Ferry Building Marketplace
add photos19 Reviews for Ferry Building Marketplace
182
52
'11, '12
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"Gastronomic Pleasures"
The Ferry building is a food temple- between the Slanted Door for vietnamese and Cowgirl Creamery for amazing cheese, I am a happy woman. A visit to the Ferry Building should be on any tourists agenda. For goodness sake, come here before you go to Pier 39- this is what real California food is all about.
The Ferry farmer's market is famous for its breadth and depth, but as there are so many wonderful farmer's markets in the bay area, I have not yet felt compelled the join the heaving masses for this particular weekend ritual.
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1 family found this helpful
"Good for walks, food, resting"
I worked in the Financial and would come here regularly during my lunch hour walks. I would even make the trek into the city on weekends with my daughter to walk around the farmer's market around the ferry building because they always had good food and restrooms! I never knew how important locating a public restroom was until moving to SF, this place has them and they are clean! I would definitely recommend coming here to do some shopping and walk along the embarcadero. You can grab some food and check out the beautiful bridge views.
1 family found this helpful
"Ferry Building Marketplace"
The Farmer's Market was awesome - tons of produce options and a lot of organic products available! Inside the Ferry Building was a different story. It was so crowded, I spent more time trying to keep track of my stepson than enjoying the market itself. I don't know if it was when we went or not but I would recommend skipping the building. If you are brave enough to enter, definitely get a gelato - yummy!
1 family found this helpful
"Best Farmers market ever"
Visiting the farmers market at the ferry building in San Fransicso is a must every time we are in San Francisco. First we wait in line in very long but very worth it coffee line and then stroll along to each venders getting samples at each one and buy some amazing locally grown produce. They have amazing jams, breads, cheeses, and burritos as well.
1 family found this helpful
"Ferry Building at San Fran"
What a great place to visit! It incorporates so much neat stuff! We visited the Farmer's Market and got lots that we ate just walking around! Great for hungry kiddos! It's also fun to watch the fishermen, who were great sports while us tourists stopped to gawk and take pictures. The stores in the ferry building are great as well...lots of neat little shops with unique gifts, crafts, and do-dads! Food was GREAT!
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"Pretty cool"
I live all the high end food sellers. I also love the ambiance. It is a cool space on the water and Slanted Door is one of my top 5 favorite restaurants in the city. The burger place also has killer shakes. My daughter thinks the glass doors are the coolest thing there, but whatever.
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"Best Farmer's Market"
The farmer's market here is great. Super crowded so make sure you can keep your little ones close to you. Strollers are sometimes tough to navigate through the crowds. We live in Oakland, so we make an adventure out of it and take the Ferry over to the Ferry Building, the boys love the boat ride. Food is great1 Make sure you wait in line for some Blue Bottle Coffee, the wait is worth it!
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"Very pleasant"
I really like to go to the Ferry Building Marketplace with my children. In our town,the market is pretty small so it is really nice once in a while to cross the Bay and enjoy the variety at the maket outside and in the marketplace inside. And it is not too far to walk to Union Square or to Pier 39 for some extra fun.
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"Time this trip right!"
Thinking that a midweek excursion to the Ferry Building might be less crowded than on a Saturday (which is great fun, but ridiculously crowded), my toddler and I rode up on the train and cabbed over to Embarcadero. We arrived at noon, just as a sea of suits came rushing across the street for lunch. Lines at every booth and restaurant were packed with dozens of people, and my little guy and I had to grab a bunch of grapes and hide out in the bookstore until the throng of hungry gourmands returned to their office buildings. By then, the little guy was ready for his nap, and we had to head home without yummy, gourmet lunch. Midweek is a nice time to visit the Ferry Building, but avoid lunchtime!
1 family found this helpful
"Love it but not exactly kid-friendly"
We come here almost every weekend because our kids are fruitarians and we love the food. However, it isn't exactly kid-friendly at the height of the Saturday farmers market - make sure your kids are wearing bright colors so you can spot them in the crowd and take your food to go and sit at a quiet bench on the adjacent pier.
1 family found this helpful
"Good Food, Very Crowded"
The Ferry Building is fun for walking around, and it makes for a great BART destination from the East Bay. It's just far enough that kids can ride BART for fun, but not so far that they get bored. And it's a short walk from the Montgomery St. station.
Once inside, it is very, very crowded. There are lots of great food vendors, but the place itself isn't particularly kid friendly. There aren't a lot of restrooms, so expect to wait in line with your little ones. The best part is walking along the waterfront where the ferries dock.
