The Roost: Cafe & Catering

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!

Lunch at The Roost is one of our favorites in SF. As a pescatarian, this is actually the ONLY chicken I eat, anywhere - and it is delicious. The adobo seasoning is fabulous. Cole slaw has a unique flavor that I wish I could replicate at home. Do try the sweet potato croquettes, but leave room for their brown butter cookies!

I was seeking to try a new place and took a chance on The Roost. Wow! Their selection is deliciously creative and I'll definitely be back soon. I tried the Chicken dish as the main and went for the Candy Ginger Snickerdoodle cookie for dessert. Both were just DELICIOUS! I will be back to try more. If you go - and I hope you do! - definitely add one of their delicious cookies to your order! So, so good!

Merchant Roots is our favourite restaurant in SF so when we discovered The Roost by the same team, we had to try it! The chicken was delicious, as were all the sides especially the croquettes. We did delivery and it was all packaged really well so arrived in perfect condition. AND the cookies are delicious. Great value too, highly recommend!

The whole roasted chicken is simply amazing. Incredibly flavorful and juicy throughout, even the white meat. The roasted cauliflower was such a surprise, garlic roasted yumminess! All the sides and components had a wonderful variety of flavors and were so thoughtfully put together. Whoever prepares the chicken and sides there definitely tastes everything they make because the chicken, side dishes and components served with the chicken were simply delicious; cooked, seasoned, and prepared with attentive care. I look forward to going back to try the rest of items on the menu.

Very friendly staff and the menu offers flavorful options that makes a visit very worthwhile. Shared an order of a half chicken with an extra side of rice, and it was more than enough to be satisfied. The matcha sesame cookies and sweet potato croquettes were fun treats to end our meal. Definitely going to recommend this to friends and looking forward to coming back

The Roost ROCKS! Super pleasant,hard working and tasteful addition to our neighborhood. Pun intended,as these newest flavors create more than chicken. My husband is a man who just doesn't like chicken,liked the pork tremendously. I'm a big fan of the chicken quinoa salad,and it's maker! My praise to the Roost, and may it prosper! The Tenderloin has a great history, it's own flavor, the Roost brings it's taste,full of itself adds ever more flavor. Good luck neighbors!

The croquettes were mind blowing delicious and made for great leftovers the next day! The roasted cauliflower was pleasantly seasoned but the dip that came with it tied all the flavors together perfectly. The dry rub on the chicken was delightfully tasty and made for juicy and tender meat. Will definitely be ordering from the roost again! Grub hub delivered this meal to me contactless.

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

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

Did I order braised pork shoulder from the Roost? That little cup is braised pork shoulder, rest were spinach and rice. It looked pretty nice when picking up the meal, but meh when looking into it. Maybe it's just the style of cooking that I never like (I love lamb shank and braised beef dishes but the southern style braised pork usually seems off). Reply to owner Ashley: yeah I don't think it's worthwhile to please me, I figure most people love southern style braised pork the way it is. I think my mistake was thinking it being different than pulled pork. I like lamb shank and braised beef because they have fatty bits which make them far juicier than pulled pork. Come to think of it I don't know why the fattiest of the three usually avoids juicy and fatty bits.

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.

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

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!

Quarter chicken leg - the chicken flavoring would have been really good but unfortunately it was way too salty. Please reduce the salt and this would be amazing! Rice was really good, but would have liked a brown/black rice option. Also ordered the quinoa chicken, which would have been quite good except there were a ton of raisins in it. This is just personal preference (sorry raisin lovers!) but wish there was an option to leave out raisins or replace it with something else . This place definitely has the potential to be a top chicken spot in SF, but wish it wasn't so salty.

Ordered the lunchbox meal with baked chicken, braised sweet greens, and a green tea sesame cookie. The meal also came with cole slaw and white rice. Overall, the meal was a very large portion for lunch and a great deal for $22. The chicken was delicious - tender and roasted to perfection. the cookie was also huge and a really unique flavor - the green tea came out really nicely. I wasn't a fan of the braised sweet greens though - which was too soggy and lacked any flavor.

** 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

My favorite lunch spot to order from hands down. Great food, great portions. Some of the best cookies, chicken and omg the croquettes!!!! They have been so dependable as a lunchtime staple- and I have to stop myself from making it my go to meal all the time.

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!

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 :)

The salads were a five. The chicken was moist and I would have left a better rating but it was so salty almost to the point I would not be able to read it. The rice was good. I would order again assuming the seasoning is not a reoccurring issue.

