The 47 Best Bakeries in San Francisco

The line out the door at 5 p.m. is not a fluke; it's people waiting on the country loaf that Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt pull from the oven each afternoon. This Mission District bakery and cafe has been rewriting the rules on sourdough since forever, and the morning buns and cream tarts move fast enough that showing up early is less a suggestion than a strategy.

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Kaya toast on pillowy bread striped with coconut-pandan jam is the thing people cite first, but the menu at this Asian American bakery on Clement Street rotates enough to keep regulars guessing. Pan de sal buns cradle egg salad with panko-fried veg, and the Basque cheesecake is cut thick enough to feel like a statement. Outdoor seating only, but the line moves. The New York Times and the LA Times both put it on their San Francisco lists.

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The line stretching down the block in North Beach is not a fluke. Butter & Crumble is a pastry and cake shop that built its name on laminated dough, and the croissants are the draw, from a plain version so flaky it barely holds together to cruffins stuffed with seasonal cream. Options rotate often enough that regulars have a reason to come back, which they do, loyally, before the case sells out. A few bar seats exist, but this is a takeout operation at heart.

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A wood-fired brick oven anchors this sprawling bakery and cafe in the Mission, where the bread alone draws a line out the door most mornings. The Scandinavian-influenced dining room is airy enough that waiting feels less painful than it sounds. Coffee beans are roasted in-house, pastries lean contemporary, and the sourdough loaves are the kind people carry home on planes. Go for breakfast or lunch and plan to leave with a bag of something.

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A bagel shop in Temescal that quietly reframes the whole New York-versus-everywhere-else argument by not entering it. Poppy turns out the classics, lox, whitefish, schmears of every persuasion, but the open-face seasonal veg sandwich is the point: California produce stacked on a proper bagel, finished with salsa macha for heat. Bon Appétit named it among the very best bagels in the country, New York included.

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The sour cream cake near the door has been pulling people off Balboa Street for longer than most San Francisco restaurants have existed. Cinderella is an old-school Russian bakery and cafe in the Richmond, the kind of place where the piroshki are stuffed with cabbage or beef, the borscht is non-negotiable, and the honey cake has its own following. Order something, find a seat, and stop worrying about whatever you were worrying about.

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Bagels hang in metal racks draped with white sheets, a nod to the coin-operated laundry this place used to be. Now it's an all-day pizza and bagel shop on Balboa, mornings given over to coffee from Grand Coffee and a solid bagel lineup that runs from egg to rye, with schmears folded through green onion or spiked with Calabrian chiles. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the top bagels in the Bay Area, and a Top 100 restaurant pick followed.

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A side-street specialist selling exactly one thing: warm pasteis de nata, four to a box. The shells shatter like good pastry should, and the custard filling runs thick enough that the Chronicle grouped it with the best bakeries in the Bay Area. Plain or dusted with cinnamon are the standing options, with a Nutella variation showing up on Thursdays for anyone who needs a reason to plan their week around a bakery.

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Weekend lines form outside this Inner Richmond bakery before most people have finished their coffee, and the croissants are why. They shatter into a thousand airy layers on first bite, the kind that make every other version feel like a compromise. Pain au chocolat and a ham and cheese round out the short menu. The Civic Center location adds seating and sandwiches, but the original is a pilgrimage of the buttery kind.

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A pastry shop on Gough inspired by Jewish diaspora baking, where every drink arrives with a cube of halva whether you asked for it or not. The team behind it came up through Tartine, and the instincts show: babka with a proper crust, pistachio cream puffs, spiced Turkish coffee cream pie. A James Beard Semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef, and a cozy, specific kind of place that knows exactly what it wants to be.

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The bolo bao here comes out warm, its lacquered sugar crust crackling under your fingers, and the move is to order it with a pat of cold flavored butter, maybe pandan, maybe salted egg yolk. This Chinese bakery in the Sunset keeps things focused: egg tarts and mooncakes round out the case, but the pineapple bun is the whole argument. Lines form with conviction, so an online order saves time. Cash only in person.

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The salmon here gets cured and smoked in-house, which tells you most of what you need to know about how seriously this bagel shop takes itself. Schlok's sits just off the Panhandle, turning out traditional malty bagels with a thin, crisp crust and a caper schmear that leans hard into brine. Co-founded by a chef with Michelin-starred kitchen time, it punches well above the cream-cheese-from-a-tub competition.

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The croissant stuffed with Thai tea custard and mango puree probably tells you everything about what Bake Sum is doing: Cantonese bakery traditions running headlong into pan-Asian flavors via laminated dough. The okonomiyaki danish keeps its bonito flakes and smoky fishiness intact. The New York Times flagged their croissubi in 2024. Counter service, a few sidewalk tables, and a line worth joining on a Grand Lake morning.

