Katz’s Restaurant Deli

It was better before the renovation and divorce. Now it’s run by the guy who crashed The Fan down the street. Portions are smaller and the overall quality is poor. Chicken Noodle soup which used to have lots of chicken, now is more of a broth. The grilled cheese sandwich didn’t even have melted cheese on it; and the grilled pastrami was, sorry to say, just plain meh and small. Oh, and it’s hours have been cut — no longer open for breakfast. All in all — very sad state of affairs for what was once the premier Kosher deli/​restaurant around.

Prior to writing a review I would just like to mention that this place was recommended to me by a mutual friend a while back. Also, I am not one to write reviews. Going into this meal I did have some high expectations. Those expectations were not met.
First, the service was awful. I believe this trickles down from the man with the beard that I believe was the manager. None of the orders were coming out together, but he didn’t care. He just continued talking it up with the waitresses; slowing them down may I add.
Secondly, the food was very overpriced for its quality. I am a Jewish man, originally from Brooklyn, I understand good Jewish cuisine. This is not premium product. Everything we ate tasted and looked like it had been sitting on the counter for 35 minutes. Lets just say it settled with our stomaches like it sat out for that long as well.
I would not recommend this place to anyone.

Didn’t realize the Hamden was a boring sandwich, I toasted no
Cheese…tough cut of corn beef. Will read menu better next time. Waitress forgot our onion rings. Too many onions in potato salad. Told waitress it was our first time and she didn’t recommend any specials.

I needed to find a Jewish deli for a big order last minute for clients. I found Katz on Unilocal and called at 2:00 they had it ready at 4:00. Everything from the sandwiches, coleslaw down to the pickles were AMAZING! They were impressed by the dessert plater like the mini carrot cakes! I need to go on my own time and have lunch. Thanks Jake!

Another great visit and another awesome sandwich at our go to spot for pastrami and corned beef.

This restaurant has no connection to Katz’s in NYC. I just thought I’d mention that as Katz’s in NYC has very good Pastrami.
I have come to this Connecticut Katz’s quite a few times while driving along the Merritt Pkwy. It’s an average restaurant. The pastrami is average, similar to an NYC diner… Maybe a tiny bit better but not by much. The pastrami here is very rubbery and a bit greasy… I would say that if you love pastrami at a good Jewish deli, do not order it here.
I’ve tried a few other things over the years and have always been underwhelmed. The grilled chicken on the salad tastes weird (tried it twice and it tasted the same both times). The fries are really bad. The waitress told us «they’re not made here»…

Had chicken matzo ball soup, YUM! Then had a great pastrami sandwich ordered with half meat, delicious!

Always a disappointment with this place, 3^rd time we went there and failure again, we won’t be coming back this place again. potato pancakes always soaked in a drier oil .You have to actually squeeze the potato pancakes to eat eat otherwise you will feel like drinking a frier oil. staff has no idea about the Bussiness, I was about the check out and I heard they wouldn’t wanna answer the phone coz they are busy with talking each other, ordered pastrami Togo with xtra pickles and when I went home there wasn’t any in the box.unbeilable. Very unprofessional and poor cooking techniques .and over PRiZED!!! i wouldn’t recommend this please at all. if you do ever go and give it a chance you will see what I’m talking about

Food is good, but extremely overpriced. A simple turkey club is $ 14 with tax and you don’t even get a side… to add fries it’s another $ 3. That $ 17 for a turkey sandwich and fries or chips that you can get from a RESTAURANT for $ 10. Crazy.

Stopped in for lunch on our way back to the city. The deli is newly renovated and clean. Love the free pickles and cole slaw — both really good. We ordered beef brisket sandwich and salads. Food came in large portions and, for the price, it was good, fresh and filling.
Our waitress, Jen, was the star of our lunch with her spectacular service. She brought a brisket sample for me to try before I actually ordered the brisket sandwich, gave us to-​go bags with extra sides w/​o even asking and when she realized she forgot to bring a soup she ordered, gave it to us to w/​o charge.
Will definitely stop by again on our way to/​from Boston.

I’d been meaning to try Katz’s for quite some time but never made the 45 minute drive until recently. There is a lot to like about Katz’s for example the rye bread was excellent and the pickles were a plus. The menu is full of Jewish deli style favorites that seem like they’d be worth a try. I went with 2 staples of Jewish deli fare Corned Beef and Pastrami. Two separate sandwiches on rye bread with only some nice spicy mustard as a topper. I enjoyed the corned beef more than the pastrami. Although it was a little fattier than I prefer it was still a tasty representation of what this sandwich should be. The pastrami was a little disappointing. It had a nice smoked flavor but it was sliced to thin for me. Clearly sliced on a deli slicer as opposed to the way that they do it at the Katz’s Deli on Houston Street in NYC (No affiliation between the two) where the meats are sliced by hand. Slicing as thin as they do in Woodbridge takes to much away from the texture of the pastrami and the friction from the rotating blade dries the meat out as well. I’d like to give this place 3.5 stars but that isn’t an option and in my opinion 4 stars are not warranted yet. Perhaps if I try some other menu items that could change. All things being equal though, in an area where Jewish Deli options are limited Katz’s may be your best bet.

