Boudin Bakery & Cafe

Well, let’s all keep in mind that this is a chain.
They do have the best sourdough bread I’ve ever had.
I absolutely love their cream of tomato soup! It is smooth, perfectly seasoned and fulfilling.
Their clam chowder is packed with clams, it is not thin or watery at all. But it could use some more spices in my humble opinion (some salt, pepper and maybe some nutmeg, for example…).
I will definitely go back to Boudin!

This place is ALWAYS busy since it is in the middle of a touristy area.
I usually get the chili because I am not a fan of clam chowder. Food is consistently good and typically very quick for the amount of customers.
Seating is at a premium. They have a lot of seating, but large groups can impact the availability drastically.
I usually go hunt for a table while someone else stands in line to order.
If you are in union square you can always take the F Muni Train on Market to the Pier for less than $ 2 a person. This includes a transfer pass good for a few hours. Then use the pass to get back.

Delicious food and a convenient location for those spending the day on the pier. Stopped for lunch at the restaurant with a party of 6, we were seated quickly and the staff was very kind and attentive. The best part about our visit was the food! I had the best club sandwich in my life. I also sampled the fish and chips, and French onion soup; they were delicious as well. Definitely will be paying a visit to Boudin again next time I’m in the area.

I should have known how expensive things can be at the pier 39/fisherman’s wharf since its a tourist spot. Came here since it was a chilly night and my mom and i were in the area. We got the the clam chowder regular bowl. $ 7.99 very expensive for a very small bowl. It would have been cheaper to buy it in a can at a grocery store. Anyways, i like how it came out hot. The taste was not bad.

Whenever I’m in San Francisco, I always have to make it a point to get my clam chowder bowl. Luckily, we were playing tourist at pier 39 and I was able to make it to this location.
We came in and it was super busy — as usual, so we checked in (upstairs) and it was about a 45 min wait. We were able to take a mini tour of their factory and we got to see how the sourdough bread was made. Got some pretty cool photos and snapchats of the process.
After the tour, we hung out by the bar area for about 5 mins and a group of people got up and we are able to sit down right away. If you can do the bar, it’s better and faster with the service.
What I ordered:
Bloody Mary — Extra Spicy — $ 12
Really good! The largest celery I’ve ever seen!
BBQ Oysters (4) — $ 16
Also very good. It was cooked in BBQ and Butter sauce. I could have had like 12 more ;)
Clam Chowder Bread Bowl — $ 16
As always, the best in SF. I always have to add salt, pepper, and tobasco before digging in!
Over all, it was a great experience. Tons of people, but worth the crowd.

Great place to get a warm bread bowl on a cold rainy day. Not a fan of clam
chowder so I got the chili bread bowl and it was good! The food is good but nothing spectacular. The real and only star here is the sourdough bread.

Fun touristy spot to pick up a hot drink and some fresh bread. They have a café too, which I have been to in the past. They are friendly and efficient and the crusty bread is delicious.
They have lots of take home food gifts (hot chocolate, teas, etc.) that are of course pricey, but good quality.
A good place to stop in for a crusty loaf of French bread to accompany your crab (assuming that some day soon we will be enjoying local crab once again!)
Clean bathrooms, clean tables and easy parking in the adjacent pay lot. All in all, a good spot.

Clam chowder and Sourdough. pretty much Boudin is known for. You can see the special shapes and animals that the artists make here. This location is the MAIN boudin. it’s huge, two stories at fisherman’s wharf. Just for that sake you have to make it to this location.
Drawbacks? Everyone has the same idea… you have to make it down to this location. There’s always a huge line and plenty of people that is walking around, waiting, and perusing for food.
OH, how do you know you have the correct place? You can smell the yeast and sourdough a few blocks away. Just follow your nose and you’ll find it.
Have some chowder, a sammich, and whatever tickles your fancy.

In my opinion this is a baker having an identity crisis. Too much going on and, in classic American style adding a thousand ingredients together and hoping it works. Having come from the land of the worlds best bread this mass produced sour dough was ok.
My bigger issue is that I left behind an almost full cob of bread that will go to waste. I rarely leave food behind but something tells me that a lot of these cobs filled with stuff, get thrown away. Sorry guys, that’s just not on for me, in a world where millions are starving. I was taught never to waste food and really felt guilty leaving an almost full cob of bread behind.
Coffee was good and well made. The breakfast scramble had too much going on and, too many flavours that did not work very well together. Maybe it’s just this branch here, but I have a suspicion others might be similar. The scrambled egg was a bit dry and then, the addition of the veggies /​chillies and so on was a bit weird for me. Some of the best tasting dishes in the world have the least amount of ingredients :-) This was a slight overload and whilst I ate it, did not enjoy it.
I will try other branches and see but, please stop waste of food. It’s not very San Francisco to do so :-))

