Silver Crest Donut Shop

Donuts the size of your face! This is not a health food stop but an Americana experience. I recommend the breakfast, couple eggs over easy and sausage with the endless cup of coffee. Never a line. A bit pricey but to get in a breakfast spot in the City with no fuss… a gem, in the rough.

This place was operated by my grandfather, Theo Boblitt, in the late 1930s through into the 1940s. Later my aunts/​uncles ran it. As a teenager my mother, Yvonne Boblitt, worked here as a waitress. There are actually references to this place in a 1962 S.F. phone book listing that one of my brothers found this week; the listings were for Boblitt family members living in S.F.
When Yvonne was dating my father (a world class marathoner who had been captain of the track team at S.F. State University and who nevertheless LOVED donuts), he ran in a local marathon with a flying donut appliqued on his running shirt. Before that happened, he’d been asked to run in that race to represent the S.F. Olympic Club, but at the last minute they pulled their backing because they decided he must be Jewish (with the last name of Kline). Not deterred by this lack of support from such prestigious outfit, Fred Kline went on to later win the Bay to Breakers FOUR times!
I cannot actually say that I’ve eaten there, but a good friend and I are going soon. Should be quite an adventure!!!
Kristin
Oakland

Pretty sad. Hard to explain why, but for nearly 3 years I’ve been waiting to go here. It’s really intriguing from the street; «Donut Shop, Restaurant & Bar». Alas, here is a doughnut shop that makes lousy doughnuts, and the coffee makes you wish for tea. See my pic… a doughnut that requires a KNIFE to make a dent in. Yikes! Jack In The Box or McDonald’s, both within 300 feet, are a better value.

Big disappointment. If your going to be a dive diner, at least live up to it (ie be a real one). The fact that they charge twice as much for regular diner food. I’ll explain. got an egg sandwich that had like no egg on it, should have been 5 bucks but they charged around 9. Their pancakes are also proportionally expensive to shitty ratio (cost 11 bucks for what should have been a side order of pancakes. Plus they charge 1.50 for coffee refills when your cup is like 75% full. I like dive spots and I hope all of them survive an increasingly gentrified and pricey city. But I don’t like the ones that charge twice what they used to charge, but still serve the same proportion of food.
For the real thing, hit up lucky penny (all night diner) or two jacks on lower haight. Those are two spots that will appreciate your business and serve some of the best down home food in Sf.

More of a diner than a doughnut shop, our breakfast surpassed expectation. After reading reviews I was skeptical, and thought it was slightly pricey for a dive, but the braggart serving was huge and everything cooked right. We had over easy eggs, well-​done crispy potatoes (by request), sausage and bacon. Get the sausage or ham, bacon was mediocre, but all else great. And they’ve been there forever.

Best dive bar in the city.
Rolled over here on a Tuesday evening. Ordered a beer in a bottle — the owner poured us shots of Ouzo to welcome us. I normally hate ouzo, but this was by far the best ouzo I’ve ever had. We played music on the ancient juke box — you get to select from a range of B.B. King, Michael Jackson, and traditional Greek music, 25 cents for 3 songs.
I think the pool table also cost 25 cents. We played (terribly) two games, as we sipped our beers (you get to choose between Miller and Bud). Awesome bar, feels like a throw back to another era, but in the best possible way.
Don’t take your high maintenance friends here and ruin the vibe. This is where you take your friends who appreciate a good dive.
I also wouldn’t advise walking or biking here: taxi only.

Amazing donuts (which sometimes George will give you for free), bud and Coors bottles and all you can drink ouzo. Open 24 hour and a true gem, would definitely recommend — especially if you’re a no frills kinda gal/​guy.
Cash only.

Awesome Old School Breakfast!!! Was working nearby, running an hour early, saw it out of the corner of my eye… Knew I needed to stop for breakfast… One of those places you know has to be good… Was not disappointed… will return when I want a great breakfast!!!

Classic old-​school diner with breakfast, lunch and dinner at all hours. Place could definitely use an updating but then the prices would likely go up. Off street parking which is rare in this neck of the woods but be careful coming in its a bit rough on the suspension as is most of the roadway in this busy industrial area between San Francisco and South San Francisco.

I live near enough to buy Silver Crest’s doughnuts which are huge, light, fluffy and less expensive than all other places selling doughnuts half the size. It is obvious that place looks exactly as it was established decades ago. One reason I dare not try their doughnuts again is that they seem to recycle the frying oil too often which renders their homemade pastries a back throat lingering rancid flavor. Thus, trying the rest of their menu is not appealing.
They should use their doughnuts or other pastry as their marketing hook for repeat business. I drive through Bay Shore Blvd. frequently enough to notice that place seems almost empty. Oftentimes, old time small café proprietors whine they are being displaced by major fast food chains, when maybe they should review the quality of their own food and service to improve instead of laying blame elsewhere.

Was it all a dream? Do places like this actually exist, still? And how did I miss such a time warp – I felt, literally, transported back 50 years.
And it seemed that some of the regulars have been coming to the Silver Crest Donut Shop for at least that long. I had an excellent breakfast, at 10pm, and the largest donuts I’ve ever seen in my life as well. And they weren’t stale, the way Donuts usually are at many places when you come in on the late side.
My sausage and eggs breakfast was excellent, and too big to finish. The lady who waited on me was nice, but not superficially cheerful or fake – she was just the real thing.
Silver Crest represents an era long gone, both in its décor and its attitude. Come for the trip back in time, or for the big delicious breakfast, or for the donuts that you’ll likely never see anywhere else. And bring cash of course.

