Big Bottom Market

I wanted to like this place so so badly because the shop is totally adorable. The menu is limited and there are cold sandwiches displayed. I should’ve trusted my instincts but they serve them pre-​made & cold. I ordered both the roast beef & turkey, both bread/​buns were hard & the meats were pretty tasteless. They have pre-​set sides for their biscuits, which CANNOT be substituted even though they serve it on the side. Bonus is the biscuits are served warm & were the highlight of the meal.
The waitress had a dead pan face, total ADD & I had to repeat my order 3 times because she kept getting interrupted by other servers & just couldn’t focus. I hated this place before I even got my meal.

Best biscuit ever! I had the berries and whipped cream with a latte. I think I’ll have to go back and buy the biscuit mix to take home to SF. Yum yum!
Service was good and we received our order quickly.

Food was great, but the cashier, (the only person with customer contact) left such a bad taste in my mouth I won’t be back. Only my second time in Big Bottom.
I brought guests visiting from DC for their Egg in a Muffin my sister recommended. We entered Big Bottom and you first see a counter with a display of their baked items with tongs inside. I asked the cashier if it was self-​serve, and a tall man with black hair and mustache snapped, «ABSOLUTELY NOT! What do you want?!»
I’m a local and we certainly don’t want that kind of attitude greeting our guests. Nor do I, as someone who helps keep the downtown businesses afloat during the off season.
I appreciate all Crista and her partners have done and are doing for downtown Guerneville, but this employee has soured me on returning to Big Bottom as long as I see him behind the counter.
Continue walking down the street and take a left at the light and head to Coffee Bazaar. They don’t season their service with a sour attitude. You’ll experience the kind of welcome we pride ourselves on here on The River.

$ 13.00 for a very thin turkey sandwich with a little cheese and if there was any of the advertised jalapeño jam on it, I couldn’t taste it or see it. It wasn’t terrible, just way, way overpriced for what you get.

Poor value!
You can get sandwiches like this anywhere in the county for less money and just as good or better. The food isn’t bad, it’s just too expensive for what you get.
That said, let me complain about the Muffaletta. What they serve IS NOT a Muffaletta, it is simply a meat and cheese sandwich of no special interest. NO mortadella whatsoever and the olive spread, which is crucial to this sandwich, is a pale imitation of what it should actually be.
If that isn’t enough the glass that came with my beer was filthy, not merely smudged or slightly dirty but filthy as though it hadn’t been washed.
If this place were in Santa Rosa or Healdsburg it wouldn’t last 6 months.

This place is GREAT for lunch. There sandwiches are tasty and creative. Perfect for a packed lunch to go to the River, for a hike or wine tasting. Great ambiance as well if you decide to eat in. I don’t think you could go wrong with anything you order from here, everything is made fresh daily and you can tell!

I’ve been here a few times lately and been wrestling with how to customize a sandwich to make it vegan without being a pain, (the only default option being a green salad) only to have the «Pure Vegan» cookbook taunting me from under the glass case the register is on.
I was here on Sunday and got a veg sandwich which I asked them to hold the egg salad and ricotta mushroom spread on (it was the only sandwich without meat) and it wasn’t until I’d nearly finished the sandwich that I noticed they’d left the ricotta on.):
I’m just saying if you’re selling & promoting vegan cookbooks (yay!) it’d be rad if I could get something besides a salad without having to ask for substitutions.
The food is good, and I like the ambiance a lot! (but I do wish they offered a vegan option!)

Great little spot for a relaxing and very yummy breakfast or lunch. Enjoyed the atmosphere, and the biscuits were fantastic and I highly recommend them!

I went here for lunch, it was great! I’ve been here a few times before. They usually have two vegan options (once you request no cheese/​no aoili), but today they only had one. So my boyfriend and I both had it! We got the chickpea and artichoke sandwich «vegan style» and sat at the inside table along the window. Excellent Instagram lighting! The sandwiches were great, a bit small for a $ 12 sandwich, but very good. This is a great spot to stop for lunch after a walk through Armstrong woods. Head down the street to the guernville bank club for ice cream after!

I would give two stars for sandwiches alone but with a *disclaimer: I am vegetarian and their options for me kinda suck. In general, everything is overpriced a bit but no question it is great quality. But one shining exception, the biscuits– SO GOOD! Five stars on those, and the day olds are just as delish, for $ 1.

Cute little market on Main St. I had the smashed chickpea and artichoke sandwich which was tasty. I had it without the aioli which made it a little dry. I also tried a banana coconut biscuit which was a bit dense, but flavorful.

Little bit of the City in a West County town. Coffee is Flying Goat which is strong enough to peel paint off a wall (want a strong cup? come here to get it). Baked goods are biscuits and muffin-​biscuits with awesome variations.
Four stars because no free cup with a bag of coffee purchased (sort of standard here in the country) and pricey (just under 20 for a bag of coffee, small coffee, and day old muffin; ouch for the country folk).

