Stephan’s Deli

Kind of a creepy, dark interior, so it could use some remodeling. Just stopped in to try the pirozhkis. They only have one kind, beef and cheese, and it’s a little expensive in contrast to what is available elsewhere. It tasted alright, after I brought it home and warmed it in the oven. Not sure this kind of store really caters to what I’m looking for, but interesting to finally see after all my years passing by it.

Got a quick bite to eat and ended up with a Falafel. It was warmed in a microwave and the falafel was already pre-​fried sitting in a basket.
It was quite pricey for a pita pocket falafel ($ 7.50 including tax). A nice touch was the added «pickles» to the falafel sandwich.
Otherwise.there are some seats inside and outside of the store. It’s super messy inside with a lot of knick knacks that he sells like (cigarettes, wine, beer, snacks, chips, canned Mediterranean food, old antique watches, figurines, SF Giants gear).
Broadway just needs to amp up on it’s eateries as I have yet to find one that I love and want to come back to.

My experience with the owner of this deli was actually at the Millbrae farmer’s market. My lovely girlfriend and I wanted to buy a single Armenian cucumber from a vendor, when we were interrupted by the owner of this deli and his side-​kick that swooped in next to us and declared to the vendor that he was buying the remainder of the cucumbers for $ 5. It was the end of the market, so no doubt he was looking to extort a huge number of cucumbers for a small price. I had picked up a cucumber from the pile and asked the vendor for the price of one, but the rude owner of this deli and his side-​kick declared that they had purchased them – though they hadn’t paid for them yet. I said that I only wanted one (there was a huge pile), in a very nice and reasonable way. The deli owner said too bad, and then the jerk side-​kick to the mean-​spirited deli owner said that we could buy one of the cucumbers for $ 1. No doubt they were taking them back to their deli for sale…
We really ought to have kept ahold of the cucumber that we picked up from the pile and declared we were buying it and it was their tough luck, but instead of going down to their obviously low level, we threw the cucumber back on the pile and walked away.
I have no intention of patronizing this person’s deli given the mean-​spirited attitude he had towards two people who just wanted to buy a single cucumber. Given the other reviews for the deli, I don’t doubt that the owner is a very unhappy and rude man, confirmed by our interaction with him.

broadway… an aging strip of «downtown» millbrae… eclectic mix of ethnic ‘n’ domestic cuisines… bustlin’ in the wee weekday lunch hours… in search for parkin’…brings me down the southern end of the strip… away from the mass… here. spotting an aged sign. busy mixture of words…“stephan’s sandwiches… deli…middle eastern… catering”…
lotto ‘n’ cash register counter up front… few chairs ‘n’ tables with basic salt ‘n’ pepper… middle eastern grocery aisle off to the side… deli counter opposite… dim…two person show… aged…reminiscence of grams & gramps… friendly grams… silent gramps…
deli counter man’d by gramps… sparse mix of middle eastern and traditional deli meats ‘n’ cheeses… aged menu ‘n’ price up above… falafel.$ 5.99…$ 6.48 after tax… pita bread sandwich… no griddle o’ grills… microwave for heatin’…bare handedly choppin’…dicing ‘n’ microwavin’…gramps busy workin’…grams comin’ by to lend a hand… grabbin’ the falafel ‘n’ tossin’ it over to gramps… not your standard latex glove wearin’ joint…“homestyle food preparation”…grams’ ‘n’ gramps’ way~…

I’m giving this place 1-​star because the owner (who is old enough to be my dad) gives me the creeps. We used to go in there (when we lived in Millbrae) to buy middle eastern delights and he would always grace us with Turkish coffee etc. Then, I started going in there on my own to buy lottery tickets and he would always talk to me about everything and nothing. I thought he was being friendly until he started telling me that when he wins the lottery he was going to take me to Lebanon or somewhere like that on a vacation. Thought he was joking until he told me «I don’t know why but I really really like you so much» — and then when his wife walked in from the back, he would be very formal again. That freaked me out so much that I never went in there again for my lottery tickets and I even avoided driving by there (he stands outside of his store a lot) during the day. UGH!!!
UPDATED 07−06−07: Was in the area recently and needed to buy a lottery ticket. I made hubby go in there because I didn’t want to chance upon seeing dude again. But believe it or not, when we drove by, I had my window down and he was standing on the street corner and stared straight at us.