Poppies Restaurant & Deli — Restaurant in Delray Beach

• Please read the entire review for clarification. * Rough start but they totally made this Brooklyn NY boy very happy!!!

Yesterday, October 5th, 2024, I placed an order for pickup for my wife and I. We ordered a gyro and a gyro platter and requested no onions, and we chose fries and coleslaw as our sides. It was Saturday evening and the place was packed (always a good sign). So I was glad I ordered online and picked it up.

This was the first time we were ordering from Poppies. The place came highly recommended by our business partners, associates and even from people in our church. We were excited to try the food that our friends and colleagues have so much love for. Well, they got the order wrong. They missed the fries for the platter, forgot to put in the coleslaw that my wife, who grew up in Maryland wanted, and they packed my gyro with onions (even though the receipt had "NO ONIONS" stamped on it). Neither one of the gyro orders had any tzatziki on them. We were not pleased with the order and immediately placed a call.

SO WHY AM I GIVING THEM A FIVE STAR REVIEW? 1. They were extremely busy last night. 2. They picked up the phone when I called to complain and were ready to do anything to make it right. 3. My call got cut off and they immediately called me back. 4. They did not question anything and immediately told me I had a credit for the full amount. 5. The food smelled amazing ( I didn't eat it because I cannot eat raw onions). 6. They asked us to please come by and let them make it up to us. 7. I would say their customer service, the friendly demeanor from the entire staff, and the fact that they returned the phone call showed us that they truly do care about their customers. Why would we not give them the opportunity to make things right?

There are so many people on here that just look for any little thing to give establishments a bad review. I believe in giving ALL establishments more than one chance to impress me. I certainly know I am NOT at my best EVERY SINGLE DAY. So, even though they dropped the ball on our first order ever, I believe their response to their mistakes makes them a place I cannot wait to visit again. My wife and I will be going to Poppies today (10/6/2024) to have a follow-up meal and we have no doubt that Poppies' wonderful staff will redeem themselves with The Rosarios (fingers crossed). This time I'm planning on ordering what my friends say they are famous for, a pastrami sandwich or a Rueben. I'm even going to order dessert. Hey, why not? THANK YOU POPPIES.

George L. Rosario #GeorgeTheSpeaker and Claudia P. Rosario #TheFeistyColombian aka #TheRosarios of #RosariosEverywhere

Stay Tuned For Part II of This Review

PART II: Today 10/06/2024 at about 4:30 pm.

POPPIES HAS REDEEMED ITSELF!!!

We went back today for an early dinner. I ordered the pastrami sandwich with fries on the side. #TheFeistyColombian ordered a roast beef wrap with fries and coleslaw. We were IMPRESSED. The service was awesome, above and beyond what one expects. The staff is just too good!!! And when the food came out, we just had to take pictures before touching it. My pastrami was juicy and perfect. Claudia's roast beef wrap was packed (she still ate most of it... only gave me two little bites from it). We emptied our plates, filled our bellies and had some good laughs with the staff. GREAT PEOPLE!!! I felt like I was back in Astoria New York eating at one of their awesome Greek diners. DELICIOUS!!! The new owners definitely know what they are doing!!! We highly recommend them.

By the way, make sure you keep in the loop. They host special events. November 3rd they will have live Greek music from Dimitris Mpasis. Gotta make your reservations so call 954-224-1150. Doors...

PLEASE AVOID POPPIES RESTAURANT AND DELI at all costs!!! Poppies almost succeeded in ruining our holiday!!! Luckily, we went to Too Jays!

My folks placed an over the phone order to Poppies, for our Yom Kipper holiday break the fast dinner, (totaling $200.00), and gave them their credit card information. I came in the following day on Yom Kipper at 4 pm (as instructed) to pick up their order. The restaurant wasn’t even busy. When I gave them our name (Alan), they didn’t have our order. First they said the order wasn’t ready, then they said it was almost ready, and they kept going back and forth with me. No apology at anytime. They were completely disorganized even though there was hardly anyone there. In fact, another customer had been waiting for his pick up order for over an hour, and was livid!

I waited for 45 minutes and I couldn’t get a straight answer from ANYONE as to if my order was ready or not. The most annoying part is that NO ONE would tell me the TRUTH. If they weren’t going to even prepare the order, just let me know and I would just leave, but when I asked, they would just shrug their shoulder and say “I don’t know” or ignore me, as if I was being toyed with. It was bizarre. Keep in mind, this order had been previously placed the day before, and I needed to get food to my 92 year old dad, and my 87 year old mom who had just fasted for 24 hours. I might add that we didn’t even order any hot foods, just tuna fish, egg salad, bagels, etc.

Still waiting with no answer, so I took out my phone and recorded the employees. What’s interesting, is that not one of their workers assisted or tried to help in any way, while I waited, but as soon as I started recording them, they called some kid out of the back. He said he was the “owner” but he acted like a 10 year old buffoon. He wouldn’t give me his name until I asked him about 10 times. He finally said his name was “Zack”. (I have since found out that the owner’s name is BOBBY SPIROPOULOS). This kid “Zack” instructed me to leave, since I was recording. That’s all he cared about. He did not acknowledge, apologize or address the issue regarding our order…so I left. No food, no apology, a complete waste of time, and no dinner for my parents.

This was our break the fast meal for my elderly parents. We were fortunately able to get a wonderful meal from Too Jays in Boynton Beach without any wait or issues. Thank you to Too Jays! They have our business now! .

As far as Poppies is concerned, we will be reporting this restaurant to the better business bureau, other consumer agencies, and we will also let all of our friends and family know what a dishonest horrible establishment this is.

I just read the managers response (below). Besides this review, I have not posted anything on social media…YET. My father did indicate that the manager called him and was spewing false accusations about me. To set the record straight. The staff DID NOT help at all. Quite the contrary. Also, never at any time, did I scream, use foul language, or take anyone’s order. What is wrong with these people? Shame on Poppies for trying to point the finger at me, instead of taking responsibility for their screwup and their staff’s...

This was our first time to visit this deli. We went in and ask for a booth. the manager Paul said he had none ready. but two people had just left. when i asked about the booth the people just left, he said that table was for another person who he proceed to sit by herself and gave her 2 menus. they have a sign by the front that states all persons in a party have to be present to be seated. we then watched the ladies friend showed up about 10 min later. When i asked the manager - Paul about why he seated her first when she did not have all her party their. Paul just said he did not do that. when i pointed out what he did he lied and said he did not know what i was talking about. i explained again and he said i must have been mistaken. So the manager does not follow the rules they have posted. Then when we finally got booth we had a waiter come up to take our order, when we started to order he suddenly said he had someone else to go to and left our table. We did have another waitress come to take our order about 10 min later, and she was great. Then the manager again named Paul came over and started yelling at a blonde waitess about something in front of the sitting customers, making her look bad and feel small , while trying to make himself look like a ruler. when i asked a few of the staff about this manager -Paul, they all said the same thing, that he rules by fear!! This manager needs to be either talked too or removed! It would be good for the owners of this location to take stock in what the other employees say and how they fear him! They should do a blind review with the other staff about PAUL. Have simple paper marked with like or dislike and have each person put their paper in a sealed box where Paul can not know what or by who was put in the box! See how long it takes the managers to...