Bambinos New York Style Deli

I loved this place, it’s a shame it closed down. The food itself was pretty excellent, albeit it slightly overpriced. It took these guys forever to make their sandwiches but they were friendly, remembered names, and offered something authentic regardless.

Great ingredients, perfect size, overall a solid sandwich. But I could say the same thing about most sandwich joints near by. Slow service (only customer in the store at noon), too expensive, and poor customer care. I felt like i was bothering the sandwich maker with my business and I was the only one there. Then they didn’t have to bread I wanted, they were out of coke and their credit card machine was busted. I might try it again but I doubt my opinion would change that much. And the mobster them is annoying.

Strike 1: I went in on a Tuesday at 12:30 and waited for 25 minutes because there was a single employee making sandwiches for the entire store. How in the world could a sandwich place take 25 minutes when I’m the first customer in line?
Strike 2: I thought I was getting a sandwich, but I actually got a «garbage panini», which was basically filling in a grilled tortilla. It’s fine that it’s different, but I want to know it will be that way
That’s all the strikes needed for me not to come back (think of it as kickball where you start with one strike). There are plenty of quick, tasty sandwich places on the drag, so there isn’t a lot of leeway for a place that doesn’t have their act together.
As for the food, it was pretty good, but not worth a 25 minute wait.

Forget about the dry reviews…
Myself, as a native Austinite, am the first to curse «Ill-​annoy» license plates when they cut me off on mopac, come on imports, at least wave…
We WAVE in Texas, even when we do something stupid!
I must say I was reluctant to hit some «Yankee’s joint» on my beloved drag.
The owner, Jey welcomed my toddler son, my wife and her sister (all Italian decent) and I into his place and made us feel like family. The atmosphere was comfortable, and the food was out of this world. I LOVED the garbage bread.
How cool is it to tell the owner to «just do something special for me» and have him whip up an out of this world sandwich.
I found a new place to find a badass sandwich, and it’s Bambino’s.
Jey, welcome to Austin, my friend!
–Jay

Bambino’s has been here since October of last year (2007). They did virtually no marketing or advertising during the previous school year and somehow have managed to stay alive even though I’m the only person in there almost every time I go. That being said, I believe that most of this sandwich shops shortcomings are derived from the fact that it’s probably hanging on by a thread, but I will address those later.
The sandwiches are phenomenal. I always get the Godfather which has turkey, ham, pepperoni, and salami along with your choice of cheese and veggies plus their «sammy sauce» which is an awesome spicy mayo blend. Just recently, however, I’ve been getting the new off-​the-​menu item, Garbage Bread. It’s thin flat bread rolled up with all of the same cold cuts and veggies as the Godfather and then pressed panini-​style so that it’s flattened out and the cheese is melted. It is truly awesome. I think I’ve had three this week alone.
I strongly recommend dropping in to try a sandwich. The decoration is minimal, the price is a dollar or two high, and organization of the place is not very professional yet, but give them a chance to work out those kinks. As soon as they can garner a little more business, which I hope they do, those minor flaws will shape up, I’m sure.
Plus, I think part of the reason the sandwiches are actually so good is because it’s literally like you’re making it at home. They have a great homemade quality to them, as does the shop itself right now and the two guys that work there are really friendly and try to make you feel welcome. Take it from a repeat customer, you should give this place a try.

Today I thought of yet another reason I haven’t moved to New York, which I’ve pondered for years. The New York Italian guy attitude would grate on me so fast. I’m a bit of a shy wallflower, so it clashes with me like oil and water.
I came upon this after having made a run to Bambino’s at lunch with a friend. We spent the whole ten minute walk back to the office discussing that whole ego-​driven bravado-​fueled attitude and what we don’t like about it – after it took about 20 minutes to get our sandwiches made for lunch in between the sandwich maker’s tangential and almost-​lewd stories and amusement of my friend’s Italian ancestry.
Ok, all that over with, the sandwich is alright. Ok, it’s pretty good, minus the Sammy Sauce that dripped all over my desk. But it’s nothing phenomenal, and not worth the social awkwardness, long wait, and high price (despite the fact, it is huge). I swear I spent like $ 9 on my lunch combo, when one sign said the chips/​drink were free with a sub, but he said they were $ 1.50; nothing is priced on the menu; and then he got me and my friend’s orders switched, so he gave us the wrong change. I have no idea what anything cost after all of that, but it’s too pricey regardless.
I can’t believe they’ve been open since October. It has a just opened feel and they didn’t have any take-​away menus either. I guess they have the Italian-​Mob-​lite thing going for them though, if you’re into that…
One star for playing «Baby, It’s Cold Outside» (because I love that song, even though it’s warm outside) but minus a star for the mobster mannequin in the window that’s hokey, but still makes me jump when I walk by. One star for the sandwich, but minus a ton for the annoying interaction and price. Sigh, too sleepy for math.