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"Fun with the Family"
Come with an appetite to one of the world’s best farmers’ markets, the Saturday market at Ferry Plaza, outdoors on the edge of the bay. Gorgeous produce, prepared foods like rotisserie chicken, salads, cheeses, breads, and free tastes, are presented by as many as one hundred vendors, mostly small regional farmers and ranchers, many of them certified as organic. Indoors and open every day are the permanent vendors, all top-of-the-line, selling everything from olive oils and deli foods to wines, books, oysters, candy, fish, chocolate, 36 kinds of gelato at Ciao Bella, and more.
1 family found this helpful
"Ferry My Heart"
The Ferry Building is a veritable cornucopia of high end foodstuffs. From caviar to wine this place has got you covered! We love walking along the waterfront taking in the sights. You get a great view of Treasure Island, and the big ships are always a hit with the under 6 crowd. Yes, dining options can be spendy, but you're in the middle of one of the most decadent farmer's markets around...capitalize on that. We spent roughly $30 and bought ourselves a fabulous make-shift picnic for 4 (Acme Bread selection, Tasty Salted Pig Parts, Artisan cheeses from Cowgirl, olives, olive oil, and some drinks). Take your selections and dine alfresco on one of the benches. It's a great way to spend a family day.
Other nice things to know:
- Bring change for the parking meters
- Acme bread only takes cash
3 families found this helpful
"Fun at the Ferry Building"
We love to take our little girl here to walk around and take in all the good things they have to offer. It's a great place to eat, so many options and everything is made or grown locally. It's a great place to explore and try new foods, and just allow our daughter to walk around. Plus there are great things that I can always get for myself, like great chocolates, coffee, and olive oil. During the summer the Ferry Building has a farmer's market at night and it's great because I can make it after work instead of trying to go on a weekend!
2 families found this helpful
"Hard to park"
The Ferry Building Marketplace is a neat place to go to catch a ferry ride, see local businesses, and try local produce on farmers' market days. It is also a large part of San Francisco history - with the clock that stopped during the quake. Ferry rides are fairly inexpensive and a great trip for families. Come on a saturday, grab ferry tickets, and lunch from the farmers' market. On the other side, in Sausalito, get off and grab some ice cream! Nice way to spend the day.
2 families found this helpful
"Expensive and Crowded"
The smells, sights, and sounds at the Ferry Building farmer's market on Saturdays make it worth a visit; however, unless you're rich, it's not a good place to buy stuff. Whenever we visit, we wait in one of the long lines to buy a pastry to share while sitting on one of the benches along the waterfront. Lines for coffee, pastries, and food are long on Saturdays and require patience. There are some fun stores to browse through when you don't have the kids, but as a family outing, I don't think it's a good value.
2 families found this helpful
""Cupcakes and Ferry Ride""
We love going to the Ferry Building with our 2 kids. They look forward to eating organic cupcakes from Miette Patisserie (Miette also has the most AMAZING Parisian/old fashioned candy store in Hayes Valley) and then taking the ferry over to Sausalito for the day. Having coffee at Northpoint Coffee Company in Sausalito while letting kids throw pebbles into the bay is an afternoon favorite!
1 family found this helpful
"Lots to taste and see for kids"
We love to come and gorge ourselves on all of California's best local product. Kids usually love taste-testing all the delicious fresh fruits and pastries from the various vendors. We always start our trip with a brunch/lunch at Taylor's. Very kid-friendly and good burgers. Plenty of space outside along the pier and up and down Embarcadero for the kids to explore, run and play.
2 families found this helpful
"Fun for parents and kids"
My kids just love going to the farmer's market where they get to try wonderful California produce at it's very best. The ferry building farmer's market is great for favoring and trying exotic foods and varieties. A gourmet cook's heaven. Children have a blast going from stall to stall trying the sweetest, juiciest fruit. However, the prices are steep. Go to Alemany Farmer's Market off Alemany Blvd at the junction of 280 and 101, and you will pay half. Nonetheless, the greatest breadth of hard to find varieties, the Ferry Building farmer's market just can't be beat. The view is stunning on a blue sky day. Parking is horrible, although the parking lot just north of ferry building does accept validation from any vendors or restaurants. Don't even think about parking on the street. Meters in the area are patrolled heavily even on weekends and usually only allow you park for 30 min to 1 hour.
Taylor's Refresher's serves up good burgers that should make any kid happy. They also have a wide selection of milk shakes and in true San Francisco fashion, they have taken fries and beers gourmet. This is a burger joint San Francisco style.
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