20628 Fri Jul 19 16:39:55 -0700 2002 14 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 72076 I just had a typical Financial District food experience -- instead of listening to my own good judgment and ordering perfect curry at Cha Am express, or hitting the low-pro Latte Express on Kearny for one of their surprisingly delish banh mis, I went to Working Girls Cafe on Kearny. Food total: $8.50 for a Thai chicken sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie, plus I dumped the change from a $10 in the tip jar cause I'm a service job vet. What I got: a cheap roll, tired vegetables, odd spongy chopped-and-pressed chicken breasts that were likely bought frozen for $1 a pound at Costco. And the $2 chocolate chip cookie was so stale that it would have broken had I dropped it. I don't mind paying big $$ for good food -- hey, I know this town's expensive. When I drop $10 on a divine croque monsieur at Metro Cafe on Divis, it's *worth it.* What drives me absolutely wild is paying premium prices for bad food. I'm not sure there's a solution to this besides staying away from unproven or proven-icky spots. But I'm wondering -- is there a place in town that serves *fresh* baked goods all the time? I'm terribly sick of paying $5-7 for a slice of two-day-old cake. Also, is it appropriate for me to haul the manager out of the office and explain to him/her that I will not be returning because I paid way too much for stale, poor quality, ill-cooked food? Fri Jul 19 16:39:55 -0700 2002 0 Pointybird 1 72080 Ouch! What an expensive lesson! If you can do it civilly, I'd think the manager would appreciate you letting him know why you won't be back, particularly since one problem (the stale cookie) should be easy to fix. For that matter, if I'd paid $2 (!!!) for an inedible cookie, I'd be asking for my money back. Fri Jul 19 17:05:08 -0700 2002 72076 0 Ruth Lafler 2 72151 I think it's a good thing that you let someone who can hopefully affect a change know this information. That's what a manager is there for. When you talk with a manager, you're letting them know there is a problem. Sometimes the manager isn't aware that there is a problem so it can be extremely helpful information. Additionally, a manager is given an opportunity to make your experience better or to turn it around, depending on his/her resources. The one thing that I'm always aware of is the delivery of the message. Some people can be extremely rude about the fact that their cookie is stale. "This is the worst cookie in the history of baked goods. It's an affront to humanity. You've completely ruined my day. This is all your fault. What are you going to do to appease me?" type of message isn't the most constructive. However, if you are providing constructive and specific criticism, any good manager should be more than happy to improve quality and to try to make you a satisfied customer. Sat Jul 20 12:57:10 -0700 2002 72080 0 Tida 3 72157 Hi Tida, have any good Durian lately? In a "macro" sense you are right on. I believe that the customer is always right and should be treated this way. A smart wait person and especially a manager should bend over backwards to satisfy each and every customer. However, in a "micro" sense each customer is a very minor percentage of their business. Many wait people are put out by having to return a dish to the kitchen, take back food, etc. Managers too, usually have bigger "fish" to fry and aren't that interested. So they remove a charge for some crappy food from your bill, it just doesn't always make up for the poor food and/or poor service. Restaurants work on volume, just like most companies, and customer service isn't their highest priority. For me personally, I'm always afraid to complain too vociferously about my food because I don't want anyone spitting in my replacement plate if I make too big of a fuss. They do that, you know? Sat Jul 20 14:01:43 -0700 2002 72151 0 Ciaohound 4 72201 Having taken a food safety class, I've heard of that and grosser. I believe that if you've tried to politely give constructive criticism, there's little more to do. At that point, ball's in someone else's court and that person may choose to take action or not. Understandably, that could be limited by what they can or cannot do as well. However, if I choose not to say anything, that's my problem. Ugh, durian :< Sun Jul 21 18:25:20 -0700 2002 72157 0 Tida 1 72084 One place that bakes its own bread and cookies (and many other baked things) in the Fi is: Specialty's 312 Kearny Street 22 Battery Street 150 Spear Street One Post Street Plaza (at Market, Montgomery, and Post) 101 New Montgomery Street 369 Pine Street 505 Sansome Street www.specialtys.com This is not my all-time favorite sandwich place, but their baked goods are never anything but slappably fresh. Their cookies are gigantic and chewy and are glorious 1/4 pound calorie bombs -- and I think they are like $1.35 