The waitress brought our beverages to the table and the lemon on the lip of the cup fell onto the table. The waitress picks the piece of lemon up and puts it back on my cup in front of me. If they are going to do that in front of you, what will they do in the kitchen? I ordered the pastrami SPECIAL, that was $ 12 dollars and did not come with anything. Not even a pickel or coleslaw. The bread was soggy on one side and would not get it again.

DO NOT GO HERE WITH FOOD ALLERGIES OR INTOLERANCES.
I ordered a sandwich on gluten free bread and when it was brought out after a long wait, my sandwich was touching a non gluten free bagel. I sent it back as I cannot eat gluten (NOT an allergy). I proceeded to attempt to ask the waitress if it was standard to carry everything out at once and was told that if you don’t specifically say it’s an allergy, they don’t pay attention and I should have ordered something else. I asked to speak to a manager as I wanted actual clarification of their gluten free procedures. The waitress disappeared into the back for a few minutes then reappeared with a manager. This man wouldn’t let me ask a question, finish a sentence or even say more than two words. He proceeded to mock my attempts, call me stupid, then tell me not to come back.
They did end up remaking my sandwich, which was brought out wrapped to go, even though my father was still eating. I refused it, as at this point I really didn’t trust it.
I should not have to reveal my health problems to a restaurant in order to get food that won’t make me sick. I understand that in any kitchen that is not mine that I run a risk of cross contamination, but this was not handled properly by the manager or wait staff. The only reason I gave 1 star is that it’s not possible to give 0.

For an Italian I love the food of the Jewish people. I had to have my DNA tested to see if I was related to Steve Katz.
I failed to put the 5^th star. So now I wish to give 6.

Let me assure you, this should not remotely be compared to the Katz’s in NYC. I stopped for a quick lunch (takeout) on my way from New Haven to Waterbury (the back way… over the hill as only former locals will brave!). I was really excited when I got off 15 to see Katz’s, since I was just meandering and was going to stop at the first place that looked decent since it was 2pm and I hadn’t eaten yet.
When I came in, no one acknowledged me. In fact, this was the conversation between the two cashiers: «So, do you love him?»…“I don’t know”…“So why did you guys break up?” Etc. During this time, another woman who had clearly never been there before wandered over toward the tables, and one of the cashiers rolled her eyes at the other one and said «Excuse me! You need to check in with us!» Well, she may have if you were being attentive.
Once they finally stopped conversing among themselves, I ordered a chicken salad melt to go and a Snapple. That cost 14.04. OK, not a big deal, but when I got the sandwich it was NOT gigantic as other reviewers have said. Two pieces of bread, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and the chicken salad. I would price this at 8 bucks tops for what it was. Although, it was tasty…1 star. The extra star rating comes from the pickle because it was awesome.
If they were to adjust their prices for the CT crowd (as opposed to NYC) and teach their staff some etiquette, I might return. Definitely will not go out of the way to go back again.

I will not bring my young children to watch violent TV UFC show in this establishment.

I started with a small traditional Jewish Mushroom Barley Soup which was perfect in thick texture and had a wonderful homemade old time flavor. The pastrami mile high piled sandwich was excellent, great flavor, extremely tender without being overly salty; the rye bread used was some of the very best making this sandwich an absolute stand out. No traditional Jewish deli sandwich would be complete without the customary ½ sour and sour pickles, here again Katz’s delivered perfectly. I only had room left for a couple of Rugelach, a walnut raisin and a raspberry, the dough was flaky and everything was as I would have expected. As a previous reviewer stated you won’t find Knishes or Kasha Varnishkas or Kishka but all the essentials for a good Jewish Deli experience are on their menu. Clearly, Katz’s is a cut above the rest in terms of quality ranking right up there with many of my New York deli experiences.

There were 6 of us went on Sunday afternoon wait was long. To get food was even longer Ugh.
The server was very nice and tried her best to accommodate.
We ordered two burgers. One corned beef club one pastrami special sweet potatoe fries Motza ball soup French fries and potatoe salad
Mac and cheese Don’t Order this was straight out of the microwave and was watery for $ 7.00?we sent it back.

Perhaps I ordered the wrong thing for this establishment. I had the buffalo chicken sandwhich. It was actually sort of gross. The chicken cutlets must have been pre-​breaded and frozen. The meat was rubbery and had a gross texture. There was very little blue cheese dressing, but the buffalo sauce was decent. The fries were also pretty good. That said, everyone else I was with said they liked their food.
You get free coleslaw and pickles as an app which was nice.
The portion sizes were not that large for the sandwiches, especially for a +$ 10 sandwich with no sides… sides are extra.
The host was very nice. The service was decent.
Also had a cinnamon roll from the bakery which was pretty good.

I liked it better before the renovations.
Take out and to go orders tend to take a while so always be sure to call ahead and give yourself at least 25 minutes for them to get it ready for you.
The food is great. Love their bagels, not sure they’re still shipped in from NYC but they’re good. Their nova used to be fresh, now it tastes packaged so that’s a little bummer. Can’t beat their matzoh ball soup or tongue sandwich!