Gottlieb’s Restaurant

Great food with a traditional taste and super friendly service! If you go there check out their famous chicken noodle soup which simply put is out of this world.

Old school Jewish deli in the Hasidic section of Williamsburg. As a native Brooklynite and Jew I must say I was disappointed. Pastrami tastes like bologna, and anyone here who says it’s the best they’ve ever had is seriously mistaken. I will definitely be back to try the more traditional Jewish fare, soup, kishka etc. but for now I remain unimpressed.

Simple, good, Kosher food. A group of 15 of us got sandwiches to go. Our order was done fast and to the letter. Some of our people wondered why they couldn’t get cheese on their Pastrami. Read your Bible, sinners! But seriously, this stuff is so good, you might forget what cheese even is.

Best pastrami sandwich I’ve had!
Don’t let the ambience scare you off, the sandwiches are delicious. I can’t speak for the rest of the menu, that’s all I’ve had.
It is pricey. $ 12 for a sandwich at basically a dump, but that’s Kosher food for you. Still worth it.

I like to call myself an expert in «The Field» — This is the «Real Deal» — I felt as if I took a step back in time. We enjoyed tremendously and will be back. For me, its a «Logistical Nightmare» to get down there, but its well worth the wait. Too bad I’m always treated like an outsider. I’ll be back again, want to try that famous Cholent. Zizzen Pesach! I have to mention, the bread that they use was exceptional!

Probably the best hot dogs in New York!
First thing you notice is their density – they have a real chew, not a mush like most other hot dogs, similar to a knockwurst, but even tougher, and I mean that in a good way. The flavor is mouth-​watering garlic and spices, with just a touch of grilled flavor for some complexity. The mustard is one we should all have in our fridge. Maybe you do, I don’t. And the sauerkraut is crunchy, fresh with just the right amount of vinegar and salt.
But the real ass-​kicker here is the roll– a warmed challah bread hot dog bun! Yes a challah hot dog bun. Challah!
I like Nathan’s, I like Papaya King but compared to Gottlieb’s they’re the best of the rest.

If you want the best authentic deli sandwich in NYC, then this is the spot. Incredible meat with a delicious pickle on the side. This is not the place to sit and eat, it’s not a culinary experience. It’s the kind of place you order lots of amazing food and eat elsewhere. Can’t say enough positive things about the sandwiches here!

Has to be the best kosher Hungarian food in new York!!!

When you walk into Gottliebs, nostalgia hits you like nothing else.
This is a ooooold kosher Hungarian style deli/​restaurant where the menu didn’t change for the last 60 years, and let me tell you, they better not.
if you’re ever in the mood of exploring the real Chasidic culture food, then this is the place.
Right when you walk in they have a deli area where you could order for takeout all types of deli sandwiches and Bubby’s style dishes.
But to experience gottliebs the real way you have to turn to your right and take a seat and there you will be greeted by Yitzchok, now yitzchok is the waiter and trademark of this place, his friendly and helpful personality adds a charm to this old rundown place and he does everything old school, from scribbling down your receipt on a old ticket book to remembering all your old silly jokes, oh and about the décor, that pretty much looks like it hasn’t been updated in the last 60 years either, but when you come to gottliebs you come for the food not for the décor…
So we sit down and Yitzchok comes over and starts the usual chit chat and I mention that I used to come as a child here every Friday with my father (Story of like 15 – 20 years ago) and we would get the famous chulent a and Grilled kishka with gravy, and my stomach starts rumbling and begging for some good old chulent, so we order the Chulent*, Grilled Kishka**, Yaptchik*** and Pitcha**** (Some call it gala.) and under a minute Yitzchok is back with our order, including the usual bread and sour pickles (I could eat those pickled goodness all day!) and Boy oh boy was that good!!! The real good old taste of homemade chulent is simply amazing and you won’t find it better at any other place! period.
So after indulging with all the delicious stuff I call up Yitzchok and tell him that I’ll go for another round of Chulent (If you didn’t see my profile, I’m in love with this dish…) and he said, «for over 20 years you come here for chulent, the 2^nd round is on the house! and that’s the service that makes us all come back here…
Looking forward for my next meal here…
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Disclaimer: I stole this stars idea from Peter D
*Chulent is a Hungarian dish somewhat similar to Chili with beef, It consist of mixture of Kidney beans, navy beans, cranberry beans and barley slow cooked for 24 – 48 houers with Flanken meat and marrow bones.
**Kishka is basically a dough dish made out of flour, eggs, spices and is usually cooked in the same slow cooker as the Chulent.
***Yaptchik is potato kugel (the description for that I’ll leave for another time) with tidbits of beef baked overnight.
****Pitcha /​Galla is not for the faint of heart, it is water cooked for like 8 hours with chicken and beef bones and then refrigerated and as a result this super fatty mixture turns into a Jello textured dish and sprinkled on top is garlic and various spices for flavor. (Tastes delicious)