This place can make quite the impact on the UT strip, if it can just hold on. The owners are great guys. The product is excellent and the décor is exactly what you would expect from a NY style deli. The special sauce is hot, which is exactly what most in Austin appreciate and the fillings, lets just use the word stuffed to be more appropriate. I truly love this place and hope they are are around for many a years to come.

Really good meaty sandwiches. They have great meat and cheeses with a great special sauce. They have real hard salami which I love, (it is really hard to find the genuine stuff).
It is right next door to Magic Wok, and is very small so it is pretty easy to miss…
You can also get it delivered by Longhron Delivery…

Bambino’s is located in the same building as Magic Wok right on The Drag. It is a great location, conveniently located close to the University and close to everything else that makes The Drag worthwhile.
I haven’t had a chance to eat inside the place but I have walked by and peeked in a few times to check it out. The décor is cool and a good change of pace from typical eateries on The Drag.
One huge bonus is that this place delivers, I am not sure how big the delivery area is or how late they deliver but they do.
The menu is limited, which is great, because they have the perfect number of sandwiches, not some massive menu you have to stare at for an hour to figure out what you want.
They offer a decent number of veggies to add on to your sandwich, but some things are sorely missing (like avocado). They have a decent variety of sauces and the house «Special» sauce is great. It has a nice little kick to it and is really the highlight of the food here. The meats themselves are good quality and quite tasty.
Unfortunately the bread wasn’t very good. The rolls may be pretty large, but the bread itself was certainly not on the same level as Jimmy John’s or even Subway. It tastes like store bought bread with a springy, spongy texture, not good.
If I could put the meats (times two) and the sauce from Bambinos on Jimmy John’s bread I would be a pretty happy camper. Of course I would also need avocado from Jimmy John’s.
Overall, this is a cool place to stop and grab a decent sandwich in a place with a cool vibe. It’s a very welcome addition to The Drag and has some of the coolest people in town working there.
UPDATE:
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I finally had a chance to visit the restaurant and eat inside and I must say it has a very cool vibe, clean simple setup and a great staff. I do agree that the menu can be a little tough to read but the food is good and the vibe in the place makes it a cool place to hang out and chat.
Still not the biggest fan of the bread but I realize they get it from Texas French Bread so it isn’t really their fault. Oh and I still want avocado.

Bambinos is a new sandwich joint on the drag — right next to Kasbah. The location was previously a resale clothing store.
They’ve gone with a cute «Mobster» theme for the place — with sandwich names like the «Machine Gun Kelly» and big framed photos of old school gangsters on the walls. Of course, they had Frank Sinatra playing on the stereo inside.
Ok — what about the sandwiches? The menu is prety basic — about 7 or 8 cold sandwiches (typical variations of meats/​cheeses), a meatball sub and one salad. Your choice of wheat or white roll and various veggie toppings. They do not appear to have toasting facilities at this time. Sandwiches are about $ 7 (including tax I believe) or they have a daily special which rang up as $ 5 after tax.
I tried the «Tommy Gun Tuesday» special which was the aforementioned Machine Gun Kelly — a tuna salad sandwich. My sandwich roll was a standard soft wheat hoagie roll — about 8 ½ inches long. The tuna salad was pretty normal (i.e. didn’t knock my socks off) but did have a slight pickle relish tang which was a little different. A pretty decent sandwich — not stuffed to the gills with fixins, but the good sized roll makes up for that a bit.
Thoughts :
— $ 7 sandwich? Hmm… Seems a dollar too expensive to be competitive with other area sandwich joints. I’d probably only visit for the daily special which makes for a good value at $ 5.
— I had to ask how much things cost as the menu board did not have prices listed. Not good. Perhaps they are still figuring out pricing? They’ve only been open a few days (10-​16-​2007). Also the typeface used on the menu board is hard to read. Not sure if this was hand lettered or not — but it took me awhile to decipher some of the text.
— Location is spacious and in good proximity to the student population, so they have that going for them.
— So far it’s hard to say what would draw me to this place over JJ’s, WW or TCloud.