Deleos Deli & Cafe

I went here on a trip home to Florissant and had the Parmesan Crusted Chicken and a side of potato salad. The sandwich was seriously amazing! It’s hard for me to get excited about a sandwich, but the bread was really good (and I’m not really a big bread eater), and so was the chicken and dressing on it. The potato salad was really good too.
I learned of this place a while back in Boston via the Food Network or Travel Channel or something, I can’t remember what. Now I see why the word travelled.

I LOVE the menu at this place. I love the space, I love that they have live music even if I haven’t experienced it for myself.
If you are looking for cheesy, melty and fresh you have found it in Deleos. I can’t even organize my thoughts about how much I love this place, I am going to have to resort to bullet points.
1. Free cookie for First Timers
2. Huge Menu
3. Flavored Unsweetened tea, non-​soda drinkers should appreciate :)
4. Vegetarian Options
5. Different soups daily
6. Did I mention tons of sandwiches on the menu?
7. My personal favorite is the mac n cheese, it is shells and cheese, but not Velveeta. I love it. I wish I could get just a bowl of it, but it is a side, so I usually get a sandwich with it :)
Nothing to do with the food, and everything to do with Support Local, this place always appreciates us when we come in. My co-​workers and I have been in maybe 4 times in the last several months and they may recognize us, but they ALWAYS appreciate us, they say «thank you for picking us today» and «see you next time» and it feels very genuine and not forced. I love it. Second favorite reason of going there. Second only to the mac & cheese :)

*UPDATE*
Co-​workers and I went back last Friday and had another flawless lunch! We seriously can’t get enough of this place… Is it possible for y’all to move to West County?

Nice local deli/​sandwich shop. Live music every Friday and Saturday night. Bands seem to be passable, but certainly not excellent.
Had the Parmesan crusted chicken sandwich ($ 9.99). Chicken breast with Parmesan crust, sliced provelone, lettuce and tomato on a toasted mini baguette. Comes with your choice of chips, potato salad, cole slaw, or baked beans. Not bad value for the price, as well as a decent sized sandwich.

Read some of my reviews. You’ll see I’m picky, and bitchy too boot. So if you see me give a five star review you know I’m not messing around.
We randomly stopped into this place while on vacation in St. Louis.
What can I say? The décor is amazing, featuring local artists. They have live music coming in. They food is exceptional. The staff is kind and attentive. Even the bathroom is pretty damn great!
We gorged ourselves on a meatball sandwich and The Tom DeLeo, which my boyfriend describes as «magnificent.» Then we had a cherry cannoli, a piece of sunrise cake (orange and peach schnapps!), and oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies.
People whining about the prices here should stick to McDonald’s. $ 10 (that’s rounding up, more like $ 8) for a gourmet hand prepared sandwich is chump change! Also, what’s up with the woman complaining that she ordered a smoke salmon sandwich and then got SMOKED SALMON? If you wanted cooked salmon, that’s your fault, lady!
Seriously, try this place out. You’d be a moron not to.

The food here is of average quality. My sandwich was ok, but my french onion soup was not very good. The soup hadn’t been cooked long enough so the onions were still crunchy, not soft like they should be. I felt like the price was a bit high for what you got.
They’ll microwave a cookie for you, which makes the cookies tastier since they’re not stellar on their own.
All the staff seemed friendly and helpful, the place is clean and parking is easy.

We stopped here to grab a quick bite and were pleasantly surprised. The sandwiches we chose were bursting with flavor and the mac and cheese was out of this world good. The service was great and the employees were very informative as this was our first time here. If you’re in the area, give this place a try. You won’t leave hungry or disappointed!

Purchased 2 different types of BLT. The most simple sandwich to make. The tomatoes were not ripe. The salmon BLT has smoked salmon and I was expecting it to be cooked. I placed my order to go and called back to express my dissatisfaction. The woman that answered the phone had to explain how she just came on shift and asked several unrelated questions like she had I been in there before. I didn’t understand why that mattered. I expressed that I didn’t call to argue, just to give my feedback and hung up. I received a voice mail from the gentleman that took my order and he claimed he wanted to make things right. I called back and left a message with my phone number. No call back, but message received loud and clear. I will never spend over $ 20 on 2 sandwiches or anything else to eat at this place.

OMG. This place is great. Shared lunch with my mom and we split the Parmesan crusted chicken sandwich and it was so good. I also had a half chopped salad and my mom had a side if slaw. Good stuff. To finish off the meal we shared a homemade pumpkin spice cookie and a homemade chocolate chip cookie. I seriously think the chocolate chip one was the best I’ve ever had. Great customer service– they aim to please. We’ll definitely be back.

I am so glad that there is a decent deli in Florissant!
DeLeos has a vast menu, and everything I have tried here has always been excellent! I cannot name one thing on the menu here that is my favorite, there are so many menu items that I love.
They are always adding great new things to the menu.
The service is always friendly.
Everything here is fresh and made to order.