Hands down the best pastrami sandwich I’ve ever had in my life. If you’re looking for an authentic Jewish restaurant to eat at in Brooklyn this is the place to be.

Worst pastrami sandwich EVER!
Cheap rye bread, no flavor, fatty and tough pastrami, also no flavor. Tasted like it was reboiled, then I watched them nuke it, WTF?

We had high hopes when we walked in and felt completely out of place. Nearly everyone was Orthodox or at least male, and we were two gay guys and two women. We were on a quest for two things — a good pastrami on rye for lunch and knishes to take home to Orlando with us. We got neither.
First, we walked in and stood awkwardly at the counter, not sure if we ordered there and then it would be brought to us, ordered there and got it at the counter so we could then sit, or just sit. Eventually after trying to order at the counter, we were instructed to sit by a very soft-​spoken waiter (?). He brought over a dish of coleslaw (which was amazing) and one of pickles (not my style), then we repeated the part of our order we tried to give at the counter and I attempted to order a tongue sandwich, only to find out they had none. Disappointment #1…I can get pastrami and corned beef easily in Florida, but tongue is hard to come by. I settled for the pastrami.
Sandwiches arrived, on plain white bread, even though we requested and were confirmed we’d get rye. Never had options for any cheese… I had dreams of high-​piled deli sandwiches with toasted bread and I got a plain bread sandwich with a smattering of meat that was only half warm. It was tender, but had mediocre flavor. The closest thing I have to a Jewish deli near me is the TooJays Deli chain and their meat is 10x better. I paid $ 12 for a sandwich I could’ve made with better meat at my Orlando local grocery store for $ 6 and still had a bunch of bread and meat leftover.
We asked about knishes and no one seemed to know what we were talking about at first even though eventually I found them sitting in the front case. Eventually, we communicated that we noticed they did frozen meals packed specially for traveling home on planes or for shipping, and we wanted to know if they had frozen knishes that we could pack to bring back on the plane. The answer was no, only fresh, which was fine except the ones in the case looked nothing like what we were used to. They were round and looked like they were hollow in the middles of some.
Finished eating, we were again confused as to whether we pay at the front or got a bill, as some people were paying at the counter and others just handing their card to the waiter. After again trying to complete our transaction at the counter, we were told to just sit back down and wait. Eventually we got out check, paid, and left.
At no point were we given menus, and I later saw there were tons of options aside from sandwiches that I could’ve gotten (I missed out on matzoh ball soup!). I have no complaints that we were the odd table out, but it was apparent they didn’t care to help us out much to enjoy our experience because they had enough (what I assume were) regulars to care about.
The rest of the food may be amazing, I’ll never know. I should’ve gone with my gut instinct when I passed by this listing several Unilocal searches earlier when looking for Jewish Delis and knishes. I was trying to go by proximity to where we were, and I learned my lesson that for quality and better service, I need to travel a bit farther to places with better ratings.

a kosher deli — meat — in an Orthodox section of Williamsburg. The Satmar, a Hasidic group that is, according to Wikipedia, staunchly anti-​Zionist, live in this neighborhood. I tried the pastrami. It was okay. I will return to try some of its dishes. It’s just a few blocks away.

WORST RIP-​OFF EVER. My (religious) brother and I went looking for a kosher deli and found this place. Aside from the utterly unattractive ambiance and the abysmal service, the two sandwiches we ordered were a joke. Two thin slices of bread with a meager portion of cold cuts in between. That’s it. No mustard, mayonnaise, tomato, nothing offered. That plus two minor plates of side salad cost us $ 40. What??? After finishing we went across the street and got more/​better food for ¹⁄₃ the cost. By the way, at this other, equally kosher, place they didn’t look at us like aliens when we walked in.

