Newkirk's — Restaurant in San Francisco

Finished with my appts across the street at Zuckerberg General I was crossing Potrero and painted in a window I see CHEESESTEAK SANDWICHES!!! So, great advertising! Drew my attention! I walk in to a very basic, clean and inviting sandwich shop! Inviting for several reasons, plants all along the top window ledge, clean family style high bench table's, a simple and easy to read menu board, two classic vintage pinball machines and a friendly, personable and professional individual ready to take my order and strike up friendly conversations with the different customers. I ordered a classic cheese steak sandwich that was priced fairly, served hot and in a timely manner! This little sandwich shop is a little gem that I highly recommend if on that side of town. They serve breakfast sandwiches, coffee drinks and some special carbonated beverages I wasn't familiar with! P.S. make sure to bring a couple quarters with you so you can try your pinball wizard skills on one of the vintage pinball machines while waiting...

This place has, by far, the best breakfast sandwich in SF.

The Classic BEC of the East Coast (Specifically Westchester, NY) is basically impossible to find in CA because it is missing the Kaiser Roll. Somehow, Newkirk’s has brought that to SF.

This roll makes or breaks the sandwich because of the balance between fluffy texture, and the delicately this crunch of the crust. I’m not belittling the importance of an over-medium egg, crispy thin strips of bacon, or the melty American cheese. But, the roll makes it breaks this sandwich.

Newkirk’s owner has somehow found or created the best Kaiser roll I have seen in CA. The result takes me back to my childhood in a blissful state of mind. When I bite into the BEC I’m suddenly transported back to being a 12 year old kid at my neighborhood corner store, with my pegged-bike leading against the building.

Even if you have never had this sandwich as a kid, biting into this BEC will transport you, as great food does, to a place that no one can touch and you didn’t...

If you're coming here, you might just be missing "back home." But you're not back home, you're here, and you go to Newkirks for a taste of back home. The BECSPK is good and it's on a kaiser roll which is rare here, but that's also why it's TEN DOLLARS. Back home it's $4 at a deli, or $4.50 if you ask for two eggs. Here it's $10 for one egg. Tasty, but wow, they know you're going to buy it anyway though because nowhere else does BECSPK on kaiser.

The Italian combo is good but it's smaller than it is back home and doesn't contain all the ingredients listed on their website. It's a little salami and mostly ham. No mortadell, soprasad, or pepperoni. Still very tasty, but at $15 it needs to be larger or be unique by containing the missing ingredients.

Overall the food here is really good but just can't justify...