Deli King of Clark — Restaurant in Clark

So, lately my 88-year-old mom has been reminiscing about the good old days of Jewish delis. Especially a deli called Grabsteins of Canarsie, Brooklyn—which was our family’s go-to place back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. But, like everything in life, things change. Jewish delis have taken a hit in popularity over the years and, these days, it’s hard to find a good Jewish deli that brings you back in time to those glory days. Enter my best friend, Eric Seltzer. For those of you who don’t know Eric, he is a walking encyclopedia of restaurants. Whatever type of food you crave, and wherever you live in the tri-state area—if you want to know where to eat and need a recommendation for whichever type of cuisine you’re craving, Eric is the go-to guy. Upon discussing my mom’s latest food craving with Eric, he promptly recommended a place called Deli King in Clark, NJ, where he grew up. So we made a plan to journey from Staten Island to Clark, NJ for the premium Jewish deli experience. We sat down and were greeted by a friendly waiter who promptly gave us menus. Little did the waiter know that we already looked at the online menu and knew exactly what we wanted. My mom ordered an open face Roast Beef sandwich on Rye with brown gravy and French Fries. I ordered what they call an ‘Almost Rueben’ which consists of corned beef topped with Sauerkraut and Russian dressing on rye bread sans the Swiss cheese because it’s Kosher and they don’t mix meat and dairy. And my buddy, Eric, ordered the sloppy joe sandwich. Now, for those of you who don’t know, this is not a traditional sloppy joe that one imagines—with ground beef in a sweet tomatoey sauce on a bun. No. Their sloppy joe is a combination of piled high fresh turkey breast and corned beef topped with a heaping pile of Cole slaw on rye. And we ALL ordered the Mushroom Barley soup as our first course. After we finished the soup, the sandwich platters arrived. As a preventative measure, I intentionally didn’t eat for 24 hours prior to this meal, so I’d have enough room to gorge myself, without feeling guilty. My mom started eating her food ala Meg Ryan from “When Harry Met Sally” with all the voiceovers you’d expect from an X-rated movie. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I catch Eric contemplating his point of attack. Now imagine The Empire State Building stuffed between two thin slices of toasted rye bread. Now imagine King Kong hasn’t eaten in a week. Now imagine the devil’s voice from “The Exorcist” thinking out loud, “Oh yeah? You think you’re big enough to intimidate me!? Well we’ll see about that. I’ll show you who’s boss!!”. And with that, his mouth opened cartoonishly wide as his inner voice channeled a carnival magician saying, “Abra cad Abra. Now you see it—now you don’t” as the entire sandwich disappeared into his mouth while juices flowed down his chin onto his plate like Niagara Falls. By the time we finished dinner, the table looked like a crime scene. All that was missing was the yellow caution tape. Then he said to my mom, “You know. They have this amazing 7-layer chocolate cake.” My mom replied, “Oy vey. I can’t eat another thing. I’m so full”, before suggesting, “Why don’t you order it and take it home with you?” Eric replied, “I’m trying to lose weight”. Then I said (imitating my mother’s voice) “Just do one line of coke, Eric, and take the rest of the eight ball home with you”, as Eric nearly did a spit take all over the people sitting next to us. Needless to say, it was a very enjoyable evening and I look forward...

It was fine. Turkey was slightly dry, bread was fine. I think the real issue I have is the pricing and meeting-expectations.

This was my second visit -- but first time purchasing. The prior time I saw the prices and left without purchasing. This time I figured I would give it a shot, based on reviews here. But my sandwich was just fine, and didn't match the expectation I had based on the price.

If you look at the old photos on Google, what I ordered (Turkey Club) five years ago was $13.95. Nine months ago was $19.95. Today was $23.00. That's pretty aggressive price increases, and part of me wishes I had my first visit nine months ago.

Additionally there's a 3.99% fee for credit card purchases, which is certainly well above market, as most know. Some places take the track of upping flat menu prices and foregoing the additional credit card fee, but that's not the case here. But I knew in advance and still decided to order, I am not pretending to be blindsided or misled. I'm just saying what I received was not a $25 sandwich (after taxes and fees), in my opinion. I'd grade it closer to a $15 sandwich.

And maybe I'm just not the target audience. I don't need to keep kosher, and certainly there's value there that I don't appreciate. Also it seems like the real draw here is the pastrami, so not what I ordered. But if you're just on Google searching "deli" that isn't the totality of the information that would be useful to differentiate different delis.

Wish them all the best, and if they do sufficient business at these prices, I could just be the wrong customer. One soft suggestion would be to see if they can get Google to revise the price range for their page from $10-20 to be higher -- since it could cause potential new customers to...

10/4/25 Food still great but smaller portions and much higher prices. Also hygeine still abominable. Still touching food with bare hands. I am surprised no one has gotten sick. Great kosher food at high prices. But you get large portions. Unfortunately, hygeine of staff nonexistant when I visited. When I was there the old woman behind counter touched food with bare hands. Also coughed into hands and did not wash hands. I strongly suggested she do so which she did reluctantly. Did not wear gloves when I was there. The owner's reply was arrogant and showed a complete lack of customer service. He replied without addressing issues raised. Denied anything was wrong. This is why I posted what I did. Even if this was a one off incident, it should be acknowledged and corrected. To tout your alleged acheivements does not address the issues noted. Regarding the apron issues I realize you cannot change aprons every customer but his apron looked like it was not changed all day. The owners complete disregard and denial of my concerns shows why I will never go back here, even if it is the best kosher deli...