2nd Ave Deli

I was suggested by a friend to try 2^nd ave deli for lunch. OMG what an amazing sandwich, the mere sight of it makes your mouth water with anticipation. There restaurant is very clean and the staff is very friendly. My server Nelson, was awesome and provides some great suggestions of places to visit during my stay. I would suggest to anyone looking for a great meal.

Loved the pastrami sandwich here! So fresh and full of flavor! They bring out pickles, coleslaw and Dijon mustard for your sandwich too and all of that was just as good as the sandwich! Fries were good too! The service is quick and friendly and they even gave us complimentary chocolate soda shots. I’ll be coming back!

After a lifetime of being a devoted fan of the now defunct Carnegie Deli, I tried 2^nd Ave Deli in desperation… a huge mistake… the worst ever… As the only customer this evening in the take-​out line, I had to ask three people for service… including the cashier… for a pastrami sandwich, two pickles and a side of cole slaw I paid close to $ 27.00!!! When I got to my destination, there were no napkins, no fork… eating cole slaw with your fingers may be fun for some… The pastrami was about one-​fourth the amount Carnegie used to offer and about one-​fourth the quality and taste and with lots of fat… the rye bread crumbled before I finished the sandwich [like the old Wonder Bread]…I your are just dying for Pastrami — just wait for the re-​opening of the Carnegie Deli or as a last resort try Katz on the Lower East Side.

Pleasure all mine! HANDS DOWN the best deli in AMERICA!
portions bountiful, taste top notch. a throw back to another era wen americans actually ate food not just salads. a bit pricey which i cannot deny but the QUALITY IS TOPS!

Everything is great here once you come to terms with the fact that the 2^nd Ave deli is on 1^st Ave. One of my favorite places to go to get pastrami sandwiches and stuffed derma; make sure you wash it down with a celray. The service gets an A+.

The nicest service. I went in intending to just get coffee and something sweet, but they bring some sort of cabbage salad and then pickles — it got me in the mood to try some food. Very good matzah soup. Roast beef was rarer than I am used to, but it seemed like that is the way it is supposed to be in a kosher deli. The server, Tony, was so nice — he brought a cookie for my 1 year old and was so kind to let us try other soups that we had never had before. He took time to brew fresh coffee for us at 10pm. Everything was just a neat experience.

This is one of our favorite spots when we’re craving great matzo ball soup and corned beef sandwiches. It’s tiny and popular, so expect a bit of a wait, but you rarely wait longer than 20 minutes.
The staff are efficient and nice and make sure you’re happy with your order. I absolutely love the corned beef and pastrami. If you’re feeling particularly hungry, start with one of their awesome potato pancakes!

This is still one of my favorite neighborhood haunts. We have ordered out and eaten in on multiple occasions and their food never disappoints.
Our favorites are:
Pastrami Sandwich — huge!
Roast Beef Sandwich — rare and good
Noodle Pudding — one of my favorites
Hot Dogs
Round Knishes — my favorite
Kasha Varnishes — my hubby’s favorite
Matzoh Ball Soup — Hubby and the kids love
Challah bread — so soft and yummy
We never had anything that we didn’t like. Always a big hit!

2^nd Ave! I will love you always…
I always opt for the half and half special (½ soup and ½ sandwich). Their mushroom barley and of course, matzo ball soup are the sure way to go, especially on a cold winter day, ahh… it’s the best thing. I am drooling even as I write this.
I’ve always had great service with them, even with deliveries (don’t forget to ask for a side of Russian dressing to go with your sandwich). They messed up my order once and when the delivery guy came back with the correct order, they included a box of rainbow cookies! How sweet of them.
When you thought you’re done with your food and ready for your check, they bring you a shot of chocolate soda. It’s definitely interesting and not for everyone, though it does grow on you after a couple times you drink them.
One of the best NYC pastrami deli, hands down.

Came here for some matzoh ball soup after a long day of traveling. The soup here definitely deserves to bear the name «Jewish penicillin». The matzoh balls were fluffy and very large. My boyfriend and I considered getting an extra matzoh ball but one was definitely enough. We did the soup and half sandwich combo and got half of a pastrami sandwich. The pastrami was AMAZING. The meat was tender and falling apart and to be honest, the half sandwich was more than enough or the both of us (and keep in mind that we had been traveling for the past 24 hours).
The soup comes with a side of bread so we were actually able to make a whole sandwich with the original half sandwich and the extra bread.

