Breezy's Deli and Market — Local services in Philadelphia

tl;dr Service good, offerings good, quality mixed, price out of control. I got two stale sandwiches and two mediocre chocolate bars for $60.

The Good The staff is very helpful, overall no complaints. The options are interesting, and there's a good mix of useful, fun-to-try, and small business specific products. New and clean space.

The Bad Food Quality, 2. Prices, and 3. Order Experience. The bread for the hoagies were stale. I went just after 10am when they opened, these were the freshest rolls they could have, and they were hard as a rock. I've had plenty of corner-store hoagies, and these were the least good. The prices were unreasonably expensive. With regards to the hoagies, most of the ancillary ingredients were pretty fancy, like burrata cheese spread or bacon mayo, but I'd rather have regular mayo and pay a fraction of the cost. As for the meat options, they were still mostly cold cuts or just other vegetables, the only elevated meat option was roast beef, which should be served warm, and was not. I understand costs have gone up, but if you're charging 2-3 times what other deli's are charging ($17 in this case), then your sandwich better taste damn good, not just have nice ingredients on paper. We tried chocolate from when they first opened, a honey-cardamom caramel that they get from a small chocolate maker, delicious. They didn't have it this last time, so I got an assortment from multiple makers, and all of the chocolate was mediocre quality (not just a taste I didn't like - in fact they were flavors I typically do like, they were just meh quality). For an average of $13 a chocolate bar they better taste amazing, OK is just not good enough. I find it off-putting that the staff is behind the counter like at a regular deli, but the payment options are like at a restaurant. The screens pressure you to tip, but ordering is done through a screen, not a person, and at the end of the day there is almost no interaction with the staff unless you ask for help finding something. I hope they pay their workers well, because tips seem like inappropriate/overkill. Again, the setup is for a deli, not a restaurant, when's the lsat time you tipped your local kiosk hoagie maker 20%? And if that tip structure is expected, then I'd expect more interaction from the staff.

Summary The original location (Porco's Prochetteria) has such an incredible bakery, and this neighborhood has such a need for a place like this, it's disappointing to get charged swanky prices for middle & low tier quality. If they fix their bread issue, and do a little experience and/or price adjustment, I think this could be a great place, but right now it just feels like a waste of money. I recognize things are expensive, and I bet the rent on a new building isn't cheap, but the rest of us are going though the same experience, and we (the customers) don't get to charge more where we work to cover rising costs, we have the same budget as before the prices went up, so this place is just unaffordable to the...

The last two evenings(a Thursday and Friday) between 5-6pm I’ve tried to go into the store and both times all the doors are locked. The signage on the doors says they are open till 8pm and both times the signs were out on the corner that say they are open and all their tables were outside not chained up. Today (Friday) I saw two employees behind the counter that just watched as I pulled on the doors, I walked away because it was awkward having them just watch me. I even made sure i wasn’t pulling on a door that I should have maybe pushed on but the doors clearly say “pull”. Not sure what the deal is here, like why is it so hard to get in? Do I need to know a secret code?

Update: Just popping back in to respond to the charming snark-filled reply this business seems to love leaving whenever they don’t like a review. Firstly, thank you for mansplaining how doors work and for the detailed door tutorial. Who knew entering a building could be such an art form. I’m sure if I had brought my door opening toolkit I would have for sure nailed it. I’m also glad to know that the wind and dust on Washington Ave are the real culprits here.

As for the 1-star review, well, it’s tough to leave a glowing 5-star review when I couldn’t even make it through the door, wouldn’t you agree? Maybe, just maybe, I would have if the people inside—who watched me struggle with both sets of doors—had offered a little help. But hey, clearly by the stance you take with your business, I’m on my own in the battle against doors. Good luck with the whole business thing. Maybe consider dialing down the sarcasm when responding to customers (or potential ones in the case) and who knows—you might actually see that review score climb back up....

I’ll make this cool and breezy… here are some facts

this is by far one of the best corner stores you will EVER come across.

Cleary the city’s top hoagie spot for those seeking a non-traditional experience.

The browned butternut squash smoothie is best in the city.

They support local businesses too! They use local roasters like Greenstreet and Rival Bros for their coffee. Sarcone’s bread, Brass Monkey Baking, etc…

Chad’s businesses (Porcos, Small Oven, and this amazing deli and market) have been such an incredible place to spend my money! They’ve offered holiday platters and even ready to heat meals so I didn’t have to cook for the holidays.

I have only ever experienced and witnessed stellar customer service.

The food is always fantastic and fresh. Something feels off? Just tell them and they’ll make it right.

Prices are fair and accurate. Look at that custom wrap! It’s as thick as a hoagie! That’s a fair priced wrap yo!

Any rating below a 4 should seriously be removed by google… some of those ratings just appear made up. It reminds me of the Yelpers! All big and bad on the internet but won’t address the issue in person… remember Yelp? You know that app? It’s the app that turned into a bribery platform that forced businesses to buy a membership to address false ratings from “customers”. But, you know, it’s the post-truth world so I guess making up things is acceptable now 👹

And Beer Jesus hath spoketh… go spend your money at this beautiful place and enjoy life… Breezy’s Deli and Market is Beer...