Deli 53

I visited Deli 53 when in search of a take out lunch. It was light, bright and looked like a lovely calm place to sit and eat lunch, which I certainly would have done if I had a bit more time.
I think others have mentioned that calling it a «deli» is a bit of a stretch. It mostly focusses on sandwiches and paninis, although they do also serve soup and filled baked potatoes. Plus coffee and tea, of course. There’s also a shelf all along one wall selling various pastas and tinned and dried goods.
I ordered the Maklini (parma ham, mozzarella and tomatoes) panini on brown bread. I’m normally a bit wary of ordering sandwiches with parma ham because I hate when you get a sandwich with almost none in it. Just one sarcastic sliver of ham won’t cut it for me. Fortunately this sandwich was very generously filled.
I’d come back. The price was pretty good and it looks like they have a breakfast deal with a coffee and a pastry. I think it would be an especially nice space to sit and relax in for an hour or so.

This place is pretty good, it’s really a very big sandwich shop as opposed to a deli but there are quite a lot of dry goods on sale, biscuits, crisps, pasta, jars of things etc. They mostly offer panini and ciabatta freshly made with lots of nice fillings. It’s Italian style mainly with pesto, mozzarella, salami, mortadelo and parma ham all featuring. There’s also a fridge of Crollas ice cream.
I’ve had a super tasty ciabatta from here which I liked more than the panino. But I have to say the chorizo was really good. I think I’d head back if I was nearby and wanted a simple, freshly made sandwich. The prices are fairly cheap for Byres Road and the staff are lovely too.

It’s possibly not fair to review based on my experience on the day of the west end festival when the streets were packed and there was lots going on. unfortunately, I was really disappointed by deli 53. the décor is beautiful, but it is hardly a deli. there is a small selection of grocery goods to buy (some nice looking things, but nothing earth-​shatteringly new or inspiring), a couple of prepackaged salads and a sandwich menu. the options for sandwiches are fairly extensive, and they offer baguette or ciabatta… but they were out of ciabatta. I ordered an americana with pastrami, emmental and sundried tomatoes except… no sundried tomatoes in stock. my partner ordered a chicken and cheese… and they forgot the cheese. the coffee was pleasant enough. I’m all for a place doing a small menu well, but I just didn’t think this was the case. perhaps it was a bad or busy day but the experience was probably bad enough to put me off a second try.

Not long open deli in byres rd.
Bit light on the deli side but sandwiches are great, freshly prepared and staff are lovely .
Lime and coriander chicken baguette was delicious !
Definitely be back, probably sit in next time too as good layout and décor.
Still to try the coffee …