Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery

Great morning sandwiches!

Oh you fancy now huh.
You just fancy walking around like you all fancy.
What makes you so Special?
You think you Special?
Well… you are.
Humorous how the ICED TEA was hot tea with tiny ice in it. But the PEANUT BUTTER & STUFF (pb, jellz, banana, green apple) sando was what you showed off to all your classmates in the recess yard. Back when things* other than $, alcohol, drizznugs, and copulation made you happy.
*Lauryn Hill said that thing, thaaat thingg, that thiiiiiiiinng…

BEST PLACE EVER! HANDS DOWN
#1) The customer service is amazing! The staff is so kind and really want you to enjoy your food. One of the staff members asked me what kind of bread i wanted (but they were out of the really good one so i picked sourdough. I told her it was my first time here and to me «bread is bread». She said, that bread is not just bread and that i MUST try the rosemary seasoned bread, so she made one and cut it up for me all because i never tried. The result: AMAZING
2) The staff member Jackie was so kind. I love it when people have conversations with their customers and recommend items when I had no idea what to order. Her and the male cashier gave me samples of the soup to try before I ordered and they were probably the best soup I had ever (I tried the creamy chicken with rice and chicken and white bean).
3) Food is amazing. Delicious bread with my soup, delicious soup, delicious latte made by Jackie… it was great. Definitely coming here again.

I’ve been going here for 3 years and it used to be super great! Unfortunately it’s not the case anymore, the service is the worst the gentleman behind the counters are always distracted and the women up front was not inviting at all and pushy.
It’s a real disappointment considering they didn’t always suck so bad.
Today was the last straw, they gave me a burnt cookie and charged me full price. So sad, I hope someone comes in and restores this spot to its former glory. (Hint hint)

I walk past this place every single day on the way to work and have never gone in. until today! Was early for work which is located only two blocks away so I thought why not give this place a try.
Place was very spacious with plenty of seating, seeing as it is located in the FiDi and I assume that no one has the time to just sit down and enjoy their coffee or treats. So more of a grab and go type of deal from what I saw.
Service was friendly and the person who took my order was kind enough to explain to me selection of pastries at that time even though there were four people lined up behind me.
Ordered a chocolate cream cheese muffin. The workers call it a «black bottom» (will have to remember that for the next time I order). Who orders sweets so early in the morning, you may ask? I do! I know it’s crazy but I have a huge sweet tooth and can eat sweets at any hour of the day! The muffin wasn’t overly sweet and the cream cheese layer on top wasn’t too thick.
Definitely coming back to this location to try the chocolate chip cookies that other Unilocalers rave about

I just love this place. Great pastries paired with good coffee drinks. Fast and friendly service, ample seating, and a convenient location make Specialty’s a place that I enjoy breakfasting in every so often. I’ve heard rave reviews of their chocolate chip cookies, so I’ll have to come back and try one of those babies one day soon.

Awful customer service and poor organization. I placed my order and the cashier walked away to help someone else. After a wait, I asked her where my order was and she said «we’re out of that.» Well, it would have been nice to let me know so I wouldn’t waste my lunch hour!

They know how to make my veggie sammy’s just the way I like them. I also love how you can order online, then walk down and by the time you get there, its ready.
Which is a big deal when scavenging for lunch in the busy city AT lunch time.
I love their chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal cookies baked fresh! (Sometimes they come out a little more burney brown then others but they are still good)
Always quick and polite service to boot!

Really great staff. I went in this morning (¹⁰⁄₁₉) and was just reminded again how friendly, competent, and professional the team is at this Specialty’s location. They are consistently my go-​to for online lunch ordering on busy days, and I’ve used them several times for business catering my project team’s client meetings.
I can count on Specialty’s to come through. They don’t have 5 stars because they don’t have bagels or donuts, and I’m very petty.
Thank you, Monday morning team at Specialty’s!

I really don’t understand why «no cheese» is such a hard thing for this Specialty’s to execute. I have been here on numerous occasions (both in person and for pickup) and they have managed to screw up that portion of the order 90% of the time. It’s especially annoying when I pick up the order and take it back to the office only to realize they screwed it up and then I have to take it back to get it fixed or refunded.

They have the best cookies I have ever had! I always get the chocolate chip. Huge, tasty, fresh and with melty chocolate. So good! Recently when I had a cold, I went there for soup every day for a week. They have four fresh soups each day and soup orders come with a piece of their fresh rosemary bread, which is so flavorful and perfect for dipping! I especially like the chicken and wild rice. Each soup that I had was delicious, and the wait during lunch time is pretty quick even though the café is busy. They do also have salads, sandwiches, and lots of other sweet and savory pastries, for decent prices. But I’ll never stray from the soup and cookies.

Pastry should have been offered to be heated. Breakfast sandwich was excellent! Might want to work on the coffee though, Americano was small, but the worst part is that it was watery!

good breakfast sandwiches, moderate amount of pastries available, nice service, coffee and teas are just okay. Prices are very reasonable also. If you had a few extra minutes you could get your breakfast here and then go across the street to Starbucks or Peetes for your better coffee choices.
I came here twice while staying at LeMeridian. Convenient!

The pastries are good! But the salad I got there was super gross! The leaves were wilted and brown and deteriorating before I even put the dressing on it!

