Zain’s Liquor and Deli

This isn’t your traditional liquor store for sure. I can’t say that there are too many places where you can order up a sandwich and browse a vast wine selection while they are making it.
If your looking for quick bite, this is could an option, but ideally I’d head elsewhere. As for the sandwiches, they are pretty average at best. Heck, I give them an A for effort, but nothing more than pure sustenance.
The booze selection is pretty extensive (mostly a ton of wine spread across the premise), however, the prices are marked up nearly double than you’d pay elsewhere. It’s all about location in the financial district, but I’d move along elsewhere, personally.

I suspect that one or more things occurred: (1) racial profiling/​discrimination against an African-​American or (2) attempt at credit fraud.
I went in to purchase two bottles of sparkling wine with an ATM card. At the cashier I presented what I would like to purchase. I asked if they accept ATM. He asked to see my ATM card. I refused to let him see my ATM card as there is a machine to swipe my ATM clearly in front of me. I offered cash instead as they have no legitimate reason to handle my card if this payment option is present.
The clerk refused to provide me with my purchased product or my change, demanding a reason why I would not give him my ATM card. I refused to give him a reason. I asked him why. He said because he wanted to see if it had a chip. I was paying by ATM, so he has no reason for that. I informed him that I will never allow him to handle my ATM card.
I suspect that he was attempting to commit fraud (double swipe) or discriminate against an ethnic minority.

Great shop for any of your alcohol purchases. Scotch, whiskey, vodka, anything you are looking for you can find in this liquor shop. found a new flavor of my favorite cigar as well. I’ll be back Forsure.

For a liquor store in the heart of downtown San Francisco, it does not get much nicer. Very nice interior and a pretty good selection. The wine and beer looked like a very extensive selection.
But I was shopping for bourbon. They had a nice selection, just not a huge one. But they did have a range from burn your eyeballs bad to take out a loan good. I fall right in the middle. So I was pretty happy.
The staff was friendly and helpful. And being right next to my hotel… Yes please. Like any liquor store put in place for convenience, the prices were not the best. But I have certainly paid a lot more other places.

I like this store. I visited a couple of times last year too, and this time it’s been keeping me going with their delicious ciders and wines.
I must say, they have a BIG range of some things (beers, wine) and a tiny range of others (cider, rosé) — but if you are open to trying new things, you’ll be fine. They also have quite a lot of snacks and soft drinks so you can really stock up here. I found the wines to be pretty pricey but I do live in the land of cheap booze (Scotland, where US$ 8 gets you a decent bottle of wine). Here I had to pay closer to US$ 18 but I can deal with that.
Staff are very friendly (maybe too friendly?) and ID is a must. They will ask you lots of questions which are unrelated to buying the alcohol but I liked their chattiness.

Very convenient and open late liquor store/​wine shop near Union Square. Average price per bottle of wine was $ 30 (range from $ 15 — $ 200). We bought a $ 15 bottle and asked to borrow the cork screw instead of purchasing one. They let us open our bottle there and brown bag it out the door. Awesome.

This place is horrible. Terrible customer service. I walked in there on a break from work and guy behind the counter doesn’t say ‘hi” nor ‘thank you’ after I pay double for the item.
Don’t shop here, don’t support businesses that don’t appreciate you as a customer.

Zain’s kept me entertained during my San Francisco trip. After all was said and done, and us various Acronym members went our own ways for the night I would often stop at Zain’s to grab a quick drink to take back to the hotel room and relax.
Although they had a variety of different alcohols and liquors I limited myself to the refrigerated tall-​can section. Prices were decent at $ 2/​$ 3 a can. They had some standard beers and also some I’d never seen before. Service was friendly and non-​judgemental every time I went stumbling in there.

This used to be a yucky little deli but now it’s more of a liquor store. Of course it is insanely over priced but if you are in this area there isn’t much choice.

Not sure I would shop here. I called them looking for a very particular bottle of French wine for a special occassion that runs about $ 100. They didn’t have it, which is fine. But the guy on the phone tried to sell me on something «much better.» I jotted down the name of the wine and Googled it. It was Lebanese wine (better than French? unlikely…) and it sells for about $ 30. The guy in the store wanted to sell it to me for $ 89.99. Disappointing. Felt like he tried to scam me on 2 points.

Holy hammer sandwich, you are so good! Its a great and convenient deli and market near City Place Target.

