The Best Sandwiches in San Francisco
Dutch crunch rolls, overstuffed Deli Board monsters, and some of the best bánh mì in the country — a tour of the Bay Area sandwich.
30 spots · cited reviews. Open the app to see them all on a map near you.
OG Reuben
Wise Sons Jewish Deli 24th Street
3150 24th St A, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
This classic is loaded with pastrami, melted swiss cheese, Russian dressing, and crunchy sauerkraut on freshly baked rye bread.
via femalefoodie.com
Meatball Sandwich
Flour + Water Pasta Shop
3000 20th St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
Housemade meatballs topped with a cheesy blend of ricotta and provolone, all on a fresh bread roll, makes this sandwich a must-try.
via femalefoodie.com
Classic French Dip
Boudin Bakery
160 Jefferson St, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
An iconic sandwich with thinly sliced roast beef and a mild horseradish spread served in a signature sourdough roll.
via femalefoodie.com
Breakfast Sandwich with a Salt Bagel
Schlok's Bagels & Lox
1263 Fell St, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA
Made with a fried egg, cheddar cheese, and sweet pepper butter, this bagel sandwich gives all the simple flavors a little pop with its flakes of sea salt.
via femalefoodie.com
Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich
The Bird
115 New Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
This beauty features one of the juiciest pieces of chicken coated in a spicy glaze and topped with pickle chips. The housemade coleslaw balances the spicy flavors perfectly.
via femalefoodie.com
49er
Mc Baker Market & Deli
1800 McAllister St, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
Most of the sandwiches are SF-themed, like the excellent 49er with chicken, bacon, and pepper jack.
via The Infatuation
roast turkey sandwich
Arguello Market
782 Arguello Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
While that might not be completely true, it’s at the very least deserving of being a local celebrity.
via The Infatuation
K Line
The M Stop Deli
2598 San Jose Ave, San Francisco, CA 94112, USA
Snag a K Line with thinly shaved pastrami, chipotle mayo, and house garlic spread, all on a dutch crunch roll that's stuffed until it becomes cylindrical.
via The Infatuation
Mafioso
Limoncello
1400 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
Their sandwiches have flawless, high-quality Italian fillings—they’ll make you pledge your lunch allegiance to this spot forever.
via The Infatuation
spicy tuna melt
Lucinda's Deli & More
535 Scott St, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA
Look around and everyone in your line of vision will be opening their tightly-wrapped bounty in the company of the Painted Ladies.
via The Infatuation
Milanesa Torta
Cielito Lindo
3440 Balboa St, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA
Don’t sleep on the tortas at this Mexican joint, especially the milanesa which is delicious and customizable.
via The Infatuation
Glorious Bastard
Salty's
748 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA
Salty's sandwiches are gigantic, and the Glorious Bastard, layered with turkey, ham, and garlic mayo, is a standout.
via The Infatuation
Original Sub
Ocean Subs
18 Ocean Ave, San Francisco, CA 94112, USA
The Excelsior spot focuses on just four fantastic subs that, despite being congested with salty cold cuts, are so balanced they should join the circus and do tightrope walks.
via The Infatuation
Cheesesteak
Newkirk's
1002 Potrero Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
East Coast classics have had an enclave in the Mission since Newkirks opened in 2017. Coasties craving a BEC for breakfast or a cheesesteak on gamedays were first to accept Newkirk's as their local culinary representative - the rest of the city has since followed suit. Eight years later, Newkirks hasn't lost a step - the steak is thin, the rolls are soft, the eggs are runny, and their house-fermented hot sauce is worth taking home (for $9).
via Eater
Steak Sandwich
Avedano's Meats
235 Cortland Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
This publication's reasoning for why Avedano's has a great steak sandwich is well-documented at this point - great steaks make great steak sandwiches. Extrapolating this reasoning further, great steaks also make great roast beef. When great roast beef is sliced to order on a butcher's slicer, the beef is paper thin, pulls apart, and melts away with each passing chew. Avedano's keeps their sandwiches simple and lets their product do the talking - these are the best steaks in Bernal and a sandwich from Avedano's remains one of the smartest ways to enjoy them.
via Eater
The Atomic
Submarine Center
820 Ulloa St, San Francisco, CA 94127, USA
Submarine Center is not a deli, it's a sandwich place - if you're new here, this is not the time to build your own. The people of Sub Center have been doing this a long time and they've had plenty of time to dial in their favorites. At Sub Center, turkey purists expand their horizons, pastrami skeptics become pastrami converts, and everything comes with tangy special sauce. The Atomic is stuffed with corned beef, turkey, and pastrami, and it's a culinary cornerstone of West Portal.
via Eater
Dutch Crunch Sandwich
George's Zoo
2560 Sloat Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94116, USA
There are two reasons to visit the zoo - to see the zoo animals and to grab a sandwich at George's Zoo. Thin-sliced meat and molten Dutch crunch puts George's up there with the best Boar's Head sandwiches from around the country. What's more, George's is one of the only deli's on this list that makes their day-old bread available for sale the next day their Dutch crunch bread available for purchase, meaning your next best sandwich could come from your own kitchen. After a day at the zoo and a sandwich at George's, it's hard not to feel like a kid again.
