Family-Run Pizza by the Slice on Geary: Sabrosa Pizza

Sabrosa Pizza, at 4124 Geary Boulevard in the Inner Richmond, is a young family-run shop with an old-school idea: good pizza, sold by the slice or by the pie, without cutting corners. Its website promises hand-crafted pizzas, fresh salads, wings, pasta and sandwiches alongside late-night slices, and the prices on its ordering menu are among the friendliest in the city, with an 18-inch cheese pie at $26.99. On Friday and Saturday the counter stays open until midnight, the latest it runs all week.

The family behind Sabrosa explained its origins on the shop's own site. In their words, Sabrosa Pizza is a family-owned business that started as just an idea during the pandemic. The family brought thirty years of work experience in the pizza industry and finally decided to open its own place, taking a chance on a first family-owned business at a moment when many restaurants in San Francisco were closing rather than opening.

That gamble shaped the shop. Sabrosa is built for the neighborhood around it, a stretch of Geary Boulevard lined with bakeries and restaurants from across Asia and Eastern Europe, where an easy, affordable dinner is always in demand. Its mission statement is short and plain: serve great food without cutting corners, make every order fresh, and be a place where people can pick up dinner, order delivery or stop in with friends.

The slice case is where most walk-in customers start. Alongside its round pies, Sabrosa makes a square pie that appears on the menu as the Square Pizza Special, priced at $27.00 for a whole pie. Ask which pies are in the case when you arrive, since the slice selection follows whatever the kitchen has just baked, and a round slice is the easiest to fold and eat on the move.

For a first visit, compare a plain cheese slice with the house Sabrosa Pizza, which the menu lists from $21.99 as a whole pie. A classic Margherita is listed from $19.99. Both are modest prices by San Francisco standards, and either one is easy to split between two or three people.

Whole cheese pies come in four sizes on the ordering menu: a 12-inch small cut into six slices for $16.99, a 14-inch medium cut into eight for $20.49, a 16-inch large with ten slices for $23.99 and an 18-inch extra large with twelve slices for $26.99. The extra large is the best value by a wide margin, at a little over two dollars a slice, and it is the size most groups should order.

The menu also lists a full meal deal: an extra-large two-topping pizza with garlic bread, a small salad and a drink for $35.99. A coupon on the same menu takes $4 off any order of $35 or more. Beyond pizza, chicken wings cost $12.00, garlic bread is $6.00, a lasagna is $17.50 and a slice of tiramisu is $7.00, with sodas at $2.00, so a whole family can eat here for a modest bill.

Hours change through the week, which matters if you are planning around a slice. On Monday and Sunday, Sabrosa opens in the afternoon, at 2 pm, and closes at 10 pm. From Tuesday to Thursday it is open from 11 am to 10 pm, and on Friday and Saturday from 11 am to midnight. Lunch is therefore a Tuesday-to-Saturday plan, and the latest slices of the week are on Friday and Saturday night.

Early evening on a weekday is the easiest time to visit, after the lunch crowd and before delivery orders build up for dinner. On weekend nights the counter gets busier as people come back from the bars and restaurants along Clement Street. If you want a whole pie ready at a set time, call ahead or order online for pickup.

Sabrosa's block of Geary is a short walk from Clement Street, the Inner Richmond's main eating street, where dumpling houses, bakeries and produce markets line the sidewalks. Green Apple Books, the beloved used and new bookstore, anchors the corner of Clement and 6th Avenue and is easy to lose an hour in before or after a slice.

Walk about ten minutes south and you reach Golden Gate Park, with the de Young Museum, the California Academy of Sciences and the Japanese Tea Garden all clustered near the park's eastern end. Head north instead and Mountain Lake Park leads into the Presidio, where wooded trails and lookouts over the Golden Gate Bridge make a slice-fueled afternoon walk feel like a proper outing.

If you would rather ride than walk, the Geary buses run west through the Outer Richmond toward the ocean. The golden onion domes of the Holy Virgin Cathedral, the Russian Orthodox church that is one of the landmarks of the western neighborhoods, rise beside the boulevard on the way. Farther on, Lands End and the Sutro Baths ruins sit at the edge of the Pacific, where the coastal trail offers some of the most dramatic views in the city and a fine way to finish a day that began with a slice.

Address: 4124 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94118. Phone: 415-373-6333. Hours from the official website: Monday 2 pm to 10 pm, Tuesday to Thursday 11 am to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to midnight, Sunday 2 pm to 10 pm. Prices from the shop's ordering menu: cheese pie $16.99 small, $20.49 medium, $23.99 large, $26.99 extra large; Square Pizza Special $27.00; meal deal $35.99; chicken wings $12.00; garlic bread $6.00.

Getting there: the 38 Geary and 38R Geary Rapid buses stop along Geary Boulevard close to the shop and connect directly with downtown. Metered street parking is available on Geary and the side avenues, though it tightens on weekend evenings.