Ladle & Leaf

Ladle & Leaf is one of the only delicious, healthy lunch options on campus! I have had their soups, sandwiches, and salads and all are delicious. The woman who serves the soup has got to be one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. The sandwich and soup prices are a good deal, and the salads are expensive ($ 9 for a small, $ 10 for a large), but very sizable. Two people could split the large easily, and then it’s affordable! Every meal also comes with bread. The soup selection is always great, and you can taste them before you decide. I particularly like the curry dal. The only downside is that the line can get pretty long at lunch.

As many of you know, trying to find a quick lunch on the Parnassus campus is almost impossible due to the lack of options. I have been here a couple of times and my experience has been ⁵⁰⁄₅₀. First visit was very good all around. The roast beef sandwich was delicious, fresh ingredients and zero wait.
Second visit was a bit bad in all honesty. Salad was good– cranberry, kale but decided to add a sandwich. I went for the egg salad sandwich and it was horrible. It tasted like liver actually. I was actually transported to my childhood when my mother made liver for us to eat. Unfortunately this was an egg salad which only added to the disgusting part of it.
So why the 3 stars, well I was going to give it 2 for the sandwich but the service is alright even though they were slammed with people with 50% discount coupons. And the kale salad and roast beef sandwich, although on different occasions, were quite good.

Ordered a vanilla latte. After waiting a good 20 minutes with what appeared to be only 3 customers ahead of me, the latte was ice cold.
Came back for a refund. They get two stars for giving it to me, but it was an unnecessary ordeal and ended up being 20 cents less than they charged me the first time.

I did use to love SF Soup Co, and their ginormous salads and comforting soups were one of my staples in college. After the Ladle & Leaf rebranding though, the basic salad and soup co was gone and replaced by an overpriced, fancypants wannabe serving a hodgepodge menu ranging from fake banh mi to the «Da Vinci’s shopping list» salad. (See what I mean about upscale branding!!!)
L&L is conveniently located on the UCSF campus, and the ambiance with the airy space, wooden tables, and lime green chairs looks sleek and modern. However, after grabbing their lackluster Peruvian chicken soup for lunch here, I experienced the following chief complaints:
1) Burned my tongue
2) Had a stomach ache afterwards
3) Paid $ 5.75 for a small bowl of soup and a piece of «artisan» bread, and I was unimpressed with both:
— The soup was too salty for my tastes (you’d think that something at UCSF would be healthier… but I guess L&L café is as non-​compliant to JNC 8’s sodium restriction as L&L Hawaiian BBQ)
— My peasant professional student tastes failed to detect anything particularly artisan about the bread
4) Ended up still hungry and snacked after I got home
I guess #1, 2, and perhaps 4 are my fault for not being careful with hot soup, having a weaksauce GI system, and having an appetite too big for my budget… but I have little tolerance for overpriced mediocre food. For $ 5.75 in SF, I could get myself more-​artisan fancy toast!

Good concept overall, nice fresh ingredients, but really skimpy on the «meat.» I had a half Vietnamese chicken and rice noodle salad ($ 8.50) with about 5 small bites of chicken. I’m glad I had a 50% off coupon and don’t feel quite as ripped off. I strongly advise to keep customers coming, you should be more generous with the meat. Thanks.

Had time to go over n grab some lunch w/​my cowrkr, grabbed a Bânh Mî that was VERY disappointing! I’m not even Vietnamese n I know how a Bânh Mî is made… correct the bread, should NOT hv tomato/​lettuce, and what is that horseradish like spread! Whole set is pretty good=1. The lines for a soup OR a sandwich/​salad is kind of confusing for customers. Mocha that we ordered… on point= 1! ULTIMATE FAIL… nobody I mean nobody was wearing a hair net, not even the manager that was making sandwiches OR the one serving soup! I know this is the first wk, so LnL take all this w/​a grain of salt n look into sum of these issues.

Finally, a new food addition to this area of the UCSF campus.
Ladle & Leaf is tucked in the middle of the UCSF nursing building below the cafeteria. Unless you frequent this campus often, then you won’t miss it.
What I liked:
* They have a nice selection of salads and sandwiches. You can go halfsies on any combination of salad, sandwich, and soup.
* Food was fresh
* The line is smooth and streamlined — get your «healthful» food quick!
* Everything is cage free, sustainably raised.
* They serve local coffee — Equator Coffee. woot woot.
What I didn’t like:
* I didn’t see the consistency with their coffee. While I like that they’re serving Equator coffee, I expect to have the same quality — the coffee was very foamy and just below standard. I hope that Ladle & Leaf will train whoever’s in charge of the coffee portion to meet those standards. (see picture)