Embarcadero Center

I complain about the crowds every time I come, and yet like a moth to a flame where do I end up visiting 9 times out of 10 visits to SF?!? Here!!! Lol. I swear, there’s so much more to SF and yet my plans always take me here.
Maybe it’s because Amtrak’s bus stops at the Hyatt conveniently down the street, maybe it’s because it’s so iconic to see the Ferry Bldg. in the background, or maybe it’s because I endlessly can’t get enough of trying to figure out this one section of town, but whatever the reason… this is where it’s all happening.
During Christmas, the ice rink is such a delight to see. However, on any given day just walking around the shops, street vendors, and interesting huge sculpture is enough for an afternoon of family fun or just a good way to escape the mundane.

My office is here at the Embarcadero building, it is super convenient to get everywhere from here. The aesthetic of the building and its surrounding is absolutely gorgeous. It is located directly across the water, the Port of SF and Pier 1 is directly across the way. The variety of restaurants, coffee shops, and clothing retailers makes it even more likable. During the holiday the ice skating rink goes in and its truly festive. The restaurants here have great views and amazing happy hour special.

I still get lost EVERY TIME i’m in here. I always get turned around and end up walking around in circles. I have no idea what is in Center 1,2,3 etc. and I’m usually pretty good and figuring things like that out very quickly. However, as I get lost through the ups and downs of this outdoor retail maze, I always find everything I need. If you need something, most likely you can find it here. Post office? Movie theater? Retail? Comedy club? Fitness? Restaurants? Sweet treats? Coffee? YES! All yes. So, go get lost in the Center! It’ll be fun and you never know what you’ll find!

Great little shopping center catered towards the people working in the Financial District. Great shops even though hours are limited. Nice to just walk around the couple of open air levels. Parking is reasonable too, $ 34 per 24 hour period. For short term, some shops offer parking validation.

This place is just awesome. I had an appointment on the 30^th floor and the views of the city and bay are absolutely incredible! The dial-​a-​cab elevators can be confusing to n00bs but somebody was nice enough to tell me how to get where I needed to be.

Hello?! I can’t patronize your tenants if I can’t navigate my way around.
Bring back the printed directories! Or update the new computerized kiosks. They are useless the way they are now. They pretty much list the retail businesses by name. And how do I know what «Joe Schmoe Co» is selling? Most of the businesses here are not well known major retailers. At least these listings need to be better categorized. There are something like three major categories «Clothing», «Specialty Retail», and something else. That’s not detailed enough.
The selection of shops is worse than at a typical shopping mall.
And yeah, the place does feel cold and eerie.
Most convenient location in the city tough.

Best downtown parking as many merchants validate.
Movies and food options shine.
The overall vibe is clean, organized and simply pleasant.
Not so crowded as the Bloomies/​Nordstrom/​5^th st garage Black Hole.

The Embarcadero center is beautiful. I enjoy walkin around especially during the holidays. The tree lighting, the events, everything is lovely during the winter season. Has beautiful views of the city’s most touristy areas and the atmosphere is always very relaxing. Oh — it is somewhat of a shopping center but i feel like its more neat here than downtown. The only thing I don’t like is parking. Parking in this area is pricey and just very frustrating especially if you are not a baller. But it is conveniently located by several public transportation options!

Walked around for just a bit on a Sunday just to check it out — most stores were closed or not yet open — but it’s a fun outdoor multi-​segmented mall — across several streets/​sections.
Can’t really comment much else, but we walked our puppy through it and it was nice to be in the shade and just see what was available :)

Although it can get a bit crowded here, I always found what I need whenever I go here. They keep this place clean and the stores are in convenient places.

This is one of the many places I visit when I’m in San Francisco.
Even if I’m not coming here for a bite to eat or to see a movie, I just come here for the atmosphere.
My favorite places inside are Fuzios and the Embarcadero Center Cinema.
If you get the chance to eat at Fuzio’s, sit outside on the patio.
But aside from these places, the center has really cool places to sit and talk.
These places to sit run all across each of the sections of the center.
These are great places to be alone or to read a book.
Don’t just snag the first sitting spot. Give yourself some time and explore everywhere. The layout is great and you can find some private sitting areas.
There’s also places to sit on the ground level where a lot of the food places are at.
While this may be a great place for people watching, it’s also not as private as the other sitting areas.
Also really amazed at how well kept the whole area is.
Another reason why I keep coming back.
I haven’t experienced this place yet in the rain, as many people have said it can get quite slippery on some of the flooring.
Two places have recently closed down here.
The Toaster Oven and Yogorino

