Gioia's Deli Creve Coeur — Restaurant in Creve Coeur

I will probably get a lot of flak for this low review but I will explain my rating in full.

Food: 4/5. Disclaimer: I was waiting in line at 12:45 on a Wednesday afternoon when they ran out of hot salami. I ended up getting the Spicy Dagett with hot beef instead of the hot salami. I found the sandwich pretty good but overly salty to the point that it detraced from the rest of the elements. Slightly before I ordered I noticed them freshen the au jus for the hot beef and perhaps that contribute d to my issue with the sandwich.

Service: 1/5. This is where this restaurant struggles. Let us start with how incompetently this place runs a line. This place was well staffed. 5 or 6 people making sandwiches (sometimes the manager helped other times she didn't) and a cashier. At this rate of staffing, I'd expect customers to be getting their subs in quick order. This was not the case. It was taking them 3-4 minutes per sandwich. As most customers were getting more than one sandwich, the rate of customers getting their food and leaving was appalling slow. In my first 10 minutes in line only 6 customers actually made it to the cashier. Then they ran out of hot salami.

Running out of hot salami did me a favor because almost half the line left at that point. I overheard the manager say that it was going to be 30 minutes to the crowd but also seemed to say it was still frozen to the cashier (I only barely overheard). By the way when I left with my food 35 minutes later she was telling new guests it would be 25 minutes till the hot salami was ready. Total running time to get this sandwich 43 minutes.

I am a store manager myself and I place a lot of blame on the young female who was running the place along with the owners who would place someone with little or no management experience over a busy place during lunch. First, not having your signature item is a bit inexcusable. Second, these people were working all over each other. There was confusion and a lack of protocols all leading to longer wait times than were necessary. Gioia's if you want me to show you how to run a fast efficient line then feel free to contact me. You closed your place at the ballpark for not meeting standards and I assume that this location is heading in the same direction if you don't put a focus on it.

Score at this point is 2.5 and I rounded down to 2 stars because they were out of cookies by the time I got to...

It is pretty awesome having a taste of The Hill right here in the heart of Creve Coeur. This place is the king of sandwiches, best ingredients, freshest bread, great menu item, fresh baked cookies, and unique selection of chips and drinks. There used to places to dine here, some along the wall but after COVID this place looks to be a more grab and go/online ordering operation. Nonetheless, this place always had very friendly service, accurate online orders, and everyone seems to be in a good mood. The restaurant itself is always clean, and they also have a couple fridges in the front for grabbing some items like meats or pizzas to take home . I have had just about every sandwich on the menu, my favorite is the roast beef and salami with extra beef and giardiniera peppers. Perfection. My wife loves the meatball sandwich and of course always get it on the garlic cheese bread. You won’t regret coming, can get pricy if you want it to by adding any extra items but their menu prices are fair and...

We just found out about this place after living in St Louis nearly 5 years. I saw an ad for it through my email and saw that it had won at James Beard award as well as Ben featured on food Network as one of the best sandwiches in the country. My wife and I finally went. She had the spicy daggett and I had the porknado. Both of our first bites were followed by wide open eyes and a, "mmmmmm" sound. The sandwiches were hardy and big enough to be shared not that you would want to. Haha. The meat was delicious and even though the line was almost out the door it moved quickly. Customer service was very friendly and helpful and we had no problem finding a table. I can't wait to try the original location at the hill and I'm looking forward to going back around spring break. This was a truly...