Jay's Deli — Restaurant in Scottdale

Updated review July 12th, 2024.

This is my third visit to Jay's Deli since our original review. I'm pleased to say the brisket is so much better the second time around! Today the meat was moist, perfectly chopped, and plentiful on a toasted roll.

My daughter enjoyed the double dog combo with French fries and said they were the best she's ever had.

I also learned today that Jay's Deli Is also quite philanthropic. While we were in the restaurant we watched as they prepared 1000 sandwiches to donate to a local mosque.

Good food and community conscious? What more could you ask for in a local deli! ❤️

They have definitely earned all five stars in my book!!

Original review: Definitely excited when I was made aware that there was a Halal deli near one of my favorite stores Goodwill.

The atmosphere of the establishment is quite nice, very clean and organized with plenty of seating area.

The staff was very pleasant, greeting me as I entered and allowing me the time to review the menu.

I placed my order and the food was promptly prepared coming out to the counter less than 12 minutes after ordering.

I decided to not dine in the restaurant today. Perhaps dining in would have made the experience of the food a little better.

Let's start with the good. For a small fee I was allowed to add slaw to the two hot dog combo special. I am a southern country girl after all and I do love my chili slaw dogs. At a price point of $8.99 for two delicious hot dogs, chips and a can drink this is probably the best bargain in the store! There are additional daily deals for $9.99 but I did not go with one of those today. (See photo)

The other item I purchased was the chopped brisket. Originally purchased for my significant other, as he is a fan of brisket, but I decided to give it a try so that I could review it. However I am afraid I should have stayed away.

The meat itself was extremely overcooked and resembled a lesser grade of beef than brisket. The sauce was quite spicy and very overpowering. The sandwich was quite small and served uncut.

A bag of chips came with the sandwich but nothing else. Quite the sticker shock of $15.99 for such a displeasing sandwich. I understand that the price point of beef is certainly higher but I must say the sandwich itself definitely did not meet expectations. Probably will not try again.

Overall I'd still rate Jay's Deli a four because based just on the ambience, the friendliness of staff and the deliciousness and bargain of the two hot dogs.

I believe on my next venture into Jay's Deli I will try the chicken pesto panini or The Stack!

I look forward to providing an...

| Nashville Hot Chicken |

I’m always very skeptical when a business serves Nashville Hot Chicken (NHC), because it’s usually just regular chicken sprinkled with cayenne, and the heat levels are usually way off. Not here! This review isn’t paid nor influenced.

This platter at Jay’s Deli didn’t have the bright red color I expected NHC to have, but maybe it’s because I ordered a Mild platter (they have Hot and Extra Hot), or maybe because they used Nashville dust as opposed to the classical way of brushing/ dunking the chicken in Nashville oil?

Nonetheless, the visual of these tenders were outstanding. Because the chicken is hand-slaughtered, I expected them to be somewhat small. This platter came with 3 LARGE, thick pieces of juicy chicken. Now mines was a to-go order, so I expected it to be a bit soggy sitting in the box since I picked it up late. It wasn’t soggy at all. There was a light, subtle crunchy exterior, with the inside as moist and flavorful as it could possibly be for a Mild piece of chicken.

Thankfully their toast was not just a soggy piece of bread! It was good, and I’m glad they put it at the bottom of the box so the steam from the food wouldn’t make it soggy.

Their sauce threw me off guard. I expected a thousand-island flavor profile, but it was more unique than that. The sauce is made in-house like their chicken, and was very flavorful.

The fries were standard crinkle fries sprinkled with salt and plenty of qblack pepper. They were good as well.

My only suggestion is that they have options other than their 3pc. 5 or 7pc would be dope.

God bless them for listening to their customers, and preferring halal vendors over profit and deceit. They are very transparent and just some of the most mannerful restaurant owners I’ve ever met.

Also the owner allowed me to taste a secret menu item on the way - should I...

As a foodie and a person with more than 30 years of customer service and a Muslim that is very strict with what she eats when it comes to meat, I only eat halal and/or kosher so when I expressed to my daughter that I was craving a deli sandwich she found Jay’s alhamdulillah! So in my mind I am thinking this restaurant would have a cold cuts, cheeses, and a variety of salads, as well as a selection of unusual or foreign prepared foods. We’ll, to my surprise and disappointment, all I saw on the menu pertaining to sandwiches were hot sandwiches, QadrAllah Masha fa’al. I decided to order anyway but I was barely greeted. It wasn’t until I had questions and then ready to place my order that I was even paid attention to. Very unbecoming of our tradition as Muslims and bad customer service.

As for the food, the presentation looked better than the food tasted. I ordered a classic sandwich on multi grain bread, and then got jalapeño chips and a chocolate chip cookie. The sandwich was not flavorful at all. The chips and my cookie tasted better than my sandwich. My order was to go and unfortunately I waited until I got home to eat everything. Trust and believe if I lived closer I would have gone back to the establishment and requested my money back.

This was very disappointing. It is obvious this is not the genre of the owner’s background, so my suggestion would be to either hire those most familiar with delis or do better with...