«Donut shop, restaurant and bar. We never close.»
With a sign like that, I couldn’t just drive by without visiting. Even my husband was intrigued.
When you walk inside, you feel like part of a post-​apocalyptic action movie directed by Robert Rodriguez and/​or Quentin Tarantino. This is the kind of place where our heroes make their last stand against a horde of the undead. When you look out the window you can almost see an empty desert road with a sandstorm blowing in. It’s pretty amazing.
The menu is tacked to the wall, and has literally not changed since the ‘60s. You can see stripes of paint where the prices were changed to account for inflation. The prices are about standard for San Francisco diner food, which is fine since the food is slightly above average for San Francisco diners. Expect a deliciously greasy cheeseburger and fries, and be prepared to order a Mexicoke if you want a soda, because that’s pretty much all they have.
All in all, I found this trip worthwhile for the ambience alone. The food was a slight bonus. If you’re looking for the usual classy SF food and atmosphere you should steer clear, but you probably knew that already. If you’re thinking of coming for the novelty… Yes. Yes, you totally should.

50% bar
20% breakfast
20% lunch
10% donuts
Rating shall be for breakfast.
This is one of the oddest places I’ve been in a while. Spotless clean, feels like a bar, looks like it’s in the 70’s. Friendly owner, stern waitress, charming elderly regular customer. There was a row of bingo pinball machines, all looking functional, which was quite exciting.
Both our breakfast plates were rather forgettable, but clearly the place wasn’t. I would say all the points go for the place and atmosphere, given that you could probably get much better food for the same price elsewhere. The donuts were gigantic, and quite pricey ($ 2 – 2.50 each), but looked really fresh.
Might have to stop by on an evening, as that’s when it’s the most fun, judging from some of the reviews!

This place is legit. George «the Greek» is the proprietor since 1970. Try the ouzo. And the donuts, though the place is much more than a donut shop. Excellent fried chicken dinner. Any breakfast item. And the hamburger. All good. Great jukebox and 25 cent pool. As I said, legit.

God bless the owner George (or ‘pops’). Within 5 minutes of being there we’d been thrust a free shot of ouzo and been bought a shot of some crazy Greek port by Gregory, one of the regulars. The place never closes and George has been in residence for the last 46 years. Great guy (he looked genuinely confused when we tried to tip), great bar, cheap beers. Not the greatest part of town but well worth a visit.

Classic American diner with a Greek influence! Pool table, pinball, and super sweet staff. the family who runs this place is so nice! cash only, but super cheap. 4 dollars/​beer, 6/​drink otherwise. Tons of donuts and stuff. Idk what the other reviews were saying about the bathrooms etc being bad? I’m the pickiest girl in the world about bathrooms and I thought it was fine. And I was 100% sober at that point. Definitely worth a visit.

This is real, authentic America. No glitz, no glamour but a charismatic owner in George, a family run bar and restaurant, a juke box that is so old $ 0.25 gets you four songs and 24 hour dining. If you want a taste of what the last few real old school diners and 24 hour bars look like in the Bay Area, come here.
Make sure you speak to George and chuck a dime or two in the juke box and drink in the all authentic american experience. This place is awesome in its own unique way. Keep it going.

What a weird, weird place this is.
I’ve probably passed by this place thousands of times, literally. Finally decided to have lunch there one day. The whole place is just creepy from the moment you step in… which we did, through the back. Apparently the rear is a bar? With some shady looking people shooting pool inside.
As we made the awkward walk through the bar into the dining room and feel as if all eyes are on us, we are seated in a very old uncomfortable booth. Everything is so old, from décor to furniture, that it feels Twilight Zone strange. Not like Mel’s Diner nostalgia at all.
We were served by a couple ladies. They were very nice and pleasant to us. Soft spoken as well. We made our orders from the menu on the wall. To my surprise, EVERY sandwich I tried to order she said they were out of. Chicken salad, tuna salad, basically anything that had to be made was out. She told me, «we don’t have anything on the right side of the board, only the left side we have». I’m like whA??? So there was NO LUNCH AVAILABLE, DURING LUNCH. They only had D-O-N-U-T-S…and breakfast.
So we both ordered breakfast, Denny’s Grand Slam style — 2 eggs, 2 sausage, etc. it was not good, Like frozen food, reheated, mediocre. And somehow our bill was $ 35? It’s funny now and I’ll always have memories of this place as the restaurant that ran out of food but I’m not going back. I’d like to know their secret of how they’ve stayed open all these years though. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

This place. This place right here. I’ve never been during the day, so I can’t vouch for that, but at night, it’s unreal. Pure magic.
A creaky crusty old jernt that serves up various egg sandwiches — the egg/​sausage sandwich they serve could be one of my favorite things ever. They also have a case full of giant creepy looking donuts that are super good and there’s a bar in the back that you stare at, and you know bad things are happening, but you can’t bring yourself to walk back there, savoring the mystery. No matter where you sit — a creaky old wooden booth or sitting at the counter, the atmosphere is still pure WIN, and if you feel lucky, there are these bizarre old-​timey pinball type machines where you try to get balls in holes in a kind of bingo/​pachinko/​pinball/​baseball fantasia that will cause you to rethink your whole life.
It helps that it’s in one of the last truly un-​gentrified and honestly dodgy parts of town. That adds to the thrills.

Silver Crest it isn’t. maybe in it’s heyday (last century) it was. donut shop just 3 trays of pancake sized donuts. eatery looks like a typical truck stop one.
eats: choclate (glazed) donut (2.25)
–doughy, bread like, chewy, big as a pancake, very sweet 2.5 stars
pour: famers coffee (1.25)
–smooth, tasteless, warm brew.
–probably sat around awile so it wasn’t harsh.
crumbs:
–show shows it’s age, not refurbished for awhile.
–nothing to return for
–wouldn’t expect the food to be above average.
–open 24 hours.