Yes, it’s mostly all men here but who cares… the soup tastes EXACTLY like my Bubby’s. I adore the super-​kind red-​headed Torah Scholar behind the counter and the Hungarian dishes that are PERFECT for the winter-​time. I once bought a soup to-​go and froze it – you can’t imagine how happy I was to discover it weeks later! I like coming here a lot in the daytime — the main waiter is the most warm and welcoming man! Long Live Gottlieb’s!!!

Walked into Gottlieb’s by myself on a random weekday afternoon. The pastrami sandwhich was pretty good, I must say, but it didn’t make up for my overall experience. I brought my own water bottle in the bag I was carrying, yet they charged me for a bottle of water. They also tried to charge me $ 2 more than the price the sandwhich was advertised as. I felt like they were trying to take advantage of a random customer. Additionally, I look Hispanic (certainly not Jewish) and felt like they treated me differently than other customers. Bad vibes. Plenty of other delis I’m more willing to support.

Just no. Run away. Fast.
This is one of the worse restaurant experiences I’ve had in my life. Specifically when it came to «service.» And while that may have been a one-​off, the food was nowhere near good enough to warrant a return.
After a daytime meeting nearby, I decided to wander through S. Williamsburg. I had read about Gottlieb’s and decided to give it a shot and taste test for my corned beef-​obsessed husband. So I go in.
This is food I grew up with. My maternal grandparents were of Hungarian descent so I know what the food is supposed to taste like. If you think for a second that this is your bubbe’s cooking, then you may right. Only if your bubbe had a horrible case of dementia and just didn’t know what the heck they were doing.
So the only thing worse than the lackluster food was the service. Oh wait. Service would apply someone actually acknowledged your existence. That didn’t happen. Despite the way I was dressed (I could have easily passed for Modern Orthodox thanks to my outfit that day — a skirt just below my knees and cardigan), I wasn’t acknowledged after the counter service. There was a guy floating around the room talking to everyone. But me. He brought napkins out to everyone. But me. And asked everyone if they wanted a drink. Well, everyone but me. The crowd? All men, except for a couple older ladies that were carrying a NYC book and were from Sweden. I guess my mistake was that I should have never walked in being a local without a penis.
Needless to say, I didn’t even leave a penny tip. And it was well deserved!

We where greeted by the door with quickly by an amazing host, they gave us choice of seating.
They service was great we ordered a 20 Oz steak it was done to perfection with amazing flavor.
It was an amazing experience.
I would recommend anybody to be a regular at this place.

After reading various reviews and trying dozens of dishes with my jewish and gentile friends, I can offer the following unbiased observations;
Cleanliness continues to improve at this pre-​cooked take-​out cafeteria style 50 seat dining room. NYC is spoiled by world class breads and cured meats which you won’t find at any budget restaurant like this. If you wanted Chinese food, then why would you buy it in south Williamsburg?
I’m in a position to compare Gottlieb’s dishes to the authentic Hungarian, Polish, and Yemenite restaurant class sources these recipes historically originated. Here is my list of hits and misses you may want to use to navigate the rest of their menu:
Hits: stuffed cabbage, chicken paprikash, jerusalem kugal, kishka (avoid grilled), sautéed liver, gefilte fish,
Safe: cole slaw, beet salad, cucumber salad, zucchini tomato salad, galah petcha, beef goulash, egg barley, chicken cutlet,
Miss: chullent, potato salad, tzimmes, bowtie pasta, chopped liver, sweet lukshon kugel,
I hope the grandson now managing this 50 year old family owned restaurant, will adjust some of their classic recipes to make them more appealing to a broader palette audience beyond this insular neighborhood.

I’d been wanting to try this place for a while. I got the pastrami sandwich and the helpings of meat were pretty good, but the bread was uninspired. At $ 12, it’s far from a good deal. The place looks a bit unclean. The health department sign in the window says «grade pending». The place has been open since 1962. How long can a grade be pending?