Murray Delicatessen

Went there while running errands, made my murray special faster than any fast food place (and it was even assembled correctly, looking at you andorra mcdonalds) it was the best corned beef sandwich ive ever had

Came by on Saturday for my first time because (why else?) Hymie’s was packed. Murray’s was half full. Got seated, ordered and served in 10 minutes! Had the excellent Nova platter with a fresh pumpernickel bagel — superb. Coffee was fresh, hot and delicious. The Jewish apple cake is as good as advertised. One really nice thing that would never happen at Hymie’s: I was alone and got to enjoy a booth. I do like Hymie’s, but I hate having to sit in those cramped-​in New York-​style tiny tables. I think I have a new go to place on the Main Line. And hey, I like Hymie’s also so let’s celebrate that we have two great delis to enjoy.

Have done takeout a few times, good sandwiches and huge slices of cake. Fries get cold pretty fast, but hey fries do that everywhere don’t they?
Not as good as visiting friends in Queens, but it’s also not a 2 hour drive either. Have not visited the competition, since it’s only a sandwich and we are not dining in, but we left one star available for a review upgrade in the future after we do.

I stopped in for lunch with a couple of others. There were plenty of tables on this Friday but they started to fill up after one o’clock. This is a old style deli that reminded me of the Famous 4^th St. Deli in Queen Village before it went Hollywood. I’ve had a lot of takeout from here but this is the first time I’ve had the chance to eat in.
I had a extra lean corned beef special. The sandwich was extra large with thinly sliced, tender and flavorful corned beef on fresh rye. My dining partners went for the pastrami, also very good, served hot and on grilled rye — the Ruben with sauerkraut. We couldn’t leave without having a bagel with Nova lox. We split that three ways. Great bagel, fresh and lightly toasted. Nova was great as well. Food — excellent.
Service was casual, friendly, quirky, but attentive. The tables and eating area were immaculate. Great experience.

You know that I love ya, Murray.
It’s been 2 long years since we saw one another.
Your matzso ball soup – slammin’ as ever.
Your sammies – still large and lovely; adore the delicate rye bread you use.
Your Jewish apple cake – moist and delish.
It’s an authentic old-​school deli that remains fiesty.
I find the pictures of the Babe and Bogie and Gable nostalgic.
Murray – you help put the shine on the main line.

The bomb! This is a bonafied Jewish deli. I love it here great food friendly staff. Just remember its cash only!

Friendly service, had the murrays delight, seems that the pastrami was cooked way too much, like eating beef pastrami bacon. I’ve had their pastrami before and enjoyed it very much. I guess I would recommend that you order your pastrami cold.

My favorite Jewish hoagie on earth resides at Murray’s! Service is slow, but we’ll worth it.

Hymies is worth the wait! Service terrible at Murray’s. At least 2 other tables rec’d their food before us in spite of us being seated at least 10 min earlier. The only thing they had to cook was rye toast and a bagel — and they were only toasted! Not going back!

Not good value for money… Food was ok (not terrible, not great). Service was almost ok, but not quite.
My bagel and lox sandwhich was solid (but with issues), my son’s French Toast was ok. I would have liked a more generous serving of cream cheese — i used it all, no offer to refill. Gave me a ton of lettuce — kind of stupid, does anyone really eat that much lettuce with a bagel? Tomato was great! Cucumber had seen better days. No sliced onion (really?), no capers… The French toast was ok, a bit sloppy with egg and a bit mushy. It was served with cheap syrup (really? you charge a premium price for the french toast and it comes with super cheap syrup?). Bacon side was a bit skimpy and was jammed up with the french toast like the cook really didn’t care. Coffee was ok, not particularly hot or flavorfull. My coffee cup was overfilled, it had sloshed around (server?) and there was ¼″ coffee floating around in the saucer — i had to use my only napkin to clean it up – it was as if the server didn’t care… No offer to refill coffee, not once, not ever… No offer to get me a clean napkin (mine was soaked with the coffee that she spilled…) I had to steal a napkin off of another table — embarrassing.
Prices were too high. I have paid way more for breakfast and have been thrilled to do it, but, this was just plain too high for that level of atmosphere, service and quality. Not good value for money.

