Boudin Bakery & Cafe

Underwhelming. Meh service, meh food.

Clam Chowder Bread Bowl
The clam chowder is a bit fishy. Does it come from the cans they sell? Cuz it kinda tastes like it. The bread is okay, but I expected better from a bakery type place. If I came back, the soup-salad combo seemed okay, but I might try the chili instead of the chowder.

Cranberry Turkey
The bread needed to be toasted. Can you choose a different type of bread for your sandwich? I saw other people with different breads for their sandwiches and was a little jealous. The soft bread kinda just really killed the sandwich. Otherwise, the filling was okay, but nothing special. As far as cranberry turkey goes, I've had better

Salmon BLTA
At least the sliced bread (the same as the turkey) was toasted. That helped. But, the sandwich was cold, which wasn't very appetizing. First off, the avocado was more guacamole, but that wasn't a big deal. The bacon, however had been sitting out, which made it look less appetizing, but I'll give them that it was still surprisingly crispy, making it okay. Not the best bacon I've had, but definitely not the worst. The cold, cold salmon, however, which should have been the star, was instead just sad. It kinda felt like eating canned tuna (maybe canned salmon), just in a whole chunk instead of broken up. All in all, pretty disappointing.

Both sandwiches came with salad or chips. We opted for salad and got a side of some sorta lettuce (only lettuce) with I think a balsamic vinaigrette. While the vinaigrette was tasty, the salad was a little bit overdressed and (since it was already tossed) slightly wilted. Does it come from a big bin already tossed or do they make it for each plate? I didn't notice, but it was also pretty disappointing. It doesn't help that the dark color of the balsamic made the lettuce look extremely unappealing--think slightly wilty lettuce coated in some sorta goopy dark matter. Taste-wise, it was okay, but our first sense with food is sight and I was slightly put off by the look of it.

Conclusion: I'm not coming back unless I'm getting dragged. But if that happens, I'll probably stick with a soup-salad combo and see how that works out. Signing off for now, hopefully there won't be an update.

While strolling out of the mall with my daughter, we spied Boudin and headed straight in hoping to find something special. Being fans of fresh bread, Boudin has a soft spot in our hearts. We walked to the counter and started perusing (and drooling) over the loaves and loaves of sourdough on the shelves. It was then that I spied it, hiding in the corner, waiting patiently to come home with us. It was the most adorable loaf of bread I've ever seen in my life. It was a sourdough loaf shaped like a turtle! After thoroughly embarrassing my daughter by squealing loudly in delight, I managed to compose myself long enough to order and pay for the newest addition to the family which I affectionately named Herman. Happily, we drove our new pet home and showed him to Hubby (and the neighbors, the relatives, and anyone else I could send the picture to). Herman had a new home!

Hubby loved Herman so much, he suggested shellacking him and keeping him as art, but sadly Herman smelled too good not to eat. I threw together a plate of cheese and salami and olives, and carried our prize turtle to the table. It was difficult to bring myself to dig in, but finally, with a bit of a sadistic grin, I peeled off Herman's tail and handed it to Hubby. One bite told me that it was time for me to get serious about eating this cute little morsel. I ripped off a fin, slathered on some seriously stinky blue cheese and popped it into my waiting, still drooling mouth. It was as good to eat as it was to look at!!

Needless to say, Herman was short-lived. Next time, we're going to hollow out the turtle's back and use it as a dip bowl. I can't wait to go back and see if they have any other cute little critters that we can demolish and pair with some smelly cheese. It's a little creepy, but it's only bread.

PS - No one could bring themselves to eat the head, so we gave it to the dog. *smile*

Three Words: Broccoli Cheddar Soup!!

I really like food from Boudin, even if it is a little pricey. I was helped by some pretty nice people: Jim and Maria. The place was clean, with plenty of places to sit, there was a lot to choose from, and again, the BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP was bomb. So bomb, in fact that I have to repeat it twice and make this review super redundant.

It's only served on Tuesdays, so head to Boudin then!

My girlfriend and I needed to grab some lunch before checking out the San Mateo County Fair and happened to be walking through the mall at the time. We figured we might as well eat there since it was nice and cool inside and weren't in the mood for anything too fancy. Boudin seemed perfect for the situation.

We shared a clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, a half Thai chicken salad, and a chicken pesto sandwich served with a green salad. I was truly unimpressed overall. Both salads were hopelessly overdressed and soggy, while the sandwich roll was super hard and thick, making all the innards of the sandwich fall out. What's more, it was overdressed with balsamic vinaigrette and there was no pesto to be found. The soup was tasty, but the bread bowl was very mediocre, and I'm sad to say that I prefer Panera's to here. Just a very disappointing meal overall.

