Blue Bottle Coffee — Restaurant in San Francisco

The Blue Bottle in Ferry Building San Francisco is lucky to have a superb barista-Jalil, who makes the very best coffee, always with professionalism, attention to detail and care, regardless of how busy the place is! Whenever he is there, I know that my drinks will be excellent and never disappointing. With few other good exceptions, not at the same level as him though, the others are often disappointing, which for the price, should never happen! The ordering service depends on who is on duty and the best is Xen, a kind and positive gentlemen, who always gets them correctly. The downside of the location is that the managers saw it as a priority to line up shelves with products right in front of ordering bar, narrowing the space considerably, although those interested can easily search and purchase items online, instead of offering some respect and decency to their many customers, by providing at least some more moving space and seating area! Also, it seems like nothing outside of the shop interests anyone (and again for this the criticism goes to the management), which is why the stand where the lids and other additions are offered, is never cleaned up, the same with the narrow table outside of the window, where the mobile orders are served! If the nonsensical product shelves are removed from the tiny space, there would be enough room to have lids, sugar and other additions offered inside the shop, where they should be! It takes a special kind of rudeness or carelessness, to treat those that invest in you and keep your business alive, in such...

Good coffee beans, friendly service, decent but not overlong wait time. However, take note: do not expect a proper shot of espresso on Labor Day weekend.

I like espresso. Not lattes, cappuccinos, not anything flavored, diluted, or sweetened. Just a straight shot. I own a relatively modest setup at home, a grinder plus a compact espresso machine with a PID. I'm nowhere near an expert, but I know what a bad shot tastes like because I have made many, many of them on the journey to pulling a decent one.

So I ordered a decaf espresso. That's right, you heard me. Decaf. It's super difficult to find good decaf, but I know Blue Bottle's bean quality is alright because I've shopped around, tasted, and finally settled on subscribing to a weekly 1 lb delivery. (Which is awesome, by the way.) I pull my own shots at home and am pretty satisfied. So when I was served a very sour shot at this location, I was disappointed. The color didn't look too bad, but I admit I didn't examine it very closely as we had an appointment, and quite simply, I expected better. Maybe the didn't dose properly, or maybe the temperature was too low. Can't say.

To be fair, I didn't complain and ask them to try again. They might've done a better job the second time around.

As I said earlier, however, the servers were very friendly. While we waited for our (delicious) caramelized waffle, they mistakenly made a decaf latte for the next person in line. They offered it to me, and I took two or three sips to wash out the nasty taste of...

Let me preface this review by saying one thing: I am not a coffee drinker. I never drink coffee. Like ever. I don't mind the aromas and flavors of coffee, but I'd much rather have iced tea instead.

With that said, I was absolutely amazed at how awesome Blue Bottle's New Orleans iced coffee was. I was able to have it nearly every single day, for about a week, for breakfast after getting off the Larkspur ferry and looked forward to it every single time.

With that said, the lines are very long and the service is a bit slow. But then again the reason the line is so long is because it's so good. I'm definitely a fan and can only hope that this small chain expands into Boston at some point in my lifetime so I can get more of that delicious drink.

As far as service goes, they're friendly and pretty quick. The stand itself doesn't offer much besides coffee and a few coffee-themed knick knacks. There's a few pastries available but nothing that great or worthwhile. There's no seating on the premise either, but you should be able to snag a spot around the Ferry Building if you...