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    The Roost

    4.6 (34 reviews)
    Closed 11:30 am - 2:00 pm
    Updated 2 months ago

    Order The Roost Takeout or Delivery

    Services - The Roost

    Allergy-friendly catering

    Gluten-free catering

    Vegan catering

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    Recommended Reviews - The Roost

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    Jenny P.

    Ordered lunch through my workplace via Forkable. What I ordered: - Baked Chicken Leg Quarter: The Roost's famous ancho-mustard rubbed 38 North chicken, served with a crunchy salsa verde, adobo buttermilk slaw and jasmine rice - Cucumber Salad - Mixed Greens Salad - Green Tea Sesame Cookie - Red Velvet Cookie Chicken: surprisingly good however it was a bit on the drier side. I wasn't a huge fan of the adobo buttermilk slaw and ended up eating only the chicken. I also wasn't a fan of the additional salads I added on but that may be my preference for the taste. My favorite part of the meal were the cookies. 1. They were HUGE, the size of my whole hand. 2. Both of them were so good! It was definitely indulgent but perfectly done. I would give them another chance to try a different item but I wouldn't recommend the two salads.

    Current menu
    Vira P.

    The Tenderloin District does not disappoint with the food options! It's currently Restaurant Week, and I've been wanting to try The Roost for awhile. So this was the perfect opportunity to try their menu. As you can tell from the name, they do chicken. And they do it well! The baked chicken leg was moist and had so much flavor from the ancho-chili mustard rub. And I loved the slaw! Normally I don't eat coleslaw because it's usually drenched in dressing, but not this one. It was perfectly dressed and had a good crunch. The rice was good too! It had some earthy flavors to it. My meal also came with sweet potato croquettes with a sriracha aioli, and a brown butter chocolate chip cookie. The croquettes were perfectly fried, and I loved the sweetness of the potato with the slightly spicy sriracha. And the chocolate chip cookie had chocolate at every bite! I came back the next day to get their vegan chickpea corn cakes. Delicious!! I did travel an hour with them, so they lost a little of the crunch. But nonetheless still good. It's not on their main menu (yet?) so if you're vegan, hurry up and get some now before their Restaurant Week menu ends on April 10. The cakes also came with garlic cauliflower roasted perfectly and kale. And the people who work there are super nice and friendly! I noticed they've been getting a lot of online orders, so that's a testament to how good their food is. They do have indoor dining with a few tables just inside. The place is super clean and lots of vertical space. They do have signs asking for vaccination status if you're dining in, fyi, so get that prepared. The Roost is definitely on my go-to list for lunch options in the area. I should've come here sooner!

    Montage of images from The Roost
    Ed U.

    ** The following review reflects my delivery experience DURING the COVID-19 pandemic. ** Who rules The Roost? And isn't a roost where chickens sleep rather than where they rotate on a spit like the episode of "Gilligan's Island" where the native chief was barbecuing Gilligan for refusing to marry his daughter. OK, maybe I watched too much TV as a child, but a satisfying chicken leg was also a fond memory from my childhood. The Roost makes a very good one, the $10.95 Leg Quarter Chicken. It was a big, flavorful leg rubbed in an ancho-mustard sauce. The poultry was accompanied by a crunchy adobo buttermilk slaw and mixed greens (since I was forsaking the jasmine rice) (photo: https://bit.ly/2TiQRVq). They offer healthy vegetarian sides, so I ordered two. The first was the $5 Roasted Cauliflower, charred florets tossed in a yogurt-based tahini with garlic and parsley (photo: https://bit.ly/31y3twy). The other was the $5 Shishito Peppers, also charred but coated in preserved lemons that were a tad too buttery for my taste (photo: https://bit.ly/3jqnFq2). Guess I know who rules the roost now. FOOD - 4 stars...a chicken leg with my name on it AMBIANCE - n/a...someday I'll make it over there SERVICE - 4 stars...4 stars...came pretty fast from the roost TOTAL - 4 stars...in the perpetual choice between Ginger and Mary Ann, I choose chicken RELATED - Lost in the Mission? Here's a collection of places I've tried and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2NHtst6

    Green tea sesame cookie
    Elaine D.

