Estela’s Fresh Sandwiches

So my friend came in and picked up a couple sandwiches for us. They were just ok unfortunately. Not something I would go out of my way to have again.

Beaitiful sandwiches that are yummmie! Great diversity of food and dri k. Perfect location. LOVE the proprietor delivers and works in site. I miss you all

The sandwiches and smoothies here are good, but the business is run very poorly. Always understaffed and consistently mess
up orders. Please invest in the business and a ticketing system to track orders accurately

Smoothies are groovy! You can mix and match and add supplements, I am slightly allergic to raw apples so that was nice. I got the Lucky Green Smoothie for a post workout meal and it’s tropical, refreshing, thick and a beautiful green color.
I wish they would use raw veggies but other than that I’d return for some food, the large array of veggie sandwiches look very interesting!

I dont really get how there are so many good reviews for this sandwich shop. Possibly, many are, unaware to themselves for now, just following the herd and afraid to be honest. I know this area quite well and am well acquainted with the many types that frequent this part of town. Some it can be safely said could not objectively critique a sandwich, or anything for that matter, without some prior validation from prior reviews. It is like a domino effect as each is pushed to respond in line with the previous hip and current rating. Such as happened here.
Many are at the age of beaming smiles and effusing ad nauseum about how things are ««««So Gooooooood»
Now, lets come down to earth for just a minute or two. I have eaten at Estelas on Haight Street about 5 or 6 times. Out of those visits, I counted 4 times when they absolutely and inexusibly screwed the whole thing up. Lets look at what happened :
1. Ordered a hot sandwich, proceeded to open the wrapping and expect a somewhat warmish at least toasted sandwich. What i got was a cold sandwich. They had forgotten to put in the toaster. Only after bringing it to their attention did they try to heat if up. A couple of mins later the heated sandwich arrives back out to me. I reopen it and same thing as before. This time the outer part of the bread was warm not hot, with the ingredients as cold as the refrigerated truck they came in. Not a pleasant experience at all.
2. Lunch time and had only 20 mins to wait for my order. Now given the place is empty and nobody really doing anything in the back kitchen (can see from the front counter) the sandwich was seemingly forgotten about. I went to the counter and smiled to the order taker to remind them of my existence. She was taking her lunch with the other workers there. Yep, imagine that, waiting for an order and finding that the staff is out to lunch. The woman in a somewhat reluctant manner proceeded to make the order. Fact.
3. A few months later, no other place to go to and in need of a quick sandwich I say to hell with it and go to Estelas. I ordered a plain black forest ham sandwich. Easy to make I would expect to most anybody. The order arrives and guess what ?. I get a egg and cheese breakfast sandwich instead. It is brought back to the counter,. Next I am greeted with a blank unapologetic look from the Hispanic lady working there. No effort whatsoever on her part to show humility in the face of this situation. I was not pleased.
4. Last but no least. Similar situation as number 1. above. I decided never again would I go to that place.
Interestingly enough, I believe the staff is influenced by the owner. from seeing him in the store quite a loud, boastful and somewhat uncomfortable type. There is a conceit about him. Maybe the staff just follow suit to fit in and keep their jobs in the process. Again, the staff is ok when taking your money and order. However, if something goes wrong they are left staring at you with no idea how to respond with any positive degree of customer service.
So, all in all — — - Not the «So Goooooooooooooooooood» place that many naively claim. For the rather high price, the sandwich ingredients are really average at the very best. But the customer service is what ruins the whole effort.
Too bad.

Smoothies are good here. My favorite is the hangover helper. Reasonably priced too, especially given the size (this is true for food too). I’m not a huge fan of their sandwiches but I will give them props on the massive selection. I have tried a few and just don’t find them very flavorful. Great selection though. Maybe I’ll find my match one day! Definitely good for a quick lunch at a good price.

I’m a fan of Estela’s. Great neighborhood sandwich shop. The staff is very friendly, they use great bread, and the sandwiches are reasonably sized. They’re sometimes a little inconsistent with which ingredients they have or say they have and they occasionally run out of odd things that you wouldn’t expect them to. That’s often outside of their control so can’t really fault them for it.

I love Estela’s. Their sandwiches are great, fresh, and they have a huge variety to choose from. Plus their staff is very friendly.

