Boston Market
2300 16th Street
Suite 100
(between Bryant St & Hampshire St)
San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 864-7666
190 reviews
Neighborhood: Financial District
"One of my favorite lunch spots... great place to grab a sandwich, salad or hot food. If I'm able to leave for lunch around 11:30 I'll go…" read more »
18 Reviews for Boston Market
So, this seemed like a good choice for my hungry mother, my one year old, my exasperated husband, and I to stop on our way out of the city to the Northbay. I was expecting the worse, but was pleasantly surprised. The chicken was delish. And so was the cornbread. Yes, there was one crazy demanding guy that one of the employees behind the counter looked like he was going to open a can of whoop-a#! on (not on the menu), but if you are nice and know your order, you'll leave with a tasty and unpretentious meal!
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I'm not ashamed to say it - I.heart.Boston.Market! It brings me back to the Midwest, just like TGI Fridays and Olive Garden. When it's a Friday or Saturday night and you're exhausted from going out the night before, there's nothing better to kick off a veg-out night at home than the Family of Four meal. Load up those mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, cinnamon apples, and creamed spinach and you are good to go.
The one thing that perplexes me about this particular Boston Market is the few times we've gone in there, there is not a single chicken on the rotisserie. Where did all the chicken go? Where are you getting the chicken from that you cut up and put in the foil box? We've gone early evening, late evening, somewhere in between, so you gotta think they need to cook more chicken at some point. Something seems funky but as long as there's chicken somewhere when I arrive, I'm a happy midwestern girl.
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Lawyers are born planners. Well, good lawyers, at any rate. Planners and organizers. As the rows of color-coded, neatly labeled binders in the bookshelves in my office will attest to (maybe also a bit OCD, but it gives us character). Indeed, lawyers (particularly litigators) are, in some respects, the planners and organizers of last resort: if you FAIL to plan and organize (your business, your contract with that important vendor...), rest assured that we will be happy to charge you significant sums to do, or redo, the planning and organizing you should have done in the first place.
But, the best laid schemes of mice and men oft gang agley. [You probably thought the saying was "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Well, all I can say is, you're wrong. The author of those famous words was Scottish and therefore used less than Queen's English. No need to trust me: http://en.wikipedia.or... ]
Where was I? Oh yeah, plans don't always work out. Not for lack of planning, perhaps, but execution counts for something too. And when my weekend lunch plans gang agley, I often find myself at this Boston Market. It's close to Chez P., as well as a couple of other stores I occasionally need to frequent. Peel the skin off, don't eat the sides or the cornbread, and lunch is a really health 250 calories or so. Or, do what I do, eat the skin, eat the cornbread, have a double side of mak & chez, and don't give a crap.
Decent food, fast, reasonable prices, mostly clean restaurant (although I usually get it to go and retreat back to the manse).
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Ghettoish place with pricey fast food for the masses, but good for a change of pace or if you are on your own for dinner for the night.
Smack dab on the corner of unsavory lane and shady buck drive.
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I had just quit my job.
I walked from the SF Design Center to the 33 bus stop outside this Boston Market waiting for the bus so me and my freshly unemployed ass could get home and start the job hunt.
It's an interesting corner, this one. It was a hot day. The requesit crazy homeless dude on the opposite corner, crossed the street, talking to himself all angry. He was coming to claim the Boston Market territory, apparently tired of hawking crazy in front of the gas station.
I stood with several other singletons and a handful of families, waiting dutifully. The 33 requires patience. It is never there when you need it.
Another crazy came out of nowhere and reached the corner the same time the other one did and they stared each other down in front of the Boston Market.
The tension was palpable.
Homeless Crazy Gang War!
Well, they were technically single men, but I'm sure the multiple personality disorders both of them had counted as gangs.
One of them alleviated the situation by opening the door of the Boston Market, taking a step inside and screaming at the top of his lungs:
"CHIIIIIIICKEEEEENN!!!!"
The other crazy, apparently not crazy enough, recognized he had met his match and wandered away.
I peered in and I can honestly say 95% of the clientele inside Boston Market had just crapped their pants.
I miss rotisserie chicken. And Mac n' Cheese. But I can make it at home without risking making a whoopsie in public because of a crazy homeless gang war.
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Never actually been. Coworker asked me if I wanted anything for lunch while she was out, I told her to get me whatever she was having.
She came back with an amazingly huge salad from Boston Market, the chicken was so warm and delicious and the bowl it came in was massive. Probably one of the best fast food salads I've had.
Mmmmm.
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best rotisserie chicken we've found since moving here (where are the really good peruvian chicken places that should be everywhere? you know what i mean?!).
consistently good flavor - beating whole foods by a long shot.
Side dishes are easy to skip - hyped up flavors, sodium, fat
I go here for only two side dishes. It's all about the creamed spinach and mashed potaters. Rotisserie Chix is average. I tried the meat loaf once and I ended up making 5 trips to the can through out the night.
So, stick with the side items and you should be good.
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A few months ago, it was brought to my attention that Boston did not have the best food in the world. Crazy, huh? Until a few months ago, I had repeatedly complained, "I can't get good pizza in the city, and the North End of Boston is much better for Italian food than North Beach in San Francisco." No one ever questioned the legitimacy of my complaints or if Boston's food was really that good until one day my San Francisco buddy's sister didn't back down and said, "I used to live in Boston and the food wasn't great."
