No idea where these 5 star reviews come from. My experience with Dr. Lodewick constitutes the worst…read moremedical care I have ever had. I went to his office for help with food allergies and it was pure chaos from start to finish. If you are a woman advocating for your own health, you need to listen to me when I tell you to look elsewhere for your allergist. Ask your insurance to assign you to a different medical group if that's what it takes, because this doctor will not help you. I mean that. I came to the office due to sudden-onset food allergies that had resulted in 2 episodes of anaphylactic shock and nearly dying at age 34 from shellfish and hibiscus ingestion. I needed real guidance and to learn if I had any other dangerous allergies I didn't know about. From the start, the experience here was difficult. It was a 5 month wait for an appointment - they then 'lost' my booking, and I had to wait 2 additional weeks to see the doctor. Dr. Lodewick speaks about 1,000 words per minute and is always itching to ditch the room and go onto the next patient. I think our visit probably lasted around ten minutes and I felt highly pressured to "wrap up" so he could leave. This was so different from my past allergist, who I'd met with after my first allergic response. She had reserved a full hour for my appointment and actively encouraged me to ask questions and learn from her, and called me to follow-up. She took time to explain things to me and I left her office feeling confident and informed. Conversely, I left Dr. Lodewick's office feeling scared, overwhelmed and confused. The major red flag of our visit comes next. Dr. Lodewick claimed he had access to 2-year-old blood tests I had never sent over to his office or authorized for release. He did not show them to me. He also could not explain to me how he had them when I asked, and instead vaguely muttered, 'yes, yes, they're your tests from Kaiser, the nurse and I looked at them together.' I now theorize that he made a dangerous administrative error and thought someone else's tests were mine. He claimed these past tests showed no evidence of food allergies, but that's impossible. My old blood tests indicate crystal-clear food allergies. My former allergist (a board-certified Kaiser allergist in Oakland) had walked me through them carefully so I could see what she saw. There is no question on this point. That day, his nurse did a skin prick test and, upon seeing a mild but visible welt, remarked to me, "Oh, looks like you definitely have a shellfish allergy!" I agreed. Dr. Lodewick rushed in later, glanced at my arm and said, "No, there's no evidence there. The bump isn't raised enough to note." I tried to point out the welt, but he just shook his head and changed the subject. Dr. Lodewick was apparently convinced that the (imaginary?? hallucinated, it seems, by me, another allergist, and Dr. Lodewick's very own nurse) tests indicated I was allergic to exercise, not food. He told me that hiking solo or going anywhere at heightened elevation was no longer medically advised. I started to quietly tear up; I am profoundly active in the outdoors. However, the moment he noticed I was crying, Dr. Lodewick threw a box of tissues at me and ran out of the room. It was a very dehumanizing response. He returned 10 minutes later and concluded our visit by saying he had no idea what was wrong with me, but that I should take Zyrtec everyday and consider Xolair if a fresh batch of blood tests didn't reveal anything new. He did not give me a timeline for next steps or tell me any negative side effects of Zyrtec. (Unfortunately, I found out first-hand what those effects are: catastrophic weight gain. His office charged me $20 when I called to ask for an alternative medicine. "Just get Claritin!" the nurse snapped, and hung up. That's $6.66 per word, but who's counting?) In-between this appointment and our follow-up, I had 2 hospitalizations due to (drumroll) food allergies. I called Dr. Lodewick's office each time and left a message. His office never called me back. Dr. Lodewick devoted three (3) minutes to our followup visit 4 months later. I requested a referral to a food allergy-specialized therapist, and he straight-up refused, telling me instead to 'just find anyone who deals with anxiety.' After hearing my bullet list of recent allergy events, he said he couldn't help me, but recommended Xolair. He did not mention Xolair's black box warnings, $10,000 price tag, tell me how the hell it works, or ask me if I had questions. God forbid. Interestingly, he ALSO didn't explain why he hadn't signed me up for Xolair many months prior when it could have been protecting me from life-threatening anaphylactic shock all along. I guess that'll remain one of life's great mysteries! Oh wait, I know: it's because Dr. Lodewick is an objectively negligent doctor. Like I said: get a different allergist. PS to this day I have never had an allergic response to exercise

Wow! Hard to overstate how great a doctor Dr. Lodewick is. He's a great listener, kind and even…read morefunny. He never made me feel rushed. I came to him as a new patient with a complicated medical history. He'd clearly looked at my medical records very closely before meeting with me. He suspected that my longtime diagnosis might be wrong and prescribed two tests to find out. The tests proved his hunch correct. Another doctor missed this for nearly a decade. I'm deeply grateful to Dr. Lodewick for his thoroughness and insight. Also, his practice has the resources to perform the specialized tests I needed, which was made the experience seamless.

