West Portal Bakery

Day old desserts, or so it seems. Maybe I came in on a bad or odd day, but i doubt I will come back to buy more stale pastries/​desserts. This town is full of bakeries.

3.5 stars for being an alright bakery!
My cousin and I wanted to avoid the long line at Starbucks so we decided to come to this place. Plus, it was nice supporting a local bakery and trying a new place. We didn’t know what we want and neither did the person who got there before us. One thing that put me off about this place was that the young cashier had a bit of an attitude as it was obvious she wanted one of us to hurry up and make a decision of what we wanted.
Once we got our chocolate chip cookie and chocolate croissant plus drinks, we sat there and realized that some of the customers who hang out there must be regulars. The other customers were so kind to us, too. The folks that work there mingle with customers and just seem so friendly. For the drinks, I got hot chocolate with whole milk and whipped cream. Not bad at all, but just note that they didn’t have any option for soy milk. Too bad for my cousin. The chocolate chip cookie was soft and you really can’t go wrong with anything chocolate, right? Apparently not because the chocolate croissant was lacking its main component — chocolate!
I would come back here again and try their other baked goods and sandwiches they offer!

Mmmm I love bread and I love good bread and I love a fine selection bread, all of which West Portal Bakery handsomely offers.
I went in just to look around and was surprised at the variety. different kinds of baguettes, batards, loafs and rolls behind the counter, desserts and pastries for show in front, specialty bread behind glass.
I ordered one of each kind of foccacia because foccacia is delicious and I was very happy to see it offered somewhere other than North Beach. There was bell pepper & zucchini, «pizza» foccacia w/​red sauce & green onions, all oniony foccacia and a very cheesy foccacia. All of them were very good and very filling, especially after being toasted a little. I love how they were not skimpy with the toppings. I gave it a ⁴⁄₅.
As a whim I purchased their cheese & onion roll which looks like a mini baguette and smells heavenly. There are actually pieces of onion inside. Even though it smelled great the taste was far too light. I would have preferred it to be a bit heavier with more cheese & onion inside. 3.5÷5
I will come here again because they offer a fairly good foccacia and I love the fact that there are several, generously topped varieties. The prices were high though. for a mini baguette & four pieces of focaccia the price came to just under $ 13.
3.5÷5

Best lemon bars I’ve ever had.
Close to best walnut brownies I’ve ever had.

Stopped here because it looked like it would be a good place — it’s not.
Snickerdoodle was dry and too tangy. Almond croissant was bland, chewy and rather crappy.
Wife says bathroom was kinda gross, too.
Gave it two stars because the girl behind the counter was very nice.

Grabbed an éclair that was light, fluffy — perfect snack. Gotta love the locally-​owned, neighborhood feel as well!

Whenever I’m on a break from my job, I do whatever I damn want without any disturbing interruption. Amen!
My time at this family-​owned bakery was a bit of a roller coaster. I ordered my coffee and a Blueberry Cheese Danish totaled to $ 4.00. Every pastries and treats are baked in the bakery in the back (I like that). But the filling of my Danish was quite tiny.
Many of the older folks were reading their newspapers and chatting with friends. But I was blasting some old-​school Too $hort rap on my Samsung Galaxy tab with my snack (the volume on the mobile device with my Bose Headphone is «AWESOME!»). The workers and older folks were eyeing me in a baffling way as I was nodding my head to the old-​school beat. «Life is… too $hort!»
I guess my disturbing street-​like behavior has gained negative acknowledgment from this bakery on my ensuing visit.

