Hazelwoods On the Bay

Where Buon Appetito executes generational red sauce and Herb & Wood theatrically grills vegetables, Hazelwoods operates on a different axis entirely: it's the functional daytime stop with harbor views, serving sandwiches and breakfast plates to a rotating cast of cruise passengers, Midway Museum visitors, and the occasional India Street local who's tired of waiting for a table elsewhere. The menu reads like an American deli catalog—Officer Club sandwich, bayside breakfast platters, iced coffee—executed competently enough that no one complains, but without the ingredient obsession or technique that defines Little Italy's serious kitchens.

What it *does* offer, and why it survives in this neighborhood, is location and utility. Those bayside tables deliver people-watching theater and unobstructed water views, which in Little Italy means you're facing away from the piazza energy and toward the cruise port industrial ballet. It's genuinely pet-friendly outdoor seating where you can bring the dog before a passeggiata down the Embarcadero, and the tea selection apparently runs deeper than anywhere else nearby—a small detail that earns disproportionate loyalty from the niche crowd who cares.

The vibe is aggressively casual, bordering on cafeteria-functional: order at the counter, bottles of beer in the fridge, Lipton-alternative teas on the back wall, staff who are reported as genuinely friendly but not performing hospitality as theater. Portions run large, prices stay moderate, and the whole operation works because it knows exactly what it is—a convenience play with a view, not a culinary destination. If you're killing time before boarding across the street or need a low-stakes breakfast spot that won't require a wait, it delivers. If you're here for the neighborhood's cooking tradition, keep walking toward India Street.