At first I was in shock and wasn't sure how to respond so I didn't. Wasn't it a given that Boston had the best food in the world? Over the course of the next few days, I started thinking, "Maybe Boston doesn't have the best food in the world, maybe she was right, could it be possible?" Even my running argument about pizza had flaws. Sure there seems to be more good pizza by the slice places in Boston but I've had some better gourmet type pizzas in San Francisco than I ever had in Boston. Even my North End Vs. North Beach argument had flaws. I really enjoyed the cannoli that I had the other night in North Beach. Not to mention, San Francisco has some of the best Japanese, Thai, Chinese, and Indian food I have ever had.
So maybe she was right? San Francisco does have better food than Boston? I did finally think of one argument to say, "Well, at least we have Dunkin' Donuts, Papa Gino's, and Boston Market."
This turned out also to be untrue. I was in Potrero Hill a while back and stumbled onto a Boston Market. I couldn't believe it; there was a Boston Market in San Francisco. I decided not to try it at that moment partly because I was not hungry and partly because I wanted to believe that even though there was a lone Boston Market in San Francisco that any Boston Market in Boston had to be better.
Two weeks ago, I was doing some shopping in Potrero Hill so I decided to try this Boston Market for dinner. I ordered a chicken carver sandwich and a side of mash potatoes. I have always enjoyed the way the chicken is roasted at Boston Market and liked the small pieces of potato mixed in the mashed potatoes. My meal was good and to my dismay, almost identical if not identical to the chicken carver and mashed potatoes I grew up eating.
Well, at least Boston has Dunkin' Donuts and Papa Gino's? This is the only argument I can make these days in regards to Boston food vs. San Francisco food with the knowledge of a Boston Market in the city, and that San Francisco has had some of the best Thai, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese food that I have ever had anywhere.
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Worth what you'll spend? Yes.
Good service? Good enough.
Decent ambience? Could probably use a remodel in 2-3 years.
Food/drinks tasty? Sho'nuff.
Free refills on soda? Yes, if the fountain isn't busted.
Gets bonus points for? Plenty of parking, 10% off with AAA membership, and once gave me free refills using bottled soda when their soda fountain wasn't working properly.
I love Boston Market. The foods great for the price, I get 10% off with AAA, and it's usually pretty clean. My favorite dishes are the turkey with gravy and any of the chicken meals. As far as I can tell, it's all pretty healthy.
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If you have never been to a Boston market before I would tell you that you aren't missing anything.
the food is fatty, salty and unhealthy. prices are too high consider it's all crap.
Their mac n cheese wasn't that great last time I went.
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It's TV dinner food at inflated prices.
Yes, the food is salty and yes, it is comparable to fast food, but I will admit I have eaten here a few times a year for many, many years.
The roasted chicken is always moist and tender, but the Boston Market chickens are the smallest chickens imaginable. I have had quail comparable to the size of these petite birds. The meat loaf is okay too, but really, I don't want to know what is in it. My favorite side dishes are the whipped potatoes without gravy or the corn or green beans. I find their macaroni and cheese very appalling, but I like the little rectangular cornbreads.
Boston Market also makes some of the smallest sandwiches around. Basically it was four regular sized bites, and the sandwich was gone. Service is fairly fast and efficient, and most of the employees that I've had interaction with are very friendly.
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In general, Boston Market is a much better alternative to "fast food". If you pick the right combinations, it can actually be healthy.
This location tries real hard to be friendly. The food is fresh and location is clean.
Eat up peeps!
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If you've ever had the misfortune of returning/exchanging cable equipment at Comcast in Potrero Center...you should bring a Powerbar or something to keep you from passing out as you wait in line for an eternity. I didn't know this and after waiting 50 min to exchange my defective HD tuner, I was about to hit a critically low blood sugar. After finally getting my new tuner, my stomach was far from comcastic and I needed some chow asap. The only restaurants in my diminishing peripheral vision were either Boston Market or Mickie D's across the street...Simply because of proximity reasons (10-ft vs. 50-ft walk), I stumbled into Boston Market.
As reviewed by Shelly S, this place is indeed FOUL...maybe even borderline putrid. My meal there basically made a TV dinner seem gourmet in comparison.
Boston Market...It's NOT what's for dinner (...or human consumption).
I used to live in the Castro and was super excited when BM opened a location where Home is now. I almost bought stock in the company but good thing I didn't as the SF experiment didn't work. I'm not sure why. Seems like fast and tasty comfort food would be a big hit anywhere. The meatloaf with gravy and mashed taters kicks ass but it's all good.
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It's definitely better than and a little healthier than KFC. I like their sides like their mac and cheese as well as their vegetables. The chicken is great because it's moist and juicy. The staff are always nice when we come in for a craving.
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Update: Had another one of my cravings for creamed spinach so I headed over to this Boston Market, parked the car and went in. As i looked at the spinach, it looked about 3 days old and crusted over. I turned around and walked out. I just can't do it and won't be back.
I have to admit, I have such a soft spot for the creamed spinach, and the BM Frozen crap just doesn't cut it. This isn't my favorite of the BM locales, but it'll work when I need a fix.
There isn't really anything wrong with this location, just kind of "beh". The turkey tends to be a bit dry, but the spinach and the ham are great.
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The rotisserie chicken and roast turkey are fine, but everything else appears to have a box of salt as its number one ingredient. Eating the meatloaf or any of the assorted sides is guaranteed to lead to hours of water consumption and a long night of getting up every twenty minutes.
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