I COME FOR YOUR BREAD!
6:00 is 2 for 1 time. Tomato focaccias are my favorite although they should make it a point to make more because I’ve noticed they seem to be EVERYONE’S favorite. (supply and demand man!)
Pretty chill spot to grab a pastry and work on your Words With Friends games. I make it a point to stop in here everytime I’m in the area.
mmm… bread…

Being my neighborhood’s local bakery, it’s a shame that the customer service is so horrendously terrible here. I’m all about locally owned neighborhood shops as my folks own a restaurant here in S.F. So I know all about keeping your customers happy… especially the ones that live in the area, that will give you repeat business.
West Portal Bakery is probably the worst neighborhood bakery that I’ve experienced here in S.F. The employees that work there never seem to greet you, and let you stand around like you’re an idiot seeking attention.
What’s disappointing for me, is the fact that I actually really enjoy their variety of breads and cookies. The Rosemary Bread is always so fragrant, and I love the rustic texture, the crisp crust, and fluffy inside that lasts even days later.
But I’ve had way too many experiences with the staff getting so poo-​faced when you ask them to slice the bread. What’s the point of having a bread slicer if you are going to get so grumpy when the customer asks you to take 2 minutes to slice it.
Furthermore, they get even more grumpy when you ask them to slice your bread if you purchase their 6pm Deal – Buy 1 Loaf, and get the Second Free. Apparently because you are getting one free, they really hate to be nice and slice.
My most recent sour experience came yesterday during lunch as I was in need of quick bite to eat. I asked the employee to show me which specific breads were available for the sandwiches, and rudely tells me that they’re listed on the board. Clearly, I noticed that, but not all of the bread varieties are available for sandwiches so I asked to have her point them out to me so that I could have a visual. In my mind, there are certain breads that just aren’t good as sandwich breads, so I wanted to be sure before I knew what I was ordering.
The lady’s attitude was so rude that I had to walk out. Apparently it was too much to ask of her, to just point out which bread was which. Despite previous other sour experiences here at West Portal Bakery, I’ve continuously given them chances because I believe in little local shops.
I wanted to believe that I probably caught their employees on a bad day, that these negative situations were isolated incidents. But after numerous experiences with their rude, unfriendly, and apparently lazy-​ass staff, I’m taking my business elsewhere.
This pains me West Portal Bakery, you are my neighborhood shop, but your service just S U C K S ! So I’ve come to the conclusion, that not all local neighborhood businesses care about their repeat neighborhood folks. This place is the epitome of a bad neighborhood shop that doesn’t care about neighborhood business.

I came in and ordered a roast beef sandwhich. The server was polite and my bread was toasted. I’m not sure why the meat was’nt. I enjoyed it. But I did throw up all my food afterwords. Not sure what that was about.
**Sidenote
I did have their bread pudding much later with a vanilla latte and was fine! :)

Pretty reasonable price and good french bread and their pastries are really good too. I usually stop by from work and get their pastrami sandwich on french bread.
If you go after 6pm they usually have buy one get the other free on breads. Sometimes I give the free one to the street guy, but sometimes he’s already probably heading home?

I stopped by for the first time a few days ago and picked up one each of their biscotti. That was one pistachio, one almond, one chocolate and one chocolate covered almond biscotti to be exact.
So, finally, a few days later I’ve finished them all. Pistachio was my least favorite and I will probably never buy that one again, but when I’m in the area I’ll surely get the other three and perhaps try some new goodies too.

Whenever I am in this cute neighborhood, I always stop by here to get the vegetable foccacia bread as my breakfast with a cup of coffee and the whole wheat sourdough. Many bakeries do not have the option of both whole wheat AND sourdough because, as the baker told me (very nice, jolly fellow), they have to knead it twice so it is a longer process. My husband and I love this bread so much sometimes we can just sit and eat it the entire loaf for a snack (oh yes, delicious carbs!). The bread smells and tastes so fresh and the crust is actually crispy crunchy. Yum yum yum! They slice the bread for you too if you like.
I have also tried the Rosemary Loaf and do enjoy this as well… but my personal preferance is the whole wheat sourdough since I am mainly a sourdough lover and only see rosemary when sourdough is out!
The only quam I have is with the Red Velvet Cupcake. I am on a hunt to try every Red Velvet Cupcake in the city and sadly, the cake is too dense and dry for my liking. The cream cheese frosting was OK… firstly there wasn’t enough of it and it was a little on the sugary side with not enough cream cheese flavor. So more like 2 stars for the cupcake and 4 stars for the bakery itself.

