Anthony’s East Side Deli

In my opinion, this is currently the best italian sandwich place (hot or cold) in Cambridge/​Arlington, and I’m pretty sure I’ve tried just about all of them. Their prosciutto is excellent — a medium strong, slightly sweet, medium salty variety that Anthony personally selected — and their red sauce ranks up there. I’ve visited at least twice a week since I discovered the place 6 months ago.
My picks—
Cold
–Sicilian
–Spicy Italian
Hot
–The Herbert (chicken AND eggplant parm with their excellent prosciutto). The extra bit of salty complexity it adds takes an excellent sandwich and puts it over the top.
–Meatball (ask for two cheeses and toasted). The meatballs themselves are homemade and some of the best I’ve had. They’re perfect for the sub — right flavor, texture, size. It’s pure winter curl up in a ball bliss.
Other tips —
–Get the sandwich on their braided roll. It’s an excellent sandwich bread from a local bakery.
–If you like bitter things, try their San Pellegrino Chinotto. It’s a classic Italian bitter orange soda that not many places carry.
–Don’t be late! They close early (7 pm) most days.
–Come hungry. Those hot subs, in particular, are a pretty hefty amount of food.

5 stars for Anthony’s! The owner was so kind and took special care in using different gloves, prep area, and knife when making my gluten free sub. He was awesome and friendly, and I was impressed to see the selection of GF items available including pizza, meatballs etc! My GF sub was delicious and my hubby was definitely pleased with the braided sub roll that he got (not GF but looked amazing). We can’t wait to go back!

Yeah! These guys are great!
They take the gluten free bread from somethings sweet without wheat and load it up in yummy subs/​grinders.
They seem to be very careful about food allergies and make great sandwiches.

This place is the real deal. Best steak and cheese in Eastie. Also best meatballs (house made) but get there early before they run out. Boars head cold cuts mean an excellent Italian sandwich as well.
The owner, Anthony is in the shop most days and is a great guy. He’s very friendly and participates in the community. On weekends, or if I’m working from home Anthony’s is one of my top picks.

All I can say as a full blooded Italian is this fantastic deli makes the best Italian sandwiches this side of the Charles. And for the great value I’m pressed to even name a Boston deli I like better. I crave prosciutto sandwiches and this place never disappoints. The prosciutto and provolone with the works is my go to pick here. Super fresh prosciutto and bread with outstanding hot peppers and other toppings for $ 8.99. The staff is great and the deli, though small, is a pleasant little space. Though Dave’s Fresh Pasta just down the road in Davis Square is great and offers far more options, if you want the best traditional style Italian sandwich this is your place. Give it a try.

The steak & eggs sub is the bomb. Get it and add onions, mushrooms, & cheese while you’re at it. Absolutely fantastic.

Anthony and his crew run a top shop! Food is delicious and always fresh and ALWAYS made to order. Can’t say enough good things about the Turkey Delicious. If your looking for a sandwich with turkey that’s also delicious this is a sandwich for you!

Great sandwiches, my only complaint is that the sandwiches have gotten noticeably smaller over the last few months. I definitely go less frequently because of this.

My first experience at a Boston Deli. I’m not sure I want to try any others! I got an Italian to share with my husband and it fed us both. It was delicious and the second I went into the store, the owner and even the other customers were all very nice and giving me suggestions. My husband’s comment «Just like the sandwiches my mom used to make growing up.» Yes, his mom is Italian so that should say something.

This deli is excellent, lucky to live so close.
This is a great example of a small business owner who works his butt off to provide a a superior product.
They take quality into account on every sandwich. (and I’ve eaten lots of them :) It is nice to be able to enjoy a sandwich for what is is without having to lather it in overpowering sauces. You can only do this when the ingredients are of the best quality.
They also accept phone orders for pickup which is a huge plus when in a hurry.
They also have a catering menu. I haven’t tried it yet, but I will as soon as I have an event that calls for it.
BEST BET:
Meatball sub (Meatballs are hot and fresh!)

Overall, the sandwiches are very tasty. Definitely one of the better eggplant parm sandwiches available and I love the braided sesame sandwich rolls. I think I am in the minority here, but generally speaking, I’ve found the service to be a little… gruff. Also recently, I found a small piece of steak wrapped up with my caprese to go. Not a huge deal, but not totally awesome either. I will definitely keep coming back, Anthony’s has been a good addition to the neighborhood.

