Andersen Bakery

Great bakery on Market.
I came here after work to grab a snack to eat. There wasn’t too much bread left at 5pm, so I went for the desserts. I asked the employee if he recommended the strawberry tart or the crème brûlée, and he recommended the crème brûlée.
Wonderful choice. Creamy, sweet (but not too sweet), crunchy on top. The caramel melts in your mouth. It was delicious.
The service was great too, and lots of table space for you to sit down and read, do work, or chat with a friend.
Can’t speak to the bread at this location or the other food items, but 4 stars for the crème brûlée, service, and ambiance. Check it out!

Customer service is very poor here and I was highly disappointed. The girl acted confused as I ordered, and proceeded to attempt to over charge me. I guess there’s a reason I haven’t gone here in years.

I’m a regular at this Andersen. It hovers between a 3 and a 4, but it’s reliable and if you find the right thing for you it can be a solid 4. I’ve been getting a sandwich here a few times a month for close to 2 years, so I’m confident in saying it’s pretty consistent with the sandwiches.
I always get a California BLT, which is a nice take on a BLT — Andersen adds sprouts, avocado, and cucumber. $ 8 isn’t bad considering you don’t have to add avocado separately.
It’s perfectly toasted 9 times out of 10 (I would recommend baguette or sourdough), and the bacon is great 8 times out of 10.
The staff is pretty friendly, there’s one lady in particular who’s really nice — she often works the register.
The establishment itself is clean and open with a good street view of Market. It’s a sizable place and it’s not usually hard to find somewhere to sit
or perch with your laptop.

I used to love their Three Strietzl and chocolate croissant. Both were fluffy, buttery, and oh so good. Now? It’s just dry. The chocolate croissant is more like a piece of holey bread with some chocolate stuck in there. No flakiness whatever. The Three Strietzl is just dry. I have no other words to describe it.

I enjoy their sandwiches. Good price. I usually go here for lunch when I am in the City. Clean restaurant and restroom. Wish they had fresh iced tea rather than bottled tea. I have also had some of their breads. I buy the half loaf — just the right size for me.

I love their blueberry muffin

This place was quite good! I came down here today to get a breakfast sandwich. The bakery is located right inside my building, so I literally just took an elevator ride down and then took a left. The guy behind the counter was very nice. I ordered a bacon egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on a croissant and a small cinnamon roll (couldn’t resist for $ 1.95!). The sandwich came fairly quickly and I sat down and noticed the place was very clean. The sandwich and party were delicious! I will mention they did have tomatoes on them which my co-​workers said is not the norm I apparently had a new guy, but it was no biggie. Overall, the place is super close and I will definitely visit again soon!

Really great sandwiches in Civic Center which makes this a nice find for me. They don’t sell half sandwiches, which is strange because they package the whole ones Danish style, each half separately wrapped in parchment paper. Although they’re great and everything is super fresh, I often find a whole sandwich is quite a lot to eat. Pretty decent Scandinavian style pastries, if you can spare the calories.
The folks who work here are pretty nice, despite being short of a staff member or two. They’re really efficient and they make the most of the small space this store takes up. I’ve never had bad service here, but I have definitely seen that they could do with an extra pair of hands.

Nice and clean restaurant but they could use faster cashiers. I came into this restaurant because it wasn’t busy and thought I could grab a quick lunch. There was only one cashier. She was helping a customer with a large pastry order. No one offered to help her until the line behind me got longer. Fortunately after I placed my order, the food only took 5 minutes to arrive (cup of butternut squash soup and half Caesar salad).

Their sandwiches never look that appealing to me, and are kind of expensive, so I just stick with the baked goods. I stopped in today for something to go with my homemade butternut squash/​apple soup and selected a pesto cheese bread. It was kind of pricey — $ 1.90 for half a piece. However, it was pretty damn delicious, especially after I heated it up for a few minutes.
Mmm…cheese bread.

