I Preferiti di Boriana

Don’t think this place exists in the ferry building anymore! Not listed in the directory. What a tease.
I need one (hundred) of those donuts.

Had the custard bombolini and it was delicious. The bombolini was soft and the custard filling not overly sweet. I’m only giving this 4 stars because these can’t compare to my beloved malasadas. Yes, I may be comparing apples and oranges. If I’m ever in the Ferry Building again, I’d try the other flavors.

BOMBOLINI is the
(5 stars)
I will zigzag past and deal with the tourism just to get one.
They run out pretty quickly but if you are available to snag one, do without hesitation. It so heavenly!!! It’s like a very fluffy light donut that’s not oily, dense, or fried with a this amazing cold/​cool cream in the middle. My favorite is the almond chocolate filling… It’s perfect. Love it so much it is a true FOODGASM experience. So so so good.
Will I be back? Only for this.
JABA APPROVED. Until the next review…

⁴⁄₅
Dropped by and picked up some:
1) Custard bombolinis: ⁴⁄₅
2) Chocolate bombolinis:3/5
Yum! Delicious and fresh custard :)

Do nut skip this place because they have the best donuts ever (and I don’t even like donuts!)
I tried the chocolate filled canoli style donut– the outside is chewy and well made and not dry! The inside has chocolate custard filling. YUM!

WAY over priced for the size, but I guess people are willing to pay an arm and a leg for the Ferry Building experience and the quality ingredients. I tried the pistachio and nutella donuts… The pistachio donut was a a better than the nutella, but I wish both would have more filling.

We’d already eaten Pepple’s Donuts for breakfast when we stumbled upon these little morsels. It was agreed upon that we’d share one, just to taste it… right.
I have been converted. If it’s a donut and it’s not a bombolini, I don’t give a sh*t about it’s existence. I only want these, to have and to hold, for as long as we both shall live.
Basically, there was no trace of us ever purchasing a bombolini about five seconds after we bought it. Between the perfect, sugar dusted exterior, flawless, fluffy texture, and amazing custard filling, there was nothing left to be desired. Except for another one. And then another one after that. And maybe a couple more after that…

Umm, I can’t believe anyone would actually not like this place. They have the best «doughnuts» EVER! The custard bomboloni is unreal. I could eat like half a dozen, expect that would cost me almost $ 20 bucks and probably add 5 lbs.
I brought my parents here while they were in town visiting and my dad is like the doughnut king and the LEAST bougie person on the planet. I immediately bee-​lined to Boriana’s and bought him one so he wouldn’t get sticker shock. He was in doughnut heaven. He was like, «Lets get a dozen,» and I was like «that’s a $ 2.50 doughnut you ate there dad.» Deterred by the price? I think not. So good he went back thrice.
I heart you bomboloni (and so does my dad apparently).

Bombolinis (choice of fillings, $ 2.50), cannoli ($ 4.50) and Sfogliatelle (ricotta and orange peel filling, $ 2.50-$ 4.50) pastries during weekends. The only reasons why I’d stop at this specialty grocery store from Tuscany in the Ferry Building. Yes, it’s not cheap.

3.5 Stars.
While strolling through the Ferry Building madness on a Saturday morning, I stumbled on to this corner stand. (#33 to be exact according to the Ferry Building directory.)
Are those doughnuts? malasadas? No. they are Tuscan fried dough pastry with filling called bomboloni (bombolone for singular). Oh what a treat!!! The chocolate filled bombolone was average and nothing to rave about. Chocolate could have been sweeter. The raspberry filled bombolone was better. It reminded me of a really good jelly doughnut. I think the bomboloni could be better if they were served fresh and warm. I think they would attract more attention if they had them made in front of the store. The cannolo was good considering it came from prepacked cannoli. The pastry dough had a good crunch and the cream cheese filling was not overly sweet. Overall, I thought the place was OK and satisfied my sweet tooth. Prices were on the higher end as expected at the Ferry Building.

I’ve walked by this place various times and it wasn’t until a friend mentioned the «donuts» (bombolinis) there that I would even think to stop twice.
I would have to say that the bombolinis are spectacular. Maybe I caught them on a good day but even though it wasn’t hot, it tasted fresh. The density would fall in between Krispy Kreme (I can’t believe I’m even using them as a comparison) and a mom and pop shop donut. It’s just right. I got the custard filling which was heavenly — not heavy at all. The sugary exterior just puts it over the top for me because it does in fact remind me of something more familiar.
Being the size that it is, it is a perfect snack. Not too big and at $ 2.50 a pop, you can just pop it in your mouth!

The line of people waiting by the stand was quite appealing so I decided to join in. We ended up getting a nutella donut and a connolo.
Was the donut worth $ 2.50? Prob not. Was the connolo worth $ 4.50? No.
The donut really wasnt anything spectacular and the connolo was basically filled with whip cream and a tad bit of custard.

I don’t normally wander through the Ferry Building during breakfast, so often pass by the case of «Please Ask For Assistance» donuts en route to a healthier lunch. This morning I was there and I did see fresh donuts being placed in the display. I asked and did receive. Great sweets, but probably worth passing on the savory snacks though.
Nutella Bombolino: Simple enough. An Italian doughnut dusted in granular sugar and filled with nutella. Nutella in anything is a sure win, I mean it even makes Wonder Bread taste good. When set in an extremely fluffy (for a doughnut) shell, it excels.
Apricot Bombolino: Like a jam with the consistency of jelly. Has a great sweet and tart contrast. Works well in the bombolino, but doesn’t pair as nicely to dip in coffee.
Sausage Pizzette: It’s not quite pizza since it’s tiny and cold and not crispy. It has sauce and sausage on top, but is too thin to be foccacia. I am not a big fan of this limbo state so will stick with the sweets.

