Lou’s Cafe

This place is phenomenal. I’ve walked past their nondescript sign on Front St on the way to work for months now and like Harry finally made his way to Hogwarts via Platform 9.75, I ran in head first when I realized this was an extension of the awesomest sandwich shop of the Inner Richmond.
The Ami-​Cado and the RB Mushroom sandwiches are gut-​bombtastic, diet-​crushing, glorious manifestations of deliciousness. They command your gaze and demands your taste buds’ attention, completely paralyzing everything else. You shut down any hygienic reflexes and allow the sumptuous juices of the Secret Sauce to cascade down your hands and pool at the edges of your mouth. You blink and its over. Guess you’ll have to come back with that loyalty card…7 more and you get one free!

Awesome (totally HIDDEN) gem in the Fidi.
I have been to the Geary location, and the quality holds up in this new location.
THEY REALLY NEED A SIGN ON PINE STREET… The address is Pine but it is not on Pine street — the entrance is hidden on FRONT street (and even hidden there — next to the entrance to the Garage.)
There was a line at lunch which is surprising b/​c it has so few Unilocal reviews. Maybe people want to keep it a secret. Pricing is great compared to everywhere else in the fidi — sandwiches around $ 9 with tax (easily split for 2 ladies) and the Salads are around $ 8.
We split the Italian — it was good (and heated –which I thought was odd, as Italian combo sammys are usually cold), but still very tasty!
They have a frequency card — but 9 or 10 sammys get one free.
Looking forward to trying the corned beef has one for Breakfast!

Great sandwiches at a decent price for the area.

The size of the sandwich is, if not overwhelming, generous and enough to make me a bit sleepy afterwards. The price is right, and the taste reminds me of genova deli in the east bay.
Great, sandwich, great price, pleasant location and place to sit if you want to. Sentinel, Au West & Molinari are now dead to me… this is my new sandwich place.

Coworkers was raving about this place so finally decided to come here for lunch and ordered the Buffalo Chicken sandwich. It was surprisingly pretty good, chicken wasn’t dry. It has bacon and i sub for Peppered Jack cheese and their special sauce was delicious. This is one of the better places for sandwich if you work in this area.
I tried the corned beef hash and it’s pretty delicious. It’s packed with beef and egg (prob 2 – 2.5egg) and hash brown! It is very heavy so I got this right at 10am before they stopped serving and wasn’t hungry for the rest of the day. Breakfast is about $ 7. Cheaper than their lunch sandwiches!
I recommend the corned beef hash over the original breakfast sandwich (I only order it with bacon but both (bacon and ham might’ve been better?). Its just a different type of meat.
This is located inside a building on 100 Pine St., walk all the way to the end and it’s on the left.
Don’t forget to get a stamp card. I wish that all places would just use an app or use your number to collect points as I hate carrying an extra card with me.

Saw a sign outside that it had been featured on the TV show «Check Please Bay Area» and just knew we had to stop by. Certainly glad that we did as I think we’re may have found s new deli favorite. I ordered the sandwich calmed Risky Business and my coworker ordered the Lu-​Ben. We’re both enjoyed what was a sizeable and satisfying sandwich. Prices are quite reasonable ($ 8-​$ 9). Note that the put a jalapeños-​mayo spread on every sandwich. It caught me by surprise as it had some kick. If you aren’t sure, ask for it on the side. There are tables outside for you to sit at if it’s not too cold out. We’ll be back to try the other sandwiches.

Tucked away behind an office building near a hidden POPOS, you probably wouldn’t stumble upon this place randomly. A bunch of cold cut options offered in various configurations. I was trying to pin down what made me like this place more than the many generic sandwich options in the FiDi lunch scene. The meat and cheese are nice, but not really stand out on their own. I think it has to do with (1) Lou’s special sauce, (2) the jalapeño spread and (3) the extremely fresh bread.
Hot Pastrami: Thinly sliced, not thick chunks. Warm, taken directly from a slow cooker. A decent portion to fill you up, but not stuff you. Loved the soft and crunchy Dutch Crunch roll. The jalapeño spread added a nice kick. Not quite Wise Sons or Tommy’s Joynt quality pastrami, but very solid.
Ultimate Club: Ham, turkey, roast beef, salami and bacon. A little reminiscent of Jimmy John’s J.J. Gargantuan, but more of a healthy appetite than a coronary bypass portion of meat. The cold cuts were nice, but the bacon was a bit «meh» since it wasn’t crunchy at all. Once again, the default jalapeño spread added a nice kick and unique flavor. The soft and chewy roll was perfectly fresh.

