Bi-Rite Market

Category:	Grocery Store
Address:	3639 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
Phone:	+1 415-241-9760
Site:	biritemarket.com
Rating:	4.5
Working:	8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 6

Walter Macalma

Me being a betting man I made a bet that I could go to Market, buy ingredients for dinner, cook dinner and be back to pick her up before she got to the front of the Creamery line. My apologies that this review is posted years after my visits. You guessed it, I won, I always win, we both won because the dinner I bought and made was excellent. The only loser here was my wallet. Not only did I have to pay for the ice cream, but dinner too and parking because that was the only way I could shave time to make it back. This is a wine & cheese shop with groceries and the groceries are overpriced. It’s small, it’s crowded, but nothing like the Creamery. Things move fast. It’s supposed to be the best sandwiches in the area, but I found them only good. I almost never eat sandwiches in San Francisco and when I do it’s at Giordano’s at the old Russian Hill location or the new Mission location, effectively making that the best sandwich in the mission, I’m leaving 4505 meats out of this equation, so don’t get all over me for that. It always seems like a great idea to get wine and cheese and picnic supplies here and go to a park, but everyone at the parks nearby are blasting cheap cigarettes and drinking PBR’s, not quite what you want when your dropping $50+ on wine and cheese. The produce is fresh, it’s local, it’s organic and priced as such. I always see people coming in and getting flowers, but that’s a little too apologetic for my style. The Sommelier is excellent and not snooty like many are, he stocks tons of good wines, many affordable. Look for wine tucked away throughout the store like hidden Easter eggs. He turned me onto White Burgundy’s because I was getting bored with Chardonnay’s. Give your price point and preference and trust him in his decision. It’s a potent combination of the Creamery for the tourists and Market for the locals.

Hopson Review

Despite their small size, Bi-Rite hardly lacks in selection. From their produce to their cheese, theyre packed to the gills with really excellent stuff. Theyve got astounding variety in terms of produce, and are probably the most seasonally accurate representation in a store that weve seen yet. They offer varieties of fruits and vegetables next to impossible to find elsewhere that shift noticeably from week to week. Some of our favourites so far have been honey nut butternut squash and ruby red apples, both of which are unbelievably delicious, by the way. Though their kombucha selection is nothing to write home about, they make up for it with an ample deli mosly consisting of pastured meats, a good selection of pastured eggs, diverse and high quality chocolate, raw milk, heritage grain flours, and grocery aisles that generally eschew much of the waste-of-space junk (whether nutritionally or flavourally) that occupies much of the space on typical store shelves. All this goodness comes at a cost however. While its true that the bulk of their stock is of a quality level that is simply more expensive wherever you buy it, if you compare apples to apples (or egg cartons to egg cartons, cheeses to cheeses, etc.) Bi-Rite consistently scores higher price-wise in nearly every category. Not absurdly so, but still. Enough to notice and consider shopping elsewhere. Its commonplace for stores to price some items higher than average, while correspondingly pricing others lower (wherever they think their customers would most recognize it) in order to create the illusion of being an affordable shop. Bi-Rite does not. If an item isnt more expensive, its average, and never lower.

A Private User

ok ok, i know sam (the owner), i know his wife, i know his kids, his father, his mother, his sister and his brothers, so i am biased right? anyway, i know most of the hired help too. bi-rite should be a san francisco landmark. it led the way for developing the gourmet gulch there in the valencia corridor. it is quality. it is innovative. it is tasty. and yeah, it is a little expensive. but, it is not some big box outlet where the smallest packaging is a gross. lets face it, economy of scale does mean something. certain large "supermarkets" and "food outlets" are able to buy in superbulk and sell at extremely low profit margin. on the other hand, smaller markets have to charge more. so, if there is going to be a higher price one can hope for a higher standard in quality. what it should mean is that small markets should be selling food stuff which is local which is good quality and which sustains the community. bi-rite scores on each of these. i have no idea what egregiously expensive may be, i suspect that it is relative. but i do know that sometimes do you get what you pay for ,and i would say this is the place to splurge a little. you can put crappy foodstuff in your body fairly cheaply, but is that the point of being alive? for a quick meal or an addition to a meal, the deli has a wide and ever changing variety of entrees and side dishes (tho this vegetarian could hope for a greater selection of veg options). it is the only market where i have ever heard strangers waiting in line at the deli make recommendations to each other. bi-rite is special and wonderful-- even if i know sam.

Vinay Reddy

The Bad: Its really cramped here. And thats just the beginning. They had a very average wine selection for the price point I was looking for (< $20 is what I spend on daily house wine). The quality of fruit was mediocre too - organic and all is good, but its an eyesore to see fruit (bananas, apples and pears) with so many blemishes. Maybe it was an off-day for them. And finally, their bags are poorly designed with thin strings for handles thatll hurt your fingers/palm/wrists if you walk more than a couple blocks. The Good: The one saving grace for Bi-Rite is ice-cream, which is really good and its definitely worth a stop to buy a tub or two (brown sugar and butter pecan are my favorite flavors). Summary: Id much rather go to Trader Joes for fruit and alcohol.

Deanna Shen

Im not an ice cream person, so its likely my review is bias. I had a single scoop cone with a fruit sorbet on top, and seasonal balsamic strawberry ice cream at the bottom. I thought the sorbet was fantastic, but found the balsamic strawberry lacking in the "balsamic." It really mostly tasted just like strawberry ice cream. I also am not too keen on creamy or thick ice cream, but wanted to give this place a shot. I think if you are a person with a sweet tooth for smooth creamy ice cream, this place is definitely youre spot. If you are, like me, a icy sorbet person...well, you may still like this place. I definitely would advise giving it a shot.

Marc Lefkowitz

OK, so they have nice things here. But its super expensive, so I only go here when I absolutely need to. Which is often, because there arent many other options around. And its literally right around the corner from where I was staying, so it made it even easier. But as far as the food goes. The stuff they make themselves is just mediocre - except for the ice cream. For example, the sausage was barely edible. Im not sure what they put in there, but it didnt taste like italian sausage like the signage said. Also - it can be crowded. The place is tiny. So if your claustrophobic, you may want to skip out.