A tiny place in lower Haight with huge sandwiches to fill you up or have leftovers for afternoon munch. They have delicious smoothie as well but due to popularity it can be a long wait. Getting my bbb berry took 15−20on so not the place of you want something instantly.
Value ⁴⁄₅
Atmosphere 3.5÷5 cramped
Service 2.5÷5
Quality4/​5
¹⁴⁄₂₀

Hella good sammys! Ones with the artichoke spread are great and I love the San Francisco names of the sandwiches.

Finally gave this place a try and appreciate all the vegetarian options but my sandwich was nothing that warranted a $ 9 price tag.
Everything from the bread to the flavor combination was a bit mediocre but I’m willing to give them another try.
They have reasonably priced smoothies… maybe I’ll give that a go next time…

I was Joe Pesci’d! Ok, so this isn’t a drive through but I ordered a simple turkey, lettuce and tomato on a Kaiser Roll for take out. I get home — they gave me an onion roll with pieces of Onion on the bun and the turkey (which was thick and glossy) was covered in pepper. I don’t like onion or pepper so I tried to salvage the turkey but the shine and slippery texture turned me off — $ 8.75 totally wasted.

nothing fancy for breakfast sandwiches. but harty yummy and affordable. I’ll try more diverse stuff as I will certainly return.

These are just sandwiches. I literally could have made a better one at my house. I guess it was fast and fresh but, you know, it’s a sandwich shop.
The ingredients weren’t special in any way and I wasn’t really satisfied afterword.
Oh well. I’ll try somewhere new next time.
:-)

There’s something up with this place that I can’t quite put my finger on. The elements of a fantastic deli are there, but it’s just ok. There’s a lot of sandwiches on the menu, but it somehow lacks creativity… mostly just the same ingredients shifted around.
My favorite is a custom job: ham, salami, and brie on the (tasty) talera bread with the works, including the sweet/​spicy mustard.
Although the staff is friendly, the service is bad: they write the orders down** on these dinky little post-​its and often forget to ask for a name. I’ve witnessed more than one mix up with other folks’ sandwiches.
The reason I’ve witnessed more than one is because it takes about 15 – 30 minutes for them to make it. I’ve been the only one in there and have had to wait 15 minutes.
If they tightened up their operation, they would be able to handle grilled sandwiches too, which would be an awesome addition. But as it is, that would probably be a 45 minute wait.
** I once ordered my sandwich using the phrase «the works» and watched the guy write down «tomato, lettuce, onions, pickle, sprouts, mayo» on the post it. It’s not a big deal, but this is what I’m talking about.

Rebuilt.
Good burn:
Bad burn:
Fortunately both The Man and Estela’s get rebuilt:
Returned to support the efforts and came away with an excellent half turkey sandwich with cranberry mustard, lettuce and tomato on sourdough.
Complemented that with a delicious small Blueberry Hill smoothie with blueberries, banana, vanilla yogurt and apple juice.
Pair cost me about $ 10 and came with friendly and attentive service and the feeling you’ve helped bring a neighborhood institution back to life.
You can’t keep a good Man down.

The ingredients are fresh, and the juice is great. The sandwich, however, was not impressive. The sandwich is good, but its nothing that I couldn’t get from Whole Foods or perhaps even Safeway. I ordered a Veggie sandwich (#31) I believe, and it tasted like any other good veggie sandwiches that you can get from Safeway or Whole Foods. I also ordered a Player’s Club for my friend. He said it was good, but slightly bland so he added his own condiments.
The service is mediocre, the male staff at the front register (who is also the juice maker) was far from rude, but not particularly friendly. Now that I think about it, I kind of regret tipping 15+% on a togo order of two sandwiches and a juice with very little service.
Not sure if I would return.

Fabulous!
I’m so happy to have them back in the hood!

Great little sandwich shop. I had the veggie Muffelatta which was A-​May-​Zing. The smoothies are also great. Definitely not the healthiest they could be (a lot of sugar it seemed)
Con was that I sat waiting for my sandwich for almost 30 minutes… They only had 2 people working on a sunny Saturday during lunch. Kind of crazy.

Pretty simple. These guys have a great selection of specialty sandwiches, ingredients and they pile their sandwiches high. I had the Avalon which I absolutely loved.
I would only say that compared to a specialty deli, their meat selection is a bit limited, which can certainly show when you wish you had some mortadella on your Italian sub for example.
But everything they do make is rock solid and you get a great bang for your buck, which ever sweetens the deal.
Glad I stopped in.