along fisherman wharf waterfront. Gorgeous location

I was soooo excited to come here to get a bread bowl. And I left pretty disappointed. For being a tourist attraction, and maybe one of the few meals that visitors have in SF, the experience is less than desirable. Very impersonal service. Feels like they’re slopping chowder out for dogs. Not that that’s a bad thing though. Maybe tourists like to be treated that way. Locals know better than to come here for a good meal. I justtttttt… don’t have a good excuse for why I came here.

We came here before our tour to Alcatraz. We had over an hour to be at Pier 33 so we decided to explore and get breakfast. The waffles were pretty good and so was the coffee. Only thing, this place is really expensive. I guess it’s the quality which I felt was overpriced for our meals.

My wife ordered the Three Taco Dish and I ordered the Dungeness Crab dish. I was originally going to order the clam chowder in the bread bowl (I’m on vacation so sue me lol), but apparently, the labor to bring the bread upstairs doubles the price so… Crab it was.
Bread: It’s San Fransisco and this is where the Sour Dough is made… Awesome!
The taco dish (one of each choice) was good. My wife liked the shrimp taco the best, but she felt the price was a bit high for what was served. I would have had to order a second serving.
The Dungeness crab meal came with Caesar salad, Dungeness Crab, and a plate of pasta with a marinara sauce. The Caesar salad was delicious and I have no complaints at all with it. It was my first time trying dungeness crab and it was good, but I doubt I would order it again due to all the work involved and the mess. The marinara was very good and well balanced.
Service: When I am at a bar or a fast food restaurant and order food, I have low to no expectations when it comes to the server understanding the basics of serving food in a restaurant. They being said, when you are seated at a small two person table and have drinks, a bread basket, and all the normal table settings… Why would you serve the salad with everything else? Salad plate, pasta plate, crab plate, extra plate for the crab shells… There is only so much room on the table! Not to mention the fact that in the time it takes someone to eat their salad, the pasta and the main course will be cold.
I asked the server to put the pasta and the crab under the heat lamp until I finished my salad so it would hopefully be «warmish» and then told the second server 3 minutes later the same thing when they tried to serve the plates again before I was ready.
I only mention this because our server told me I should have let him know I didn’t want everything all together when I ordered… Management needs to decide if it is a nice restaurant or just an extension of the café downstairs with higher prices.
Overall… a mid to high priced «tourist trap» with good food and an undertrained wait staff.

Oh. My. Gosh. The Dutch crunch is AMAZING… It’s so crispy and sweet and DELISH!!! Oh my god… The chocolate volcano is awesome… It’s sourdough with a delish creamy chocolate filling overflowing on the top… it’s so good!!!

Had the clam chowder In the sourdough bread bowl– it was nice. But definitely a bit commercialized. Comparing to the Grottos chowder and theirs was more flavorful. Bread can’t be beat though but came for the chowder not the bread.
Calamari was okay.

This location gets very busy since it’s in a touristy area, but the line is usually not that long and service is fast so you don’t have to wait too long to order or get your food. There are some tables inside, but they are usually taken and I find it to be kind of loud and chaotic inside so I prefer to sit outside. There are plenty of tables outside.
I’ve noticed the food choices vary depending on the location of the Boudin. This location has a few sandwiches, soups, and pizza, but the options in each category are kind of limited compared to other Boudins that I’ve been to.
The clam chowder is pretty good. It’s not great, but it’s solid. I liked the chicken pesto sandwich. I switched out the bread to focaccia bread which was a great decision. The focaccia bread is fluffly and the herbs in it make it even better than whatever bread they originally put with the sandwich. The Italian and roast beef sandwiches are also good, but I would recommend changing the bread.