Boudin Bakery & Café

Had the Asian salad (half) and (of course) soup in the iconic bread bowl. Amazing salad and huge. I want the recipe for the dressing, as I am now addicted. Didn’t have to eat for the rest of the day secondary to the sheer volume of food. Really nice salad and the bread was so good it’s clear why they became famous for it.
Turkey and Havarti on French roll was perfectly acceptable, chowder was meh.
We purchased some sourdough for later and had a picnic at the zoo the next day. Coffee was just ok.
Staff was lovely, very attentive and friendly, we got great service. The place was immaculate.

Definitely way better than Panera!
The customer service is excellent
That clam chowder hits the spot

Boudin in Fashion Valley Mall is outstanding. The staff are always excellent and attentive. The food is always perfect. Highly recommend. Very sad the UTC branch closed.

I love this place for soup and sandwiches! I’m a sucker for sourdough bread too and this place is great, far better than panera. Great place for our toddler too. He loves their butternut squash soup and grilled cheese. I’m a creature of habit and always get their chicken salad sandwich on sourdough. The chicken salad is delicious, with halved grapes, almonds and other yummy goodness! We go to the mission valley YMCA and this is a good option for lunch or dinner afterwards!

I had the clam chowder and grilled cheese with bacon and it was stellar. Usually when I have either they’re usually too salty so I’m happy that I found a place that doesn’t sacrifice taste by drowning it in salt. Ahem*Winchell’s* The grilled cheese with bacon had the right amount of everything. I’ll try something a little different next time because I love the concept of the place. If they had Chicken Noodle soup I’d probably be there everyday because that and Clam chowder are my favourites.
The price wasn’t too bad either but definitely next time I’ll go for the bowl because I finished the clam chowder a little too early. I wonder if they give mall discount?
This place is a classier version of your normal soup and Sandwich parlours. I like the setting in this particular location it has outdoor seating and indoor seating. Vaulted ceilings adds a nice touch so that it doesn’t seem too crowded. And everything is spaced nicely so you aren’t overhearing conversations.
Definitely will come again and definitely will recommend.

I love this place way more than Panera!!!
First off customer service is the best! It doesn’t matter how busy they are they are always super friendly and smiling. I love how they are super patient with you especially since you don’t know what to get. Also they are always willing to help you out with recommendations.
My boyfriend loves getting their bread bowl with their rustic tomato soup. Recently one of the employee recommended my boyfriend to get the soup on the side and have the bread toasted. Which my boyfriend loves! He never changes his order and thats all he gets now
I usually changes this up and get their best of boudin either a side soup with salad or salad and half a sandwich.
Soup:
Clam chowder soup, not the best but its pretty good. I just wish its a bit thicker than watery. Butternut squash soup, really impress with this! It has a taste of curry but sweeten. And they also add some cranberries which balances it out, and surprising goes well together.
Sandwiches:
Tuna salad. Love this, they give you such a large portion of tuna on your sandwich. Usually I like to take half of the tuna and eat it with my salad also.
Salad:
Caesar, one of the best I’ve had. I know its an easy salad but I never had been disappointed with this salad each time I come here.
Overall, I love this place. My only regret is not knowing this place sooner.

I love this place, even more than Panera!
CUSTOMER SERVICE: Their customer service is on point no matter how busy they are. The person that takes my order is always open to crack some jokes & constantly recommends new items & their favorite items on the menu. When I got my food & was situated the waiter came around about every 10 – 15 minutes asking if I needed anything else & made sure I was happy with my order.
I usually order the…
SPRING SALAD: I either order this as a side salad along with the veggie sandwich or just a salad on its own. No matter what, the portion is always big! Everything is fresh, no old veggies. A while back I had a problem with fruit flies since there are apples on this salad, but they apparently fixed that problem. If you’re feeling for something light yet craving a little carbs definitely get this because this is served with one of their breads.

VEGGIE DELITE: The sauce on this is soooo good! The bread is a little hard but nonetheless this is super satisfying.

Great choice if you want good food at a decent price and without the wait. I shared a soup and salad combo — clam chowder bowl and Cobb salad. The chowder was hot and creamy. The sourdough bread bowl was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. We devoured everything and felt comfortably full afterwards. For a total of eleven or so dollars after tax, it was a pretty good deal for two people.

I LOVE Boudin! I’ve eaten here and the Balboa location several times. This evening customer service — both at the register and on the floor — was exemplary. For those of you who have not dined at a Boudin, I like to compare it to a Panera Bread with an abbreviated menu and MUCH higher quality food and service. My usual is the ½ sandwich and salad combo with a turkey avocado and a spring salad. The ½ turkey avocado is quite large for just being ½ and it is very tasty. The spring salad is a perfect mix of walnuts, gorgonzola, cranberries, apples, and spring mix… So light and refreshing, yet tasty and filling. One thing I did wish for was a broth based soup when I had a stomach virus. With the winter chill and subsequent sickness, this is a necessity at times. And while I am sure the other soups are nice, I prefer the selection at Panera.

