Melvin’s Deli Comfort

I dined here once back in December 2013 with a coworker. The sandwich was good and a nice presentation to boot.
My sandwich was a glorified and expensive ham and cheese sandwich. I believe it had gruyère cheese and smoked ham. My coworkers was the pastrami Ruben which he says was good. We never went back and honestly until I scrolled through my photos the place was a distant memory.
I’d give 3.5 stars because the place was decent but nothing to great in my opinion.

Puh-​lease come back Melvin’s! We miss you, your huge meaty sandwiches, grilled-​to-​perfection bread and good location near my house. I haven’t had a better pastrami anywhere in Austin (though the house-​smoked pastrami at Pieous comes close). I need you back in my life. Come to Windsor Park, or back to North Loop!

The best of the best, come back to us baby. I’ve had 10 other ruebens that claim to be the best in town since you left, and they are all.filthy.liars. You made sandwich art and Austin misses you dearly, can’t wait for the future B&M!

Mevin’s, we hardly knew ye: why does your amazing five-​star shop close up in a world in which Taco Shack stays in business? One tumbles into existential dread by merely considering the prospect.

Yikes! Melvin’s Deli Comfort is CLOSED for good! OMG!

CLOSED! So sad, so sudden. Best sandwich period.
«Hello Austin,
After a lot of thought and consideration we have decided to close Melvin’s. We have enjoyed the past couple of years and now have proof of concept that there is demand for what we are doing. We have been overwhelmed by the response from our customers, especially in a city with so many dining options.
The decision to close the business stems from the birth of our baby girl this year. My working 12 to 14 hours per day is bad enough but my wife also has a demanding career that includes both long hours and extensive travel. The prospect of leaving our infant daughter in the hands of caregivers with such frequency has proven to be more than we are willing to sacrifice in order to keep the business going. I have decided to dedicate the next couple of years to raising our daughter and helping my wife, rather than being away from home, immersed in my career.
As of now, the plan is to relaunch the business, in one form or another, in the next few years. Continue to follow us on
at @delicomfort and on
for updates in 2017 or 2018. Until then, we would like to sincerely thank everyone who helped make Melvin’s such a success, especially our customers. We look forward to seeing folks around town so don’t be afraid to say hi!
Until Next Time,
Melvin’s»

These are some expensive sandwiches, no doubt, but they’re also pretty mind blowing. The $ 12 pastrami rueben is sure to put a smile on your face. Everything comes with a side of chips too, which is how it should be done. Damn, just thinking about this sandwich has got me hungry again… and I had Franklin’s today! I think I’ve said enough.

We got the Hot Italian Beef. Hands down, the best sandwich I’ve had in Austin. Maybe ever.
I can’t wait to try everything else on the menu.

Food so much good. Can’t words now. PUH STRAW ME, butter in beef form in mouth. Hot Italian Beef, Pepper garrdiniera, words no working and Au Jus to drip on face. Now not sure if drool or au jus.
I will try to regain some composure here to write a real review. The way these guys handle meat compares to some of the higher end delis in NY. The pastrami is probably the best I’ve had in town. The different flavors from the Italian beef were amazing. Distinct in each bite but still great together.
My only complaint is that it’s small and in a parking lot but this is Austin, if you can’t deal with that, leave. The City, not just the restaurant.
Yum

Totally appreciate everything this place stands for. Everything is made from scratch from the meats to the condiments. Clearly so much love in it.
I ordered the cuban and the turkey. Both were a great size for the money and well dressed.
My only contention is that both meats were pretty dry. They use pork sirloin for the cuban instead of pork shoulder like you’re supposed to. Sirloin is far too lean to not end up dry. As for the turkey, well not sure how make that moist.
Also, I didn’t ask, but they charged an extra $ 1 to slice the meat thin. I didn’t do that but wish i had, slices were pretty thick.
I wanted to be over the moon about this place, but sadly I’m not.

Well done, Melvin! All of the sandwiches that I have tried so far are top notch. As far as I know you serve the first really amazing Ruben in Austin. I never complain about our lack of good Rubens in this town, because we have brisket, but when I took a bite of your Ruben, I remembered how New Yorkers survive without Texas BBQ. Keep up the great work, and all y’all go try this place if you haven’t already.

Finally made it out to Melvin’s, and just our luck, we chose a day when it is 45 degrees and 25mph wind. Had absolutely no problem devouring our food in my car tho…
The GF and I ordered the Pork Belly Confit and the Hot Italian sandwich. The pork belly sandwich was tremendous; just the right amount of fat on their pork belly, great flavor, and a nice crust on the pork.
The Italian, while decent, was a little underwhelming tbh. The meat/​dipping sauce was a little bland. The bread was quite delicious though, and stood up to the multiple dips. Props for that.
Both sandwiches came with a small bag of house made potato chips that were pretty good as well. For $ 19, its a pretty good value since the sandwiches are rather large.
The guy working was very friendly as well, which is always a nice bonus. Will definitely be back to try the much talked about pastrami.