In a sea high priced lunch eateries Andersen’s is one of my saving graces! I work in the 525 Market Street building and remember walking past Andersen’s while it was being built and getting excited for a bakery/​lunch place close by my work. Look, I usually bring my lunch with me to work but there are times I just want a responsibly priced lunch that hits the spot, that is why I consistently come here when I need lunch.
They had the lunch combo, half sandwich with a side salad or soup, for about $ 7.50. You don’t usually find that price in the City without either having tiny portions or bad quality. Their half sandwiches are huge! I had to look at my receipt the first time to see if they charged me for a full sandwich! I generally get the chicken avocado sandwich on the soft french bun with the butternut squash soup (fall and winter only!!!) and it’s my favorite combo. Some times i get the turkey mozzarella on ciabatta to shake things up a bit.
The staff are always nice and having worked in a restaurant before, and customer service, I know it’s very hard to «be on» all of the time. So when it’s early and I’m grabbing a cappuccino before heading upstairs, their coffee is organic and they make it quickly, or grabbing a to-​go order before heading out to the A’s game after work I always tone down my energy/​crazy and remember that they have been at this all day and probably want to go back to sleep/​go home just as much as I do. They are people too and deserve respect and common courtesy.
PS their «side» salads are rather big as well. I love salad so I am a fan of their bigness and suggest you try their house salad with the balsamic dressing. That salad is perfect in the warm months when you don’t want anything too heavy,
There is plenty of seating inside but get there early if you want to snag a seat. They get pretty much some 11:30am, the pre-​lunch rush, and that is why I go around 11:15am to beat it. There is outdoor seating in general by the building (they are also next door to the Chiptole) so if you wanted some fresh air to go with your people watching and your salad.

Oh yeah, Andersen. I work right across Market from this location, so I come here often enough to know how much time it will get me to get the $ 7.75 Half Sandwich/​Salad Combo and bring it back to the office. For all its sterile Danish appeal, I’ve never been all that motivated to eat my lunch there. I mean, after all, I’ve been to Copenhagen and that city has a lot more charm and character than this chain attempts to evoke. Maybe if Danny Kaye came out pretending to be Hans Christian Andersen and playing a concertina. Of course, that could be challenging since he’s been dead for thirty years.
So I’m fine waiting in the Pastry line to order my sandwich since they don’t give me small-​mouth about it. I am somewhat confused by the Half Sandwich concept since it looks like a full sandwich to me since there are two slices of bread involved. I get the same one over and over again, the Vegetarian Feast on 9-​Grain. It’s quite uncomplicated — lettuce, sprouts, tomato, cucumber, fresh avocado, provolone cheese, and a slight spread of dijon and mayo on the bread (photo:
). It works. So does a cup of the Tomato & Basil Ravioli Soup to go with it (photo:
) or the Butternut Squash when they don’t run out of it.
When I’m feeling particularly guilt-​ridden, I go for the Caesar Salad but always get frustrated contending with the plastic container because it requires twisting and gnawing to get that thing off (photo:
). All the combinations above worked just fine on a workday filled with ill-​scheduled meetings. And sometimes I would buy a $ 1.95 Snickerdoodle just because I felt like it (photo:
). Stop judging me. You don’t know what kind of day I had. You’ll know what kind of day I really had when you see me wolfing down a Strawberry Danish. Good or bad, Andersen will continue to be my go-​to spot for the lunchtime drop-​and-​dash.
FOOD — 3 stars… nothing unique here but the veggie feast hits the spot when I need it, so does the soup… and a snickerdoodle if I’ve been very, very good
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… needs a little Danny Kaye to break through the blandness
SERVICE — 3 stars… mostly robotic, sometimes a smile cracks under pressure
TOTAL — 3 stars… so who’s complaining?

Andersen Bakery is located in the heart of the financial district in San Francisco and there is a lot of competition for the dollar. I have always been impressed by how clean and attractive the bakery is. When you step in you see a smörgåsbord of baked goods. Today I went for the blueberry muffin and it was heavenly! Prices are reasonable also. the muffin and fruit drink was 5 and change.

