Zaftigs Delicatessen — Restaurant in Brookline

I don't usually leave reviews. But this one has been bothering me since yesterday.

Took the wife out for our Saturday lunch date. We were in Brookline and I was craving A Corned Beef Rubin. When I mentioned it to my wife she said she wanted Matzo Ball Soup.

At the suggestion of a manager of another store, we ended up Zaftigs Deli on Harvard Street.

We were really excited, the place was not very busy. From what I can see, 5 tables (maybe 6) had people at them. When we had been seated they seated us in a corner by the door, on the back side of a wall, away from everyone else already seated and out of view of everyone else also. At that point i just knew what was about to happen. Yes, the service was TERRIBLE. It took me standing up, and looking around to get someone's attention. The server even said "Ohhh, I didnt see you there." From there it was just straight down hill.

Everytime we needed anything I had to stand up to our servers attention.

So, 20 minutes after being seated we finally got our order taken.

First order of business, Bloody Mary's. Second our Matzo ball soup comes out the server puts the soup down and walks away. No, silverware, no napkins, nothing but a sticky table.

I then have to stand up and get the servers attention to get utensils, napkins, salt and pepper. (Salt & Pepper she brings us, 4 each of the smallest paper packets you'd ever received, so obviously I had to ask for more) it was a good thing we asked for more because, the Matzo Ball soup itself was bland. The Matzo balls were just OK... probably because they took on the taste of the bland soup. literally 2 minutes after getting the soup our entrees are dropped off at the table, (I have had like 2 spoonfuls of soup at this point.)

My wife order a breakfast entree Corned Beef Hash and two eggs. (She specifically asked for her hash to be well done... NOT...) eggs, were like rubber frisbees... her hashbrowns potatoes, where deep fried potatoes the size of golf balls. And also bland as hell.

My lunch should have been easy to make. Corned Beef Rubin... 4 ingredients... but what I ended up with was overcooked boiled pastrami... (yes people I know the difference...) totally tasteless... other than the water it was boiled in. The Sauerkraut also bland... the Russian Dressing, was the only thing that had taste. But, a last, there was just barely enough to taste it. And the last ingredient Pumpernickel Bread, which was unfortunately soggy because the Corned Beef (or in this case as I mentioned the "Pastrami") and the Sauerkraut was never drained properly. Therefore, it also tasted like the water from them both. And basically fell apart with each bite.

Just so you understand why I gave two stars, we actually enjoyed the Bloody Mary's we ordered. Even though they were tiny... just a heads up, they are 10 oz glasses filled with ice. If you're lucky you get about 5 oz.s of Bloody Mary for the cheap price of $10 each. Someone needs to re-evaluate their drink prices or sizes for that pricem. If you gonna charge $10 each. You may want to at least give $10 worth of Bloody Mary...

Now again I don't usually leave reviews but... this just had to be put out there.

Oh and Zaftigs... if your gonna display best of Boston awards that are like 20 years old, work on your food to reflect those awards... maybe just maybe, you may get a new award... because this experience for was NOT worthy of anything but this...

If you’re looking for a spot to cure your craving for freshly-sliced corned beef and pastrami sandwiches you must give Zaftigs Deli a try!

I decided to give it a try the other night! They’re most famous for their ginormous sandwiches, but their menu doesn’t disappoint!

The establishment does offer breakfast service and a solid breakfast menu. There, you’ll find breakfast burritos, French toast, pancakes, blintzes, omelettes, eggs Benedict, and Zaftigs breakfast sandwich.

They also have unique offerings, like potato pancakes, corn beef hash and eggs, fried-egg BLTs, pastrami scrambles, lox and scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, oatmeal, smoked salmon and avocado toast, and so much more!

They also offer a solid selection of sides to go with your breakfast, as well as a solid bakery/pastry selection! While I have yet to try their breakfast, I am confident in saying it will be incredible. Breakfast is served until close!

This time, I decided to give their lunch/dinner menu a browse. They have a wide variety of soups, starters, sandwiches, salads, Latkes, Signature Entrees, burgers, patty melts, and a huge menu of Signature Sandwiches! For those with a sweet tooth, they have a solid bakery/sweets selection that is sure to please!

I decided to order “The New Yorker Sandwich”. This sandwich includes 12-ounces of hot pastrami, corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing- all served on light rye with your choice of side. The side selection could certainly be improved!

The fries were food-service grade, very poor quality fries to serve with a great sandwich. They should be offering hand-cut fries. The potato salad and coleslaw is also unfortunately very disappointing.

The sandwich was MASSIVE. You can easily split a signature sandwich with another person, it’s PLENTY of food! Even with your side dish, they also include half-sour pickle, green tomatoes, & a full-sour pickle.

The portions here are incredibly generous and the food is phenomenal! I do wish they offered sides of sauce as an available add-on. I’d also love to see the side dish options greatly improved. The quality of the sides is very poor and the selection is nearly non-existent.

I look forward to eating here again! If you’re hungry and craving a piping hot reuben/corned beef- you have to give Zaftigs a try! You won’t be disappointed!

Everything was delivered piping hot and packed with care. We both were full after splitting their sandwich and ordering an appetizer or two! The price is well worth the portion sizes offered here.

If they could just improve the quality and selection of dessert and side-dish items, they’d earn that fifth...

A disaster at best..Spent $92.00 on a weekend brunch for two...Corned Beef & Pastrami sandwiches 2) for takeout...(2) Containers of matzo Ball soup...pickles,,potato salad...small chopped liver.. The sandwiches for $20.00+ were not edible..Twice as much bread..half-filled with chucks of old meat...Tasted like a bread sandwich..not fresh..I am a serious cook & put together large political events here & in DC...I know how to cook well... The soup tasted like tasteless water...no flavor..noodles were stuck together...never drained..Called the restaurant right away- waited almost 10 minutes for the assistant manager to pick up. Started to speak about this food we received in a polite way, but he literally hung up on me..Said he was too busy to talk about the poor food and situation.Literally clicked the phone down in the middle of this conversation... In the end l had to find & reach out to the owner of the place after 4 days to resolve an unethical, unprofessional, lack luster food in a major part of Brookline..I travel nationally on a monthly basis and would never recommend this place..Many lonely people go there and hang out with a cup of coffee and bagel...I am not one of them..This is my first time ordering here. Some of the worst food I have eaten in an (authentic?)deli anywhere..High prices and low quality...Rude help...We were unable to finish our with food and emptied our plates into the trash disposal... Never recommend this disturbing place and the people they choose to hire...with a tip it came to over $124.+.The owner understood but would not credit me back on my card..Had to accept a restaurant credit only to be used again at the same place.....So they basically kept our money...Sorry that i cannot recommend other dishes.. It is rare that we were not able to even finish eating these 2 fatty chunks of beef stuffed 1/3 full of uneatable meat & bland/watery quarts of chicken soup..Also got pickles..4 bagels and cream cheese ..Impossible to believe we were charged almost $125.00 without delivery..they have none....Please..i love good food..eat out often and this was a horrible...