(See pic)
Well yes, a couple days later I came back for the bomboloni. They were good. The guy got my custard and chocolate ones from the side plastic containers. I could not eat any more food even I got them but putting them in the oven later on kept the original sweet taste. I like the fact that while they were sweet, they were not overwhelmingly sugary! Me love!
As usual they have fantastic service. Be patient if they did not come to your service right the way. It’s supposed to be a relaxing place and not rushed.

I tried a few things:
— They sometimes sell cannoli and sfogliatelle from La Biscotteria in Redwood City. The cannoli is fairly good.
— The chocolate and nutella bomboloni (see my photo): big disappointment. It’s not good as the bomboloni sold at Caffe del Doge in Palo Alto.
— The iced espresso shakerato (see my photo): tastes like plain iced coffee, no big deal. The shakerato at Tootsie’s at the Stanford barn is much better. I also much prefer the Espresso Marco Polo at Caffe Del Doge in Palo alto

As E. and I meandered through the Ferry Building, I couldn’t help but notice people eating what appeared to be little pastry balls of delight out of white paper bags. I didn’t know what they were, but I knew I had to have one.
Imagine my delight when I found out they were BOMBOLONI! And there were chocolate-​filled ones!
The display case fooled me, however, and when I eagerly asked for a chocolate bomboloni, I was told they had run out of chocolate AND nutella. Nooooooo… My heart broke a little bit.
But we «settled» for one custard and one raspberry, and they were amaaazing! I love love loved the custard one, but enjoyed taking bites out of M.‘s raspberry one.
Next time, MUST HAVE CHOCOLATE!
$ 2.50 each. In retrospect those were pretty expensive snacks. However the temporal delight was so great that it was totally worth it.

Came through here for piece of their margarita pizza. The employee that helped me was SUPER SUPER nice (+1 star), but the employee that rang me up was quite rude (–1 star).
The place is small and has lots of yummies and a great little ‘bar’ type seating area (+1 star). Be warned that the place is pricey. My small, and i do mean s m a l l, piece of pizza was about $ 2 (–1 star).
The pizza tasted great, but probably would’ve tasted better if it had been warm/​hot (–1 star). Maybe I’ll try coming back here and see if they sell whole pizzas, or larger portions for a more ‘bulk’ price. Then I can try to warm at home =).
I also want to try their pastries … they looked delicious, but I already had some gelato that day.

The plump, sugar dusted bombolinis in the pastry case certainly are eye-​catching. They’re locally made raised Italian donuts with your choice of filling (chocolate or nutella $ 2.75; custard or raspberry, $ 2.50). I tried the custard bombolini. It’s certainly fluffy, almost round — about 2.5 inches across and 1.5 inches. Made with imported Italian flour, the dough was slightly chewier than I expected. There wasn’t much filling — I’d eaten half the donut without encountering any vanilla custard. The custard was quite tasty though.
Was it a good donut (or whatever you want to call it)? Yes. Was it worth $ 2.50 for a dab of custard and imported flour? No.
Their stall is packed to the gills with imported food (and some kitchen towels) from Tuscany: wines, coffee (Caffe GM), olive oil, pasta, jarred sauces, candy, fruit preserves, cookies and cheese. Somehow they manage to squeeze a tiny bit of seating in there too. What stands out (other than the bombolinis) is the fact that they have wine tasting, wines by the glass and small bites (made with imported Italian products): antipasto, salad, bruschetta. They also sell individually wrapped cookies starting at 75 cents and Italian coffee drinks.
During the happy hour from 4 – 7 PM, you can snack on discounted cheese and antipasti.

A must stop every time I’m at the Ferry Building.
Highlights:
— The bombolonis, of course! :-) A hybrid of a jelly filled donut, malasada, and beignet. LOVE it! My fave flavor is nutella. Second is chocolate.
— Wines by the glass: tried my first brunello and it was great! Yeay!
— Random bright plasticy metallic red stools to sit on
Lowlights (my flip side to highlights):
— Sometimes the bombolonis are fresher than others. Sometimes they are hot and the insides ooze out and other times they are not hot and have a more solid filling.
— If you come after the Farmer’s market on the weekend, they may be out of several flavors. No nutella for me last time. :-(
Yummy desserty snacks and wine in one the best SF venues – what could be better?

What is up with this store? I loved the items on sale and they had really nice things I wanted to purchase, but no one was manning the store. Seriously! Usually, the shop keepers just come up and ask you if you need help or whatever, but there was no one in the store. The first time I wandered in I spent quite a bit of time browsing the small space hoping that someone would come back so I could ask a question or two. I waited but then didn’t want to waste any more time so we walked off and looked at other stuff.
Second time I walked in was maybe 30 – 40 mins later. I went to the bathroom and decided to just give it another shot. Again, nothing. There was no one in the store. There were 2 people sitting down at a table drinking coffee and eating — they were an elderly couple — so I didn’t think that they could’ve possibly been working there. Again, I walked off.
Third time was on our way out of the Ferry Building. We had to go past this store on our way out the doors so I thought I’d make one last attempt to try. I just couldn’t believe it. STILL no one was there manning the store. They must really trust the people walking back and forth not to steal something, or, they’re just hiding somewhere hoping to catch them.
*throw hands up in the air* I give up. Who the hell knows.
They’re only getting 2 stars because I actually thought they carried some nice stuff. Otherwise they’re getting a zero — oh … forgot… I can’t give a zero!