Never disappointing. Just like the one on Geary, the sandwiches are always what you expect. Their special sauce is delicious!

Dear Lou’s Café: Please know that although I make a mere 78.3% of the US dollar I can assure you my money spends just as well as the guy (who makes 100% of the US dollar) standing behind me in line.
More importantly I am generous with my mere 78.3% of the US dollar in that I tip you a whole 11.5% of the total bill unlike the guy behind me who uses his credit card and gives you NO TIP at all.
Lastly my time is as important as the impatient guy standing behind me in line.
With this I ask you: why oh why do you pretend to take my order only to put it off to the side and proceed to take another order from the man standing BEHIND me where thereafter you make his breakfast in quickly creating, cooking and serving him within 6 minutes after he/​we ordered; again I ask why? It is only after he smugly walks past me out the door do you then start to create and cook my order? [10 minutes after I ordered]
Am I missing something here? Yeah — I am missing TIME! Time that is irreplaceable and can never be given back. Not to mention the time I took to stop in, read your menu, and give you my order BEFORE the guy standing BEHIND ME did; I have invested a whole 10 minutes of time to you and should I wait for you to cook my order I will then have invested a total of 20+ minutes to you and be 15 minutes late to work if – ehh me thinks not!
Being that my time is so dear to me I can no longer afford to give you anymore of it; I demand the % of what I paid you out of my mere 78.3% of the US dollar BUT will leave you the 11.5% of my US dollar that I prematurely placed in your tip jar as I prematurely assumed you would provide me with prompt service.
Treatment like this is not only DISAPPOINTING, it is INEXCUSABLE and I REFUSE to TOLERATE IT from anyone.
Side Note: My money spends just as well as the next guy and like the next guy there is always another restaurant/​café around the corner who, with a smile and better service, will happily and gladly take my order and make my breakfast BEFORE taking the order of the guy standing behind me.

What are your alternatives for a great sandwich in this area? Lee’s a block away on Front? Subway a block away on Market? Lou’s Café is a great alternative. Definitely pricier than the other alternatives, but well worth it.
I asked for their signature sandwich and he recommended their Ami-​Cado, pastrami, salami, avocado, pepper jack cheese, Lou’s special sauce, on a sweet & sour roll. Not an overly large sandwich, but big nonetheless. Definitely could be shared. What’s so fantastic about the sandwich? Definitely the combination of the aforementioned ingredients, it’s a hot sandwich, and the SPECIAL SAUCE!
Looking forward to trying their other sandwiches. I would categorize this sandwich as gourmet.

Close to work so I decided to give it a try. At $ 9, you get a huge sandwich! I would say this place is like a sub sandwich place… really thick rolls, lots of sauces etc. I got the tuna melt and loved the fresh tomato and avocado that comes with the sandwich. It kind of helps cut through all the creamy sauce. Will try it again but maybe to share with a friend. Side not, a friend got a salad the other day and it looked delish! Also priced right!

Now I don’t have to travel far for a yummy sandwich! I’ve the other Lou’s bookmarked but since this opened, I’ll just come here.
I got lost coming here because I didn’t know where it was. It’s hidden inside the building but you can enter from the alley way on Front St. Nice outdoor seating by a small waterfall. There wasn’t a lot of people but since there’s only 2 people making the sandwiches, it took a while.
Got a crab melt $ 9.50 and the sandwich is huge for a small eater like me. I enjoyed eating my sandwich. Bread was good. Ingredients were fresh. Sauce was yummmm. I’ll definitely be back for the other sandwiches! If you don’t like their set sandwiches, you can always make your own for $ 7.24.

I’ve been to the Geary street location a few times and though it’s not my favorite sandwich in SF, they do a good job. In the FiDi, there’s a lack of good hot sandwiches for lunch so hearing that Lou’s was here now, I was a little excited to see a decent hot sandwich spot. This location is tucked away and pretty hard to locate (no sidewalk or signage). It’s next to the garage for the 100 Pine building on Front Street. No line when I went, not like Geary’s location. However, as for the sandwich, for some reason, it tasted different or off compared to Geary’s. After you order and pay, the pick-​up area is a bit congested because there really is no area to pick up. Not sure how it’s like when there’s a crowd. My go-​to spot in FiDi for a good sandwich is Mayo & Mustard at the Truck Stop, but because they’re only there on certain Tuesdays, FiDi’s Lou’s is a decent alternative.

