Hummus Bodega — Restaurant in San Francisco

This place is great, hence the 5 stars. Let’s dive into why?

Hummus: the best hummus I have had in the Bay Area. You would ask what are the characteristics of a great hummus for you creamy (but not because of added cream), nutty from the tahini, and fresh (lot of hummus have a peculiar sour taste different from what the lemon contributes which is a mark of it being not so fresh). This hit the mark on all three fronts. Best hummus. PERIOD

Pita: Again outstanding. What defines outstanding for me is how pillowy and soft, yet not overly thin it is. This felt very fresh too. I would have liked it to be warmer though.

Falafels: so so good. Again a great falafel is one that has a very crunchy exterior and an extremely soft interior. The trick in not getting the interior to be soft is if it’s not too dry, and this had the right amount of moist interior to make it melt in your mouth. Be mindful there is a world of difference if you eat it there/right away as opposed to take out and eating later. The same experience would not be there.

Sauces: so unique, they have a very spicy green sauce. It says very spicy, but if you think of the scale of Thai spicy (1-5), with 5 being spiciest, this would be a 2.5, but it was really good. They also have a yellow umami sauce, again so unique to this place and hits the spot. Make sure you ask for it if you do a takeout. And if dining in, it’s generally available on every table.

So many unique offerings: fried cauliflower, the fried potato (lattke), eggplant salad. They make great options to play around with, outside of traditional falafel bowls, sandwiches.

Service is great. Special callout to Dean who was amazing. You can see the passion that he had to feed you with the best. He can answer any question with patience.

As a vegetarian I love this place as they have so many options

My hope:

They are furiously diligent to maintain the quality as they scale. Super super important

The service levels and the enthusiasm remains the same, easy to get affected as you scale more (add more items, locations)

The babaganoush traditionally does not have Mayo. And to be honest I do not like the flavor of the Mayo, it takes away the burnt taste of the eggplant. This made me not want to have it. Hope there is a classic one on the menu.

——

Apologies, I don’t have pictures to attach. Hopefully the description makes up for...

TL;DR: Great food and splendid service make visiting Hummus Bodega an easy decision.

After scanning the menu, I ordered 5pcs of falafel and Israeli chopped salad; my total was about $11. The prices for the sides are in a comfortable range (everything else is kinda pricey) and there are lots of seats. If you're dining in, you can sit anywhere you want and your food will be brought to you, but it looks like you're supposed to bring the tray back yourself.

When the order was brought to me, it included two pieces of additional falafel on the house, because I "was a nice customer." The fried falafel pieces were in a little frying basket and the salad was in a little pot-looking bowl. There were also two bottles, one filled with tahini and one with lemon and olive oil dressing, and everything came in a tray lined with parchment paper. Utensils and napkins were already on the tables.

The falafel was amazing—in fact, the best falafel I've ever had so far. The outside is perfectly browned and crisp, but the inside is super tender and almost melts in your mouth. The salad was refreshing. The succulent, cubed vegetables harmonized well together.

Overall, I highly recommend this fast-casual restaurant, especially if you like Mediterranean food. The prices are high, but if you just order sides, you can get a good, filling meal without...

After visiting Israel, I had a new benchmark for hummus. It has to be creamy, rich, flavorful, fresh and have that subjective consistency. Store bought and most restaurants simply do not measure up.

Hummus Bodega is an exception, a gem that only focuses on a very limited menu, but does it right.

I tried their forest hummus entree (mushrooms, onion), it comes with a side of pita, salad, marinated cucumber, and fries. I also added on 5 falafels (comes with tahini) and Romanian eggplant.

What worked well after my hour long bike ride was to put the pita, falafel and fries in the toaster oven for 8 minutes at 425. That made it warm and crispy.

Hummus was just like you would find in Israel - I.e. excellent, while the falafel was light, crispy, not oily and mildly flavored. It needs a tangy sauce or to dip in to the hummus.

Pita was fresh and as good as it gets.

What surprised me was the Romanian eggplant. Never tried it but fried eggplant in tomato sauce is a winner.

Tip: Make sure you ask for their hot sauce on side. This is made from green chilies and elevates the falafel and hummus to umami flavor profile.

Service was great. Order gets ready in 5 minutes. And Is packed well.

Overall I’d say this is one of the best hummus places in...