A factory. hard to actually speak with a doctor. takes a month to get a call back. works only if…read moreyou fit into their assembly line.

Dr. Gilbert is nice, if you can schedule an appointment. Expect at least 3 month wait to schedule…read more There are PAs with whom you can schedule a call but that's still a few week wait. The appointment scheduling system is very frustrating and ancient. You have to call during their limited hours and the person who answers the phone sounds really stressed out. (not her fault but I'm sure this ancient system is grinding her down.) Also, they do not sent you text or email appointment reminder. They call you! Who does that this day and age? I'm waiting for an appointment with another provider so that we can switch doctor. The medical team is fine but the admin and appointment system are so difficult that I can't take it anymore.

The remarks you see from other reviewers about the staff are 100 percent accurate. The one I dealt…read morewith was like a zombie. Had 10am appointment, assistant didn't come to open the office until 9:55. Told em to have a seat. Sat for 15mins, didn't even get checked in. Proceeded to leave. The office was very unwelcoming.

A few years ago I started seeing Dr. Kushnir for digestive problems. I was also seeing a senior…read moreUCSF hepatologist who diagnosed me with liver disease based on very abnormal blood work and 2 out of 4 on the biopsy, with 4 indicating I would need a liver transplant. The hepatologist insisted that I take 2 steroids daily for life. One of the listed side effects of the steriods was death! I told Dr. Kushnir that I didn't want to take these. She suggested I get a second opinion, which I did, and she said that if I followed her protocol for my digestion my liver problem would clear up. So I decided to try her protocol. By the time I saw the new hepatologist my liver blood test results were back to normal. That doctor was amazed as she had not seen anyone actually cured of the liver disease I had/have, and said she would refer patients to Dr. Kushnir. My semi annual liver blood tests have been normal for years now, along with regular sonograms and fibroscans. I'm now seeing Dr. Kushnir again for a 28 day reboot cleanse and am confident this will clear up my digestive issues. A friend I referred to Dr. Kushnir is thrilled with all the improvements to her health including needed weight loss, no more swelling in her hands, etc. She plans to continue to work with Dr. Kushnir for the long term. She is also happy to get laser treatments from Monica in Dr. Kushnir's office, which use acupressure points, are painless, and help with many physical problems.

Dr. Fast should be your first phone call if you have an allergy or immunology issue. Allergies and…read moreinfections can be misdiagnosed or ignored, with dire consequences and suffering if not treated early and accurately. I had a mystery pain that doctors could not figure out. Dr. Fast is smart and kind. She listened to my story for 5 min and was able to rapid-fire triage and provide a rare infection as a possible root cause. She proposed a simple test -- taking ibuprofen -- to confirm or rule out the infection. Imagine that -- instead of making me go get an elaborate, inconvenient, and time-consuming blood draw at a blood lab to confirm or rule out the cause, Dr. Fast gave me a free, self-administered test: take ibuprofen during a pain episode, if I don't have pain, it's the infection, if I still have pain, it might be something else. She is a genius with a big brain and a giant heart. For the Yelpers who didn't have the same experience, well, maybe they just don't understand competence and compassion when they experience it? I had to meet a lot of doctors in my mystery pain journey. Honestly, Dr. Fast is the best. She's a great communicator and one of those Harvard University/Yale Medical School/Stanford Medical School experts that could be talking on TV. In spite of the fact Dr. Fast could brag about going to Hahvahd, she keeps her impressive credentials to herself, is down-to-earth, is a great communicator with excellent bedside manner for all age groups and walks-of-life, including kids, seniors, young and middle-aged adults. Please google Dr. Katharine Fast and be blown away that the Internet agrees with me that she's the best allergy and immunology specialist in San Francisco and the Bay Area. You should book an appointment with Dr. Fast if you want an accurate, brilliant, approachable, and nice allergy and immunology expert on your side.

I really appreciated my visit with Dr Fast. She listened to me, thought things through, and…read moreempathized with my desire to get back to what I consider to be normal, not just a "clinically normal". Plus she was funny - she kept things light hearted and amusing all along! I can tell that she cares about the human, which is relatively rare for specialists.

Having to go to the clinic for allergies is a pain in the butt EXCEPT when you have a Doctor like…read moreDr. Lien! I actually look forward to my weekly allergy shots. Him and the ladies always welcome me with huge smiles and are always eager to help. They are all very professional and so caring! I highly recommend to EVERYONE! Especially if you are frightened by needles like I used to be. They take that fear away! Thank you so much Dr. Lien and staff! You are all amazing!