The worst. I went to the store across the street which has given me good recommendations in the past but they were busy and I was in a hurry so I crossed the street and went to Zain’s.
I told them I was buying a bottle for my partner’s 60^th Birthday and that my budget was about $ 100. The first bottle the clerk showed me was something we had already tried. The second bottle was $ 179 which was too much. He showed me another bottle for $ 139 (before tax) and said it was excellent so I bought it. We just tasted it (Darioush Cabernet 2011) tonight and it is ok but definitely not $ 139 worth so I researched it and other merchants are selling it for $ 89
I had a bad feeling about the clerk because he was really scuzzy and seemed just to want to get rid of me but bought the bottle anyway because of my rush. Should have trusted my gut.
Do yourself a favor and don’t buy from them.

I had to work an event here for a liqueur brand and was approached by the manager several times asking me to kiss him and that I was «too sexy» to not have a kiss by me. He kept trying to grab me and then proceeded to proposition me for money for sex! DO NOT GO TO THIS STORE!!! The owner/​manager is a disgusting pig for making a woman feel so uncomfortable, I literally left in tears!!!

I was on a mission for Kombucha so I headed straight for Zain’s. They only had a couple of flavors so I decided to go with the citrus flavor. As I brought my Kombucha to the front counter, I noticed that it was expired. I showed it to the guy at the counter, who was on the phone — the whole time he was trying to ring me up. He shrugged his shoulders and said it was expired and to grab another one.
I went to grab another Kombucha — only to find out that they were all expired — by a little over a week. While still on the phone — he mentioned that they’d probably get a new shipment in during the week. No apologizes and making no move to take the expired Kombucha off the shelves.
I am sure the Kombucha was fine and would have just been that much more potent, but it just doesn’t make me feel reassured about buying products here when they don’t seem too concerned about sell by dates.
I ended up just getting some Kombucha at Walgreens, which also happened to be cheaper and to have double the flavors.
Trust.

I like the new layout of Zain’s. It’s a lot more organized. They have an excellent selection of beer there and conveniently located so one could pick up pack of Red Stripe, Mirror Pond, what have you for happy hour at work. And while I don’t smoke cigarettes on a regular basis anymore, I love the fact they carry Nat Sherman MCDs here.

I’ve dropped in a few times for booze, obvi, but for a morning pick-​me-​up en route to the office, Zain’s got me covered. I usually pick up some Kombucha, but they also have Naked and Fuze bevs, fresh fruit, bottled H20 and sammies.
As far as the wine goes, I’m annoyed with the way it’s organized. There’s no real set up, other than having the reds in one place, the whites in another. If they could organize by region or at least the grape variety, that’d be so helpful!

I was pretty disappointed to learn they no longer serve food. They redeem their selves with a vast selection of booze though.

Drink up!
This place is located conveniently right next door to the Westin Hotel and is really easy to get to from your hotel room there.
We went there looking for beer and we found that and some. We just ended up getting a 12 pack of Coors Light but they did have Coronoa, Stella, and even some IPAs. I wish they would’ve had larger packs of beer like a 30 pack or so but I can see how that just takes up too much real estate in your store. They had a very large wine selection and of course all your basic liquor selections.
Prices are on the high end but sure beats hotel prices or venue prices since we were in town for a Swedish House Mafia show.

Look, I know, rent is expensive, particularly in this part of SF, but that’s no reason to charge twice the prices of other shops. We all know that in exchange for the high rent, you get some heavy foot traffic from Union Square and the Westin hotel next door, so don’t pretend you barely make rent — it’s insulting. Adding on to the rumors that they raise prices if they suspect you’re from out of town, this place is no friendly neighborhood shop.
The selection may be impressive, sure, but the store layout sucks, and it takes a lot of effort to get any help. And… I’m still bitter about paying double for champagne.

Zain’s has got it’s finger on the pulse of San Francisco’s alcoholic huppy (that’s hipster-​yuppy) scene.
For instance, they know we gotta have our kombucha, European chocolates, and chilled champagne at the ready. And if you’re on the hunt for those mini bottles of Sutter Home to kick start your night, they’ve got an entire row of them, refrigerated and ready to hit the road. Hey, it helps offset the cocktail tab if you get a head start with the cheap stuff. Nothing a little OJ can’t fix.
It’s gotta be one of the most pleasant, well-​organized, clean liquor stores in SOMA. Sure, the dudes at the register may well be young Russian mafiosos, but that’s besides the point. They know what girls like, and sometimes girls like $ 3 bottles they can easily hide in their purse, in case of emergency. I mean, I’ve heard.