Schilling Cafe

Great place to grab a healthy breakfast or lunch to go or eat in, so refreshing to have healthy that is reasonable price.

Came here the other day to get a salad… and they shrank the sizes! The regular salad wasn’t even half full, and the greens started to wilt already. So sad.

I’ve only had the thai chicken curry so I can’t speak about anything else, but with a wealth of great food around the area, this one doesn’t rise to the top.
Convenience: 4 stars. Very convenient if you just want to run and grab a salad or sandwich from the store and run back out. There is also no line or wait — even if there is a line, it will go quiclky!
Cleanliness: 3 stars. Not bad, but not great. Bathroom opens to the sitting area.
Food (thai curry): 1 – 2 starts. It was pretty bad. I’m no expert in Thai curry, but definitely could be better. I did hear that the grilled cheese sandwich is great, though!
Next time I’ll try the grilled cheese sandwich — if I do come back, that is.

The pre-​made sandwiches are not very good and are pricey for what they are. Salads are okay if you get them fresh!

I love schilling café, Love their sandwiches, salads, ever their cookies i’m not even one of those organic, veggie but i love their egg salad sandwich and their chicken/​avocado salad they are amazing! Just the right mix. A bit pricey but food is great. The staff is great, very friendly and smiley So happy thank !!!

Love their salads! Great vegies, fresh, service could be improved but great lunch spot.

Meh. I like the idea of this place, but the food is tasteless and I have felt sick twice eating there. Literally, the food has no taste. Maybe I am getting the wrong dishes, but honestly the food has been hard to eat. I am writing this in the hopes they can figure out their seasoning and flavors.

Schilling Café has great salads, and they’re HUGE! Which is a bonus in my book. I really wish they realized their caesar dressing is AMAZING. Because they always run out before I get there at 1:00 pm. Why don’t they make extra batches they can put out when they start to run low?
Their baguette sandwiches are okay, I was really disappointed by their prosciutto sandwich, it had one measly slice of meat in it with some withered basil, the only reason the sandwich looked thick with food is because the tomato slices were thick. I don’t eat tomatoes, so the sandwich was disappointing.
Pros:
–HUGE salads
–Healthy, organic
–Quick
–Very tasty
Cons:
–Baguette sandwiches are lacking in ingredients.
–Caesar dressing always runs out and doesn’t get refilled quickly.

This is a hidden gem in the Financial District. They have a variety of pre-​packaged organic salads and pick-​your-​own-​dressings which leaves you with a lot of ways to mix things up (pun intended). They also have a large assortment of pre-​packaged sandwiches, made-​to order entrees, and soups behind the counter. The indoor space feels a little sterile, but the seating outdoors makes for a comfortable lunchtime experience in the sans-​car lunchtime alleyway.
The best part about this place, besides the fresh food, quick service, and friendly staff, is the half-​off salads and sandwiches deal after 2pm. All things considered, this deal is the real trump card.

I had a quick breakfast here. Organic food is very delicious

Affordable, tasty and good portioned, salads available although to the day, people behind the counter are super friendly despite the sheer volume of customers they have, pay for it, and leave the store all in less than a minute — no joke!
Try my favorite super chicken avocado salad, surprisingly, there’s always a seat available anytime during the day, probably because people would rather take their food and eat at the park on commercial St. …Great alternative to fast food, the best in fido.

I’m still not clear what the back story is on Schilling Café, but it definitely comes across as a bit of an anomaly on pedestrianized Commercial Street where people are waiting around for the next available table at City View Dim Sum and Mercedes Cantina. Not here though. Nope, they get customers but not all that many, and most get the takeout salads and sandwiches in the big refrigerated section on the side (photo:
). I have to admit I was intrigued by the gigantic picture on the back wall of whom I presume to be the husband-​and-​wife owners (photo:
). Once I looked at their website, I discovered there was no background on who they are.
However, I assume from the photo galleries featured that they are caterers by trade. You can kind of tell that from the hot food they serve since it looks like the type of Crock Pot-​level creations you would find at a wedding reception just before the groom throws the garter to the indifferent single men in the room. Apparently they make the same hot dishes every day judging from my two visits here. For $ 8.99, I got two entrees over a bed of rice. I tried the Chicken Piccata which looked more like Chicken a la King in its creaminess. It must come from an excess of butter. In order to balance it, I had the Tagine, their Moroccan mix of eggplant, carrots, butternut squash, potatoes and lentils (photo:
).
It was satisfying in an employee cafeteria kind of way although the quality is better than you would expect. I still don’t get what they’re exactly trying to do here. Are these they leftovers from the banquets they cater? While I like slow-​cooked comfort food as much as anybody, I don’t feel they are genuinely committed to whatever concept they’re trying to pull off here. Maybe that’s why it feels so gloomy in the dining area except for the smiling faces of the owners staring at me. It’s sorta like the eyeglasses on the billboard in «The Great Gatsby». You know it means something symbolic that’s essential to the plot but you still don’t know what the hell it means at the end of the story.
FOOD — 3 stars… Crock Pot-​level comfort food over rice
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… big space but kinda strange
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… they scoop it onto the trays with aplomb
TOTAL — 3 stars… are these caterers experimenting with this café? I don’t know

Dear Schilling Café:
Your food is okay and purports to be healthy. However, until your staff gives your customers the same degree of attention they pay to their smart phones, I will never return.

Meh. Nothing special. The pre-​made food didn’t look very appealing or fresh. I got their soup and it didn’t play well with my stomach. Tasted kinda bland. It was not greasy which is a plus. Pretty healthy, look& taste wise, just my stomach didn’t agree with it. Didn’t really taste like Thai spicy curry chicken soup.