Tried Deleos after seeing it in Feast Magazine — probably passed it dozens of times before that… it’s in one of the many strip centers in Florissant on Lindbergh. When I went in, I was greeted by the owner and he explained the menu to me. I was pleased with my visit. It was a much bigger place than I thought it would be, with a room with about10 tables on left, and same on the right. In the center area was a couch grouping. It all looked clean a bright (a plus in my book). I had the «get two deal» (or whatever it’s called), with the BBQ Beef Brisket and a Strawberry Fields Salad for $ 7.99. For this deal, the portion sizes, while not huge, were fine for me. The brisket was excellent, with enough sauce and very tender. The salad had plenty of strawberries, mandarin oranges, almonds, and dried cranberries on the greens mix. The raspberry vinaigrette it came with tasted good, but had a strange fake color to it. I also had a chocolate chip cookie, which was big and totally delish. All in all, it was a good meal, and I will be back. It was nice to see several vegetarian options, too. Oh, and they had 4 different soups the day I was there.

Arrive: First time for lunch. Parking/​entry area clean. Double-​door section good too. Met by greeter (manager?). Discussed menu — explained in detail (yes). Decided, ordered, paid, selected seating area and «our call» was less than 10 minutes. Plenty of seating (3 rooms) plus wait-​area inside and outside.
Meals: Serving portions substantial — more than anticipated. Plan for half as «home» option if you’re watching the carbs/​calories/​etc. If in doubt… go easy on initial order — you can always go back! Lots of choices. Thought of Panera’s initial stores…
Facility: Two side rooms (about 30 seats each) offer semi-​private gathering from main entry/​section. Restrooms (Uni) clean.
Finish: Food products were #1 in our view. Pricing will be a challenge for anyone using Subway or similar. Products are NOT comparable. Deleos WINS.
Final: Take a friend here for lunch.
***

What a let-​down. $ 34 for 2 sandwiches 2 soups and 2 sodas for lunch! Outrageous, given the taste and quality you receive.
My wife was so happy to get a pastrami before we got there. (Had to order a «do-​it-​yourself» version which I will get into below) Took 1 bite and said she may not want pastrami again for a long time. She’s right, I may not either. It’s really thick cut, which is weird enough texture-​wise, but it just doesn’t taste like pastrami. Smelled ok, but oy!
So I tried the Muffuletta, which had pretty good Capicola on it, but that was not anything close to hard salami. Tasted like pre-​packaged lunch meat of some unknown sort. Also the focaccia was overbearing for the meat and there was at least twice as much of the olive salad as was necessary.
The tomato basil bisque has a strange texture (little clumpies is how I’d describe it) and the broccoli cheddar was actually a white cream of broccoli with some cheese flavoring to it. Neither was all that hot or tasty.
The menu is way too complicated… You know something is amiss when they greet you, give you a paper copy of the menu, and suggest you have a seat and take a look for a while. (There are 3 big flat screens with the menu on them but who could read all of that — you’d kill your neck)
Good golly, every sandwich has way too much stuff on it! If we had ordered «The Pastraminator» it would have had the «normal» kraut, tomato, red onion, banana peppers, mayo, horseradish, and mustard all on it (Why? and Yuck!) and we wouldn’t have been able to taste the pastrami itself. We would have had to taste all the rest of it though, so neither way works. (About half of the dozen or so folks who came in after us ordered their sandwiches «special» — basically without all the extra stuff.)
Oh yeah, and they don’t have trays. So if you’re getting food for your table (after a 29 minute wait with no one in front of you) you have to make a few trips back and forth from your table to the pick-​up counter (through the line). One of their guys noticed that I thought that was a bad idea and I met him about halfway back to get my other bowl of soup, at the front door.
No thanks, not going to repeat this mistake. Hope you don’t either!

