Specialty’s

Spinach Cheese Croissant was yummy!

Avoid at all cost. Was told 20 minutes after ordering that they ran out of ciabatta. Told them to use focaccia instead. No sign of sandwich after another 20 minutes. Asked for a refund, and was told that only the manager can do that. No idea what the manager was doing, certainly not helping customers. Order was ready shortly thereafter, over 40 minutes after ordering. Other Specialty’s location have given me warning when they are backed up. Not sure why this one is so poorly run.

I came here not long after this spot opened because I saw another Unilocal amigo check-​in. I already like Specialty’s and have had mostly good experiences, and I happened to want to visit one of the POPOS’s on this block (the Sun Terrace at 150 California). Great. Perfect opportunity to stop by.
As always, Specialty’s has a good mix. Great sandwiches — there are several good ones so I won’t recommend one. (There are some photos, though.) They do have a nice menu worth checking out, and I’ve always found the sandwiches feel like a good value. I’ve been happy every time. I love the fact that they do the self-​order kiosks where you can punch in your meal and grab a beeper. The service is always fast. The separate Peet’s area is combined but yet sort of self contained.
This is a good location. The interior is very spacious and has a number of different areas in which to sit and each and chill with others, or by yourself if you are so inclined. They also have a nice outdoor seating area with a good view of the very open 101 California Plaza, with the Cable Car running right by as it starts rolling along as it heads up and over Nob Hill. And as I mentioned, you can always grab your food/​coffee to-​go during business hours and head to the Sun Terrace.
You’ll find Specialty’s all over The City, so you don’t really have to go out of your way. If you’re a FiDi warrior during the week, this is always reliable and this particular location is worth walking over to for a change of scenery.

I was really excited when this location opened up across the street from my office, because their food is always really good and the staff is pretty friendly. I can never turn down one of their semi sweet chocolate chip cookies!
However, they have made mistakes on more than one of my orders and it does not appear to be for lack of staff. The culprit appears to be lack of organization. When I order a soup that is on your menu board, but when I get the order, I get a sandwich I did not order plus the wrong soup, only to be told that the soup that I ordered was not on the menu. That tells me that organization is missing somewhere.
I will probably come back, but not during lunch time, which is when they tend to make a lot of goofs.

I recently discovered this location for Specialty’s. I love the café space — clean, lots of seating. I also enjoy the food. My experience here has been positive and I think most of the negative comments I’ve seen for this location had to do with working out kinks that new restaurants typically experience. I have found the staff to be friendly, courteous and helpful. I am not a fan of the ordering kiosks; I’ve tried a couple of time to use them. I simply get in line an order my food. I particularly like the Spicy Thai Salad (add chicken), the Cobb (of course). The sandwiches I’ve had were good, too. The cookies — well, they are OK; I don’t like the small bundt cakes they sell (too expensive and nothing special). Overall, I am a fan and am going here often.

I have come here multiple times and never had issues, but maybe because I always order from Peets and get coffee or tea. This time I ordered a side of soup as well… Big mistake!!!
After waiting for my tea, I headed over to wait for my soup. A couple minutes pass and I notice people who ordered after me getting their food, employees filling up cups of soup and seeing to-​go orders/​online orders being fulfilled and put on the shelf. Not knowing if the soups sitting on the counter were online orders, I thought I would give it a couple more minutes to be nice… I guess I should have said something, but as an employee don’t you notice I’ve been waiting. I decided to see how long he would make me wait there since I wasn’t being noticed. A couple minutes later, I was the only person standing there and the employee never even acknowledged me to ask what my order was or why I had been waiting forever. He just stood there chilling and leaning against the counter. I’m so mad at this point and I walk up and ask what is going on. The employee hands me my soup with no apology or reasoning. Fifteen minutes waiting here for a damn cup of soup is inexcusable and horrible customer service. I wish I spoke to his supervisor because I don’t think I’ll be coming back to order food from here ever again.
I have to say I have nothing against the people who make the coffee and tea for Peets however.

This is solely based on my experience today and only today. First off they made my Turkey Cranberry sandwich on herb bread with olives. That sandwich doesn’t even come with olives and my soup that I asked for with NO TOPPINGS, what do I get? Soup with green onions. Then I bring my sandwich back they give me a turkey cranberry no more of those olives but now with the wrong bread. The entire time I stood there too and it took them 10 min to redo and during my wait there they made at least 7 other orders wrong. Pull it together guys I don’t understand. Then no sorry no here’s a voucher for the inconvenience of taking up your entire lunch. Just here you go. Smdh!!!

Love the cookies & the those who work the cashier. The rest of the staff needs to get it together, rude & unorganized. It doesn’t take 30mins to make a sandwich when there’s no one in line either. And when I asked the progress, two of the staff were rude. The sandwich I ordered, not worth the service.

I’m annoyed that two days in a row I bought and paid for an eggnog latte and only then was told they were out of nog. I appreciate the kiosks because they make it very easy to convey my sandwich preferences (wheat, extra veg), and they are Supposed to be up to date on things like availability of seasonal items and the soup of the day, but recently even the soup info has been lagging. It’s almost like they just fired their staff and are starting again from scratch.
Annoyance aside, good food, easy ordering, nice baristas, good variety, and a nice space.

