Bob’s Donuts

What you need to know

The Food

Everything is made from scratch daily. The apple fritters are the signature: dense, crispy, packed with fruit. Specialty options rotate, including Fruit Loops cereal donuts, matcha, and cronuts. Nothing sits more than eight hours.

The giant donut challenge is a Bob’s tradition. Finish a donut roughly equivalent to twelve regular ones in under three minutes for a t-shirt. Few people finish.

The Story

Elinor Ahn and her husband Ronald bought the shop in 1977. After Elinor died in 2001, her daughter-in-law Aya and son Donald took over. Aya and her daughter Rebekah run the business today. Bob’s is a San Francisco Legacy Business. Prince and Nicolas Cage have both stopped in.

The shop moved in 2025. The original storefront at 1621 Polk, which had been there since the 1950s, closed that November, and the current larger shop at 1720 Polk took over about three hundred feet up the street. If you see 1621 Polk quoted anywhere, including on the company’s own website, it is out of date.

Locations

Polk Street (main): 1720 Polk Street, open 24 hours.
NoPa: 601 Baker Street, opened 2019, shorter hours.

There is a third shop in Mill Valley, outside the city.

Practical Info

Price: Donuts $1 to $3
Reservations: None. Walk in.
Best time: Late. The overnight trade is half the point of the Polk Street shop.