Don’t trust anyone that states «This is is a huge sandwich!» It is not. I’m not a big dude and I could have eaten another half in order to be stuffed (with chips). It is, however, a decent size sandwich. I really wanted it to be ridiculously big after seeing Check Please, but no…
Regardless, it was okay. I had the LLB Special. I’m not sure what San Francisco’s fascination is with Dutch crunch bread, but I don’t like it. I’ll try it sometimes expecting it to go really well with a sandwich, but I have yet to try one I like. If you agree, try another bread. I want to go back and try the Italian Special, but again, bread choice here…, where is an Italian or even French bread choice? Soft & sweet, what is that? Two types of sour dough? I guess I’ll do the wheat roll…
Oh, and yes… do the Lou’s special sauce and Jalapeño spread together. It makes the sandwich unique and tasty and almost worth the price. Yes… it is pricey… but try it at least once.

After seeing a recent Check Please episode showcasing their (flagship?) Geary St. location where the mentioned they had a Pine and Front street branch (opened just last month evidently), I tried them out. Although their website is hard to read and not overly user-​friendly I located their menu and called in their «LLB Special» (roast beef, turkey, ham, Swiss and provolone cheese, their special sauce) w/​everything which also included their jalapeño spread, on Dutch crunch. A few blocks from my office and anticipating a lunchtime line, I called at 10am for an 11am pickup. Note that although the address is «100 Pine,» the entrance is actually around the corner on Front, near the parking entrance (the shop is off-​street and up a ramp inside the building). When I arrived (and happily no crowds yet as I expected), the sandwich was immediately located. I’d noticed it was also warm; so either they made it near the pickup time, or they just have a courtesy hot light/​warmer. Either way, nice touch. So much for the logistics/​overall purchasing experience review.
I waited until noon to eat it (micro’d it for 20 seconds for a warm refresh) and noticed immediately the unique taste of their special sauce and jalapeño spread. I personally LOVE savory foods with a slight kick and this gave it one. I mention because while you should try it, I’d have to think that some may find it «pops» more than one would like. Immediately after tasting the sauce, the flavor and quality of the meats they use (I understand it is Boar’s Head Meat brand) came out significantly, and the texture was great. I asked for it to come with their standard «Everything» (lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, red onions and the aforementioned sauces) and all seemed fresh and added to the overall enjoyment and taste. I would have to say however that their Dutch crunch bread — something I love, having grown up w/​it here in the SF Bay Area (it’s not well known in other parts of the country) — was a very very slight disappointment, giving it an 8 on a 10 scale. However, the only nitpicks were that it didn’t taste as sweet (due to the baked butter topping) as some others I’ve had and the crunch on top was lacking. Again, EXTREMELEY SMALL digs at most. BTW, not only do they offer perhaps 20 «gourmet [featured] sandwiches» but they also have a very easy to navigate and flexible «Design Your Own» menu if you want to tailor a sandwhich directly to what your stomach feels like at the moment. They also offer a nice selection of salads, a few soups and the usual compliment of chips, sodas, cookies, etc.
Coming to where the rubber hits the road (or meat hits the stomach), even though there was PLENTY for me (an over-​200lb person) I finished my sandwich in all of perhaps 8 minutes. Truthfully, it would have made most people TWO meals, so this is more a testament to how good it actually was — like a good book, you just HATE to put it down… So obviously I hated it (haha).
Overall, the ordering process, cheery, prompt and efficient workers, and of course the sandwich — were all EXCELLENT. The price ($ 8.29 before tax) represented to me, a STELLAR VALUE for the quality, something I insist on whenever I can. I will go back just as soon as I can to try a second sandwich (where I think I’ll reacquaint myself with The Pastrami family)!!! That’s about as sterling and honest a testimonial as I can give I think. ENJOY!

Lou’s is great. I have been a loyal customer at the Geary location for years now, and could not be happier to have a new location in the Financial District!
The inside café space is small, but there is a nice outdoor seating area to enjoy your delicious sandwich. I’ve tried at least ten sandwiches from Lou’s and literally every one is delicious. Hard to go wrong with this place. The workers here are many of the same faces from the other locations, so the sandwich quality is still spot on. Shout out to the wonderful workers who remember your name, order, and greet you with a smile.
Personal recommendation: Bacon Breakfast Sandwich or Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. Add jalapeño spread to everything and you will not be disappointed.

Really awesome sandwiches. The dutch crunch was amazingly soft. Would definitely recommend.