The Toaster Oven

So sad Toaster Oven closed! It was so easily overlooked, but was a good place for a sandwich and froyo milkshake! it will be missed! xo

It’s a bit late as the store on Spear Street is closed. Looks like the whole business is gone too as their Facebook page and websites are «toast». :D
In any case, in the couple of years that I’ve worked on Spear Street, I’ve only had the meatball sandwich, chocolate chip cookies and the milk shakes at The Toaster Oven.
Overall, I liked what I had when I went to the place and they were usually pretty busy. However, their selection is a little limited in terms of sandwiches. There is a Togo’s /​Subway close by as well as a Starbucks right next door.
Maybe one critique is that this particular spot was usually understaffed. There wee usually two people making the sandwiches and one cashier. If I ordered a milk shake, the cashier would get held up too.
In any case, it was good while it lasted. I’ll be curious what takes over the Toaster Oven spot in the future.

Not good, I liked the seating though. Open space and not crowded during lunch. And blah blah blah because Unilocal forces me to write a book for my reviews now.

I passed by this place at least 139 times (the amount of check-​ins at Dailey Method before I quit last week) without checking it out. I finally got to check it out and had the ham sandwich. The bread is kind of like Earl of Sandwich and it was pretty good. I would come back.

Extremely disappointing — they did the exact opposite of what I ordered on top of my sandwich. I asked for everything except mayo. On the sandwich bag, «mayo» is crossed out. The sandwich maker interpreted that as «only mayo», so I ended up getting a meat/​mayo sandwich.
Their operational processes clearly needs work.
For what it’s worth, the few ingredients that I did get weren’t bad.

She skimped on the tomatoes, I asked for a bit more, she gives me 2 additional little slices, and i see on my receipt that i got charged 75 cents for extra meat. The irony of it all is that I ordered a veggie sandwich haha. I was about to argue the charge but honestly, I needed to get back to work and didn’t want to argue for 3 quarters in public but it warrants a 1 star review. I remember the other time I went I ordered turkey and I got 2 slices of turkey. What’s with this place?

For whatever reason, I never noticed this place before despite dining in the area for lunch quite frequently. My first experience was quite positive– in an ‘upgraded’ Quizno’s kind of way. My sandwich was a ‘special of the day’ which was essentially a BBQ chicken with bacon and pepperjack cheese added. I enjoyed the sandwich, and the price was right. I will be back for more, sooner or later.

Breakfast sandwich is good. I grabbed one in passing between bus transfers. Took about 10 mins from order to food to go (single sandwich, no other customers in line ahead of me… but looked like one giant carry out they were working on). Probably would not have time to stop again between buses.

This review is about the Toaster Oven breakfast. This location in particular has had at most one person in front of me for breakfast, so it’s pretty good for picking up a quick bite on the way to the office.
I recently discovered the breakfasts at this place, and I think I may have been there 5 or 6 times in two weeks. The breakfast biscuit sandwiches are so good! Like the Egg McMuffin, except much better. The bacon & egg/​cheddar/​biscuit is my favorite combo. There isn’t too much egg, and the bacon is cut into tasty little squares. The biscuit is, oddly, one of the best parts. It’s doughy and moist and good.
Great place to grab a sandwich to munch on while doing the morning email.

TL;DR: Like Quizno’s. But not. The definition of «Just Ok».
Directly attached to my building now. I’ve come down here for quick breakfast sandwiches, cups of milk when we run out, and even lunch.
Lets start with breakfast. Bagel sandwiches. Their bagels kind of suck. I feel like they are using kinda second rate ones. There are a bunch of other shops nearby that use fresh/​artisan/​fancier bagels, and I think unless they step up their game here I will probably avoid coming to them in the future for this particular offering.
Cups of Milk — They only have low fat, which i don’t particularly care for. In a pinch it will do for cereal though.
Lunch — So, as the name would suggest, everything is toasted. They offer 5 or so different kinds of sandwiches, I believe, from PB&J to your basic deli stuff, and a meat ball sub.
I’ve had the turkey and the meatball, both of which were ok. Nothing wrong with them, nothing stand out about them either. Just your basic sandwich, meat and cheese and bread toasted then with toppings.
At least most of their offerings are pretty cheap:
Bagel Sando: ~4 bucks
Cup of Milk: ~1.50
Reg Sando: ~5−6 bucks.
Since there are SO many other choices around, this is pretty much a place for me to come when i feel lazy. Otherwise I’d suggest checking any number of different places out.

Sandwich looks good but taste similar to any other sandwich places. The menu here is limited with not too many choices or toppings. I ordered the Meatball Marinara and I was content with it… but I think it taste almost exactly like Subway. The only difference is the bread which was also nothing more than okay and the choices were limited to white or wheat. The only reason I would come back here is to try their breakfast.

Cheap potbelly like sandwiches. Get the KC style chicken sandwich or the kitchen sink! The service is fast even when its lunch time and there are only 2 people working there. The place closes at 3pm though. Sign up for MOGL and you get 10% off and $ 10 for referring friends.

ugh. NO NO NO NO NO.
After the third Toaster oven experience (in 5 years) I decided that it’s no better than Subway. Well, I said Subway because the way you advertise yourself seems like you can do better than them. But I was wrong. The choices are lacking, vegetables and toppings can be fresher, service can be friendlier. I got their mushroom sub with all toppings on it but onions. It really felt boring, although it felt me up so much I got to visit the bathroom. (that’s one star for filling me up for just about $ 5) But I ain’t coming back.

