Raineri's Continental Delicatessen — Local services in Sydney

Ok here it goes… Ive never written a review, let alone a negative one like this, but felt so compelled to after the appalling way my pregnant wife and I were spoken to in front of a full line of customers, much to our shock and other customers trying to comfort us, by whispering to us “wow, he escalated that fast, so unnecessary”. (Referring to Sam the owner, who had just “served” us).

Quick summary: Line up for half an hour, excited to try paninis with my wife and compare to the amazing ones we had in Italy. When finally gets to us, Sam (owner) asks what we are after, I ask playfully if he can “pack it in, haha”. He says yeh within reason as it’s $15. He asks me which meats I want, I asked for mortadella and salami. He said I’m allowed a third, and I said was fine with just 2. There were 2 cheese signs up saying “fresh stracciatella” and “fresh buffalo mozzarella” (literally the only signs that were up… and no menus, prices, etc). So I asked if can get both since both noted as fresh that day. He said only allowed 1 cheese. I politely said ok no probs. Then with the veggies I asked for sundried tomato, capsicum, olives, rocket, eggplant and mushrooms. At this point he started to raise his voice quite aggressively saying “it’s too much as it’s oniy $15, and everyone knows this! We’ve been here for a year!” and I very calmly said it’s my first time here, and that I was fine to pay more if that’s the case. But he ignored this, and started to just escalate the situation, saying “we don’t make paninis like this! Why are you even mixing mushroom with capsicum..! and then you wanted two cheeses!!” (Very loudly, everyone in line looking). I couldn’t believe what I was seeing unfold in front of me. Quite surreal. Customers were taken aback too, and whispering to me saying “wow he really escalated that”. My wife nudged me to stay quiet, (which took a lot of will power I must say, as I have never had an altercation like that). On our way out upon paying, the other gentleman went to charge us the regular $30 for both and we said can you add $10 on top of that, in case we got too many extra veggies, and as we were leaving, we calmly told the owner that it wasn’t nice of him to talk like that with us and that we have paid extra incase that was a problem.

I didnt want to just write another “disgruntled customer” negative review, but his behaviour was so appalling, that it would feel unjust to just let it slide. Sam, as the owner, should be ashamed! especially when I was polite from the start and immediately offered to pay more when I asked for the veggies (even though I only got 2 meats when was allowed 3).

I thought back on it later, and trying to be empathetic I thought maybe he was just having a bad day, but he was all smiles to the others dining in, yet with me he seemed triggered and went from zero to 100 (unjustifiably in my eyes, and the eyes of the customers closeby it seems too). Probably makes no difference to him if I write this or not, but I felt...

Like Bruce Baxter this is one of the few negative reviews I have ever written. I also felt COMPELLED to write this as pretty much exactly the same thing happened to me today. I had been here about 6 times before and travelled quite far for one of their foccacias. I was asked by Sam if I would like 1 or 2 meats and if I wanted to build my own sandwich. I said 2 meats and build my own please. I said porchetta and prosciutto please. I was told this won't go well together as he reluctantly sliced the meat. He then started telling me off in front of a line of customers saying " wow, you chose the 2 most expensive meats. "How would I know this 🤔 or that this meat combination is not permitted? He said you would have got 10 pieces of porchetta if you ordered 1 meat now you get 2 pieces. And 2 pieces of prosciutto. I said shall I change it? He said too late. At the same time the other staff member gave his customers in front of me 4 free slices of prosciutto to taste after they had ordered their prosciutto sandwiches. He then asked what vegetables I wanted and I chose sundried tomatoes, artichokes, olives, capsicum, eggplant and rocket. He was angrily putting it on saying my sandwich was a $20 sandwich and that no-one in his shops history had ordered this terrible combination of flavours. He went on saying that olives would taste horrible with porchetta but I will put them on for you and that I had obviously never eaten a foccacia before. He then told the whole queue of customers not to order what I had created. How humiliating!!! He just did not stop humiliating me with these horrible comments. I have never experienced this in my life and am still confused as to what the problem is when you are allowed to pick 2 meats and your vegetables. And you are giving 4 big pieces of prosciutto ( the most expensive meat apparently) to customers in front of me for free. You are also reducing the amount of meat and vegetables on my sandwich anyway. Don't sell a build your own sandwich for $15 if you are not happy in doing so. You made your money back on me anyway with a $4 can of coke. I am actually still gob-smacked about this incident today and will never go there or recommend this place to anyone ever again. By reading the other reviews they clearly don't want regular...

FOCACCIA PANINI FROM AN ITALIAN DELLI

Raineri's Continental Delicatessen

A part of me absolutely adores anything with an old school touch. I love flicking through old photos of my parents from when they were growing up. I love watching IV: shows and movies based in 80s-90s New York. I love walking through Museum train station and seeing the vintage advertisements on the wall. And I sure as hell love Raineri's, an Italian deli on Five Dock's main shopping strip that will infatuate you with it's old school charm.

It's 10am on a Sunday morning, we've just done the bay run, and I remember that a wise man (my brother) once told me he loved this deli out in Hive Dock. Everything from the outside signage to the live indoor shelves and hanging ceiling decorations feels like it hasn't changed since the family first opened the deli in the 1980s. Sam and his brother mostly run the floor now, and you'll still glimpse the parents around. Sam's the man. Ask him to make you his special and he'll slice up some fresh focaccia and till it with prosciutto, straciatella, red capsicum, eggplant, artichoke, mortadella and rocket. I asked for olives on mine too, hot please. At $15 you're going to roll out of there!

Someone once described "old school Italian service" to me and I thought come on, every old head reckons everything was better back in the day, right? But sure enough, you visit a place like Raineri's and you find out. Sam offered us and a few other panini-diners sitting on the communal dining table an espresso, on the house. Sam then shakes your hand on the way out, finally introducing himself by name and asking for yours. With the amount of customers he probably sees on the daily, maybe he will remember you, maybe he won't. One thing's for sure though - I'll definitely remember him! Great experience, and pro tip, visit at 9 10am to avoid the weekend...