The Pressed Cafe

I work next door and come here all the time. Coffee is really good and they offer free refills which is awesome. I love all the sandwiches; the salad dressing is super good. They started serving soups which great. I have tried the veggie and the sausage lentil and both were really good. They are not on street level so they are a little hidden upstairs. I love it because they havent been super busy, but I have a feeling once more people find them that will change.

I’ve been a couple of times now, and while I thought the food was reasonably good, there was just something a bit lethargic about this unassuming lunch spot in 3 Embarcadero Center. The space used to be occupied by Toaster Oven, a mini-​chain of sandwich shops that were always buzzing with activity but closed rather abruptly last year. I don’t miss them that much, but this one is run by Mission Bay Foods in SoMa and focuses mainly on paninis and salads. It’s a counter service operation with just a few dine-​in tables, although it hasn’t been crowded when I stopped by.
On my first visit about four months ago, I tried the $ 9.50 Chicken Salad Panini. It was quite a hefty sandwich with plenty of chicken pieces and mayo with cranberrries, bacon bits, tomato and brie mixed in for good measure. It came with a scoop of potato salad (photo:
), and it was all quite filling. My one complaint was that it really didn’t have much seasoning to give the sandwich an extra kick of flavor. On my second visit just yesterday, I noticed the menu was a bit smaller, but I thought the colder weather warranted trying the Lasagna Bolognese, which had already gone up by fifty cents to $ 9.
Accompanied by a couple of small wedges of garlic toast, I thought it was pretty good reminding me a bit of Stouffer’s frozen kind even though this one was housemade with asiago, spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella (photo:
). It did come in a small container that made me wonder if it was pre-​made in the morning and heated up, but frankly that’s the challenge i ordering a baked pasta dish. It was hearty fare but again I felt like it was missing some kind of flavor kick to make it truly memorable. I’ll probably go back to the paninis on my next visit or be very good and get a salad. I’m in no hurry.
FOOD — 3 stars… stick with the big paninis if you’re hungry, the lasagna was a bit of a meh
AMBIANCE — 3 stars… really not much to it, it’s a sandwich shop with a few tables
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… they should really get their full eight hours
TOTAL — 3 stars… middling but sometimes middling is OK for lunch

Worst sandwich experience I have ever had and quite expensive to boot! After the bone-​chilling rain, I thought it would be nice to have a nice toasted hot sandwich so I decided to try the newly opened Pressed in my building. Despite calling my caprese sandwich a «panini» (where I expected a strongly pressed hot sandwich with oozing cheese) what I got was a tiny ice cold sandwich with light grill marks. I clarified with the staff to make sure they had given me the panini that I ordered and they confirmed that their version of a panini does not even heat the insides! All of this for $ 11 … never going back and going to make sure everyone takes the extra few steps to Breaking Bread in EC4.

I’ve been looking for a place with great soups. The SF Soup Co downstairs is awful and wasn’t quite making it happen. Anytime they have the kale lentil sausage soup — I go in!
The staff are always super friendly, and the food is good! I’ve only had their paninis though, so can’t help on the other food.

For a place that’s thing is supposed to be Paninis, i’m not sure they really understand the concept of a panini. It’s more like a overstuffed sandwich (with not that great chicken) on toasted bread. Everything in the middle of the sandwich was cold. Not impressed, not going back.

09.21.15
Pressed is slowly becoming my go-​to place for a quick iced coffee. Mainly because of the convenience, but the servers are all so nice!
Also a great quick lunch stop for a hefty salad.

This is a solid lunch option for people in/​near any of the Embaracadero Center buildings and among the better values of anything in a two-​block radius. (The breakast options are also appealing.) The food is consistently good, and the employees are noticeably friendlier than you usually find.
I would eat here more often, but it’s a bit on the heavy side, and healthy eating requires careful ordering.

The sandwiches are ok, and big for sure. The staff was usually nice. My only complaint is the price. $ 14 for a sandwich, chips and small bottle of water. I didn’t really want chips, or a side salad for that matter, and with all the lunch options in the Financial District, I can usually find lunch and drink for $ 10 or under. And I can order chips when I want them. I really miss Toasted, the sandwich place that was there before Pressed.

Made to order my a**. Food is not freshly prepared. I got the lasagna recently, which was just reheated in a microwave. It was watery and cold in the middle.
Never again.