How lackluster this sandwich experience was. When my corner liquor store (Gene’s Deli in the Sunset) sells a better sub than you — we’ve got a problem. And not to say that Gene’s is sub-​par (punny, no?) it is actually a stellar submarine experience. Just surprising that it comes from a corner liquor store.
Their soup (split pea) was gelatinous and the ham was in tiny little cubes.
All in all a strange and pretty boring lunch.

3.5 stars
Was pleasantly surprised by the quality of my sandwich. Way better than Subway or Quizno’s for sure and pretty affordable. Had the kitchen sink sandwich with avocado with all the toppings sans hot peppers. Enjoyed it. They did not go overboard with mayo or mustard, the meats were not too salty. Additionally, coworkers enjoyed the Italiano.

— — BREAKFAST ONLY — —
Love their breakfast sandwiches. Quick service, efficient, delicious. Great pitstop before a morning meeting. Just wish this was open on the weekends

Sandwiches are so much more sophisticated these days, especially in downtown San Francisco where it’s expected you’ll get a premium sandwich that puts a $ 10 dent in your wallet, or something cheap such as Subways or Lees. Toaster Oven sandwiches fall right in between since after taxes, it close to $ 6 and although they use fresh ingredients, there’s no pizazz. I’ve ordered the following
Kitchen Sink — It’s basically their combo meat sandwiches with Roast Beef, Turkey, Salami, Ham and Provolone cheese. It may sound like a heavy sandwich, but it’s not. They don’t give a mountain of meat, more like a slice of each one.
Italiano — Sodium heaven for those who like salted meats. Sandwich includes Mortadella, Capricola, Salami, Pepperoni and Provolone cheese.
Piezzano — Basic sandwich with Pepperoni, sliced mushrooms, marinara sauce and Provolone cheese.
KC BBQ chicken — I was disappointed by this. The chicken tasted a bit dry and sounds better than it tasted.
It’s nice that they offer their own mixture of pepperoncinis, a mash up of different peppers. They also have a vinaigrette dressing as a substitute for mayo or mustard for reduced calories. One sandwich will get an average eater full, but Subway is a better value. Try if you get bored of your local sandwich joint but tailor your expectations.

For a solid sandwich without much fluff
it’s healthier than a nice cream puff
But delicious as a pizza in a bun
that’s called the piezzano, remember it son!
This place is a pretty solid place because:
1) Decent price — Sandwich for about $ 4.99
2) The sandwiches are tasty. My favs are the piezzano (basically a pizza in a sandwich with hot marinara with melted cheese :) and the KC BBQ chicken. They’re SOLID!
3) I like going to this place at around 1:30−2pm, because it’s relatively quiet and you can do some reading or whatnot.
Soups ain’t bad either. Kinda small, but you can get two and it’s decent price.

Mundane SSS (Sandwich and/​or Soup and/​or Salad) seems to plague the San Francisco office workforce lunchtime. Yes it’s quick. Yes it’s reasonably priced. Yet, it lacks excitement. Left to my own devices I could sustain myself on Chicken Tikka Masala burritos and Japanese Curry, but sometimes you need to go with the flow. I’ve hard worse when out with co-​workers, but this still isn’t a place I’d go to on my own.
Italiano: Fatty processed meat slices all together with provolone cheese on a toasted bun, hmm!!! Not Boccalone or Fatted Calf quality, but better than Subway or Quiznos. The loads of fresh basil was a nice touch though.
Chicken Tortilla Soup: I appreciate that they used soft corn tortilla bits, which have the fortitude to stick together better than flour tortillas when immersed in soup. It was strange that there was a lot of celery in the soup since I’ve never had celery on a tortilla of any form before. The soup itself was bland and lacking though.
Pickle: Like something from a super market aisle, nothing artisanal about it.

Sandwiches are the new black. It used to be sushi. Then it was those wraps. But it’s back to basics. The sandwich is back and hitting the runway right to your tummy.
So I like the fact that the sandwich preparer (is that the correct title?) will scoop out the bread in my soft roll to accommodate the girth of ingredients in my Kitchen Sink sammie and thereby lowering my cholesterol level and letting me live yet another day on this planet. The Kitchen Sink is $ 4.99 like very other sandwich they make here except for the non-​meat options which are forty cents cheaper. It has roast beef, turkey, salami, ham and provolone cheese with all the fixings (see my photo).
As far as I can tell, there isn’t much choice for what bread you want, but it is nicely toasted. Oh I get it… toasted …Toaster Oven. I also went for a bag of Pop Chips, which are the non-​fried alternative to potato chips. I think they’re not as tasty as Baked Lays, but I like the effort. It’s a big space they have on Spear, and you do wonder if they’ll survive if most of their business consists of the working drones from the nearby office buildings. But I do wish them well. I don’t have a toaster oven… not even a toaster, so this place comes in handy.
FOOD — 4 stars… a fine, toasted sammie
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… pretty nice lunchtime alternative
SERVICE — 4 stars… they make them sammies with precision
TOTAL — 4 stars… never enough good sammie shops as far as I’m concerned