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A palm-sized guava tart with finger limes that pop against smooth guava cream put this bakery on the New York Times list of the year's best desserts across the country. Sol Bakery is a neighborhood bakery on Hayes Street where the pastry work tilts toward barely sweet, bright, and texturally alive. The guava tart alone has earned a following before the permanent doors were barely open.

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Loaves lined up on shelves like a carb library, pastries under glass, and a window straight into the breadmaking operation: Backhaus is a downtown San Mateo bakery and coffee shop that takes laminated dough seriously. The croissants lean toward the ornate, one arrives garnished with pistachios and raspberry as a preview of what's inside. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's best bakeries and best coffee.

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Cardamom buns, jumbo jam thumbprints, and gingery caramel cookies set the tone at this Scandinavian café and bakery on Market Street. The menu leans seasonal, with tartines on sprouted rye and both sweet and savory porridges, but the flaky seed-topped pastry stuffed with soft scrambled eggs and molten havarti is what brings people back. Grab a sidewalk table and let the Market Street parade do its thing.

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A glass case of choux, pâté en croûte, and individual rounds of quiche greets you the moment you walk into this French patisserie and café in the Financial District. The quiche, filled with custard, bacon, and comté, comes as its own small pie rather than a slice, which feels either very Parisian or very practical depending on your mood. The canelés have a genuinely crackling shell that most local versions never manage.

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The line outside this Berkeley bagel shop has been there since day one and shows no sign of leaving. Boichik turns out chubby, chewy, malty New York-style bagels, kosher and done traditionally: salt bagels heavy with big sea-salt flakes, pumpernickel baked nearly chocolate-dark. The San Francisco Chronicle named them the Bay Area's best. Cream cheese runs from plain whipped to Hatch chile, and the house-made whitefish salad sandwich makes a strong case for staying.

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A bagel shop that graduated from popup to a proper Albany storefront, Hella Bagels turns out rounds with the kind of chew that makes you feel like your jaw is doing something worthwhile. The patio, ringed in beige and rust tones that happen to match the bagels, is a nice place to work through a sandwich. The San Francisco Chronicle named them the Bay Area's best.

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The kouign amanns at this French patisserie on California Street are craggy, almost weightless things that have earned a loyal queue out the door. Inside, the counter runs in precise rows: small rectangular cakes, custard cups, bostocks, croissants. The pace is brisk, so know your order before you reach the front. A few tables inside, a parklet out, or the sister café nearby for when you want to sit down properly.

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A baklava shop so focused it sells exactly two things: walnut and pistachio, by the tray, full stop. The phyllo is made in-house, which almost no one bothers to do, and you'll know it the moment your teeth go through it. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's best bakeries. Bring cash, pick pistachio, and try not to eat half the tray on the walk back to your car.

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The cupcakes here are moist enough to make you question every dry, forgettable one you've settled for before. A cupcake shop with locations across the Bay Area, Cupcakin' leans into citrus flavors, key lime and lemon cream pie among them, with tangy curd and a crumbled graham cracker base. Minis are available for the non-committal. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's top bakeries.

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A pink-and-purple French bakery in Potrero Hill where the canelés arrive with a deeply caramelized crust and a custardy, rum-scented interior. The menu rotates around French technique with a tropical detour: passion fruit, calamansi, coconut lavender. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's best bakeries, which feels obvious the moment the smell of vanilla and rum reaches you at the door.

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Conchas that are fluffy with just enough density to feel substantial without tipping into sweet are Norte 54's calling card, and they're worth tracking down. This pop-up bakery rotates through Mexican pastries and desserts: buñuelos one week, tres leches cake the next, all rooted in nostalgia and sharpened by pastry technique. Catch it at Mission Mercado, Grand Coffee, or Nopalito, depending on the week.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best bakeries in San Francisco Bay Area

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best bakeries in San Francisco Bay Area

The doors close at 11 a.m. and the croissants are often gone well before that, which means showing up to this small French patisserie in Albany is a bit like gambling, but with better odds if you arrive early. The plain croissant is the one people reorganize their mornings for, thin-layered and butter-crisp. Canelés, kouign amann, and egg custard tarts fill out the short menu until they don't.

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A one-baker whole-grain bakery in San Rafael that runs on a newsletter, pre-orders, and the constant threat of selling out before you've finished your coffee. The baker behind it competed at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, which is the bread Olympics, and he won, but the menu here is squarely about whole grains, not trophies. Stock changes weekly, walk-ins get what's left, and the San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's best bakeries.

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The coyota is a Sonoran pastry that looks roughly like a flying saucer, which is a good start. Tutuli bakes them in fillings like cajeta, hibiscus, and guava, and the flavors open up properly once you toast one. They're somewhere between a cookie and an empanada, and they turn up at coffee shops around the Bay. The San Francisco Chronicle named Tutuli among the best bakeries in the Bay Area.

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