I’m a sandwich guy. I love sandwiches, especially ruebens, so I took my first visit to Murray’s a few days ago. The pastrami rueben is ***fantastic.*** I think it’s better than Hymie’s. This is a controversial opinion, so I took my friend the very next day to see what she thought. She agreed, it’s better than Hymies.
I’m giving 5 stars for the rueben. I have no idea what their other food is like. Dont get the cheese fries, they’re gross. Its a plate of fries with some kraft singles microwaved on top. Despite this, I will be going there at least once a week for the rest of my life for the rueben alone.

BEST COFFEE EVER. The service was great, they even got me a to go cup. The restaurant was clean. The challah French toast was delicious and the price was right. What a deal. The previous reviews scared me but this is a good diner.

I went online this morning to place an order for delivery, I followed all the steps and had no problem with it all going through. An hour later (when it was supposed to be delivered) we got a phone call from a rather rude staff member saying they were not going to deliver to us because we are out of their radius. He was accusatory that it was something we did, as if we were cheating the system. It was a very uncomfortable conversation. There was no apology or attempt at accommodating something that was clearly an honest mistake. I definitely will not be going there now, knowing how rudely they handled a very small issue.

I just had the absolute worst experience. Sat down at 12 pm, at 12:15 a waitress finally approaches us to take out order. We ordered two coffees. water. latkes, lox platter, and pastrami sandwich. At 12:50, our waitress told us the food was on the way. At 1:10 the food showed up without the latkes. Latkes arrive at 1:20. We asked for drink refills and she never returned. The hostess had to bring us the drinks.
Why did we have to wait so long for a bagel and sandwich? Why did the latkes not come out first? Why didn’t she ever apologize or let us know there was a long wait?
Waiting outside at Hymie’s is 100% worth it compared to eating somewhere with the absolute worst service.

For some reason, Murray’s cant seem to get out of Hymies shadow, like the forgotten step child… Almost every review here either mentions Hymies or compares it to Hymies in some way, and here I am doing it too! But I guess with two Jewish deli’s so close together, that is bound to happen.
My family and I recently dined at Murray’s after being told there was quite a long wait at Hymies (the only reason we have ever come here). I was shocked to find that once at Murrays there restaurant was at least halfway empty, yet people were waiting forever across the street… it made me think «why isn’t Murrays at least getting Hymies over flow???»
Anyway — I can’t explain it. Maybe its that the parking is a bit harder, the smaller size scares people off, or its simply not as visible? I really don’t know. The food is excellent, the coffee is delicious, and the service is just as «good» as at Hymies. The breakfast potatoes are sooo good! So is all of the deli meat, and the matzo ball soup!
I will start frequenting Murrays more often, and not just as a back up.

We did not dine in, therefore I cannot rate the service of the wait staff. In terms of the deli guy who we got some to-​go items from, he was very nice and helpful. That said, the quality of the prepared food for the price that is charged is outrageous. The tuna salad and potato salad respectively were sub-​par, lacking any flavor whatsoever. We picked up loose bagels and at over a buck a piece did not feel that we got what we paid for (they tasted and felt day-​old).
The redeeming qualities of our experience were:
The pickle was decent.
The chive cream cheese was also as expected.
The cashier process was efficient and done in a timely manner.
So in summary If you do go to Murray’s Delicatessen avoid the tuna salad and potato salad at all costs.
There are many other delicatessens that should be attempted before resorting to Murrays.

Feeling flush with success at finding good breakfast on Christmas day at nearby Hymies, the merry band of hungry people set off to experience breakfast at the ‘other’ Jewish deli in Bala — Murray’s Delicatessen, just a½ block away, this time New Year’s Day (it’s a holiday theme).
Murray’s has a similar setup, half deli, half restaurant, though the dining area is noticeably smaller than that of Hymie’s. The décor is also more retro-20’s and 30’s with some beautiful stained glass and tin. Smaller meant that 6 of us could not fit at a booth, so a 2 top table was added to the end of our booth. It also meant that other patrons had to walk in a zig zag pattern to get around us.
Again, we were a mixed order — some with breakfast, some with lunch. One everything bagel with lox (seriously? So not challenging), one mushroom omlette with tomato side, one french toast. One hot dog, one «Texas Tommy» (hot dog stuffed with cheese then wrapped in bacon) and one turkey club.
All were… well, just OK. Bland. The turkey club was 98% turkey, and so huge it had to be deconstructed to eat, but for all the meat, there really wasn’t a lot of taste to it (and it was ordered with mayo). Next time they should think about less meat (so jaws do not need to be unhinged to eat) and more flavor. French toast was also just ‘meh’, not nearly the flavor you’d expect from challah bread. Texas Tommy was not loved –bacon was in that chewy not really cooked state that only some love. Fries were not battered but also lacked any kind of flavor. If I had to put one word to the meal it would be «bland».
Service was reasonably efficient and friendly, and the place was clean. We may go back at some point but we were generally so not-​impressed it wouldn’t be an enthusiastic decision.
One nice note — free parking behind the restaurant, accessed by an alley next to Aldair (next-​door restaurant).