The short: fast service even during peak lunch hours
I had a meeting nearby and was hungry, so I popped in for lunch. I did not like their ordering system. As it was my first time there, I didn’t even have a chance to look at the menu (nothing hanging or on the wall) until I got close to the register (where they have a stack of menus). I couldn’t decide so I quickly picked a random one: Spicy Thai Peanut Salad. I’m glad they asked me if I wanted the dressing on the salad or on the side. Stand off to the side to wait for your order (most people order to go).
I didn’t wait long and was glad that with the number of people ordering, the meals were handed out fast.
So after picking up my salad, I dug into my order, and choked a bit. When they say spicy, they mean spicy. Usually, when I order spicy, I choose the medium level. This had lots of jalapeño peppers and other kicks that made it hard to eat. The salad was also lacking in the flavor section, and I felt sad trying to enjoy the other parts of the salad.
Later, I noticed on the receipt that it says «a 4% service charge is included, in part, to help offset the additional regulatory costs of doing business in the city of San Francisco.» A very awkward statement and I somewhat appreciate their honesty… If I do come across a Specialty’s again, I’ll go for their sandwiches and not the salads.
Note: Only stools at a counter facing the street for seating

So, I knew what I was getting into going to one of the cities notorious lunch spots but what’s the point of taking an order when you are just going to make the sandwich completely and utterly wrong regardless?
Back story: Its a bit chilly in the city today and I was looking for a toasty, cheesy sandwich option. After being told there was no grilled cheese on the menu, I opted for the tuna melt. The attendant mentioned they were out of their traditional ciabatta that went on the sandwich and offered a variety of other bread choices. I opted for the sourdough, only for a man to yell from the kitchen that they were out of that as well. Not a big deal, focaccia is fine. After waiting for 20 minutes, my name was finally called and I picked up my sandwich and walked back to my office. The sandwich felt slightly warm but I figured there was probably back up in the kitchen so it had been cooling.
Oh boy was I wrong. When I got back to my office and unwrapped my sandwich, I disappointingly found that I had just paid $ 10 (the price of the tuna met) for a $ 5 basic tuna sandwich on wheat with no cheese at all. All the back and forth with the attendant regarding bread and cheese type was clearly unnecessary and a huge waste of time. So, here I am eating this sad little tuna salad sandwich thanks to the incompetence of the Specialty’s kitchen staff. Trust me, I will never darken their doorway again and unfortunately for them, my office does a lot of catering through them that we will now be taking to Breaking Bread. At least they can get a sandwich order right.

Oatmeal wheatgerm chocolate chip cookie.
All i can say is KILLER !!!
Only bummer is came in at 4pm and they hardly had anything left. Don’t wait too long! :)

Poor customer service. I understand it was lunch time and there was a rush, but I paid for my products and services too. Just because I’m in uniform doesn’t mean I should be treated differently then the rest who paid in business suits. I waited 15 minutes just for a cup of tea. What’s frustrating was that I saw people that were behind me that ordered food left before me.
Very disappointing. I’m not going to this spot on Sansome again.

I kind of wish I knew the name of the gentleman that helped me decide between the sticky bun and the peach coffee cake because his customer service was phenomenal. It’s silly really, deciding from one good dessert from another, but I’m a firm believer in listening to the staff.
The coffee cake was moist, but I wished there was a little less nutmeg and more cinnamon throughout the cake. He also threw in a white and black cookie after I longingly gazed at the cookies prepped for the oven. Have you had one of those cookies? — Perfect rich chocolate with white chocolate chips? It’s very rich, so I just split it into 2 – 3 desserts for throughout the day.
Since I decided to have a treat instead of real food for lunch, my sweet friend Moe M. let me have a couple bites of her Thanksgiving sandwich — the ingredients were standard but that white fluffy bread was like a reincarnated cloud from the North Pole! Yum.

Magic door.
Find this:
Consume this: Turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce, lettuce, sprouts and sunflower seeds on sesame sourdough. Absolutely delicious. $ 8 plus tax. Counter seats only.
Served from a little door that leads to kitchen. Window really. But for the thematics of this Unilocal we’ll call it a door.
We’ll also call it four stars.

I always order their white chocolate macadamia, peanut butter or snickerdoodle cookies!
Their cream cheese croissants are delicious too!
Super nice people working here too!

Cookies. Yum.
Must haves are the Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodles.
I love our soft their Snickerdoodles are. A little on the sweet end, but if you have it with coffee (with no sugar) it might work out just fine. I think this location runs out the fastest. I love their quiches, and whenever I try to get one. I am out of luck. Make more quiches please!!!

Favorite Sandwich
Hot Hammer, substitute Turkey and Foccia
Toasted, no vinaigrette
Skip the chips and go for a cookie
Thank me later :)

Yeah, this place is still awful. Just ordered catered lunch for my office. Came on time, which is great. However, when I opened up my giant turkey sandwich I discovered something so atrocious that I can barely speak of it… Okay well I’ll tell you.
I found my sandwich had been…
CUT HORIZONTALLY.
WHAT SORT OF SOCIOPATH CUTS SANDWICHES HORIZONTALLY???
They didn’t even bother to line up the pieces of bread correctly! Each sandwich half had a slice of bread that was HALF the size of the other slice! More was stuff fallin out of that sandwich than Dascha Polanco’s Emmy’s dress (Daya on OITNB). Guuuuuurl. (snap snap)
But seriously Specialty’s… diagonal cut or go home. Bye Basic!
(sad desk lunch photos of grievous crime to come)