I was very disappointed with my experience. I sought treatment for severe occupational rhinitis and…read moresignificant eye irritation that occurred at my work as a RN. After trying to endure unsuccessful treatment, my symptoms escalated and the ability to perform my job became impossible. Dr. Lien refused to complete my SDI paperwork. He did not acknowledge the severity of my symptoms and how much they affected my work. I left feeling unsupported at a very difficult time. After over 30 years of service and contributing to a system that I cannot access, I was forced to leave my job without financial support. I've taken care of patients my whole career and now that I need care, I can't get it. He was callous and careless and it has affected me greatly.

I came recently for an allergy test and was scheduled for an appointment with Dr. Anand. The wait…read moretime was about 3-4 weeks out for an appointment, but I was also looking at specific days of the week so it might be sooner if you don't have any time constraints. The allergy test itself was interesting and they test several environmental allergens. I also had to return on another day to test food allergens, as well as retesting some of the other environmental variables that I scored low sensitivity on. You get the results after waiting 20 minutes or so once you've had enough time to trigger a reaction. Dr. Anand was so friendly and personable. I felt like she was a very thorough clinician and really took her time to explain everything to me. She also took note of other issues that weren't quite in her scope, and referred me out to other specialists to make sure I got the care I needed. She then followed up with me to make the process smoother, which I truly appreciated. Other staff members (LVNs and front desk) are also informative and helpful. They do have a mask policy in place, and if you forget to wear one, they have plenty to spare. It is a healthcare facility after all and I don't think they should be rated poorly just because of a policy to ensure the safety of staff and patients alike.

My daughter and I see Dr. Engler for our allergies and it has truly been life changing. He is so…read morethorough and explained everything in detail. He has the best staff and bedside manner! We know we are in the best hands with him!

Dr Jacobs is the best allergist in the Bay Area, if not California. So experienced and amazingly…read morekind and thoughtful. Such an amazing diagnostician.

Utter medical negligence by this so called team. I was anticipating a change in pharmacy benefits…read moreand a change in medication with the new year. I met with Dr. Jacobs on December 12 to go over the changes so we could get the ball rolling and not have a delay in my immune treatment which I require every 3 weeks to stay healthy due to a serious immune disorder. He assured me that it would be handled well. Then almost month later I call back and find out nothing has been done. The office didn't have a new script from the Dr. The contract worker they had hired to deal with insurance benefits at the office still didn't know I had a new pharmacy benefits provider. She was trying to order the old medication from the old benefits provider. So I spent the next two weeks on the phone for entire days - leaving messages, waiting on hold, coordinating between nursing staff (bc the dr was now on vacation), the independent contractor who didn't understand my insurance change, my pharmacy benefits provider and the pharmacy filing the order. Babysitting grown adults who are getting paid to apparently not do their jobs. The office at first admitted to dropping the ball, then they each slowly started to blame other people in the office and I realized what a toxic dysfunctional mess the whole operation was. Perhaps they once were good - the vast majority of these five star reviews are many years old. Today, I think they can handle routine allergy shots. That's their bread and butter. Anything more is a deep stretch for their abilities. In the end I finally got my medication two weeks late and it would have been even later if I hadn't borrowed a medical pump to use from a complete stranger. This was an incredibly stressful process that would have been avoided if people at this office understood how to do their jobs.

Do you believe in magic? Well, it's not magic but science. We don't quite understand NAET…read moretechnique but it works! My 12 year old kid woke up one day and had terrible bumps and rashes. We went to see our pediatrician who recommended a western allergist. After 12 blood tests and 3 months of Zyrtec and Benadryl, my kid was still breaking out everyday. Finally we went to see Dr. Chau. He was able to isolate the causes, treat them and voila, gone! I highly recommend going to see Dr. Chau if you have chronic allergies.

Dr. Chau has been an incredible doctor who uses the NAET allergy elimination technique to help my…read more7year old clear his many allergies. I was referred to him by a coworker's wife and was very skeptical that this non-evasive and kinesiology based method could eliminate a severe dairy allergy. After about 10 treatments to clear other basic allergies, we got to the dairy treatment and 3 days later my little guy was eating pizza for the first time in his life. I am a believer! Cat allergies, also gone! Next up, nuts!

I came here after years of severe seasonal allergies, cat and dust-mite reactions, and lifelong…read moreallergic rhinitis. Honestly, I didn't expect much at first, the whole thing felt a bit "out there", but I was desperate enough to try. About 15 sessions later, I stopped needing treatments altogether, and I've been allergy-free for over a decade. Absolutely worth trying. The doctors and staff were fantastic, too. Thank you so much!!!

Before going to AAS, I couldn't have a Cat in my home & even…read morestaying in a home with a Cat would have been problematic. Since going to AAS, I no longer have Cat Allergies & am now a proud Cat Guardian!!!!