The Mill — Restaurant in San Francisco

Great space, no WiFi, friendly staff, coffee was a bit disappointing. (4/5 green stars) Hmmmm. Everyone in here looks like a model – I’m wondering what’s going on. Perhaps I’m just not used to spending Saturday afternoon in a swanky SF hood. Or maybe it’s the prices – a slice of toast with cream cheese was $3.75 in 2014 and today it’s $7 (although it now contains pesto and pine nuts). I’ve no specific problem with them charging as much as they like if they use good ingredients – just be aware of the price before you drool too much over the toast photos. The main attractions are the space, and that it’s a collaboration between Josey Baker Bread and Four Barrel Coffee.

You know about the toast already, so I won’t go into it ;-) I had a straight up coffee ($3.50) and thought it was a bit lackluster to be honest. Disappointingly, they don’t do pour-overs and my coffee tasted like it had been there a while. Also weird that it seemed a little over-roasted and bitter, considering that they don’t do dark roasts. It’s still a little better than average coffee – it’s just that I have high expectations because of the reputation. They just got new coffee mugs – beautiful stoneware made locally by Sven Ceramics. The space is very pretty - nicely laid out with individual tables, a long communal table, and lots of floor space. Good music playing too. No WiFi but it’s still a place where you can hang out with a book or laptop and not feel like an oddball.

I’m also giving them 4/5 “green stars” for social and environmental impact based on these reasons:

Positives: • Four Barrel recently switched to compostable coffee bags. • Bread is made from organic grain, often local. • On their blog they mention covering health insurance for staff. • Mostly vegetarian menu. • Their milk is from St. Benoit, an organic farm in Sonoma that (re)uses glass bottles. • Coffee is sourced by direct trade partnerships, documented on the Four Barrel site. • They use real glasses for water rather than plastic. • Nice locally made ceramics.

Room for Improvement:

• Four Barrel doesn’t publish prices paid for green coffee. On their site they say “it would be an impossible waste of time for us to use one phrase to describe how and why we buy the coffees that we do.” This is understandable on one hand but also a bit of a cop out. They should at least try to be more transparent.

• Similarly, they generally don’t discuss environmental conditions of the farms they source from. It’s nice to see photos of the farmers but it would be good to see more photos of the farms themselves, with more discussion on things like percentage shade cover and sustainability.

• A lot of their toast is sold to go, in a tray with a plastic lid. It’s probably compostable (I didn’t get a chance to check) but it does seem a bit of a shame to sell something like toast and package it in a plastic box – they could have gone with cardboard but I think they want to show off how pretty the toast looks. So I’m a bit disappointed there that they are choosing form (marketing) over environmental impact. Of course, you can always have your toast for there and forgo the box. Interested in writing green star reviews? If so, contact me!...

I'm surprised by my negative experience at this place.

My friend had been here before, was excited to go again and take me with her. The aesthetic of this place is awesome and so beautiful. They do their toast alright. My friend ordered the chocolate hazelnut, sea salt and butter toast. Size wise, it was huge and taste was good but they put way too much butter on. There were some parts of the bread that was soggy with butter. Now we go on to the coffee which was very unappetizing. We decided to split an almond milk Cappy and I'm so glad we did because ours was barely drinkable. Upon first sip, I noticed that the drink was very watery. I pushed back the foam on top and sure enough, it looked more like drip coffee with a splash of milk not an espresso based drink. I take the drink back to the counter and say that I ordered a Cappy and that this didn't look like a cappy (also to note, they made us an 8 oz Cappy which is always a red flag to me because cappys are traditionally 5 oz drinks). The barista was very dismissive of my concern. He told me that "that's just how their almond milk is". This is also a red flag because it's 2019 and very quality barista series milk alternatives is incredibly easy. I asked what brand they used and he said it was called Good Life (so I guess never buy their stuff unless you like watery nut milks?). I ask him what I can do to get a Cappy like the classic 1:3 foam, milk, coffee ratio and he says thats just impossible with their nut milks. He also tells me that when the drinks are sitting out for 10-15 minutes, they get that curdly watery look. I clarified to him that we had gotten this drink way less than 10 minutes ago. The barista then challenged me saying that he could look at the receipt so check the time stamp. I just told him that I didn't think that was necessary (and also, what would be the point of that?). Then he told me that there is no point in trying the other milk alternative option, hemp, because it's going to do the same thing. I decide to risk it ( I guess) and when it came out, it was at least not all curdled like the last one but it was still incredibly watery and barely any microfoam on top. The barista acted like it was weird for me to expect quality alternative milk (like I said, it's 2019 so drinking milk subs isn't weird anymore).

It was such a weird experience and I'm not sure what I could have done to not have this happen. I didn't come up to the barista aggressively. This is a good place to go if you only care about getting some good insta pictures and a loaf of bread to go. Save actually getting coffee so some other San...

10/10. Absolutely unbearable spot for brunch or bread. One of my friends in DC told me that I had to try The Mill when I moved to SF — she would always come here every time she visited and take a few loaves of sourdough back to DC with her — and I can absolutely see why. The bread is absurdly tasty, with a great sourdough flavor blended with the heartiness of whichever whole grain they used in your bread of choice. Their toasts are a great way to sample the bread before committing to a whole loaf, and all of the toppings are outstanding. My favorites are their hummus toast and egg in a hole, both of which feature a super thick slice of their amazing bread, toasted to perfection and layered with tons of flavor. The egg in a hole comes with a perfectly poached egg with a gorgeous runny yolk, as well as a generous slathering of herb butter. The herbs really enhance the flavor of the bread, and I love the added richness from the egg. The hummus and tomato toast is just as delicious; the hummus gives the toast a lovely richness and creaminess, and the heirloom tomatoes add a fresh, sweet, and acidic bite. It’s topped with a bit of olive oil and sea salt, which further enhance all the flavors. Their toasts are undeniably expensive at $12-$20 each, but they are so very worth it.

If you’re not in a bread mood, they also have a ton of delicious pastries! I’ve only tried my classic chocolate croissant — which was wonderfully buttery, flakey, and chocolatey — but they have many other options, ranging from the classics to some more unique selections. For coffee, they’re partnered with (or maybe a sister company of?) Four Barrel Coffee Roasters, so you can order their beautifully roasted beans here too. The espresso is wonderful on its own — I love their americanos — or in latte form.

It can get extremely crowded here, especially on the weekends, so I’d either try to get here quite early or be prepared for a decently long wait, both to order and to find a spot to sit. There’s a good amount of seating, including the usual small tables and chairs, a giant communal table with over ten seats, and a long bench with little arm rests / tables along the back wall. Even so, they are rightfully extremely popular, so you might still need to take your toast / pastries / coffee to an outdoor table or a...