So, I have mixed feelings about the various things here and I struggled between 3 and 4 stars. But, since I keep coming back and ordering the things I like, I went with 4 stars and feel like that’s the more fair assessment.
Things I love here:
— The cold brew coffee
— The mini quiches — which are really more like frittatas, because they are crustless, but they are amongst my favorite breakfast option ever!
— Sandwiches on their ciabatta bread, especially the hot sandwiches
— Service at the cashier/​counter
— Huge, awesome space in this location! Perfect for working, meeting a friend, etc.
Things I don’t love here:
— Cookies — I think they are too doughy, I prefer mine with more of a crunch. An exception to this is some sort of nutty cookie I recently had at a meeting in my office, which had a bit of frosting on the top. Whatever this was, it was heavenly.
— Sandwiches on the sliced bread — like the cookies, just too fluffy for my taste
— Pick up service — it’s super hit or miss. Sometimes my meal is ready when I come, other times I wait for 10 min extra, which is REALLY annoying.
Overall, I like this spot and since I know what to avoid, I’ll happily come back for what I enjoy!

Love the egg and sausage breakfast sandwich! Generous amount of egg surrounded by 2 sausage patties on a yummy roll. I get up early on every layover just to get one.

Hate to knock off a star for Specialty’s but I think they still need some time to get in the flow of things. They’re always running out of focaccia bread for the sandwiches/​soup sides — this is a problem for a sandwich/​bake shop
The focaccia when they do have it — isn’t baked as well as the other chains and was wayy salty
I got a cookie here just now and it was raw in the center with way overbaked crispy chocolate chips — how does that happen? — Oven temp issues?
The soups are pretty on point — clam chowder and chicken tortilla were all good.
Hopefully in another month or 2 this branch will be up to par with the other branches in terms of food quality. I still really like the fact that this branch is huge with plenty of seating, electric outlets, and free wifi.

New location? Quite disappointing.
I walked in thinking «Cool, a Specialtys closer to work.“The kiosk thing takes way too long for something that is supposed to speed up the process.
The service here is. well…this place is new so can’t expect much. I watched 7 people order after me and leave before me. When I asked a worker about my order, he looked confused like I asked a remarkably difficult question. After wandering around scratching his neck for about a minute, not asking anyone or doing anything to come up with an answer, he returned with «I think our kitchens a little slow»
The food is good. Same quality of ingredients as the other Specialtys. I ordered a salad and made sure to remove the red onions from the order but somehow a few still ended up in the salad.
Better training is definitely needed here.
I’d rather walk the extra couple blocks and go to a different one.

Get more hand napkins; 3 aren’t enough. It’s a tasty sandwich; I bet the sodium levels are high up there so look at the nutrition charts online before you order. That’s one good thing they’ve done well which I don’t really see others do great.
Not as much value for the price, I feel. Also, I carried a sandwich back to work for about a 5/​minute drive. The bread wasn’t soggy for the amount of sauce they had in it (aka. Appreciate the nice quality bread) but the paper had fused a bit into the sandwich. Also, it didn’t fill me, and I’m an average person with an average appetite.
I’d go there again if it was like a sandwich for $ 7 (paid close to $ 9 this time) everything included so I can add something on the side for about a $ 10 lunch. It’s tasty for sure, but the price/​value will certainly make me think twice.

Such a disappointing first experience here, though I guess I’ll try and chalk it up to this location still working out its kinks.
Walked in some time around 4 or 4:30 last week, there was no one in line, and only two people waiting for their orders. There were hardly any people sitting at any of the tables. I place my order quickly and stand near the other people to wait, but notice after some time that no food is coming out from the kitchen. I can see three women in the back endlessly moving about, making sandwiches, but no progress is being made on any orders.
One of the workers, a young guy who was very nice but a bit aloof, tells one of the women waiting for food that there’s no more wheat bread, they only have poppy seed bread, and the woman annoyedly says anything is fine but that she’s in a hurry. I gathered she had been waiting longer than we already had been at that point.
The other woman waiting has to cancel her order because she doesn’t want poppy seed bread, but miraculously they manage to find some wheat bread for her before she cancels (though they kept saying after she got her food that there was no more wheat bread). A manager had to come out and help the people making sandwiches in the back, which caused more confusion and frustration for them because there were literally too many cooks in the kitchen. Almost twenty minutes later and after a couple of other people getting served before me, I have my food. The young guy gave me a free can of soda while I was waiting, but for the small number of people who had ordered, the number of people in the kitchen who were visibly flustered after some time, and the fact that the staff started to get completely confused about what bread they actually did or didn’t have in house, the experience wasn’t a good one.
The caprese sandwich I ordered was quite delicious — lots of fresh mozzarella, juicy tomatoes, and a delicious pesto sauce — and so was the poppy bread that had caused so much controversy, but wasn’t worth the hassle. This particular Specialty’s is very spacious inside, and seemed like a nice place to grab lunch, whether alone to work or with a friend, but make sure — for now — that you give yourself some time, because the staff here is definitely a little rusty right now.

They have Peets coffee baristas, and thus the whole Peets coffee menu :) aside from this, the new location is your typical Specialtys. Baked goods, salads, sandwiches, coffee. There is also a small outside sitting area. Very excited to have an alternative to Mixtgreens. The time it takes to get in and out is my only gripe, but that is to be expected in the FIDI.

YAY A Specialty’s is opening across the street! My building got invitations to the preview party. No surprise there is already a huge line this morning. Can’t wait to try this new location out.