Wabasha Deli & Cafe

Completely random visit to this small place. The egg and cheese sandwich was excellent – so glad I bypassed the Subway next door. Freshly made on a very buttery muffin, with good coffee, and I had a joyful breakfast.

Very understated. The staff is SO friendly. The food was made to order and very tasty. It’s not fancy. It’s not hip. But you feel feeling like you were welcome, appreciated, and well cared for. They treated me like family, carried my food to the table… this may have been the friendliest place I’ve ever been to. How often can you say that?

I enjoyed a very good sloppy joe at this friendly, unpretentious deli. Two small joes were served on fresh, sturdy buns along with chips and a pickle. Nothing fancy here, but a good selection of sandwiches and soups. Portions are big, counter service, bus your own dishes. Done and done.

I watched the man prepare my wrap with no gloves on and touching everything, i paid and threw it away.

Came here to try it, I must say that this is a friendly place. I made a mistake on my order, and they correct it and making the order to my liking in a friendly manner without making pay for the extra stuff. I like that.

There are a number of good things about this place including the location (ideally situated within very comfortable walking distance of Raspberry Island), the friendly employees and the old school vibe that hits you the moment you walk in. Everything from the raw, rust colored concrete floor to the mismatched wooden furniture is unapologetic in its charm.
The menu boards are handwritten and there’s a ton to take in if it’s your first time. The layout of some of the menus is a little confusing and, since it’s a deli counter ‘line up and move on’ sort of place, I would recommend browsing the menu online first if you have a hard time making quick decisions.
The basics like soups, sandwiches (hot and cold), salads and some breakfast items are covered here. They’re happy to do some substitutions on the menu items.
If you order a salad it won’t come with dressing – there’s a long glass front refrigerator off to the side that houses small cups you grab yourself – but the quantity is nice. They’re truly nothing special, though, and I’m not saying that to be a dick. The Greek salad consists of a –ton– of iceberg, some canned black olives, four thin slices of salami, a couple split grape tomatoes and a sprinkling of feta. There’s not really an appropriate dressing match to go with it, either, so the Italian dressing you end up having to dump on it makes it taste even less ‘Greek’. It ends up being reminiscent of one of those salads you’d slap together at home when you don’t quite have the appropriate ingredients but you’re too lazy to drag your ass to the grocery store. The hoagies suffer from a similar fate and just end up lacking that ‘I’m really craving this’ factor. This is one of the very few places that I’ve stopped eating mid-​meal not because I was full or disgusted but because I literally got tired of what I was eating.
I get that old familiar feeling of wanting to return because the staff are so awesome but not wanting to bother because the food is so blah.
I could see this joint being decent to stop by if you’re looking for a very simple lunch after a walk but, to be frank, I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here by any means.
Simplicity can be beautiful or boring depending on the manner in which it’s executed; I know which category this deli falls into for me.

The 5 stars is as much for the excellent service as for the food. On a rare beautiful Saturday this spring, while waiting for an oil change in the area, I decided to take a walk along the river and spotted the place as I was heading out, making a plan to stop by for lunch on my way back. I saw a bunch of cars in the large parking lot and what looked like softball players with signs popping in and out of the café. I hoped it would be open when I came back and started off for a two hour walk. After a ramble along river, running into an inordinate amount of cute puppies, babies, and fit guys in tight t-​shirts, I was famished and sauntered through the now empty parking lot, saw a group just leaving the café, and was happy it was still open. I went in (door was open, letting in fresh spring air) and it was completely empty. I went to the counter and after a bit called out into the back kitchen. Out came the owner/​head chef and kindly let me know that they were only open specially for a fundraiser that day and their normal hours were M-​F. He must have seen the disappointment because he offered to make me something anyway from the supplies he had available. After back and forth Minnesota nice — «oh no I couldn’t,» «It’s not a problem at all,» «It’s too much trouble,» «please don’t worry about it, we want your first experience here to be a good one» «well…». He was so friendly and helpful I gave in and «let» him make me lunch. We chatted about many things, including what I might like, and though their specialty is salad sandwiches (chicken, tuna, etc), we decided on a fresh veggie wrap with cream cheese and a light vinaigrette, alongside house made kettle chips and a thick sliced pickle. It was the perfect light lunch after a beautiful walk. I sat on the picnic table in front of the café and savored my luck, and the wrap. It was such a pleasant experience I will try to schedule my future oil changes on week days just so I can pop in again and enjoy the personal, friendly service and freshly made, tasty offerings.

Everything about this place screams old St. Paul. The cavelike feel, the down home cooking. the super friendly staff.
The food isn’t everything wonderful and more… but if you’re in the area, it’s probably your best bet for lunch– a great Subway alternative. I usually get their asian chicken salad with oriental dressing— however politically correct that is… Some of their cheeses they use are pretty processed, so heed that warning if you’re a cheese snob.
You’ll even get a free cookie or bar if you’re a ‘new customer’.

The food was very tasty, especially the greek salad. They put the turkey bacon sandwich in a wrap for me, which I also appreciated (and it was also yummy). I will visit again for the food, but the three stars instead of four or five is because of their delivery. The site said delivery was free, so we were surprised when the guy showed up and said there was a $ 5 fee, they were close enough to on time, but a little late, and the guy had no change for cash and couldn’t take cards. Luckily I knew where my check book was! So go for the food, but go get it yourself.

I had the chili salad. It was good, not outstanding. The ambiance is funky and fun. Prices were average (under $ 7). I’d go there again.

A truly friendly place, they even comped us a cookie. Their sandwiches are the down home style your mom made, well not my mom, she cooked natural veggie soups, asparagus with lemon butter, and cottage cheese with salsa and avocados. In fact, their take-​out lunch is a sandwich, cookie, bag of chips, and some sort of fruit cup, just like parents make for their kids’ lunches. My wife thinks it’s totally normal for kindergartners to buy lunch at school, but I made it to high school before I was in a school that even had a cafeteria.
But if you’re used to cold cuts with a slice of cheese on processed white bread, this would be a great place to hang out and chat with the owners and customers.

Stick with the sandwiches and the soup here because I had one sad looking bagel. They only have plain and blueberry bagels– what kind of deli is this? And my plain bagel was completely frozen. Once I reminded them I wanted it toasted it was much better… especially after I smeared some cream cheese on it. But they shouldn’t be calling themselves a deli serving bagels like that!
My cup of chicken noodle soup was pretty tasty– the noodles were especially yummy. And the people behind the counter are SO nice!
As Sarah P mentions in her review the prices are very reasonable here. 2 chicken noodle soups, 1 corned beef sandwich for Sarah, and my pathetic bagel came to $ 9 total. Can’t beat that… even for a frozen bagel.

Wabasha Deli is a quaint spot located off Wabasha and Filmore in St. Paul. It’s the type of place that if I worked near here I would probably frequent during my lunch hour, but it isn’t a place that I would travel from Minneapolis to go to.
The prices are extremely reasonable. I had a corned beef on rye with a bowl of chicken noodle soup for about 6 bucks. The noodles of the soup seemed homemade, and I have to say I found it satisfying. Had it not been nearly 80 out, I probably would have liked it even more. My sandwich was freshly made. The man who made it had forgot to put spiy mustard on it, and once he found out his mistake he personally came over to bring me a container of mustard and to apologize. I appreciated his efforts.
The had an entrée of the day. Today’s was spaghetti, and they also had sloppy joes, which, again, had it not been so unseasonably hot, I probably would have gone for. Gotta love a good joe.
Again, wouldn’t go out of my way to come here, but if you are in the area, you could do far worse elsewhere.