I work with a group of adults with developmental disabilities. When we go into an establishment, salespeople tend to be polite but distant. Maybe they’re afraid that we’ll break something and insist on not paying for it.
West Portal Bakery is the nicest place we’ve ever frequented. Every time we come here, the staff is very accommodating, especially the young man behind the counter who appears to have assistant manager duties. We were given free samples, which were so good that a few people in my group decided to buy some pastries.
Their brownies are great. Soft, just-​chewy-​enough, chocolatey, and not overwhelmingly sweet. Their sandwiches are delicious too.
Most of the time I come here, I pick a random pastry and it turns out to be pretty damn delicious. My favorite is their pecan pie. Ooohhhhh Jesus. I won’t be surprised if the roads in heaven are made of this stuff. They also have a rum cake that’s really worth getting for the holidays. It looks pretty and you can actually taste a tiny hint of the rum.
All-​in-​all, great staff, great pastries, quick service, and surprisingly convenient parking. There’s a parking lot next to the store that almost always has a spot open when I’m there.

I came here for lunch today after craving a really good sandwich and it just hit the spot! I had a turkey and cheddar cheese sandwich on their freshly baked french bread. Filled with a good amount of meat and topped off with mustard (you have your choice of mayo, mustard, or pesto), lettuce, and tomato, it was tasty and quite filling — and I even split the sandwich with a friend! We got it toasted, so the mustard was warm, the cheese was nicely melted, and the bread was soft with a nice outer crunch.
For dessert, I tried a little bit of the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It was definitely one of the best carrot cakes I have eaten, and I’m a big fan of carrot cake! I also had one of their oatmeal cranberry cookies. Soooo good. It was soft and stuffed with dried cranberries.
They had free samples of their cheddar onion bread on the counter. It was so good, I might just have to get it the next time I go there! Light and fluffy, with little pieces of onion and a nice hint of cheddar cheese on the outer crust, you could definitely tell it was freshly baked!
I’ve been here a couple other times and I love sitting at the counter that faces out the window. Their staff is friendly and very helpful. Definitely one of my favorite places to grab lunch! Oh yeah, and their pies are amazing!

Good little bakery, only big negative is that they are closed on Sundays. I totally respect the whole day of rest thing, but retail shops have to be either pretty religious, pretty successful or pretty cocky to be closed on a weekend day.
I’ve always enjoyed the pastries here, and the focaccia here is delicious. I think they also discount some goods near closing time but don’t quote me on that. Prices a tad high but considering the neighborhood, not unreasonable.

Made it back for the honey whole grain. Was just about to order it up when something caught my eye in the bottom left corner of the bread wall. Not just sourdough. Whole wheat sourdough. Jackpot.
Left with both, both are delicious.

I’ve been craving another apple fritter since I stopped by La Boulange last weekend.
Unfortunately West Portal’s apple fritter was too much fritter not enough apple. But I did dig their two for one deal that goes on after 6.
Also, their biscotti was quite hard, even the next morning and their pumpkin bread was definitely better the next day.
I’d come back for the pumpkin bread but not for the other two.

I only go for the Amaretti cookies. So yummy. The price has definitely gone up, but what hasn’t? I remember getting them for 50cents a pop, they are now 90 cents. Still as yummy as ever. I don’t frequent this area so much though, so it’s a definite treat that can’t be passed up!
Everything looks really yummy! I want to try the foccaccia and brioche and cakes. OH MY!

I love their breads… they have great brioche (sweet and buttery), fantastic ciabatta (which I have used for pizzas, sandwiches, etc.), and great loaves of onion and cheddar, rosemary, olive, and other gourmet breads. So fresh! Good to just munch on, dip, or make sandwiches with.
And if you go around the winter holidays… he also makes fruitcake… no, not that brick you can throw, the Italian fruitcake (bread-​y). Delicious.
The staff is so friendly! They also have morning pastries, and coffee. But I usually go after 6 p.m., which is when they have the buy one bread (or morning pastry), and go one free. Basically, you can get two huge loaves of bread for under $ 4!