I like the sandwiches here, but the service leaves more to be desired.
Today, placed two sandwiches under one order but for some reason only one of them went through despite me being charged for both. Ended up having to wait twice as long during a busy time.
Had a saffron twist later on because it looked soft and delicious. It wasn’t. I didn’t detect any saffron but I did notice that the bread was stale… didn’t taste like it was baked today! At least if you choose to get a stale pastry at Specialty’s (day old) — you got what you paid for. But here, still paying full price for yesterday’s pastry.

I tried the smoked ham and Emmenthal and wasn’t overly impressed. It wasn’t bad or anything — they actually gave you a decent portion for the price — just decidedly mediocre. I’m from the East Coast, so was unfamiliar with the franchise, but my overall takeaway was that it was Au Bön Pain-​caliber food with hip décor. If I hadn’t been rushing to a meeting, I would have definitely sought out a better local eatery. In an average city, I might rate higher, but considering SF’s reputation as a hub of gourmet food, this place only gets 2 stars in my book.

Updating my review after they’ve been open half a year and worked out the kinks.
Food is good, and I love how I can call day of for a catering order. They always try to accommodate my company”s last minute nature. :) They’re generally pretty on time and the food quality is consistently good.
Still lacking 1 star because there are still times (I’d say ¹⁄₃ times I call) where the person taking my order is just not with it. I also have things forgotten on occasion in my large orders too.

Came here for lunch just yesterday. I wanted a quick lunch to grab and head back to the office. I ordered the chicken Caesar salad and a cup of their butternut squash soup. Both items came out to be about $ 11 so it was not bad. I didn’t have to wait to long for my order because the salad was prepackaged and the dressing was on the side. It was a quick and easy lunch and I did like the soup so I will be sure to add this to my quick lunch to go spots into my rotation.
I do love all their pastries especially the cream cheese walnut bread so I would highly recommend that!

I heard of Andersen Bakery, but I have never walked into one until yesterday afternoon. (My oldest sister has purchased pastries and breads from them many times in the past.) She bought me an apple caramel muffin. Though the muffin was dense, it sure complemented my cup of hot tea very well.
Then OMG, their baked goods sure had me drooling, especially the ganache cake. All I can think was «let those desserts touch my lips and it’s all going to my hips». Mon Dieu, if I were only skinny like Olive Oyl, I probably could have had a slice of each cake on display and some more without worrying about my weight, but I’m thick and the breads, pastries and cakes were PHAT (pretty hot and tempting).
I’m just glad that this bakery is not close to my job because I would be wandering in there at least 3 times a week.

I’ve eaten at many an Andersen having worked at Target in Serramonte and just in Downtown SF. The food is good. In fact, I had lunch here yesterday and ordered the Turkey Avo Swiss sandwich — pretty damn good esp with whole wheat sourdough.
The reason for one star is the bakery. My mom ordered a few cakes here on a couple occasions, and both times (one of which was my birthday) they screwed up the inscriptions. I could understand if I had some crazy name or she placed a complicated order. For my birthday, 3 cakes came reading «Happy Birthday Lauren» «Happy Birthday Beeky» and «Happy Birthday 25». Close, it was supposed to say «Happy Birthday Lauren» «Beeky» (inside joke) and «25» They also delivered the order slip that showed clearly what she had requested. No biggie.
The cake I saw today cracked me up though. She ordered one for her team at work, which read «Congats» in the most elementary handwriting I’ve ever seen. She was pissed about this one, and although it’s pretty funny b/​c of how dumb it looks… she had to pay for it and they said she’d have to wait until they served other customers before fixing it. Really? It looks like sh*t and you’re going to tell her to wait? Boo, Andersens.

Walked in while on the way to the Ferry Building. I imagine this bakery gets really crowded on weekdays since it’s right in the middle of FiDi. But on Saturday, it’s mostly empty. They serve coffee, sandwiches, different kinds of bread and pastries, and dessert. I got a slice of the chocolate ganache cake, which looked pretty good (plus it was inexpensive). It was decent, slightly too sweet for my preference. The bread all looked pretty good and I might come back to try them.