Schubert's Bakery

521 Clement Street (On 7th Street), San Francisco, CA

I had the worst cheesecake ever yesterday. I was on Clement Street, doing some shopping around -- Green Apple Books is amazing and Kamei Household Wares has beautiful and affordable Japanese dinnerware -- it was one of our “explore different neighborhoods in San Francisco” afternoons and after lunch at Ma Ma San, we walked down Clement for some Bubble Tea but we walked past Schubert’s and I can’t resist bakeries. The place looked really nice, typical neighborhood bakery, cakes that looked too good to eat, seniors having their tea in tiny tables. They had a range of cakes, but since I’m a purist when it comes to cheesecake, I decided to have the plain cheesecake (they had strawberry and chocolate) for $1.50, and I thought, wow…what a steal! The cake came in a small white paper package tied up with string (yeah, I have “My Favorite Things” tune in my head now) -- totally adorable. Couldn’t wait to have it when I got home and ugh, it was the WORST CHEESECAKE I’ve ever had. It didn’t smell like cheesecake, it was extremely light and airy, it crumbled when my fork cut into it and the base was sponge, not graham biscuits! It was criminal. It was so bad that for the first time in my life, I abandoned a cheesecake. I couldn’t believe how bad the cake was -- it didn’t taste like cheese, didn’t smell like cheese -- so I googled reviews on the bakery and reviewers on Cityssearch were insanely raving about Schubert’s Bakery being the best bakery in SF -- my ass it is. Agreed, the environment very conducive for a afternoon snack, especially with it being on such a noisy street but if that one cheesecake was anything to go by, I wouldn’t recommend that the people who think that Schubert’s Bakery is the best bakery in SF to try Ambrosia on Ocean Avenue, off 19th Avenue. It’s not the best bakery, but it’s very similar to Schubert’s and the cakes are waaaay better.

My vote for best cheesecake still goes to Macy’s Cheesecake Factory and a surprisingly good and cheap cheesecake from Ikea’s food court. How cheap you ask? 99 cents a slice!