Jake's Deli — Restaurant in Milwaukee

Deli’s and restaurants display distinct rhythms in their day-to-day service, and occasionally, as it is with Jake’s Deli, the rhythm feels historic, almost spiritual, and essential to the sandwich itself. I park my car across the street from an old red brick building common in Milwaukee but out of place on this particular street. A sign that reads “Jake’s Delicatessen Since 1955” hangs from the second floor. I walk inside to find my friends sitting in a church pew-like wooden booth under a wall full of black and white photos boasting of the landmarks’ history. I place my order – the highly recommended Corned Beef sandwich with a side of chips – and watch the rituals of the room. They call my name, and over the next 60 seconds I witness the perfect sandwich exchange, one which all beloved locales should mimic. A distracted man in a dirty white apron drops a foil wrapped brick of flavor into a brown paper bag alongside enough napkins to clothe a toddler and hands it across the glass counter without ever making eye contact with me. I’m not special; I’m one of thousands of customers he’s served, and he has his carnivorous art to return to. Ten feet to my left, the other aproned man is complaining about something unimportant with a friend of his who walked in just after me. It felt local, felt like home, felt like a destination that generations of fathers have taken their sons to with an excitement that their boy only understood in retrospect as an adult. This is sandwich culture. It’s not as friendly as the overly popular coffee culture or as clean, but it’s genuine and unassuming.

The corned beef tasted great by the way, much more than great actually (I’ve found few who know their craft as well as this deli knows theirs), but it’s not the taste that makes this one special: it’s...

Just came back from the Southridge Jake's deli. Two of us decided to go with famous Reuben sandwiches. The menu said you can have a meal (includes a sandwich, choice of side, which can be either coleslaw or potato salad and a choice of drink), that feeds two, so we ordered it. Well, upon receiving the order, we found out that the supposedly meal that feed two contains just one large sandwich , tiny box of coleslaw and one slice of pickle. What was that "meal that feed two"??? Go guess... Oh, another thing was the attitude of the stuff, to the point that one of them showed me the finger after I asked for a second spoon and the box. The meal quality was good, don't take me wrong, but it is enormously overpriced. Indeed, for a fast food place, we wound up paying $25 dollars and left the place hungry and angry. Would not recommend it and wish the owners would be more selective about people that they hire to work there, because what we faced there made us want to...

The customer service is poor. I placed and order on my lunch break. Made it back to work and they gave me a sandwich on the wrong bread, no cheese, didn’t toast it, even though I paid for that. I called and the female who answered laughed and said my bad, if you return the sandwhich we can make you a new one. I said well I’m working, and came in on my lunch. Her reply there’s nothing I can do for you. I asked for a supervisor and she told him what happened and then said I told her it was nothing we could do without having the sandwhich returned. He got on the phone and asked what can I do for you. I told him I don’t get off work until 5pm. I came on my lunch and this is not what I ordered. He said ok well bring it back after work will make it over. That’s it that’s all. No apology from Bernard because I asked his name I could not believe he was placing blame after they made the wrong order. The place is trash and the management is...