San Francisco's cafes do not agree on what a cafe is, and this list of 12 does not ask them to. One address opens at 05:00 on weekdays, and another is still serving well past midnight on Saturday. Between those two ends sit a French bakery, a bubble tea counter, two dessert specialists, a room that puts chai in its own name, and a diner-style counter that lists burgers, noodles and donuts side by side. The addresses run through the 94102, 94103 and 94109 postal codes, so most of them can be reached from one another without much planning. Drop the idea that a good cafe day means one perfect espresso and a long sit. Match the place to the hour instead: a sandwich counter before 15:00, a roaster mid-morning, dessert at night. This list suits visitors who plan their days around when doors open and close, and anyone who would rather know the hours than read another paragraph about atmosphere.
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1 Andersen Bakery
1390 Market Street, 94102Bakery sandwiches on a weekday-only schedule
The counter at Andersen Bakery, 1390 Market Street in the 94102, opens at 07:00 on weekdays. Sandwiches are the declared specialty, which makes this as much a lunch stop as a morning one. Skip the hotel breakfast buffet and the airport-style wrap; a bakery with a sandwich counter is a better bet for a midday meal you can eat with one hand. The catch is the schedule: service is Monday to Friday and ends at 15:00, so a late-afternoon detour will find a locked door. For a group order, the number to ring is +1-415-757-0090.
- sandwich
Hours: Mo-Fr 07:00-15:00
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2 Starbucks
1390 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102A 05:00 weekday opening, with weekend hours as well
The Starbucks at 1390 Market Street, 94102, filed under Fox Plaza in the company's own store locator, makes its case on the clock. Weekday doors open at 05:00 and stay open until 19:00, and both Saturday and Sunday run 06:00 to 18:00. That 05:00 start is the whole argument: it serves the traveler with an early departure, the jet-lagged, and the runner who wants coffee before the day begins, at an hour when a pour-over bar is no use to anyone. Skip the debate about whether the coffee is the best in town; it is beside the point. The point is a known order, a seat, and a working morning, 7 days a week.
- coffee shop
Hours: Mo-Fr 05:00-19:00; Sa-Su 06:00-18:00
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3 All Star Cafe
98 9th Street, 94103A wide counter menu running from breakfast and bagels to burgers and noodles
All Star Cafe at 98 9th Street, 94103, lists burgers, bagels, donuts, and noodles on the same menu, which is either a warning or a promise depending on how hungry you are. The range goes further still: breakfast plates, sandwiches, and both Asian and American cooking. This is the kind of counter that feeds whoever walks in without asking them to choose a concept first, and the locals understand it for exactly that. Doors open at 06:15 Monday to Saturday and 07:00 on Sunday, closing at 17:45 every day. If you'd rather not queue, Grubhub handles orders too. Come for an early plate and a donut, not for latte art.
- burger
- sandwich
- breakfast
- asian
- local
- american
- noodle
- bagel
- donut
Hours: Mo-Sa 06:15-17:45; Su 07:00-17:45
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4 La Boulangerie
500 Hayes Street, San Francisco, CA 94102French baking on a morning-to-mid-afternoon schedule
La Boulangerie at 500 Hayes Street, 94102, keeps its brief short: French. A bakery that commits to one tradition gets the basics right, and the basics are why you come, which puts it well ahead of the grab-and-go pastry cases that treat a croissant as a side order to a syrup latte. Hours are 07:30 to 15:30, which rules it out as an evening stop and makes it a natural first call of the day. Arrive early if choice matters to you; we'd treat any French counter as a morning errand rather than an afternoon one. For anything larger than a bag of pastries, phone ahead on +1 415-400-4451.
- french
Hours: 07:30-15:30
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5 NaYa Dessert Cafe
535 Octavia Street, San Francisco, CADessert and ice cream served until 23:00
NaYa Dessert Cafe, 535 Octavia Street, runs on a single proposition: dessert and ice cream, nothing else. The hours make the same point, 12:00 to 23:00 Monday through Sunday, which is the schedule of somewhere you end an evening, not where you start a morning. Skip the restaurant dessert menu, the one with a single chocolate thing and a cheese plate, and walk your sweet course to a place that treats it as the main event. A 23:00 close is late for a cafe in any city, and it leaves room after a show or a long dinner. The cafe's own site is nayadessertcafe.com, worth a look if you like to decide before you arrive.