This place is just OK (hence the 3-​stars). Their main item, the panini, was a bit disappointing (bordering 2-​star territory). But their lasagna was tasty, so that helped push them back to a solid 3-​star. I wouldn’t go out of my way to come back, but at least I’d know what to order if my co-​workers pick this as a lunch spot.
Meatball Panini: I had expectations that the sandwich would be pressed and toasted, given that the name of the place is «The Pressed Café» and given that the sandwich was listed under the «Panini» section of the menu. Sadly it was just two oversized meatballs on bread that definitely was not toasted. The meatballs felt a little dry, probably because they were very skimpy on the tomato sauce. I did like that the bread had garlic butter on it though; more Italian sandwiches should do that! The provolone cheese amount felt just right. Would have preferred more meatballs in smaller form rather than two large hunks.
Lasagna Bolognese: Pretty tasty; definitely a better choice than the meatball panini. Lots of layers with generous amounts of sauce and cheese. It was a little confusing that the cheese on top wasn’t brown or crispy even though the edges of the top layer of pasta was. Usually that browned cheese on top is my favorite part. Still good.
Garlic Bread: Worth the 50¢ upgrade, since there was a lot of extra sauce in the lasagna to go around. Had nice grill marks, so I know their panini press was working! Didn’t seem that garlicky though; the bread on the meatball panini had more garlic.
Potato Salad: Yuck. Dense. Too much of a mayonnaise taste and not enough herbs and spices. Was a bit dense since it stayed in the scooped ball form instead of falling into a mound.

This place is so good! I have tried a breakfast panini (forget which one) and the chicken salad panini with bacon and melted brie! Panini heaven! Side of greens are fresh and tasty or try the potato salad which is also super yummy! I always come back here for lunch when I get the chance. I haven’t actually tried the coffee but it smells delightful!

Great little café on the upper terrace of Three Embarcadero Center. They just opened in summer 2015, and are serving delicious breakfast (and lunch paninis). Loved the bacon panini in the morning, which included scrambled eggs, provolone, sliced tomato, and of course, plenty of bacon. The coffees are also good, from a simple shot of espresso to a latte with several special requests. Fun, hip music playing to get you going in the morning, and complimentary cucumber water for all. Will definitely return!

Been meaning to make it in here ever since they opened in the old Toaster Oven spot a month or two ago. Finally did lunch here today, and was very, very happy with my choice. I got the chicken salad panini based on the counter person’s recommendation, and it was fantastic. Very flavorful, not too greasy (which I sometimes find to be an issue with paninis). More than the food however, I was blown away by the staff. Everyone in there was over the top friendly and helpful. Definitely putting this spot in my lunch rotation.

I went to this new location for breakfast and was pleasantly surprised. All of the staff was super friendly and attentive. The location was clean and attractive. I ordered the Turkey Panino and it was quite delicious. It was toasted to perfection and the food came out promptly. In addition they provided compientary cucumber water, which was a nice touch.
I was also happily surprised with the super reasonable prices. My sandwich only cost 5.50 which is a bargin for the pricy FiDi location, I usually pay almost twice that much at other locations.
Overall this place impressed me with the friendly staff, the clean attractive location, the quality of food and the superb prices. I will definitely go back and also spread the word to my colleagues to patron this establishment. I wish this new location great success.

Customer service A+
Food Selection B
Food Quality A
Cleanliness A

New sandwich place just opened up. I must. Try.
Very spacious inside with a couple of tables and bar stools. Free water on the side. All paninis come with chips, salad, or potato salad.
I had a chicken pesto panini with potato salad. Small in size but the stacked meat makes it a little taller. It’s small for the price paid though. The chicken was dry. It looks like deli meat.
Maybe will give another try but not soon.

This is a rather new eatery. I thought it was another coffee place so haven’t bothered going in but one day I was too early to walk into work so I stepped in here. Lots of young people eager to serve (but maybe that’s because there wasn’t anyone else in here, word hasn’t gotten around yet). Since it was early in the day, they hadn’t started serving lunch yet so I got a breakfast panini – and it was fine although nothing to write home about. They have about 5 other breakfast offerings including a quiche all for under $ 6. They have 10 lunch paninis (around $ 10), 2 kinds of lasagna (about $ 8.50) and 3 salads ($ 3-​$ 11). And coffees of course.