findmyreubenFind your best Reuben in San Francisco.
Corned beef, smoky pastrami, or a plant-based twist. Start with the ingredients you love.
The best Reuben for you depends on what you want between the bread. A corned-beef sandwich with Russian dressing answers a different craving from pastrami with Thousand Island. In San Francisco, even the cabbage can change: Loveski uses kimchi in its Chopped Reuben.
This is a menu-researched shortlist, not a taste-test ranking. We selected these choices for their distinct builds, identifiable San Francisco locations and linked menu evidence. We have not personally tasted every sandwich. Google restaurant stars do not decide these picks.
Start with your favorite style
| If you want… | Start here | Listed price |
|---|---|---|
| Corned beef on a smaller budget | Bite Me SandwichesCole Street | $9.75 |
| Corned beef with Russian dressing | Le Sandwich SFNorth Beach | $15.00 |
| Pastrami on marbled rye | Hot Johnnie’sThe Castro | $19.00 |
| Pastrami with Russian dressing | The Grove · Yerba BuenaYerba Buena | See menu for price |
| A kimchi variation | Loveski Deli · Jackson SquareJackson Square | $22.00 |
| A plant-based menu option | Hot Johnnie’sThe Castro | $21.00 |
Bite Me Sandwiches
Reuben
Start here if corned beef and Thousand Island are your priorities. Bite Me’s menu pairs them with Swiss and sauerkraut, and its listed price is lower than the other sandwiches in this shortlist. It is a useful comparison point for deciding how much you want to spend on a Reuben.
$9.75
Le Sandwich SF
Rueben
If Russian dressing is the deciding ingredient, Le Sandwich’s Rueben is worth a look. Its menu specifies corned beef, Swiss and sauerkraut with that dressing. The bread is not named in the item description, so this is a clearer match for a dressing preference than for someone set on a particular rye.
$15.00
Hot Johnnie’s
Ruben on Rye
Hot Johnnie’s Ruben on Rye brings together cured, smoked brisket, house Thousand Island and sauerkraut on marbled rye. A side is included in the food-menu price. Choose this build if you want the pastrami variation and specifically want marbled rye, rather than treating every rye bread as interchangeable.
$19.00Includes a side · Online ordering $22
The Grove · Yerba Buena
The Grove Reuben
The Grove describes hand-sliced hot pastrami, house Russian dressing, Swiss and Sonoma Brinery sauerkraut on grilled New York rye. Its menu lists a five-ounce serving and an eight-ounce option, making portion size another useful choice. We feature the Yerba Buena branch here; the linked menu explains the build.
See menu for price
Loveski Deli · Jackson Square
Chopped Reuben
Loveski’s Chopped Reuben substitutes kimchi for the familiar sauerkraut pairing and adds spicy Russian dressing to pastrami and Swiss on griddled rye. This belongs in the variations category. It is the option in this shortlist to investigate when you want kimchi and an explicitly spicy dressing.
$22.00
Hot Johnnie’s
Vegan Ruben on Rye
The menu also names a Vegan Ruben on Rye, built with plant-based corned beef, sauerkraut, brown mustard and vegan cheese on marbled rye. Notice the mustard: it is a different dressing choice from the pastrami Ruben. The menu also displays dairy-cheese choices, so specify the vegan build when ordering.
$21.00Includes a side
What makes a Reuben your kind of Reuben?
Choose the meat first. Corned beef is the classic category in our directory; explicitly named pastrami, turkey and vegetarian Reubens are variations. A plain pastrami sandwich does not qualify just because it comes from a deli.
Then choose the bread and dressing. Marbled rye belongs to the rye family, but a menu saying only “rye” does not prove it is marbled. Russian and Thousand Island are separate filters, and recipes differ by restaurant. For a particular ingredient combination, use the directory filters rather than a restaurant’s overall star rating.
How much should you budget?
The prices above refer to the individual options in our catalog. Hot Johnnie’s food-menu price includes a side; other listings can come from ordering menus. Our San Francisco price guide shows the sample size, median and the actual sandwiches behind each price range.
Looking beyond San Francisco?
This shortlist stays within the city. Our Bay Area directory also covers nearby East Bay, Marin and Peninsula communities. Use the map to compare locations without treating a different city as an SF neighborhood.
How we made this guide
We checked the linked menus for the named sandwiches and their distinguishing ingredients. Photos retain their source credits; prices come from our maintained listings. Inclusion is based on the menu comparison explained above, not a paid placement or an invented sandwich score. Missing ingredients remain unknown. See our research approach or send a correction.
Have a very specific Reuben in mind?
Filter the directory by meat, rye style, sauce, price and location.
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