Big Bottom Market is energizing Guerneville’s Main Street/​River Road. Downtown is slowly revitalizing, and BBM is obviously hipster, right down to the water served in Mason jars, along with the bearded/​mustached cashier&kitchen crew. Since this is Guerneville, this might be the only place where you hear the cashier&a customer have a serious, friendly conversation about the «gender binary.»
BBM has the air of Portlandia tucked in the redwoods. The proscuitto&fig sandwich is excellent. Their panini are glorified grilled cheese. The sandwiches come with a delicious side salad, in a simple vinaigrette. Simple and filling.
BBM also has a great selection of books, food items, an upscale grocery store. It’s like Healdsburg’s SHED or Sebastopol’s Barlow on a smaller scale. It brings sophistication to a rather rundown river town. A lively spark on Main Street.

Great place to chill and relax, although the 70’s disco music is not very fitting.
Sandwiches are the star of the show here and we tried a few (vegan vietnamese, roast beef, and biscuits and gravy), but the hidden gem is the grilled cheese! Wow. Epic grilled cheese sandwich.
The bread they use for the sandwiches is spot on. Great place for lunch. Only 3 stars because it’s just a lunch spot…
Thanks!

My friend and I stopped here for lunch on our last day visiting Guerneville. They have lots of cute food products, wine and books for sale in the shop. You can also buy their famous biscuits to bring home, either in mix form or as frozen dough. They are delicious!
We tried two of the sandwiches. The Parson Jones and the Smashed Chickpea + Artichoke. Both were good I really liked the bread of both sandwiches– very fresh and soft.
I preferred the Smashed Chickpea and Artichoke sandwich– which is lighter and vegetarian. It has a bit of a lemon tinge to it too. The Parson Jones was good too– but a little too heavy on the cheese for me.
Both sandwiches were very unique, with an interesting combo of uncommon sandwich ingredients.
This place is perfect for packing a picnic or grabbing sandwiches before heading to the river.

Husband and I were looking for a good veggie-​friendly place for lunch after strolling around Armstrong Redwoods. Based on Unilocal reviews, we first went to another nearby restaurant, but the lunch menu was not so veggie-​friendly. Second start was with Big Bottom. The chickpea/​asparagus sandwich was pretty tasty, and the Vietnamese veggie also hit the spot. But the highlight of the meal was the biscuits + (oh yes!) vegetarian gravy! My husband is now inspired to find a good veggie biscuit and gravy recipe to try at home. Yummy comfort foods! On a side note, Guerneville seems pretty hip and happening in seemingly the middle of nowhere!

Who knew that Guerneville would be the hippest town in California? Seriously, every restaurant and bar in this town are great. Big Bottom Market stands out on the strip as probably the most «modern/​hipster» looking. It definitely reminds me of a few spots in Silver Lake– that’s not meant to be an insult.
Environment: The place here is small, but they do great with what they do have. There is a lot of food on display, which makes ordering with your eyes so much easier. They also have a few local bottled beers. Funny enough I didn’t find a lot of places with local wine/​beers in the area.
Food: They have a sign that states that you definitely don’t want to miss out on their biscuits and they were right. That sh*t is goooood. Not as flaky as I prefer my biscuits but still lots of flavor. I ordered their mushroom sandwich (a special for the day) and a kale salad. The sandwich was only okay. It wasn’t bad but personally I would have steamed the mushrooms and drizzled more juice on the bread. The kale salad though was kalecious!
Service: The kid working that day was really nice. He did forget that he was heating up our biscuits which led to a longer than usual wait for them (not a biggie at all), but he was nice enough to apologize and gave us a free cookie. Disclaimer: When you receive a free cookie and offer «a piece» to your friends, be sure to be VERY clear. Unfortunately I wasn’t clear enough with my friends and I never tried the cookie. It looked delicious though.
See you next year, Bottom Market!

Unimpressed to say the very least. We ordered the turkey sandwiches with the jalepeno jelly (can’t remember it’s fancy name). It was very truly one of the sloppiest sandwiches I’ve ever had. Nothing says gross like your sandwich meat and condiments squirting out the back of the bread and landing on your bare legs at the river. Mmmmmmm. Yummy!
Also, super disappointed that I bought an $ 8 salad to find it NOT in my bag when we arrived at our river destination. Sorry friend. They didn’t put your lunch in the bag… And not only that, it wasn’t on the way back to anywhere we were going so that was $ 8+ tax down the drain. That is actually what upset me most about this experience. I called and they said I could come back and they would refund my card. I’m not driving all the way back to Guerneville for an $ 8 refund. Thanks anyway, I just won’t be back next weekend when we are in town.

We ordered the Sea Biscuit and The Hangover. Both were delicious, but I did leave hungry.
I’d come back and love to try their pastries.

This is a really fun place to visit, with lots of local goods and products for sale. Granted, all the prices here are a bit steep, but whatever. It’s fun to just browse anyway.
The most memorable part of this market, however, is their biscuits. They have a good assortment of both savory and sweet biscuits, all of which are quite delectable and addicting. I couldn’t stop picking at them on the way home because they were just that flavorful and good!
I also tried one of their ice cream cookie sandwiches (pre-​made and pre-​packaged), which was really great as well. The cookie was soft and the ice cream was flavorful. Didn’t regret the calories or the (relatively) steep price tag.
I’d go back just for the biscuits.