Cheap Sandwiches at Rhea’s Deli

Rhea’s Deli is my solution to pricey Bi-Rite picnic food. I love hanging out in Dolores Park all day with some good eats and cold brews just like everybody else, but I can’t handle paying for Bi-Rite’s expensive (albeit delicious) made to-go selections every time the sun is out on my day off.

I always assumed that Rhea’s was a Mission staple, but a surprising number of people I’ve talked to have never heard of it. Perhaps its scummy liquor store exterior turns people off. Perhaps the Dolores Park squatter clientele are too stoned to go on a slightly-out-of-the-way sandwich adventure. Perhaps they were scared away by a neighborhood homeless man who threatened to shit on their face (as has happened to me before).

I have three favorite sandwiches here: the bbq faux chicken, the Korean steak, and the pork katsu. Mmm… especially the pork katsu. All the sandwiches are made on Acme bread with gourmet cheeses and there is also a wide array of 32oz and 40oz beers in the fridges that’ll help wash your cheap meal down. Also, if you live in the Mission and are too drunk and/or fat and lazy to walk over and get these goodies yourself, they’ll deliver them for FREE.

And that is my solution to pricey Bi-Rite picnic food.

800 Valencia St. at 19th St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
[Mission]

Photo courtesy of yelper Amy C.