each. The sandwiches run 3-7 dollars and I usually share half with the hungry LAN guy who sits near me since they are so huge. Let us know if you go and what you think. Fri Jul 19 17:52:16 -0700 2002 72076 0 Mrs. Smith 2 72088 I'd second Specialties baked goods and agree with Pointybird's assessment of their sandwiches. What I do is buy a 1/2 loaf of their fresh baked bread and make a sandwich with fixin's I bring from home. You also should check out Lee's (locations all over downtown SF). Decidedly low brow, but cheap, fresh and good. You can get sandwich, drink and bag o' chips for <$5. Fri Jul 19 18:29:18 -0700 2002 72084 0 RedRob 3 72096 Some Lee's fillings are much better than others. Their turkey is real unpressed turkey, and they have cranberry sauce. I find the roast beef is barely passable. Shrimp salad is very good at some of the Lee's locations (the one on Beale near Bechtel and maybe Front near California). Worth paying the extra quarter for a roll. Fri Jul 19 19:05:25 -0700 2002 72088 0 Windy 4 72113 Oh yeah, the turkey is good! They sometimes run out. Also, their sushi in the package (yes, I was scared too) was surprisingly good. Especially the Inari sushi which was 2 pieces for $1. When I was a bike messenger (and quite poor), this was always a good bet. Alas, I work in a cube farm now in the East Bay. Surrounded only by Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell and Subway. Blecch! Fri Jul 19 21:53:24 -0700 2002 72096 0 Erik 2 72090 Yep, Speciality's cookies are often hot out of the oven--and even when not hot, they're always very fresh. I love their chunky oatmeal-walnut-wheat germ (?)-chocolate chip cookies, lots of good stuff held together by BUTTER! I like their tuna sandwiches too, especially the "Swiss and Sauer" tuna, which is a weird but tasty combo of tuna, sauerkraut, tomatoes, and swiss cheese, served warm. I think no one but me ever ordered this. Their bread is on the mushy side, but it's homemade and fresh--the whole-grain and pumpernickel are good. They also do a nice turkey with sunflower seeds and cranberry sauce. Fri Jul 19 18:32:02 -0700 2002 72084 0 dixieday 2 72112 Since I used to be a professional baker, I'll throw some live yeast into the mix on this one. Specialty's Bakery is an odd place that has some good & bad. GOOD: - Their cookies (esp the milk choc. chip) are EXCELLENT. They use a lot of vanilla and know how to bake them. - I like their sandwiches too if they don't get too busy. BAD: - Their breakfast pastries can be more 'miss' than 'hit'. Not exactly sure why but that's what I found. - Their bread is not very good. I believe they use a LOT of yeast and only make single-rise quick breads in a hurry. This in itself isn't too bad but some of the flavors that they came up with really left me scratching my head. The bread is also really inconsistent from day to day (but I'd notice something like that). Fri Jul 19 21:48:45 -0700 2002 72084 0 Erik 3 72130 I agree with all of your comments Erik. The only thing I really like is the icing on the cinnamon rolls. I think they use some brown sugar in it, which gives it a bit of depth. I really don't like there cookies at all. Typically I would only buy salads. Erik, start a thread and tell us about your baking days. As an aspiring bakery owner, I'd love to know more. Best, David Sat Jul 20 00:56:19 -0700 2002 72112 0 David 4 72272 I stopped eating at Specialty's because their bread always tatsted to me like they took it out of the oven way too soon. It had a raw dough taste and consistency to it. Bake it till it's done, folks! Mon Jul 22 20:37:57 -0700 2002 72130 0 Bay Gelldawg 3 74662 I wanted to like Specialty's and went there a few times but I've had to cross them off the list of places to eat. Their chicken salad sandwich was awful -- I ate the whole thing and was never quite sure if it was chicken or tuna, and I agree with the comment that the bread tastes raw. I think that the effort to get that 'fresh bread' smell into the air makes them take it out early. Also, their breakfast pastries have been really dry with no filling! Just some nuts sprinkled onto a dry, vaguely-cinnamony bun. Weird. Wed Aug 21 22:46:12 -0700 2002 72112 0 Deb 2 72249 My co-workers and I used to laugh at the pathetic sandwiches offered at Specialties all the time. Unfortunately, we were working near the ballpark and had very few choices. Without a doubt, Specialties sandwiches were some of the worst I ever had. Their whole menu system is uselessy confusing (mayo comes automatically?, fuzzy?) and they always screwed my order up (although they were apologetic and gave me a free sandwich). Their 6 inch high turkey sandwich consisted of 4 inches of bread, 1 inch of sprouts, and three slices of slimy turkey roll. I don't even think the bread is good, it has no flavor. However, their baked goods, particularly the cookies, are awesome. Mon Jul 22 15:16:39 -0700 2002 72084 0 MikeW