Palermo Deli

If you want mediocre deli sandwiches served to you by an argumentative, constantly yelling trio of family members who either a) forget to make your sandwich, b) give yours to another customer repeatedly, or c) make yours and never tell you (my last 3 trips to this «Restaurant») then by all means, check out Palermo’s! The mother couldn’t be nicer but these people are WAY in over their heads. If more than 3 or 4 orders (for deli sandwiches, mind you – we’re not talking foie gras) makes your entire business grind to a halt, leaving your customers to wait 30 minutes for a turkey club, you might want to take a serious look at your business practices.

Great place in Brightleaf Square to get a good sandwich! This is going to get put into the lunch rotation. I’m a huge fan of their ruben!

I’ve been here three times. The Italian sub twice and the meatball sub once. The Italian sub the first time was excellent. The second time I had to throw it out because the meat was bad, as in, funky tasting and brown around the edges. Not the color you want to see on ham or salami. The meatball sub was pretty paltry but to be fair it was like $ 3.99 so the size was right for the price. The food ranges from 1 to 4 stars. That means two stars. I give it a third star because the mother daughter duo who run the joint are super nice. They’re nice, and their sandwich selection is good, so I’ll overlook the bad meat that one visit and return.

I was hankering for a real deli corned beef on rye, it is St. Patrick’s Day after all and bemoaning the fact that Durham doesn’t have a decent deli, when low a behold, up popped Palermo on a Google search.
While I celebrate the whole panini, bruschetta, small plate menus prevalent in Downtown Durham, sometimes you just want to unbuckle your belt. I can’t believe that no one has Unilocaled about the wide-​open, big mouth sandwiches at Palermo Deli in Brightleaf Square.
Step into this unpretentious little space and be greeted by Tammy, the owner operator and maybe even her daughter Tina, and order up a full belly of Boar’s Head meats and cheeses. I feasted on the Concetta — pastrami, corned beef, Swiss and slaw on a Kaiser, while my co-​worker went with the classic Reuben on rye. Both were chock full of yummy deliciousness. We skipped the offered chips and went with the bean salad and cole slaw for our sides. To celebrate her newest customers Tammy threw in freebies of broccoli and potato salads. Bean salad-​ok, cole slaw-​ok, potato salad-​ok, broccoli sold was super yum.
Orange, strawberry and grape crush sodas were a nostalgic surprise, but Coke, Pepsi and a variety of Snapples are available for your drinking pleasure,
I’ll be heading back as soon as I work off the extra calories consumed today.