Service at the register was not very friendly and the rest of the crew just didn't seem that into it. Our food certainly didn't reflect what we'd expected from a famous San Francisco treat. Quality control was poor here and corporate should really look into it before I'll ever go back. No thanks.

Food: 3/10

Service: 4/10

Price: $

Atmosphere: 5/10

Accessibility (Parking / Wait Time)

1/1 Star: free mall parking. No wait to order or get a table.

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Service (Waiter / Cleanness / Ambiance)

1/1 Star: normal service. Quiet ambiance.

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Taste (0=Not Edible / 1=Edible / 2=Good (average) / 3=Must Try!)

0/3 Stars: sandwiches are not edible. The bread is tough like leather and their Pesto is just green mayo.

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Overall Experience

2/5 Stars

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Last Words
Yes I went there for dinner so the bread might be from the morning but still... my jaw was hurting after trying to eat that chicken pesto sandwich.

This is the quickest spot to grab a quiet lunch.

It's roomy with cheerful chatty staff and yumm bread that adds flavor to salads and soups- all @ a very reasonable price.

Have you ever noticed Boudin's is never in the food court part of a mall, at this location (Hillsdale) & Stonestown. They're always a bit further.

We went to the Boudin's at the Pier yesterday, and my cousin thought it was SO GOOD, she wanted it again today. This time, we weren't at the Pier but shopping at Hillsdale because she wanted to go to Build-A-Bear to build a few bears.

This one is much cheaper than the Boudin's at the Pier, I would say it's a buck cheaper for clam chowder in a bread bowl & over $1 cheaper for the soup in a bread bowl combo. The seating isn't as comfy, but this location looked okay. We had a wobbly table, that didn't make this experience enjoyable.

Mom had clam chowder in a bread bowl with a side of cobb salad, she didn't finish.
Cousin & sis each had clam chowder in a bread bowl, both didn't finish.
I had the "Best of Boudin" which is the choice of 2 items...salad, cup of soup, 1/2 sandwich...I'm not sure what else was there. I had clam chowder & Pesto Roast Beef Sandwich. Clam chowder is always good, but the roast beef sandwich has red onions...I should have taken them out, but I'm not the kind that would waste food.

Lots of seating, each time I've come, it has never been full. A lot of people, but there are plenty of seats for everyone.

I used to come here for lunch all the time when I worked in the mall. There's nothing like a good, hot tomato soup inside a bowl of sourdough to keep you going for hours. (I can't offer any feedback on their salads and sandwiches, I'm sorry to say, since whenever I go to a Boudin location these days I'm usually there to buy fresh bread to take home, not to grab a meal.)

I recently went back for the same exact meal and things are pretty much the same as always, except now they offer the tomato soup every day - back when I worked in the mall it was a once a week thing!

This isn't a special place for a meal or anything, but it's a good place for a quick, cheap lunch - hence my generous rating. Besides, like I said, I'm usually there for the bread, and I love their breads!

This is the best Boudin's I've ever been in. Unlike the FiDi and Embarcadero stores, this Boudin is actually really spacious and has a lot of tables for people who want to eat in. The staff is also really friendly. They came up and asked us how we liked our meal - unheard of in casual fast food places! They also bussed our table. That's why the facilities is clean clean clean!

Food is good - about the same as the other Boudins. Yeah, I would eat here if I'm at Hillsdale.

My comfort food of the season is usually clam chowder and I often frequent Boudin's for those cold nights. But after being told to go back to the counter and pay $0.89 for a side of bread and butter... I think it's time for a new place!!!

It's been over 10 minutes since they brought over my food so I went to the counter to ask about my starving daughter's clam chowder in a bread bowl and inquired about my bread roll.

The staff person proceeded to get the clam chowder. But looked perplexed when I asked about the dinner roll. I reminded her that she told me I had to pay for it and that I still did not receive my bread and butter. Guess what she did. She grabbed one piece of butter and put it on the tray and added that I could get more from the container if I wanted.

At this point I just explained that I'm waiting on my bread because I didn't receive it yet.

So much for a quick bite to eat. It turned out to be a 20 minute ordeal just to get my full order.

Definitely time to find a new place for clam chowder!!!

Any suggestions?

I really like Boudin. They have a great you pick two menu for lunch. I always get the turkey on croissant and the tomato bread soup. Customer service is okay. And the atmosphere...well its in a mall. I don't usually eat here unless I am going to the mall to shop.