Bittersweet Chocolate Cafe
Neighborhood: Pacific Heights
2123 Fillmore Street
(between California St & Sacramento St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
Rated: ♣♣♣♣♣
Update: Bittersweet on Fillmore is closed. 
You can still visit them in their other locations: Oakland and Danville.
After a beautiful day at the Cherry Blossom Festival in SF’s Japantown, K and I walked a few blocks up to the Fillmore district to attempt to burn off the hundreds of calories we had just consumed. What I love about walking around the Fillmore district is the fancy boutique shops and the dog-friendly atmosphere. I, myself, could not afford anything in this neighborhood, but I do enjoy window shopping at Marc by Marc Jacobs store and Design Within Reach.
While on our stroll filled with wishful purchases, we came across Bittersweet, a chocolate cafe. I had heard about Bittersweet through a family friend who gave us a box of tea with a mix of truffles from the cafe before and I’ve been dying make a visit.
The scene:
Bittersweet has a very cute, whimsical atmosphere. The set-up is very casual – a few tables here, a couple chairs there, couches upstairs, etc. K and I were lucky to get a seat by the window to people watch. We caught an old man hitting a t
ruck 4 times while trying to park! While chatting it up, I came across a drawer at the table we were sitting at. Inside the drawer are notes written by frequent customers wishing a happy day to anyone who finds the letters. The sweet messages sure did put a smile on my face.
The food:
I was way too full to try any of the baked goods, but K and I ordered 2 drinks. Total cost came to $10.
Chocolate Thai Iced Tea – Truly, a unique drink. The Thai Iced Tea was sweet, spicy, fragrant and chocolaty all at the same time! I’d probably say it’s one of the lesser sweet drinks Bittersweet has to offer. It ended up being very refreshing in the 70 degree weather.
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate – As I’ve never been to Bittersweet before, I was recommended the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. This. Was. Amazing. You definitely need a sweet tooth to drink this (which indeed I do have). It was creamy, frothy and smokey. The hot chocolate is made from melted caramel, a pinch of salt and a shot of espresso. You really can’t go wrong with this.
There are so many drinks on this menu I want to try. Several of the notes in the table mentioned the Classic being the best drink, but I’m also interested in trying the Spicy. Yum, cant wait!
hi sam! i’ve only been to bittersweet once, like, a year ago. I think I tried the mexican hot chocolate. I wasn’t too huge a fan of it, but d loved loved LOVED his classic. but I wanna go back now to try the salted caramel!
when did you and k go to cherry blossom? we tried to go yest, but after circling for parking for what seemed like an hour, we gave up
i’ll have to tell you a story about these donuts i’m always hopeful is sold at cherry blossom (seems like these donuts aren’t sold every year, and I was told they weren’t around this year :().
p.s. i’m really surprised that you haven’t been to birite yet!!
Doughnuts at the Cherry Blossom Festival?! I go almost every year and I’ve never seen the doughnuts! Aww, I’m bummed. I did get some deep fried mochi though. It was crispy and bubbly on the outside and warm and chewy on the inside. It was also topped with a sweet soy sauce and seaweed flakes. Sooo good.
Definitely go back to Bittersweet! The salted caramel hot chocolate was very sweet, so you’ll need water to wash it down. I’ve heard so much about the classic, I need to go back and try it. My brother said his favorite is the Bicerin, but I have no idea what that is.
BTW, I go to Bi-Rite all the time! I was there just last weekend actually. It was probably one of my first posts.
Doh! This is what happens when I read on muni. I misread when you talked about Salted Caramel that you’d never been to Birite, not Bittersweet. Whoops! I do remember your Birite post – sorry!!
Oooh, I remember that mochi!! Yum, that’s one thing I do usually get from the festival. Hahah, remind me to tell you the donut story. I dunno if they really are donuts (someone said they were malasada), but that’s what I call ’em!!
This was a great cafe review. I look forward to reading more of your excursions and findings in our charming city.
You probably already heard by now – Bittersweet Cafe on Fillmore is closed. Of course, its other locations are still live and vibrant as usual. I wrote a post about the SF location recently, I thought I’d share it with you:
http://xuanthupham.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/bittersweet-cafe-on-fillmore-is-no-more/
Cheers,
XuanThu
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