Bland and boring. Nothing to write home about, with plenty of options in the Financial District, skip this one.

I visited Schilling café for lunch last Thursday afternoon with a girlfriend.
5 stars for excellent food choices, price and quality, clean convenient and beautiful location.
The place was clean, quiet and had lots of delicious, beautiful and affordable food selection, from salads and sandwiches ready to go (real baguette bread as well as quick breads) and desserts to hot entrees of quiches (We had a goat cheese quiche that was fabulous, there was 2 other choices), vegetarian and non vegetarian stews and stir frys (We had a vegetarian tagine with lovely spices, perfectly cooked eggplants and other veggies, and a green tofu coconut curry with fresh lemon grass. Unfortunately they ran out of rice, so instead we ordered a butternut squash soup to add on to our meal, which was fabulous. We had a blanc manger and a cheese cake for dessert, all that and 2 sparkling waters and a bag of sable cookies to go for about $ 35!
I wish I had such a good quality café by my workplace, I would stop there on a regular basis!
They have lovely teas and coffees too, you can take anything you want to go or eat on site, and they have a good selection and quality of soft /​cold drinks too in the fridges, and last but not least, roomy and squeaky clean restrooms.

best deal in the financial district. For $ 8 (with GoDish app) you can get like five pounds of heaping, hot, healthy veggies & protein. unbelievable.

Two weeks ago, I would have given this place 4 stars. The salads are pretty good and have fresh ingredients. In 2014, they were all priced between $ 8.25-$ 9.00. My favorite was the salmon salad. I’ve had the others as well and been there at least 7 or 8 times.
Today, I went to pay for my normal salmon salad except instead of ringing up at $ 9.52, it came out to $ 13.59. Apparently, the owners decided that people in downtown SF don’t have any options or wouldn’t notice. I understand if you want to increase prices by the normal $.50−1.00 for something that’s less than $ 10 to cover inflation, increasing rent or increasing food costs, but this is ridiculous and amounts to a bait and switch.
To summarize, food’s still good but value sucks. The owner also lost my trust and business for trying to pull a fast one.

I’ve only had their balsamic chicken & avocado sandwich and I wouldn’t recommend it because the chicken doesn’t taste good and $ 7.25 for a sandwich is really expensive…

Time: 11:58am/68°F cloudy
Purpose: Waited a month before giving it a try. Pass by here almost daily as a short cut to the office sometimes. Today couldn’t wait no longer, as it was gloomy not much people inside so took advantage of that.
Ambiance: Plenty of seating but not enough tables/​chairs to support it if it goes 30+ or more people. 12 tables at most if push together for larger groups it’s down to 8 – 9 respectively. There’s a marble counter with 4 stools for solo dining, 3 – 4 average adult size will fit comfortably. From the outside it seems like one whole place together. Once inside you’ll realized one side is for ordering and other side for dining. Inner back has picture of two owners and lots of Asian buddha figurines place on shelfs above the tables. Sales side a utensil cart holds 3 pots of Peet’s coffee, two fridge for cold drinks and prepared foods. Cashier counter has a display steamer for hot food behind it the kitchen were all products are done.
Staff: 3 Asian ladies and the owner himself during lunch running around doing their job. The ladies were speaking in their native tongue sounded serious at times, then loud giggles follow by more laughs. Finally both were laughing so hard they forgot there were customers inside or they didn’t care.
Cleanliness: Grade A, no compliants seems like they mop, sweep, wipe every hour.
Eats/​Drinks: Small drip Peet’s coffee $ 2, raspberry croissant $ 2.75, carrot cakes squares. Coffee was decent even though it wasn’t Peet’s themselves, no difference. The croissant was burnt as I received it out of package. First bite I knew it wasn’t made in house. The dough itself is yellowy, good indication of warehouse bought frozen. To my disbelief it was flat no volume or fluffiness that really gives info about product itself.
Products/​Services: Quiches, croissants/​pastries, organic yogurt pots, granola, muffins, home made dressing, fresh fruits, Asian cuisine, apps/​sides, entrée, sandwiches, salads, premade salad/​sandwiches/​desserts. Cheapest sandwich is $ 4, highest is $ 8.50. GF, vegetarian, vegan, soy free. Catering available deliveries to business and home.
Punch Lines: Good selection, Italian/​Asian/​Greek/​American/​Mexican food, lots of desserts, Peet’s coffee, quick service, 3 – 4 minutes or less after ordering, spacey, friendly, heart of SF Chinatown/​fi-​di, street parking, Portsmouth garage, muni bus, Transamerica, hotels, history tours.
Tradeoffs: Feels like an La Boulanger and Specialty’s, when comparing items taste and quality goes to Schilling & Co. Pastries/​croissants goes to the other two. Here all popular items are represented not just the traditional American standard everyday eats.
Final Thoughts: With chalkboard out front and pictures of the food/​drinks it’s attractive especially when you see free range/​organic. I was sold base on those words. Some items seems good and all would certainly like to try it again. Not a fan of premade sandwiches or salads but I understand it’s the fi-​di once that rush comes you’ve to be ready and sell. It’s okay I’ve no problem with it. Only gripe here is I don’t understand why croissants/​pastries are bag in plastic bags like chinese bakery Shee Kee. Doing so make the item soggy and flat looking, as I know this first hand by one bite. Please let it sit in open air naturally the crust would be crispier, guarantee it. I would come for the food only and maybe some desserts limited but not to.