Mill Basin Deli — Restaurant in New York

It had been many years since I ate at this kosher deli. My family is from the area, and we ordered from here from time to time. Back as a kid, I never really appreciated Jewish food. Not so today. On a recent nostalgia trip to a few places nearby, my girl and I made this our lunch stop. It looks like a typical, low-key Jewish deli. The only item of note are the various paintings by Chinese artists. This is interesting, as the place doubles as an art gallery (smart idea). They also have a nice, big party room located next door as well under the name the Peach Pit. Our server was very pleasant and efficient, even helping some of the elderly guests to get up and sit down; on the contrary, the Indian bus boy working that day was annoying enough that eventually I just told him to leave us alone. That aside, there isn't much like drinking a Dr. Brown's black cherry in a Jewish deli that, thankfully, can still cook the old school way.

We started off with an order of latke chips and matzoh ball soup. I have no idea why someone hasn't thought of making smaller, crisper latkes like this before, instead of the hockey pucks you normally get. They were crunchy with soft potato innards, and greasy without being too much so. Pretty damn perfect with some applesauce. The matzoh ball soup was a sizable portion with a great matzoh ball, although I typically prefer more shmaltz in my soup. For accoutrements, their cole slaw and pickles (particularly full sours) were great. We split a pastrami on rye for our main, which was tasty. The pastrami was melt in your mouth fresh with flavor to spare. A little lighter on the spicing and marbling could've been a but better, but a great sandwich nevertheless. I just wish they had better rye bread; their homemade mustard (great) was needed to rectify this. All of that, with some leftover latkes and part of the sandwich to go, was a pretty epic lunch. Great to see my old neighborhood holding down the Jewish...

The food was average at best, but the service was good at lunchtime. The size of the portions are very unfair considering the the prices they charge. I know there is inflation out there, but at least give us a somewhat fair bang for our buck. The turkey sandwich was small and on the dried out side at the price of $19.95, and the potato latkes were extremely dry also, and the size of a hockey puck. A very small amount of apple sauce was served in a small plastic dish to go along with the latkes. I also requested a glass of water and it was served in a very tiny plastic cup, ( gargle type cup)usually found in a dentist office somewhere; I found that to be very weird and kind of strange when compared to most restaurants I frequent here in NYC. They also use only all paper plates ( and take out size, usually used exclusively for of a take out orders.) serving with all plastic utensils also is somewhat rather classless and tacky, and an obvious cost cutting measure. They have to do better than that. I travelled a good distance to give this establishment a try despite the outdated reviews as well as the lack of these types of actual kosher restaurants in the NY Tri - State area these days. The place is immensely overrated, but I still thought is was fair to give it a try initially; well was I ever wrong. I just never felt very uncomfortable here until I departed. I'm not likely to return again and nor would ever...

Overrated. Overpriced. $2 delivery charge to add insult to injury. Have gotten spoiled food such as rancid potato knishes. A old time classic where time has taken it's toll. No pride any more, seems nobody cares and they're living off their reputation 8/01/18 update I decided I would give them another try. ordered 2 hot dogs, a knish, and a stuffed cabbage dinner. It would have been an unholy total of almost $50. the dinner comes with pickles and 1/2 lb container of Cole slaw (not even filled.) I asked if they would substitute potato salad for the cole slaw and was told no. when I politely explained that they have been doing it for me for 40 years, they still refused. Someone else got on the phone and identified himself as the manager and told me he wasn't allowed to do it. I told him that doesn't make him much of a manager. He started to say that he'll do it this time but never again. ohhh, so you CAN do it, after all. I told him not to do me any favors, if he was willing to lose a customer of 40 years and a $50 order for not swapping potato salad for Cole slaw, it says a lot about his management skills and the future of this business. Jay and Lloyd's on Ave U delivered a better meal faster and...