I had the Pastrami on rye. It was okay. Way too much meat and not enough veggies and flavor for my taste. I don’t really like sandwiches that have way too much meat on them. Still it wasn’t bad either so a ⁵⁄₁₀ this place gets :). I’ll actually probably come back here cuz for 10 dollars they give you HUGE freakin’ servings for the sandwiches so you get a pretty big bang for your buck. I could only eat half of my sandwich and had to save the extra half for later… but that was probably just cuz it was too much meat lol. The chips I got were kind of stale. They were Lays potato chips. It came with the meal tho’ so can’t complain too much about that I suppose. Eating chips with a sandwich is always nice.
Also an interesting thing is that when I had the other half of my pastrami I heated it up in the microwave for like 30 seconds and it tasted better than the first half of my sandwich. Very odd, but true.

Pretty good sammiches. I had the Cuban, she had the pastrami. We’ve both had better, but they were pretty good sammiches.
Pro tip: order to go or be prepared to make new friends; there’s not much seating.

Meat coma inducing sandwiches. This place is so good, I went two days in a row. The first time I had the grilled cheese with pastrami. The bread was toasted and buttery, the cheeses gooey and melty and my god, that pastrami. It’s so good.
The second day I went, I decided I wanted to try the pastrami the way we used to eat it back home. Rye bread, mustard, pickles. Simple. It was perfect. Brought me back to eating them with my dad.
So far everything has been awesome. I can’t wait for some of the other sandwiches.

Charming little red food trailer off of North Loop. Tucked in the corner of a parking lot, this place focuses on straight forward, well executed deli favorites. Around the table was a Cuban, hot Italian, and a reuben. The flavors however, are no joke. Corn beef was thick and juicy, the Italian a wonderful mix of spicy sweet beef. If there can be any knock, the Cuban was a tad on the dry side.
All in all, check this place out. Be ready for lots of meat on your sandwich, it’s up front and the star of the show. Like any good deli sandwich should be.

OMG! When I first read the Unilocal reviews before I went – I thought, no way – can’t be that GOOD–
BEST Reuben sandwich I have ever tried – I ordered the regular (Not the extra stacked) and I could barely get my mouth around the sandwich – bread crunchy, cooked to perfection – LOVED it–

Their pastrami ruben is the best in town (A+). The quality of the pastrami is what makes the sandwich; it’s thickly sliced, meaty, and full of peppery smoky enriched flavor. The pastrami is generously stacked; no need to ask for double meat here. The golden crunchy rye and ample sauerkraut and melted cheese are perfect finishers. Next time I will ask for extra thousand island dressing on my sandwich.
Since their space is located in an abandoned parking lot there is ample parking. There are 3 long picnic benches and a shade canopy under a big tree. It was pleasant enough until I was chased away by a myriad of pesky flies that wouldn’t allow me to eat in peace. BYO fly repellent (citronella candle or I’ve heard flies hate vodka…).

This is the kind of trailer that makes me glad I now work and live north instead of south. If this is the caliber of food awaiting me now that I can freely roam and explore the areas north of campus, bring it on. I’m prepared for the challenge and have plenty of pants with elastic waistbands.
The croque monsieur is like a beautiful fusion of my two favorite food groups: pizza and sandwiches. And then they dip it in salt. My chronically low blood pressure is actually singing the praises of this sandwich, and I plan on indulging fairly regularly. (It’s for the greater good, guys. I get turned away from donating my O– blood too often because of my blood pressure. I HAVE TO DO THIS FOR THE PEOPLE.)
There was no wait at all when I ordered at 12:15, but by the time my dining companion was there at 12:30, they had run out of corned beef and she had to wait in a 5-​person line. Come early, be hungry, eat beef.

I have had this place bookmarked for a very long time now. I just happened to have the chance to swing by for lunch today and boy I am glad I did.
I am pretty sure I audibly said «hot damn» at least three times while eating the Italian Beef Sandwich I purchased. The beef was super tender and so yummy I probably could have had the meat alone and been satisfied. Lucky for me it also came with some sort of pepper relish that was awesome, and some excellent Au Jus.
If I had to complain about something it would be that there was a bit too much bread at times, and my Au Jus was all gone before my last bite. However, the amount of fucks I give about those things barely register on the scale of overall fucks given.
Great food, friendly service, no wait… what else do you want out of lunch? I’ll be back Melvin… Oh, I’ll be back.
Oh, just a side note: I went at 12:30 and there was no line, and I only waited 5 minutes or so for my food. I was concerned about the wait given some of the reviews, but it definitely was not an issue for me.