Ike's Place: SF's Best Sandwich Shop

While in Taiwan, I walked around the food court at Taipei Main Station with a friend. As we walked around, we noticed the international food banners with chefs from all over the world with a specific dish that is a specialty to their native country. My friend found it amusing and depressing that the United States was represented with a sandwich. But now as I think about it, there is some truth to it and it's actually not entirely bad.

I've been to Ike's a few times in my life, and whenever I go onto Yelp I'm never surprised to see it in the top listings of food places in SF. Ike's Place is a cute little blue deli shop on 16th Street a few blocks away from the 16th Street Mission BART station. Ike Shehadeh opened up the deli shop with the hopes of serving high quality sandwiches. He has been able to create an assortment of combination that blend well and satisfy various customers. Many mayonnaise lovers may be disappointed that the sandwich doesn't come with mayo; however, Ike created an even better sauce to substitute for mayo. Ike's "dirty sauce" is an aioli garlic sauce containing 19 different herbs. All sandwiches come with the usual condiments except for mayo.

Ike is quite dedicated to his creation, as he works as any regular waiter and host at the shop, interacting with customers on a personal level. People are willing to line up for half an hour to a couple of hours just to get their sandwich and don't seem to mind at all. As a recent customer who waited 45 minutes to get my sandwich, I couldn't help but notice a lot of people passing by and wondering what the hype was all about and taking out their camera phones to take pictures of the deli.


The sandwich menu is huge, with clever names and phrases to describe the tastes of the sandwiches. What's impressive is the number of vegetarian (which is as long as the meats menu) and vegan sandwiches Ike offers. Sandwich prices are moderate, considering you're in San Francsco. Most sandwiches are between 6-9 dollars. The sandwich featured in this post is known as "We're Just Friends" which include chicken breast, sweet orange glaze, avocado, pepperjack, and all the other given condiments. Ike's sandwiches are juicy and the flavors are just right. I know I will be coming back for more, especially because I still need to try a sandwich with mozarella sticks stuffed in the sandwiches. It's no wonder why people come back for more.

3506 16th St
San Francisco, CA 94114
Yelp Review