Delightful meal. From the Chopped Liver, to the (little too sweet) stuffed cabbage to the Brisket to the fantastic pastrami. Great pickles and slaw too.
They finish you off with a shot of seltzer with chocolate syrup.

Madison Avenue Prices…
I grew up in Greenwich Village and enjoyed many great meals at the original 2^nd Ave Deli at reasonable price but apparently those days are over.
$ 19 dollars for a quart of Matzo ball soup and a $ 22 sandwich on First Ave and 75^th Street?
These are Madison Avenue/​Times Square prices in a working class neighborhood.
If these guys were smart they would offer Daily Specials to build up a local client base.
Soup and a half sandwich for $ 19 wont cut it…

RIP OFF! Prices are ridiculous for what you get don’t waste your time or your money here I got a simple tuna sandwich and then end up costing me $ 17. Nothing special about it they couldn’t even toast the bread gave me a stomachache.

Let me start by saying that the 2^nd Ave deli has two locations and neither one of them are on 2^nd Ave. I knew this place was going to be pricey so I came prepared and made my trek over to the one on 1^st Ave in uptown.
I was seated immediately and given a real juicy pickle with mustard on the side along with coleslaw. I ordered ice tea, the matzo ball soup with noodles and specifically asked for turkey with chopped liver on top with rye. Please note that if you add another meat or anything to your sandwich there is a small up-​charge. The same is true if you order certain types of bread for your sandwich.
I got my tea but there didn’t seem to be any ice in it so it was cool instead of cold. The waiter brought me my soup dish with a giant matzo ball in it and then poured the «soup» over it and the chopped up noodles. The soup was so so. The broth seemed rather bland to me. I was still working on my soup when I got my sandwich. Instead of putting my chopped liver on top they gave me half a sandwich of turkey and half a sandwich of chopped liver. I made him take it back to correct it.
When I got the corrected sandwich there was so much chopped liver on top I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Nevertheless the sandwich was very good. The Deli has only one unisex restroom so when I came back to pay my check I saw a very small drink sitting there. It was called an egg crème dessert with chocolate soda. I couldn’t stand the taste of it.
I must say the only thing I really enjoyed was that I was getting real turkey and chopped liver as opposed to many places that serve imitations in my city.
As in all delis they have an area where you can purchase food for takeout.
This place is very expensive but they do give large portions. I probably would have enjoyed my visit more if it weren’t for all these errors they made.

I will not go back! Terrible rip-​off. Heard that they jacked up all their prices to underwrite the expansion to the second floor. Over the months, the prices have been creeping up and so when I plunked down $ 21.75 for a pastrami sandwich, the unfriendly cashier demanded
another dollar for a lean cut, bringing it to close to $ 23.00, without cold slaw added. I informed the counterman, pastrami on rye, easy on the fat. Two different samples were provided, the 2^nd with less fat, but still fatty. I even got the «that’s way pastrami comes,» he said, as if this was my very first pastrami experience. When I got the sandwich home, the experience became a veritable nightmare: Half the pastrami was filled with fat and had to be discarded. In fact, on the last 3 occasions, the counter people, usually rude, convinced me that they probably never saw lean pastrami, yet they charged more for lean. Eventually, they will price themselves out of business. If they pull the same on you, contact Consumer Affairs. Better, boycott them. And as I live only 2 blocks from the 2^nd Avenue, I should have been less lazy and opted for a more sensible approach to satisfy my pastrami cravings and walked over 8 blocks to the tried, tested and tasted Pastrami Queen on 78^th Street & Lexington Ave. Rahm runs the place until 4 pm and his buddy, Thor takes over to closing. $ 17.00 for the tastiest mile-​high sandwich imaginable, prepared to your exact specifications. There, you get a lean and tasty pastrami sandwich and the corned beef and brisket are fabulous. Same for their chopped chicken liver on rye. It is to die for! Unfortunately, Pastrami Queen has limited seating and most of their business is pickup and delivery. Hopefully, they will expand to accommodate large numbers of pastrami patrons.