There are many great things about the Embarcadero Center, but several new developments prompted me to write this review. There is now free public wifi in the public seating areas. These areas have been renovated and are nicer than ever. The re-​opened Embarcadero Center Cinema is awesome — great lounge theater with reclining seats… and a bar inside. Having a glass of wine at the movie theater is a sure sign of the progress we’ve made as a civilization! Lots of great food options within all four Embarcadero buildings… terrific choices for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and wine and coffee too! Between the post office and the banking options, it’s practically a one-​stop shop for all of my needs. Great specialty stores when you need the perfect gift for that special someone who has exquisite taste.

A bit tricky to navigate at first. Theres a movie theater, and many restaurants. Careful though it can be dangerous when its wet. Plenty of skyscrapers around so it really gives you a NYC feeling.

Touristy and overpriced

The Embarcadero has served as my hub many times when I’ve had to be in the city for meetings. During breaks, it served as a great stop for food and lunch time shopping, without having to schlep up to the Westfield. It’s a ghost town on the weekends but quite lively during week. I find the layout interesting and kind of fun to walk around, working your way through the various levels. Be careful on rainy days though-​the tiles get crazy slippery.
I appreciate the more relaxed nature of their Banana Republic store, as well as LOFT and Ann Taylor for my business casual shopping needs. Often, I find these locations are less picked out over and have pretty well stocked clearance sections. One can leisurely browse, especially on the weekends, when you might be one of the few people in the store.
Other highlights include an Osha Thai location, Buckhorn Grill, some «artisan» type frozen yogurt place and a few other smaller places good for a weekday lunch.
It’s not a «destination» by any means but a good place to start or end to your day when taking BART to the Embarcadero station.

The art work, décor and designs are fascinating. Walking through all 4 centers you can see great designs. Good detail and interesting shapes. The stair case and walk ways. One of these days I gotta take more pictures of this place, although I suck at photography. If you’ve had a chance to go into the offices and get to the higher floors the views are great. The ice rink is a nice touch.
Lots of places to eat outdoors. And they keep this place pretty clean. Short walk to the Ferry Building and water. Can get windy sometimes.
The shopping is ok. The restaurants here could be better, nothing that great to write about except maybe Pizza Orgasmic. The parking prices is not bad for the area.

If you are looking for 4 connected mini-​malls/​shopping centers that are windy, bland, cold, wet and come with slippery tiles, this is the place for you. You will feel isolated and disoriented, a lot of stairs, steps and escalators to manage and long walks nearly exposed to dripping rain and hair-​decoiffing breeze. Only redeeming value is the excellent Landmark cinema (Embarcadero Center number 1) with a great choice of US and foreign films, a short walk away from the BART station. Parking is possible below and used to be free after hours. Nearby high-​rise housing and offices are uninteresting except perhaps the Alcoa building which is made of — you guessed it — aluminum.

Ambitious building plans from the 1970s yields an interesting mix of corporate building design housing business services and commercial retail. The center has much eye-​opening angles and designs that will keep your neck straining and staring at the different sight-​lines (okay, at least for me lol). It’s the most interesting at lunch-​time when the FiDi workers scramble to get their lunch-​on. Open-​space concrete, steel and glass — it all seems to work.

Some of the best things in life were originally a mistake. (Just like my brother) I was looking for parking for the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building and stumbled into this place. Easy and cheap parking garage. Cool little stores and cafes too. Sometimes the best way to find cool places is to get lost once in awhile. I will be back.

Basically, an upscale two level shopping mall below four skyscrapers in the Financial District. Busy during the week day. Deserted at night and on weekends.
I went there to buy something specific at one of their stores one weekend. Should I take public transit or drive? Hey, their website says $ 2 validated parking with $ 10 purchase on weekends. In fact, the exact wording of their website says:
«0−4 Hours $ 2.00 with validation from retail stores, restaurants, medical/​dental offices, health clubs and EC Cinema ($ 10 minimum purchase).»
So I drove.
I bought hundreds of dollars of merchandise that day, but this particular merchant said they don’t validate. The cashier in the garage says that some stores don’t validate, so too bad. So I had to pay $ 9 for parking. Embarcadero Center’s website on parking is essentially a «bait and switch» and clearly wrong.

I bought. They switched.
I guess you better call the merchant and see if they validate before showing up.