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Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory

Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory Review

Follow your nose down Ross Alley to this tiny but fragrant cookie factory. Workers sit at circular motorized griddles and wait for dollops of batter to drop onto a tiny metal plate, which rotates into an oven. A few moments later out comes a cookie that's pliable and ready for folding. It's easy to peek in for a moment, and hard to leave without a few free samples. A bagful of cookies—with mildly racy "adult" fortunes or more benign ones—costs about $4. You can also purchase the cookies "fortuneless" in their waferlike unfolded state, which makes snacking that much more efficient. Being allowed to photograph the cookie makers at work will set you back 50¢.

    Contact Information

  • Address: 56 Ross Alley, west of and parallel to Grant Ave., between Washington and Jackson Sts., Chinatown, San Francisco, CA, 94108 | Map It
  • Phone: 415/781-3956
  • Cost: Free
  • Hours: Daily 9-8
  • Location: Chinatown

Member Reviews

  • 38states, from Boise, ID
    3/27/09

    Don't blink or you'll miss it! Slightly off the beaten path, but worth it - especially if you have kids. When I peeked in the front door I thought, "This can't be it...", but a friendly Chinese man greeted us, drew us in, and immediately handed us free samples, hot off the griddle. He pointed out how it all works, and began chatting with my kids. We all loved him - and the bag of cookies we bought to take home!

    Ratings details: Experience: 5 | Ease: 3 | Value: 4 | Don't Miss: 4
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