Piper’s Deli

The burgers are good and sometimes you get a friendly server sometimes you don’t but my biggest concern is the overall cleanliness of the place. It needs an overall general cleaning; the carpet looks like it has NEVER been shampooed, the floor just isn’t clean, even the front door just has fingerprints that remain on there for days at a time. My last time I ordered a burger and the young lady picked up her cell phone then she handled the store phone, then she went in the back of the kitchen to prepare my food and she did not stop to use the wash bin to sanitize her hands so I left. I know who the owner is and she’s a nice person but obviously she just doesn’t understand what it takes to run a consistently good and clean restaurant.
Outside of the burgers I can only recommend the hot dogs all the way, and the cakes are very good.

Gross and disgusting. Be smart and avoid this place at all costs. There are better and friendlier places to eat.

The kids ordered burgers. They said they were the best. The hubby and I had sandwiches. I loved mine. My husband said his Ruben was just ok. The service began well. However, at the end we had to request our check after waiting. The waitress saw me cleaning up a mess and didn’t ask if we needed help or more napkins.

All expects of the place were great. The service was prompt and helpful. The food was great. I got the burger with fries and finished it off the pretty good apple cobbler. The oldies classics playing in the background made it also feel pretty cool. I would definitely go again.

WORST DELI IN TOWN
Some people was commented about the good service. Sorry, you will not be treated well unless you are regular customer. In fact the service is SUPER slow and we waited for 30min to start to order. We waited for 1 hr and we even did not get a water. Needless to say, only 3 people in the dining room at htat time. Waf! The manager was disgraceful and unwelcoming. You can feel she is so irritated and rude to customers. When we were there, she complained for the customer who asked refill. This is our 2^nd time and we intended to use gpon, They lined up all kinds of excuse and refused to accept the gpon. the manager kept saying we were not responsible. Hey Gpon does not issue the coupon unless the restaurant offered, right? Please be responsible when you offered the deal. You looks so stupid and just gives bad impression. In fact I’ll not dine here again and also NOSH. There are plenty good deli in Durham and I highly recommend NOT to go there. Just not worth it.

Ordered a turkey burger, I have to say it was disgusting it had avocados and cheese accompanied with chips on the side. The patty was tasteless was not seasoned enough, the avocados with the cheese and patty did not make a good combo as for the bread maybe toasting it would work better. Service = meeeh. Would I go back? Nah!

This is the second time I’ve been to Piper’s. Both times I enjoyed the food quite a lot, the hamburger today was very good. I plan to go back.

Very pleasant neighborhood pub and café. We went for Saturday midday burgers. The service was very welcoming and genial, and the burgers were absolutely excellent. Reasonable prices too. The weather was warm enough to sit out on the deck, but probably not anymore (December). Inside seemed warm and welcoming though. Definitely recommended.

Good food, good service and great pricing.
I had the burger and it was juicy and tasty.
The server was friendly and made sure we were taken care off.
I noticed one of the kitchen staff coming out to help the server with the little pop. He was refilling drinks and checking to see if any tables needed anything! What a great way to show team work.
I will definitely be back!

Great Brass Key and burgers! The fries were cooked perfectly crispy. They even gave Boylans soda!!! A must try!

Love Piper’s. Love, love, love. This is what a truly local restaurant should be. They are not worried about what you think about the look of the place, they just crank out tasty food.
4 beers on tap, including Sweetwater 420 and lonerider shotgun betty, so they get props for that.
The burgers really are great. However, don’t sell the rest of the menu short. There are s lot of really great sandwiches add well. My wife and son really like the Greek salad took.
They have an original site down Pac man game.

I discovered that Piper’s was only a short walk away from my new office building. It was a glorious September day so I decided to take a stroll for lunch. At first I thought I had taken a wrong turn, as it’s mixed in with a residential neighborhood. Once I found it I was delighted by the interior of the place. My server was very friendly and attentive to my need for tea refills. I ordered the Brass Key sandwich which consisted of Roast Beef, Turkey, Swiss, Slaw, and Thousand Island dressing. The sandwich was just okay. For the price I think they could have piled on a few more shavings of Roast Beef and Turkey. I’ll definitely walk back over the Piper’s again one day, hopefully this time the meat slicer will be more generous.

We work nearby and have been for lunch countless time with any number of people. Always fast, friendly and accurate. Today we had a bizarre experience. Long wait and nasty, rude waitress. We don’t have long for lunch. When we asked about our food she said it will be ready when it is ready. Really? Please don’t treat customers that way!

This locally owned and operated restaurant has been in business many years. In my last visit (several years ago) the food was overcooked and French fried still cold in the middle. I did revisit this place this week and ordered the special «Carolina Burger» which is with chili and homemade coleslaw. Very good and came to me still piping hot off the grill and the sweet potato fried were seasoned well and fully cooked. I will be returning here again. There menu does have beef, turkey and veggie burgers as well as salads, wings, sandwiches, and cakes and cobblers.
Food B
Staff C
Décor C
Location D
Health Inspection Grade 99.0

I would have given Piper’s a better rating had my last experience gone a little better. Don’t get me wrong, the food is good (once you find this place) and I’ve never had any complaints… until. First off I dined in with my cousin, enjoying lunch & conversation, then I placed a to-​go order which ended up being totally wrong. After bringing my sister’s food back, I was grilled like her burger. why didn’t I get the mushrooms, what happened to my bacon, where’s the extra pickles? To top if off I never got my Coke that I paid for. Maybe it was just one of those days, but I don’t think I’ll be placing anymore to go orders!