Came here for SF Restaurant Week. The roasted chicken is very good--juicy, flavorful, just the right amount of saltiness in each bite from the crispy skin. Cot damn--the cookies are good. Like, I will walk through the TL for this cookie level good. Dark chocolate peanut butter, you have a place in my heart. Restaurant is clean, well-lit, tons of plants and greenery. I'd say IG-able if you're into that. Wanting this place to succeed so come support! Their restaurant week deal is well-worth it--$15 for quarter chicken, side, drink, and 1 cookie, $25 for a half-chicken, large side, drink, and 2 cookies.

Food at The Roost was outstanding - my favorites include the sweet potato croquettes (can't get enough of them!), cole slaw and the adobo chicken is AMAZING. Not sure how they make the cole slaw so uniquely delicious. The cultured brown butter cookies are out of this world - personal fav is the dark chocolate peanut butter. We never miss lunch from The Roost when in SF.

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

The roast chicken is very well seasoned and juicy and the rice and cole slaw was delicious. I also ordered the shishito peppers and roasted cauliflower and they were also excellent. Staff friendly. The location is scary right in the tenderloin and very depressing so order delivery and tip the driver well !!!

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!

Awesome food. First couple to sit down inside since COVID. Chicken was amazing. Cauliflower roasted just right. Cookie great way to end meal. WILL be back. Thanks so much

Yup. These guys were good before, they came back with a vengeance. Chicken is super moist, big. Delicious. Generous sides. Great deal. Even their packaging got smarter. Not many places like this for delivery. There's some love in that kitchen for sure.

I had the chicken with slaw and salsa and the roasted cauliflower. Everything was perfect! This was one of my favorite roasted chickens I've had in the city. I plan on ordering dinner from here often and I recommend everyone else do the same.

Merchant Roots is our favourite restaurant in SF so when we discovered The Roost by the same team, we had to try it! The chicken was delicious, as were all the sides especially the croquettes. We did delivery and it was all packaged really well so arrived in perfect condition. AND the cookies are delicious. Great value too, highly recommend!

Perhaps I caught them on an off day, but both my chicken and jasmine rice were exceedingly salty. I'm usually a salt fan, but the chicken was almost inedible. The roasted cauliflower was fine but counter to the chicken and rice, it lacked seasoning. I did however really enjoy the slaw.

Best chicken and cookies in the City! I stopped by here randomly and felt like I stumbled upon a true SF gem. I've lived in the neighborhood for years, and we lack high quality food for lunch, this place nails it! Can't say enough good things about The Roost, I'm a lifelong customer.

Ok YUM!!! I haven't been eating out much during COVID and so lately I generally prefer my home made food to eating out, but the best thing about The Roost is that it has that homemade vibe that you can feel good about! Seriously simple, wholesome ingredients packed with flavor. The chicken was spiced and roasted to absolute perfection- so moist! I love southern food and the sides have a southern flare but with updated and fresh flavors, and not heavy at all. The coleslaw is a whole experience. This was also my favorite rendition of quinoa I've ever had. Also loved the sweet potato croquettes. The leftovers were just as good the second time around, so get extra!! Highly recommend this place for takeout you can feel good about!!!

Great food. Great people. I've had the pleasure of consuming this chicken on many occasions. The food is always good as are the people. I highly recommend.

Amazing, Juicy Chicken. The Sweet Potato balls and Sauce are so delicious and sweet. They are my favorite item from the Roost. Chocolate chip and sea salt cookies are unbelievable. Quality of the food gets 12 out of 10. Soooo much Deliciousness.

Ladies luncheon and we're all about the appetizers! The cucumber salad, grilled cauliflower, and the sweet potato croquettes (omg) so good! It was gourmet to go I love it!

I was seeking to try a new place and took a chance on The Roost. Wow! Their selection is deliciously creative and I'll definitely be back soon. I tried the Chicken dish as the main and went for the Candy Ginger Snickerdoodle cookie for dessert. Both were just DELICIOUS! I will be back to try more. If you go - and I hope you do! - definitely add one of their delicious cookies to your order! So, so good!

Tried this place last weekend, so good! I very well might be in love with the chicken. I had never had a sweet potato croquette but man were they good. Looking forward to next time

The croquettes were mind blowing delicious and made for great leftovers the next day! The roasted cauliflower was pleasantly seasoned but the dip that came with it tied all the flavors together perfectly. The dry rub on the chicken was delightfully tasty and made for juicy and tender meat. Will definitely be ordering from the roost again!