Deleos opened up over a year ago. I know this because recently they had a hot-​air balloon sign on top of the place for their 1-​year anniversary, and my wife and I would say, «Aww, we should go there to give them a try.» I suppose we felt a kind of guilt because we had previously scorned going there because, well, when you drive by the place it’s not much to look at (except for their flashy Deleos LED sign).
Tonight we went there for the very first time, and we are glad we did.
I’ll try to be coherent here, but I also want to touch all the bases. Here’s a list in no particular order:
General Atmosphere:
Brightly lit, clean, handsome. From the looks of the strip mall it’s located in, you’d think it would be a dump. Not at all. When you walk in there is a long «bar» in front of you – not the kind you sit at and guzzle beer, but the kind you order at, and behind which are the cashiers and kitchen staff. It is a deli, after all, and has a deli feel to it – only cleaner and nicer than most deli’s I’ve been to. To the left is a nice little nook with couches and chairs, like a waiting room. On the wall near the waiting area were some framed pictures of random movies – Rainy with a Chance of Meatballs, I believe, but also Terminator 2 and The Sopranos, along with some others. A strange mix, but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. Beyond that is a sectioned-​off room, and when I was there it was reserved and had about 10 – 15 people having dinner in it. To the right are some tables, and to the far right is another room with more tables and chairs and some artwork on the walls (I don’t know art, but I doubt you’d go to Deleos to admire the art. You would go there for the food, though – more on that later). One thing I noticed while I was there was the music. I don’t know if I just lucked out or what, but they had a great mix – Johnny Cash, the Beatles, David Bowie, Roy Orbison, U2 being just some bands I heard, plus some artists I couldn’t identify but who would be at home in a gangster movie, plus the songs Fill Me Up Buttercup and Winds of Change – not sure who sang those, but like them anyway. If you like that type of music, you’ll enjoy that aspect of it. Either way the volume is at a reasonable level, so you can tune it out if you don’t.
Bathrooms:
I took my toddler to the unisex bathroom – I believe there was a men’s/women’s bathroom down the hall, but I didn’t check. The unisex bathroom was bright, clean, and smelled nice. It had a nice sink and toilet and paper towels, and a baby-​changing thingy on the wall.
Food:
They sell beer. I don’t drink much, but they have it if you want it. They have fountain soda, including Diet Dr. Pepper, which to me is worth a star in and of itself. I got the Dirty Harry with Deli Llama’s Salad, and my wife got the Veggie Italian Job with the Tomato Salad. I just asked my wife what she thought of her sandwich, and her exact words were «it was scrumptious». The Dirty Harry was awesome – Roast beef, provolone, red onions, banana peppers, black olives, horseradish, mustard & mayo on toasted white bread. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the fare «gourmet” – but the taste was very good, more than what you typically get out of a deli. Still looks like a sandwich on toasted white bread though, but who cares when it tastes like that? The salads were both great, although I’m pretty sure the Dali Lama would not have prosciutto on his salad – but then again, the Deli Llama might. The portion sizes were not huge, which to me is a good thing since most places give you a buttload of food that will only make you fat. That said, it was so good I found myself wishing I had twice as much. We also got a cannoli and a red-​velvet cupcake for the kids. Both were awesome.
My Rating:
I gave this place 4 out of 5 stars because, on the spectrum of places to eat, I can’t in good conscious give it a 5. I ate somewhere in DC, once, where you feel that just by being there you are lowering the property value because you are clearly the most ghetto person there even if you are middle/​upper-​middle class, and where they give you a fancy little morsel of food on a plate that looks like Fancy Feast or something but for people – but THAT was a 5 out of 5. That food was ridiculously awesome. This place was very good. BUT, if I were rating this ONLY AGAINST OTHER DELIS, I would give it 5 out of 5 stars, because it beat the pants off of all the other delis I’ve ever eaten at.

I’m going to give these guys THE BUMP!
Frankly, this place is better than two and a half stars.
Coming to DeLeo’s has become a bit of a tradition for me and my parents. They seem to love it, and I try to make it to Flo Town often to allow these beautiful people to feed me. That’s what they get for raising a winner!
Today was my fourth trip to DeLeo’s, and I’ve explored the menu each time. Increasingly, I’m appreciating what they do. First, they didn’t wow me with the chicken. However, each sandwich has been slightly better than the last. The corn beef sandwich has some nice components. The meatball sandwich was pretty classic, nothing wrong there, and the brisket might be my favorite.
Also, I really like their cookies. The cook dropped my mother’s sandwich today, so she had to wait a few minutes after Pops and I received our food. They gave us three free cookies to make up for the mistake. I was happy, to say the least!
Still, they need to work out some kinks. The wait for the food can be a little painful. Also, I still feel like the prices need to come down just a little. These sandwiches are priced all around ten dollars, and I just don’t think that it’s really reasonable for what you get.
However, there are Daily Deals and Groupons out there for those who’d like to get off cheap.
In Florissant? Give these kids a try. What would it hurt?

I went to DeLeo’s the other night, on my way through town. The staff was so friendly, and patient while I decided what to order! I had the reuben with turkey instead of corned beef, and it was excellent. Just the right amount of meat. The sauce included a bit of horseradish, which was a nice treat. I enjoyed the soup. After my meal, I had a chocolate chip cookie. It was delicious. If I lived in Florrisant, I would go there for my lunch break. Also, they have a nice party room!

I am from Florissant and like supporting local independent businesses, new and old. I did not have a great experience for my first visit. I ordered the strawberry salad which is about $ 10 with tax. The salad does not come with chicken or any protein. The flavors are ok with strawberries, mandarin oranges and almonds slices, but the portion size was disappointing and not adequate. I enjoy eating salads out, but not when it leaves me hungry 2 hours later. Please rethink your price on this salad, consider adding chicken or much larger portion size for this price and I will return and hopefully post a much more flattering review.

I thought I had rated this culinary paradise before but I guess I didn’t send it in time. This is a great sandwich shop. The Big Rueboni is my favorite addiction with the Barbeque Brisket running a close second. Their salads are excellent as well as their homemade soups. Be sure to check out «Zorro’s Brew.» All of the sandwiches are loaded with meat and flavor. The staff are all very friendly and helpful in helping you to decide your pleasure. The place is very comfortable almost like being at home. They also have a art gallary going on there also. Free WiFi is nice. I have been waiting for a place like this for a long in my neighborhood, a sophisticated Mom and Pop’s joint to go to.