- dessert
- ice cream
Hours: Mo-Su 12:00-23:00
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6 Sextant Coffee Roasters
1415 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94103Coffee from a shop that puts roasting in its name
Coffee is the only category at Sextant Coffee Roasters, 1415 Folsom Street, 94103, and the word roasters in the name sets the expectation you should bring. Order something simple enough to taste the beans; the syrup-and-whipped-cream approach to coffee would be wasted here. Hours run Monday to Friday 08:00 to 16:00, with a 09:00 start on Saturday and the same 16:00 finish. No Sunday hours are listed, so plan the weekend visit for Saturday. An 08:00 opening is late by commuter standards, which suits people who want to sit for a while rather than grab and go. The phone is +1-415-355-1415.
- coffee shop
Hours: Mo-Fr 08:00-16:00; Sa 09:00-16:00
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7 SPRO
525 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102Weekday coffee from a shop that styles itself a coffee lab
SPRO names itself in its own web address, sprocoffeelab.com, and the label fits a shop that lists coffee as its trade. Find it at 525 Golden Gate Avenue, 94102. The hours are strictly weekday, 07:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday, which makes it a working-day address: before a meeting, between appointments, or as the excuse to leave one. The locals prefer a bar that takes the drink seriously over the lobby kiosk with a pump pot, and a place that calls itself a lab is at least promising to pay attention. Do not turn up on a Saturday expecting service. Questions go to +1-415-844-0650.
- coffee shop
Hours: Mo-Fr 07:00-17:00
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8 Van Ness Cafe & Gyros
826 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94109Mediterranean plates with Saturday service past midnight
Van Ness Cafe & Gyros, 826 Van Ness Avenue, 94109, sits at the far edge of what a cafe list usually holds, the Mediterranean cooking pushing it past the typical entries. We include it for the hours. Doors open at 10:00 every day, running to 21:50 Sunday through Friday, and on Saturday service runs well past midnight. A plate from a Mediterranean kitchen beats the late-night slice eaten standing at a kerb, and this is the better end to a Saturday night. For an early start, look elsewhere: 10:00 is when the day begins here. The cafe's site is ordervannesscafe.com, and the phone is +1 415 5897900.
- mediterranean
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-21:50; Sa 10:00-26:00; Su 10:00-21:50
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9 Flying Pig Bistro
433 South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, 94103Sandwiches from 07:30 on weekdays through to 23:00 on Friday and Saturday
Flying Pig Bistro, 433 South Van Ness Avenue, 94103, opens at 07:30 on weekdays and stays open until 23:00 on Friday and Saturday, a long run for a place that puts sandwiches first. Monday to Thursday the doors close at 21:00; on Saturday and Sunday the day starts later, at 09:00, and Sunday wraps by 17:00. A bistro that keeps a sandwich menu going from breakfast into the late evening has to care about the bread, which is a different proposition from the counters that pull lunch together from a refrigerated drawer. We'd use it as an all-day fallback, morning stop or supper. The website is flyingpigbistropub.com.
- sandwich
Hours: Mo-Th 07:30-21:00; Fr 07:30-23:00; Sa 09:00-23:00; Su 09:00-17:00
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10 Quickly
709 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94109Bubble tea through the afternoon, 11:00 to 19:00
Quickly, 709 Larkin Street, 94109, is a bubble tea stop, and we include it because a cafe list that is all espresso misses something. The brand's own site gives this shop its own page, labelled for the Tenderloin, and that framing is right: think of it as a street-level tea counter with a specific address, not a logo. A tea stop does a job a coffee bar cannot, something cold, sweet and chewable in the middle of an afternoon on foot, and the hours are built for that use: 11:00 to 19:00, with no morning service. The phone is +1 415 666 6478.
- bubble tea
Hours: 11:00-19:00
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11 Sweet Glory
721 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94109A daytime dessert counter, closed on Tuesday
Sweet Glory, 721 Larkin Street, 94109, is closed on Tuesdays. Every other day the doors are open 10:30 to 18:00, with dessert as the stated specialty. Those hours make it a daytime stop, and we find that more useful than it might sound: dessert at 10:30 is a decision, and a good one when the day holds a lot of walking. Skip the queue at the photo-first places built for a phone camera; go where dessert is the trade and the hours are plain. Check sweetglorysf.com before you set out, or call +1 415 7430724.
- dessert
This is an early version of the San Francisco list. We add picks as we test more places.
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