Many of my friends recommended me to come to Boudins to get the clam chowder bread bowl. Even though there were lots of places on the Fisherman’s Wharf to get clam chowder, it seemed like this was the place to go to. They also make cute shaped bread like different animals!
4-​stars for the clam chowder. The ratio of soup to bread was not that good. You end up with a lot more bread after eating the soup. After we sat down and already ordered, we sat next to some regular customers and they told us that people usually order an extra side of the soup for that reason. But for me… If I’m going to pay almost $ 9, I want that to cover the whole meal.
The wait for the food may look long, but if you have the soup, the wait is short. I waited for about 5 minutes even though there were a lot of people.

TERRIBLE experience here today!!! Wow! I have come to Boudin many times even while living in SF. Yes, the hoards of tourists you have to wade through to get here are not ideal, but I honestly felt they had one of the best clam chowder bread bowls in the city. Even after I found a bug in my food two years ago, I kept coming back. Big mistake.
But…never again after today. Apparently boudin now offers a petite bread bowl. After ordering two bread bowls, not being given a choice of what size we prefer and not even knowing there was a choice of two sizes, we are delivered these two teeny tiny bread bowls which honestly you would expect on a kids menu. Having eaten here many times and clearly knowing what a regular size looks like, it was clear that this was not it. One of the «servers» at the bar says they are smaller because we ordered the petites. Well actually we didn’t but ok. Then they come back and tell us we ordered the regulars and that the sizes have changed… hmmmm ok? Not to mention the soup was lukewarm and the bread was cold.
Then, because we were still hungry after that sad excuse for a bread bowl, we ordered the ceviche trio. With three ceviches, you would think it would be three times the chips? Right? Nope. 10 chips were provided. Mmmmk went through those pretty fast. Asked for more chips, waited 15 minutes, asked again. Server tells us she forgot. She comes back and says «these are supposed to be three dollars but because I forgot he first time I will give them to you guys no charge». Well why don’t you give enough chips in the first place to not have to ask for a refill. Shitty, terrible service. Treated like tourists. You lost long time customers today. And yes we tipped three dollars for the «free» chips we received. Disappointed boudin. Stick to the tourists who don’t know any better… blahh

First time at this location. Have always been by but never thought to have a meal here till today. Had the tomato soup bread bowl, grilled cheese sandwich and ceasar salad. The soup and grilled cheese were the highlight. The bread was sourdough, pretty basic concoction to me. Liked the Peets right next to it where I got my pumpkin spice latte iced with my boudins. Of my total meal the pumpkin spice latte was the clear winner. How did a boudin review turn into a peets compliment? Not sure what that tells you about what I thought of my meal or where my priorities are? I’ll let you figure that out. ;)

Love love love Boudin Bakery & Café! The clam chowder is so delicious, creamy, potatoey & clamy. Perfect blend of all ingredients. Sitting in a sourdough bread bowl waiting to be slurped away and devoured. I love black pepper sprinkled on the very top! Mmm…craving it now!
Refills of clam chowder are $ 1 less than the bread bowl chowder combo.
Those plastic spoons will break on you though! Careful!
I loveeeeee the brown yummy chewy brownies! The are so delicious that you will bite and roll your eyes back. And after your devoured it you’ll be making MMMMmmmmm sounds! (great dessert idea)
The tea is great! They serve Mighty Leaf Tea. This tea is so flavorful and rich. The English Breakfast flavor is a must! Especially paired with that brownie.
This time they had Jones bottled soda! Also my all time fav!!! I love the berry lemonade soda! Must try!
So this is obviously a must see in Sf!!! Whether your watching metal baskets of bread cruising on a track over your head. Or watching the bakers create various shapes of bread, you won’t be bored! They have seasonal pumpkin shaped bread! But, sadly when I asked for it they were out of stock!
The jalapeño and cheese sourdough bread was delicious! The chocolate raisin bread was amazing especially paired with coffee! The Asiago cheese floral shaped bread was a great gift for my mom!
There are restrooms upstairs!!!
(Upstairs is the bar section) Which I hadn’t discovered until my recent 3^rd trip here. Once up the stairs… keep walking straight all the way to the back… and *Ta Da* Restrooms!
Indoor/​outdoor seating
Bathrooms upstairs
Bakery Café + Gift Shop
Bar upstairs
Usually Packed like crazy
Paid parking
Take me with you! Hahaha.