via Eater
Italian American
Palm City
4055 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122, USA
Hoagies at Palm City are better when they're shared. Seasonal specials like the illusive BLT are not to be missed, all-time favorites like the Italian American keep you coming back, while the sweet and spicy cauliflower sandwich provides a welcome change of pace when dining with a vegetarian. Order one sandwich per person, ask for your sandwiches to be cut according to your party size (up to four), order a side of salt and vinegar chips (available upon request), and fold those chips into your Italian American (optional).
via Eater
The Bollywood
Le Sandwich
752 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
Chef Elias — Le Sandwich's owner, operator, and only employee — takes pride in sourcing quality ingredients and building proper, classic sandwiches for his North Beach neighbors. The Bollywood — halloumi, mango chutney, fresh mint, and arugula — is the kind of vegetarian sandwich that opens meat-lovers' eyes. When in doubt, tell Elias what you're craving and he'll take you to the promised land.
via Eater
Chicken Katsu
Rhea's Deli & Market
800 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
Once or twice a year, Rhea's runs chicken katsu and Korean beef sandwiches — announced on Instagram and in high demand. The rest of the year the menu stays diverse: meatball, buffalo chicken, marinated chicken with crispy pepperoni, pastrami, and a veg Korean steak. The most popular is the oddly classic hot turkey and havarti. Whatever you order has you coming back.
via Eater
BBQ Pork Bánh Mì
Ilana Coffee
2314 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA
On a quiet, if-you-know-you-know stretch of Clement Street, Ilana Coffee is a family-owned Vietnamese coffee-and-sandwich haunt for local retirees and bánh mì enthusiasts. The roll is steamy, crusty, and chewy all at once; the aioli rich and tangy; the meat hot and tender. Enjoyed right away, both the BBQ pork and BBQ chicken bánh mì are as good as anywhere in the city.
via Eater
The Mick
Deli Board
1058 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
Deli Board's sandwiches ushered in San Francisco's craft-sandwich era — and, like Saigon, became divisive in their fame: most agree they're delicious, critics cite high prices and short sandwiches. Either way, the commitment to craft hasn't slowed. Everything's made in house and dressed to impress. The Mick — a roast beef built to resemble a Big Mac — is an achievement of Americana.
via Eater
Torta Gorda
La Torta Gorda
2833 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
For the torta-curious, La Torta Gorda is a pilgrimage — rolls spread with frijoles, spicy salsas soothed by queso and crema. Everything you want in a good torta is here: tender, slow-cooked, flavor-blasted meat; house-made salsas with a punch on every table; thick, crumbly queso fresco; and sandwiches that hold their form.
via Eater
Muffaletta
Sandy's
1457 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA
Before Sandy's, a muffaletta here was a tall tale from a far-away land. Now the Haight knows the real thing, made by people who brought the recipe from New Orleans. The menu is tight and dialed — the classic muffaletta gets you in the door, while the mushroom muff leaves you wondering if you ever needed all that meat. There are still 100 reasons to visit New Orleans; the muffaletta is no longer one of them.
via Eater
Risky Business
Lou's Cafe
5017 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
The Bay Area deli sandwich lives at Lou's — craveable specialties, proper classics, flavor-blasted house spreads, and sweet Dutch crunch cut almost all the way through. The best-seller (and most adventurous) is the Risky Business: crab salad, pastrami, and avocado — the surf-and-turf sandwich the city didn't know it needed. Building your own? Don't leave off the Lou's sauce.
via Eater
Meatball Sandwich
Outta Sight Pizza
422 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA
Outta Sight Pizza making a great meatball sandwich makes sense — pizza dough doubles as a light, fluffy roll, and reduced pizza sauce becomes a rich marinara. But here the traditional ends: the roll is spread with pesto aioli and stuffed with arugula, marinara served on the side for dipping. Pesto aioli meets marinara, peppery arugula meets juicy meatballs — all Outta Sight.
via Eater
Heirloom Mortadella Melt
Breadbelly
1408 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
Since 2018, Breadbelly has put out savory pastries and sandwiches that bend borders. Their celebrated shrimpwich got a honey-walnut makeover in 2025, and the mortadella melt — mortadella, mayo, milk bread — gained a seasonal heirloom tomato. About as traditional as Breadbelly gets, and they've made it taste out of this world.
via Eater
Molinari Special Italian Combo
Molinari Delicatessen
373 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
The word institution gets used too often, but when your salami is sourced by every other Italian deli on this list, you are one. Molinari has made the city's top salami for a century, and these sandwiches do that legacy justice — perpetually fresh bread, sweet milky mozzarella, friendly staff. Take a ticket off-hours for faster service.
via Eater
Bánh Mì
Saigon Sandwich
560 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA
Ordering a bánh mì here is a rite of passage in the best-sandwich-in-the-city debate — for many, these opened their eyes to bánh mì: how could something so delicious be so affordable? Critics call them “good for the price,” but on the right day the bread is fresh, the meat juicy, and there's enough aioli to tie it together — as good as any sandwich in the city, and a great bánh mì for $6 on a bad one.
via Eater
Italian Combo
Lucca Delicatessen
2120 Chestnut St, San Francisco, CA 94123, USA
Lucca checks all the boxes of your Italian deli back home — that unmistakable smell of cured meat, fragrant cheese, and cannoli shells. Everything is imported, and the build-your-own board leaves no stone unturned. Order it on their soft French roll, the vehicle for their most-popular sandwich: the Italian combo.
via Eater