Can’t say enough great things! Hometown family with a welcoming attitude cooking all your favorites! Try the meatball sub with extra provolone; unbelievable! Yes yes and yes! Anthony’s is East Arlington’s place to go! The love for the business from the owners is definitely reflected in the food. Fresh ingredients and clean atmosphere

This place is such a great find in Arlington. The food is always fresh with great bread. I got the chicken parm sandwich and it had great sauce, cheese and the chicken was delicious.
The people who work there are very kind and welcoming. You can tell the owner really cares about the quality of his food and the business.

I love this place. The Italian sub with hots is my go-​to. The Turkey Terrific is also amazing. I’ve been here probably 8 times and the quality is always consistent. It’s affordable too. The owner is there a lot and he’s a really nice guy. It’s nice to see local places where the owner is actually around.

My son an I love coming here! We have never been disappointed an everything is super clean which these days can be hard to find! I live in Lexington an there are plenty of places to get cold cuts but nothing tastes the same plus my son gets excited to come see all of the friendly staff. Right when you walk in the door everyone smiles an welcomes you, like walking into a big Italian family!!! Definitely have to try! Bön Appetit!

I’ve ordered from them a couple times and the food is okay, though nothing Earth shattering. I won’t order from them again, though, because when I placed an online order this afternoon, they eventually called me to say that they just weren’t going to deliver my order. Why they were still taking orders and charging credit cards, I don’t know, but I have no interest in continuing to frequent a business that might take my money with no intention of delivering a product. Its dishonest and completely ruined my day.

Great place, very nice people that work there. The owner is very nice, always smiling and makes you feel like your business is very much appreciated.
The meats are all fresh and the submarines are all very good. The specialty options are delicious, the iatlian is very good and I am a huge fan of the corned beef with swiss.
I get lunch meat for the week, but usually grab a few subs for lunch on a Saturday, you absolutley get a solid amunt of food in the fresh rolls. Too many places whether it be chain shops or other small local deli stores in the area charge so much money and put very little meat; Anthony’s does not do that at all.
The last thing I want to point out is the convenience. I do live only a few minutes away which is great, but you always go in the store, get helped immediately and you are back home before you know it. I did travel to another deli in the same town, whenever I shopped there it seemed like the line was neverending and it made the entire process rather annoying.
Great place, nice people, nice variety, fresh food; very happy to have a local and quality deli!

This place is my go to sub shop from now. They use Boar’s Head meats (automatic awesome points in my book) they have fresh veggies, friendly staff and a very nice location.
You can order ahead, or have they make it right there for you. Also they sell home made pickles, a good bread variety and their meatball sub is superb.

I can’t believe I didn’t try Anthony’s sooner. I stupidly wrote them off as another redundant East Arlington Italian take-​out place. Boy, was I wrong. These guys are the real deal! It’s like I have a little piece of the North End, just 4 blocks from my house!
My boyfriend and I spilt a chicken parm sub and a meatball sub. We’ve tried the same subs from other places in the area, and they’ve been OK, but not memorable. Well, as soon as we bit into the subs from Anthony’s, our eyes popped out and we looked at the each in amazement. These are the best subs we’ve had outside of the North End. The bread was super fresh, obviously from a real Italian bakery. The chicken parm was proper Italian chicken parm — FRESH chicken breasts that had been pounded flat, breaded, and fried — not chicken fingers or frozen pre-​formed cutlets. The meatballs were big, well-​seasoned, and much less fatty that most other places. The sauce was good, and seemed home-​made, and they toasted the cheese on the rolls before filling them. (That may seem like and obvious step, but you’d be surprised at how many places don’t do it right.)
I also picked up a loaf of whole grain artisan bread, which they get delivered fresh each day from Big Sky bakery in Winchester. They had several beautiful looking types of bread to pick from, along with nice Italian cookies and lots of other prepared foods that I can’t wait to try. I also appreciate that the place is very clean, and they appear to practice good food-​handling techniques.
We will be back! I can’t wait to try their cold Italian subs (they had a nice selection of REAL Italian deli meats and cheeses in their case) and hot pasta dishes. There’s a lot of other Italian take-​out places in East Arlington, but Anthony’s definitely gives the competition a run for their money.

I honestly think the food is great. I’ve tried their sandwich two times and both were nice.
However, the owner was not nice both times. He forgot one of the sandwiches we ordered both times and both times he said he ran out of the same sandwich. He did not apologize for forgetting the order or not having the ingredient, which was quite disappointing from the customer’s point of view.