Maybe it was because I was hungover or maybe the clam chowder was just THAT good. I finished my soup and almost my bread bowl, it was amazing! I love my food hot and most of the times I get disappointed… but when I got my clam chowder it was HOT!!! I love hot soup and boudin’s clam chowder definitely hit the spot, the flavors were amazinggg… it’s like you can taste the ocean from the fresh clams lol! I also got loaves of sour dough bread to bring home with me. Also, the workers here are super super nice and welcoming! I’ll be back soon for more clam chowder and bread!
Tip: it’s cheaper to just order your clam chowder downstairs and sit outside to enjoy the food and nice weather. Ordering from the restaurant upstairs is a few dollars more. Save those dollars for a drink ;)

There’s always something about clam chowder and SF that I must have whenever I’m in the city. After a quick souvenir shopping, my friend and I stopped by here to share a clam chowder bowl. So gooood! It’s freshly made and the soup was hot and delicious. The service was quick on the bowls but my mocha coffee took a while to get. I was too busy enjoying the bowl that it didn’t dawn on me that I was waiting a while for it. But we took it to go anyways for our long drive back home. The boudin bread animals are soooo cute! I wish I had purchased one just for the heck of it. But definitely returning to the different locations whenever I make it back here.

There is no comparison to french bread made in San Francisco by Boudin. When you get it fresh, it’s hard to accept other variations of lesser quality. Maybe I’m biased having grown up on the stuff being a native San Franciscan but countless other fans of Boudin cant be wrong. I like the classic round loaf. 1lb of sourdough goodness. And the smaller 24 oz rounds. The classic long loaves are good for cutting up and having for sandwiches or the perfect toast. I also got accidentally the cheddar jalapeño loaf and it was a hit with the folks at work. Good stuff.
I also bring a case back home. The sturdy cardboard case with carrying handle is the perfect souvenir to bring back from San Francisco. Boudin Bakery… It’s a must stop whenever in the city.

Great sourdough bread!
We decided to taste the famous Boudin Bread on Pier 39 after a long day of sight seeing. There was a line but moved very quickly. I didn’t even get a chance to glance at the menu before I was at the front.
Service here was great. Orders were obviously taken very fast. We found an open table and got our drinks. Before I could sit down our food was ready.
Piping hot sourdough bread bowls were amazing! The clam chowder was thick and creamy. The flavor was one of the better ones on Fishermans Wharf. The chicken pesto sandwich had a great flavor but I’m sure the bread has something to do with it.
It’s not everyday You can have some of the best bread so enjoy it while you’re here!

Ganz ok für das schnelle amerikanische Frühstück mit Blick auf den Pazifik (wahlweise auf der Terasse). Selbstbedienungs-​Shop mit Nummernziehen für alles an warmen Speisen die wiederum vor deinen Augen zubereitet werden. Es gibt dort gute Rühreier mit Schinken und allerlei anderen Verfeinerungen zum Selbstwählen typ. serviert ein einer Schüssel aus Brot; die Backwaren sind überaus frisch und angesichts der Lage in einem touristischen Brennpunkt sind die Preise durchaus ok. Ideal also für ein Frühstück bevor man auf eine Tour durch den Hafen startet.

I’ve always known of Boudin but had never tried till my recent trip to San Francisco at the beautiful Pier 39. I had a scheduled boat tour around the bay so I had some free time. I walked around but when I saw this restaurant, I knew what I wanted.
For a Saturday (July 4^th no less) it was not crowded but I was eating at around 10am. I’m sure they get busy so I didn’t think too much about it. Since I didn’t want to eat too much before being on a boat, I shared the classic clam chowder bread bowl with my mom. Before we could even get some water, my food was out. I didn’t mind though as I was excited to try it.
Delicious. It hit the spot. It was perfect to share amongst ourselves. I know there are other locations in Southern California however, being that it’s a SF staple, I’m happy to have tried it here. It’s worth a trip!
Tip-​seating indoor and patio.

If you ever visit SF everyone knows that they should stop by the Boudin Bakery. After all, they’re known for their famous sour dough bread. It’s rightfully earned so! I honestly didn’t come for the food, I came just for the sourdough bread. They have a factory on-​site where you could actually take a tour and you also see the bread being freshly made through out the restaurant. Even outside the Windows where they have a baker prepping the dough and shaping them for wandering tourists. This is not only a great place for good, but definitely worth a visit if you go to San Francisco.
Must trys: clam chowder in sourdough bread bowl

Boudin’s clam chowder in a bread bowl is ALWAYS one of my must haves when I’m in San Francisco.
When it comes to the chowder at the wharf, there are many many places to choose from. I personally prefer Boudins because of the sourdough bread that they use and they have a seating area.
I also love boudins bread animals. They are so adorable. I event got myself a turtle shaped bread for only $ 10~!