This is part of the bread company in San Francisco. They are known for their sourdough bread and bread bowls.
I got the bread bowl with clam chowder it was more than filling and super yummy, I don’t think it was as good as their location in San Francisco but it was pretty darn yummy and I am all about my yummy’s.
I would go back here and I would recommend this to others.

Boudin reminds me of a nicer, more tasty version of Panera. I’ve heard wonderful things about this place in San Fran and San Diego and how they have the best sour dough. Well, those people were correct!
First, they have a huge each of whole loaves of bread to choose from. My favorite was the teddy bear loaf and the pumpkin loaf, they were so cute!
The sandwiches: I got the half sandwich/​soup. I decided to go with the chicken pesto and the broccoli cheddar soup. The chicken pesto was absolutely fantastic. The pesto was as fresh as can be, but I prefer the basil to be a little more prominent. The chicken was grilled, soft and tender, and the bread? Soft, fluffy, with a nice sour taste. The cheddar broccoli was probably the best I’ve ever had. For just a dollar more, I was able to upgrade to a bread bowl. (ONE DOLLAR!!) the soup was so good, and it was fresh. My boyfriend got the ham sandwich with came with Brie and a cranberry sauce which was to die for. Typically I’m not a half person because it’s usually too sweet, but the cranberry sauce cut the sweetness with a tart flavor. It reminded me of the holidays.
So last but not least, the customer service. I wanted to say that these people are happy to come to work every day. First we were greeted by the cashier, and he chatted with us, recommended what was good, and was overall so nice and sweet. I’m glad I decided to go with his recommendations! There was also another gentleman who was giving out everyone’s food, and cleaning the dining room and this guy’s great energy filled the area! This shop has such a great atmosphere and food and is run so well. Everyone has to try this place, you won’t regret it.

Love the quick lunch under $ 10. The SF combo ½ sandwich and half Caesar is my favorite for $ 8.59.
Parking is very easy on the back side of Macy’s. The secret special item to know about are the custom breads. If you give them a picture, they can try to replicate it in bread. How cute is that ?
Check out the little bear $ 9.95 and this Halloween Pumpkin for $ 7.99. They can do a mustache, animals, Holiday emblems, with advance notice.

After some mall shopping, I stumbled into Boudin. It was a particularly hot day, so I was craving some frigid beverage, but fountain drink machine ran out of ice. I understand the high demand, but was left with a dry mouth. Nevertheless, the menu looked fantastic and I had a difficult time choosing. I settled on the sun-​dried tomato and goat cheese pizza and devoured it. the goat cheese was very faint and there could have been more sun-​dried tomatoes. It was a pretty standard meal that I could have made in my oven. The man who took my order was very helpful in explaining the reward card, but my meal was nothing to write home about. Also, the prices were higher than the quality.
I did like the ample seating and great natural light in this location. Boudin has a great name and looks clean. I even like the menu font. Despite the «upscale» appearance, I was a bit underwhelmed. Why was the place so busy at 3pm? Nevertheless, I will be back for a free loaf of bread.

Quick review for this place. Stopped by Boudin since it was one of the few indoor restaurants in the mall – it was a scorcher outside. The menu they have sounded great with some interesting choices. I ended up getting the bahn mi salad which was not bad and not great. The dressing was really tasty and I liked the noodles with the salad, but the rest of the salad felt haphazard without much effort. There were some tomatoes, maybe 2 slices of jalapeño, and some carrots, but nothing really made me feel like this was a bahn mi in salad form. Where was the cilantro and why didn’t my $ 10 buy more jalapenos? In the end, I felt like I ate a generic «Asian» salad than anything.
This place is all right. Prices are a bit high. Maybe the original in SF is better?

I love this place!
YOU CAN ALSO UPGRADE
TO A CROISSANT ON THIS
SANDWICH!
Turkey Avocado —
turkey breast, havarti, mayo,
avocado, lettuce, tomatoes,
multi-​grain bread.
FOR SOMETHING SPICY:
Bread Bowl Rustic Tomato Soup
Rustic sourdough croutons and
Parmesan cheese.
FOR A SWEETER SANDWICH:
Grilled Brie with Apples and Fig Jam —
brie, havarti, sliced apples and fig jam.
Parmesan-​crusted multi-​grain bread.
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SOME
AWESOME COMBOS.
Look no further. You’re here …
Best of Boudin and Soup and
Salad Combos that can match
anytime of the day.
Don’t forget to stop in and take a
peek at the menu.
YOU WONT REGRET IT!!!
The Artisan Sandwiches and
The Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
are my favorites
and they pair well with a soup
or a salad.
They not only sell sandwiches,
soups and salads but they sell
pastries, bread and pizza.
Don’t forget to sign up for your
Boudin rewards card.
It can save a lot of money if you
eat here as much as I do.
We will definitely be back!

Another great salad. The restaurant was very quiet today. We sat out on patio. It was nice weather. About 80 degrees. The staff are always very nice at this and every location.