I was disappointed. This was a regular lunch spot for me about ten years ago and I had really fond memories. Hadn’t been there in a really long time as I moved my office to Chapel Hill but recently started working out of Durham again. Came back hoping to rekindle the magic but as I mentioned, it didn’t hold up to my memory. The service was great and friendly and prices were very reasonable. Unfortunately, the food was mediocre at best. I had a burger with bacon and grilled onions and could barely eat it. The meat tasted like a commercial patty (Bubba’s Burgers come to mind) and did not come close to the claim «Voted One of the Best in Durham». Not only was it not in the league of Bull City Burgers and Brewery, it really wasn’t in the league of Chili’s. Fries were also nothing special. Again, the service was great, which is why I can’t give it a 2.

Went here a month or so ago with family from Cary, and they really liked the hamburgers, so when my wife wanted a burger today, we went to Pipers’. I got a half sandwich (egg salad) and a cup of stew… which was really good. My wife got the burger, which looked terrific and which she crowned «the best I’ve had in the area». As she’s a fan of several other places in the area, this is high praise. I’d suggest anyone try their sandwiches, soups, cakes and… with this input… their hamburgers! Quick service and fair prices round out the offering. Give them a visit!

I often wonder how old I’ll actually be before I start to feel like a real adult… someone who remembers to iron, entertains company, pops out kids. My time at Pipers yesterday underscored that notion for two reasons.
1) there was mommy to mommy talk at the table beside me that droned on and on and left me super grateful my two dogs don’t give me anything to worry about in terms of an elementary school’s «slow learners» group
and 2) foregoing rational adult behavior, I immediately ordered a chocolate milkshake!
Stepping back from the situation I would like to say that I at least deserved that milkshake after aimlessly driving up and down University in search of this restaurant (yeah, I know, the restaurant is on Old Chapel Hill Rd… not University. Uhm which certainly explains why I couldn’t find it for thirty minutes!).
Anyway, back to lunch. After the mommies cleared out, it was just me on the patio with my laptop. And my milkshake. Aahhh. Perfect way to enjoy this post-​pollen spring weather we’re having. The classic sandwich menu is a good size, and according to the menu, they were voted Durham’s best burger (hand-​patties), but I didn’t really see anything that particularly caught my eye, so I just went with the buffalo chicken sandwich on a kaiser bun. Turn-​around time was pretty lengthy, so if you’re on a tight one-​hour lunch break, this might not be the place for you. And unfortunately, the great patio spot has already caught on so it’s not so secret since the earlier Unilocal.I advise getting there after the rush at around 1:30 when you have time to enjoy some leisurely lunching.

I came here with a friend for brunch. When you enter this place, you immediately get the sense that it’s a local joint, and I liked it because of that. It’s nothing special, but seems like a good place to get a decent meal. I had the half sandwich and salad deal which was about $ 7. Tuna melt that came open style. Greek salad with banana peppers (as the below reviewer mentioned abt their love for banana peppers). It was a good, but nothing to write home about. Maybe I need to come back for the burger. Oh, and I didn’t see any cake on the counter. Boo.

For a restaurant that bills itself as a «Durham landmark» and ties its menu items to Duke (they have a Blue Devil Delight sandwich on the menu), Piper’s sure does have a lot of wall decorations celebrating UNC championship victories and Dean Smith Sports Illustrated covers.
Even getting past that, Piper’s interior lacks any real atmosphere or charm. The dining room is full of uncomfortable seats and feels like you’re eating in your weird relative’s kitchen (not, I repeat not, the cool aunt… more the crazy aunt who you always hope can’t make it this Christmas) and the bar itself is cluttered from the schizophrenia that comes from not knowing whether to be a bar (they have the swiveling touch-​screen bar arcade), an extension of the restaurant (menus and such), or an old-​fashioned diner counter (a cake of the day sits under glass right in front of you).
Honestly, the only nice thing to say about the inside is that they have one of those sit down Ms Pac Man machine. I love those. You get to the outside, though, and the deck is actually a nice spot to enjoy one of the few beers they have on tap on a nice evening (Mon. — Thurs. feature $ 2 draught specials).
Then again, none of the regulars will steer you towards Piper’s for the atmosphere. They’ll tell you to go eat the burgers. And they’re right. The burgers may very well be, as advertised, the best in Durham. The rest of the sandwiches on the menu may be entirely forgettable, but the burger will always bring you back.
Should you veer away from the burger, please be very careful of the banana peppers. I like banana peppers. I think they’re fantastic and a marvelous compliment to any sandwich. Lots of other people don’t. Piper’s agrees with me. They put them on practically everything that isn’t a burger or beer. Just a heads up if they happen not to be your thing. They’ll come up in strange places, if you’re not careful.
In short: Not much to look at, get a burger.