I am kind of torn about this review because 2^nd Avenue Deli holds a special place in my heart. At least it did when it was on 2^nd Avenue and 10^th Street (sadly it’s a Chase or Citibank now). Used to go there all the time with my mom for lunch — ½ sandwich and bowl of soup. There was this waitress that had worked there forever, she had to have been in her 70s or 80s. (That was 20+ years ago so she must be long gone.) She had her black hair styled in a big bouffant (not sure if wig or dyed) and wore blue eye shadow. And she usually had on a fuzzy sweater with a big sparkly broach pinned to it — she was timewarped right out of the 1960s. What a hoot she was… Nostalgia. Anyhow been to this location and 33^rd St many times and it’s just not the same for me as it was and I don’t think the sandwiches are as good as they were back in the day in the East Village (5 star for sure). The matzo ball soup is outstanding and I’ve always loved the way they serve it when you eat in — the broth separate and poured over the matzo ball at the table (so that big ball stays nice and fluffy ;-P). Lean corned beef and brisket are my go to sandwiches, though my last visit I had the brisket and found it lacking in flavor and had to saturate it in brown gravy. The pastrami is just okay, I find it a bit bland and not peppery or smoky enough and too thinly sliced, it just doesn’t have the same texture as a good hand carved pastrami. The corned beef is definitely the standout here. Lean corned beef, brisket, or pastrami sandwiches are ~$ 22 (incl tax). And why is a can of Dr. Brown’s $ 3.50? (Outrageous, you can get it for $ 1 in any corner deli). Ouch my wallet hurts! The take-​out sandwiches are definitely not piled high with meat as when you eat in and they don’t send any health salad with the takeout order, at least you get a few pickles. I wish I could give more than 3 stars, I can’t justify it though. For a $ 22 sandwich I want to have my socks knocked off. sadly they’re just not :-(It pains me to say so, but this place does not live up to the legend of what it once was.

What I’ve Had: Matzo Ball Soup, Rainbow Cookies, Bite of Pastrami Sandwich, slaw salad, pickles
Would I go back?: Probably not
Story: I live a couple of blocks from this location — im a big fan of pastrami sandwiches — this place is renowned. Slaw salad, & pickles were probably my favorite part of this meal. I made the mistake of just getting matzo ball soup. The soup was good but the broth was very salty and I prefer many small matzo balls vs. 1 larger one. Regardless the presentation of the soup was nice. I had a couple of bites of the pastrami sandwich — meat was a bit tough and the bread was not soft. Paid a zillion dollars it seemed for a small box of rainbow cookies on our way out ($ 8). maitre de was fun though — did some magic tricks to entertain or distract us from the price we just paid for those NOT GOOD rainbow cookies.

Out of all the infamous (and not so infamous) deli’s in NYC, this is the best! I have dinned here many times over the years and they have the best corned beef sandwich in the city. I order it extra lean and can’t get enough.
I have dinned out more than dinned in and the «to go» staff has always been impressive. It is pricey but worth every penny. If you are looking for a real authentic NYC deli-​this is your place. In fact, just writing this puts me in the mood for a corned beef sandwich. Off to 1^st Avenue I go!

Rarely when I have deli food is my favourite part the soup.
Aside from the soup actually being one of the best matzah ball experiences of my life (sorry mom) the real issue here is a combination of this place A) Not being Montréal smoked meat and B) Not being Katz’s which is the only substitute for Montréal smoked meat.
Home sickness aside, I guess I am just not a pastrami/​corn beef guy. Granted I head the lean cut and not the full fat, but I still am not impressed. It’s just too dry.
I have not given up on NY delicatessen and will try again, but so far I’m only down with Katz’s and maybe Stage.

Coincidence that I’m writing this review on the 8^th and final night of Hanukkah 2014? I think not!
What better on the last night of Hanukkah than latke overload, matzah ball soup, challah, sour pickles and top it off with a Dr. Brown’s cream soda? Not much. 2^nd Avenue Deli reminds me of a fantastic Jewish diner. Paper placemats, booths, windows all around and smiles.
Just like the other big and famous NYC Deli’s, 2^nd Avenue Deli is top notch. The portions are big, but not Carnegie Deli big. Also just like the others, your greeted with cole slaw and a plate of pickles, both sour and half sour. Want more? No problem.
My friend and I shared everything we ordered:
— Bowl of Matzah Ball Soup w/​Noodles
— 3 latkes (yup we ate them all)
— Israeli Salad
The latkes are fried to perfection, golden and crispy. They aren’t nearly as big as the ones at Carnegie, but are just as delicious. At $ 6/​pop, I’m thinking we better have an official latke-​off next year? Or whenever, since just because the holidays are over doesn’t mean latkes have to stop.
The service was great, our waitress was friendly and quite comical making a clever remark when she brought over the bill.
The prices here are comparable to Katz’s and Carnegie, aka — high. The plus about this place, it’s calm. The other spots are super tourist traps.