I use to come here a lot, when I worked at my old job at Fashion Valley. And now that I work at a different store at the mall, I’ve stuck with bringing my own lunch, or making an occasional trip to Panda Express. Today was different and I decided to reconnect with my past.
I always get the same thing every time I come here, which is there combo special that I order with a clam chowder bread bowl and half a chicken pesto sandwich. When I went to order, the cashier kindly asked if I had my Boudin Rewards card, and surprisingly, I forgot I had one and I told him I left it at home. He asked me for my phone number to double check that I had a rewards card linked, and I did.
(A little side note, if you join their rewards program, you get a HUGE loaf of one of the breads they have, and you can occasionally get $ 3 off coupons for anything. You also earn points to get free food. Not bad at all! :])
He rang my order up, and I took a seat and waited for my food. I docked a star off because for some reason, there were 1 – 2 little fruit flies flying around, and I was grossed out. Not sure why there were flies around, but I was not too fond of them.
My order came out, and it was presented beautifully and I scarfed it down. I was really hungry. Their soup is always up to my standards, and their sandwiches with fresh ingredients never cease to satisfy my sandwich needs.
After a great visit, after a few months, I’m definitely going to be making more lunch breaks here again!

Didn’t realize San Diego has a Boudin until I stumbled upon this in the back of the mall! My wife and I loved the sourdough bread bowl with clown chowder! My wife was waiting for me while I picked something up at another store and an employee was attentive enough to notice she hadn’t eaten much and made sure that everything was ok — in my mind — that level of attention in a busy lunch hour at a «casual fast food» establishment made this place go from 4 to 5 stars. You won’t go wrong here. Enjoy!

Brie cheese, apple, & fig jam, grilled on multi-​grain bread is super-​duper-​yum. It’s for those times when you want something hearty, but a little bit sweet. Your tummy will thank you. Absolutely phenomenal!
I also had their butternut squash soup, which I love. It was smooth, hot and creamy. I tasted a hint of curry powder in there, which I loved. It came with 2 little containers; one with cranberries, one with walnuts. It had a lovely taste to add a cranberry to a bite and chew the cranberry, what a burst of sweetness in my mouth.
The two were paired well, and I thoroughly enjoyed this meal. Love ;)
7÷28÷15
Chef, why oh whyyyy did you leave the Brie cheese completely off my sandwich? –1 star
August 1, 2015
Yay! Got it right today. I could live on this one sandwich alone for the rest of my life!

Extremely disappointed. I’ve been wanting to try Boudin for a long time since there is a big one back in SF. Maybe this location is just not up to par.
We ordered the clam chowder and chicken pesto sandwich. Clam chowder is WATERY and bland. The chicken pesto sandwich bread and the bread my soup came with was super hard. You can tell it’s not fresh bread… Probably a few days old. I couldn’t even rip small bite size pieces with my hands. We asked if they could give us another kind of bread but they weren’t allowed to do that so they just made us another sandwich. The turkey avocado was much better. On a plus side service was good and they were nice to replace it. But still doesn’t help the problem that the baguettes are old.
I hope not all Boudins are like this.

Went here for a late breakfast. We got here at around 9:55 am. They open at 10 am, so we just ended up waiting for 5 minutes. The lady at the front let us wait inside in air conditioning which was nice. This place had more seating inside and outside compared to the location we went to in San Marcos.
This time I had the the great grilled cheese with potato chips and a tropical iced tea to drink. I love grilled cheese. The texture of the bread had a perfect crunch and paired great with the seasoned kettle chips. The tropical iced tea was not sweet and tasted great with plenty of ice. My daughter had a kid’s cheese pizza. She loved it and almost finished it. It also came with an apple juice and a chocolate chip cookie. Delicious!
We were the only ones in the restaurant. Service from the lady was excellent. She cleared our tables as soon as we were done eating. She was very nice with my daughter. I usually like it when we go to a place that is not too crowded. There’s a parking structure across from Boudin SF. The reason why I gave this place 5 stars was because this location was bigger and service was great. This location only had one ladies bathroom compared to the one in San Marcos which had several stalls but was smaller. I still prefer this location since it’s closer to me.

After all these years as a San Diego native and one random trip of SF, I am embarrassed to say that I’ve only been dined at Boudin once, and that was about two weekends ago (Valentine’s Day lunch, anyone?). Needless to say, I’m still a clam chowder novice. I ordered the soup + half salad combo, the clam chowder in a sourdoguh bread bowl with an apple and goat cheese salad. The soup isn’t as thick as a few other clam chowders I’ve had, which I actually prefer and will definitely be ordering again. The bread is served cold and is bit a more dense and dry than I would like, so it is more difficult to tear/​chew, but overall it went well with the soup. I would recommend ordering the dressing n the side if you don’t like your salads drenched in salad dressing. Portions are plenty for the price, but if you’re cutting calories, definitely nix th bread bowl.
Overall this is a pleasant experience and I did enjoy the clam chowder, although if you’re itching for a thicker clam chowder with more seafood/​substance, I would recommend checking out El Pescador in downtown La Jolla if you can make the drive.