    This review is for their cookies. A friend highly recommended the cookies from The Roost because of the handcrafted cultured brown butter in them, so this was a must-try dessert when in San Francisco. They exceeded expectations and ruined the other cookies in this pastry crawl because of how good they were. Ordered pickup on DoorDash and swung by to get the cookies. Really easy process and got to see the cute and aesthetic interior-- was a huge fan of the chicken mural on the walls! As for the cookies, all of them were incredible. The flavors were very complex and rich in each of the large, soft cookies, and the quality shone through. The green tea cookie had sweet chunks of white chocolate scattered throughout to complement the less-sweet matcha and sesame seeds, the dark chocolate cookie had a deep cocoa flavor with a sweetened peanut butter on top, the chocolate chip cookie had a huge puddle of perfectly gooey chocolate on top with flakey salt, the red velvet cookie's cream cheese complemented the cocoa of the red velvet, and the candied ginger in the snickerdoodle added extra sweet spice to the flavors of a regular snickerdoodle. Of these, our favorites were probably the green tea and chocolate chip cookies. Hopefully can try their chicken and other foods here and at Merchant Roots in the future, solely based on how amazing these cookies were :)

    Rachel L.

    I tried the red velvet cookie from the roost today and it was great! the cookie had good structure (not to doughy or soft but not too hard). it had a good amount of sweetness and had a little bit of saltiness that would cut the sweetness which I loved! it doesn't hurt that the cookie looks beautiful as well. will have to try their entrees another day!

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    2 days ago

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    4 years ago

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    9 months ago

    Food is dry, flavorless, and disgusting. Thank goodness my work doesn't order from this place anymore.

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    4 years ago

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    8 months ago

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    4 years ago

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    2 years ago

    The sweet potato croquettes. Order them. Incredibly unique and so dang good. That is all.

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    6 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Super healthy and delicious! I definitely will go again when I'm in the neighborhood plus everyone is so nice there!

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    Ashley K.

    Thank you, Rebecca! We’ll see you next time :)

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    4 years ago

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    5 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Randomly stumbled upon this place through my job (catered lunch) and wow - the baked chicken leg with rice...SO good!!

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    4 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Incredible food, affordable prices, quick service. This is by far my favorite place in SF to grab lunch while at work.

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    4 years ago

    Food was so flavorful! Not normally a big slaw fan, but there's was excellent, as was the chicken. Great value for the money, too!

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    Ask the Community - The Roost

    Are the sweet potato croquettes deep-fried in Canola oil? Can you give me a better idea of size of them? It's hard to order online.Thank you

    Yes. They are about the size of a golf ball, 4 per order.

    Thanks for the reply.Would appreciate ingredients listed. same products exactly on Doordash? Or other delivery...throughout The Bay area? How is that done? Please consider something other than canola oil. Thank you!?

    We do have dietaries listed for items, but if you have more specific concerns, please feel free to email me at ashley@theroostsf.com.… 

    What kind of oils used In various dishes? Any organic? Which items? PFAS-free takeout containers?Thank you?

    We use extra virgin olive and canola oils. Our chicken is organic, local, free range. Many of our… 

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    We had been to Wayfare Tavern back in 2022 and absolutely loved it, so we were really looking…read moreforward to returning. Unfortunately, our experience this time was completely different, and the overall vibe of the restaurant seems to have changed. We had a reservation for four on a Saturday evening. When we arrived, we were told we could have a table inside, but only for an hour and a half. We agreed because sitting outside along a busy street with buses, trucks, and traffic going by wasn't particularly appealing. The service was okay and our food came out fairly quickly, but throughout the meal we had the distinct feeling that they were trying to move us along. No one checked to see if I wanted another drink, and what really bothered us was that the check was brought to the table without anyone asking if we wanted dessert, coffee, or another round of drinks. We were still within the 90-minute time limit they had given us, so there was no obvious reason for the rush. I may or may not have ordered dessert, but I would have liked the opportunity to look at the dessert menu and decide. Being handed the check without even being offered dessert made us feel less like guests and more like a table they wanted to turn over as quickly as possible. What made this especially disappointing was remembering how much we enjoyed Wayfare Tavern the first time. We specifically chose to come back because of that experience, but this visit felt much more transactional and rushed. For a restaurant at this price point, I expect to be able to relax and enjoy dinner rather than feel like I'm on a countdown. Sadly, I don't think we'll be returning.

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    The Roost - catering - Updated August 2026

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