Disclaimers… I had been here years ago, just hadn’t been back in recent years. Reason I hadn’t been back here is that I discovered that I really like Hymie’s. I am a Hymie’s fan for sure. But, being up in this area recently, I actually thought to myself that I couldn’t say for sure whether Hymie’s was truly better unless I gave Murray’s another shot. Plus, I really wanted to Unilocal the place, and I couldn’t do it properly without a recent visit. Yet another way that Unilocal influences my dining choices. So for once, and in the interest of fairness, I bypassed Hymie’s one time for Murray’s.
I went there at 6:15 pm on a Thursday, and it was empty. Well, maybe the usual dinner crowd was later arriving. A couple of people did come in after 6:30, but again no problem getting a seat or quick service. The matzoh ball soup was simply two matzoh balls in broth. No additional ingredients. It tasted nice, but not special. The turkey special was piled nice and high with some decently sliced turkey and the usual dressing and cole slaw. The scoop of potato salad it came with wasn’t bad. But neither item had any special flavor. It was good, it was filling, but I didn’t have any «Oh wow» feeling to what I ate. I hate to say this, but I can go to Hymie’s and get fresher turkey on my sandwich.
Maybe the biggest sin of them all… the pickle that came with it was subpar at best. To be fair, I’m not a pickle guy in general. But I do know the difference between a good pickle and a not so good one. This one was nothing much to write home about, soggy with little flavor or crunch. Jewish delis are known for good pickles. It’s part of the experience. When the competition across the street is giving you much better pickle choices (on a serve yourself pickle bar to boot) perhaps you should be willing to upgrade your product in this area. This may be a small thing to many, but I consider that a noticeable slip that is a general indicator of a lack of concern about your quality. Even worse, it tells me that the management of Murray’s just doesn’t give a damn.
You know what, when it really comes down to it, it is just not a fair comparison. Hymie’s just does so much more for the dining experience in general that Murray’s is just over matched. Hymie’s is more spacious, the décor is more pleasing, they have the pickle bar, they have a more expansive menu that’s more pleasing to the eye, the deli and bakery are far more stocked, and in general the food seems to taste fresher at Hymie’s.
I’m sorry to write part of my review here on how good Hymie’s is compared to Murray’s, but when you are located within a block of each other, you have to expect such comparisons, and you really must raise your game just to compete. It is clear to me that Murray’s is unwilling to raise their game and that is a shame because they do some good things.
I mean, every time I’m up here, it just seems that Hymie’s is more crowded, and it seems that more people are reviewing Hymie’s here than Murray’s. That should tell you something.
I gave you another chance, Murray’s. But I can honestly say it was your last chance with me. Why would I come here when I can do better within a block?

So I found this gem using Unilocal mobile «near me» when searching for a place to eat near our hotel. I would’ve never tried or found this place otherwise. Thanks Unilocal Universe:)
This place was Kosher to the extreme The Fonz would’ve loved this place.
So we ordered a Murray’s special and a Ruben. (see the photo I uploaded)
Both sandwiches were incredible!
The bread was grilled to perfections, there was a good amount of meat. Not overly insane like the New York style deli’s but I think that the secret was the Russian dressing on the both of them.
Anyhow they both were some of the best that I’ve had to date…
I doubt I’ll ever be in the neighborhood to enjoy this wonderful kosher concoctions again.

This place has a deli side and a restaurant side. For this review I’m critiquing the restaurant. Over the last three years I’ve visited several times both for breakfast and lunch.
There hasn’t been a remodel here in decades. The atmosphere is 60’s or 70’s and it’s a little beat up. Some people might call it homey but that’s a stretch. One other note; it’s generally clean.
The wait staff is just fine. Usually friendly and competent. Often I feel like I’m being served by my mother and that’s not a bad thing.
Now for the food. This is a three star place. Everything is hot and fresh. Portions are at least average and often large. Its three stars because when I walk out I never say «Wow that was great!» However I do say «Ahhhh that was good!»