Pastrami Queen — Restaurant in New York

As a tourist, this place has a vibe of a restaurant long in decline, perhaps now living off the name of a joint that was famous in an earlier era. I wonder too if they are stuck in a downward spiral where they are putting up prices because of the lack of customers, in turn reducing the customer base and so on. When we went in there, there was only one other customer at lunchtime on Tuesday. There was the first red flag…

We ordered a pastrami sandwich and burger. To charge $27 for a “World famous hot pastrami sandwich” is laughable but made even more so after it is presented to you. I kid you not, the whole plate came out with pastrami, two slices of bread and two pickles. Not even a bit of butter or sauce on the bread. To even use the term ‘world famous’ in that context would usually be considered a joke. In its defence, the meat was nice but unless I’m getting a giant tray of it for that money, there is no value for money here.

My partner’s burger deluxe which was below average and well over priced at $22. Chips tasted bland with the exception of a burnt oil taste.

Staff were okay. They seemed happy to have personal conversations in Spanish whilst we were dining.

Decor was old but at least clean and was fine.

I can’t see this place hanging on for too much longer. Plenty of other deli stores around offering a lot more for...

My wife and I hit Pastrami Queen at 138 W. 72nd Street at the site of the late, lamented Fine and Shapiro's Kosher Deli. Even though it was around noon on a Sunday, we only had to wait about five minutes for a booth, one, I may add that was actually wide enough for me to fit in! My lovely wife got the #2 combo; half pastrami, half corned beef on non-seeded rye, half sour pickles and Cole slaw. I got the pastrami on seeded rye with "extra heavy on the meat" for an extra six bucks, which brought my sandwich up to about 12 oz., full sour pickles and a Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray. My pastrami was machine-sliced, but not shaved like I got at Sarge's. it was reasonably juicy, but not overly so. It wasn't as salty as other places I've been and there was a hint, rather than a punch of smoke. Service was prompt and friendly. I liked the fact that they had a non-seeded rye option because my wife isn't supposed to eat seeds. A basic corned beef or pastrami sandwich is $24.50 for a half-pound sandwich. I was happy I went for the "Heavy on the Meat" option for an additional $5.75, but I was still able to finish it and had room to hit Gray's Papaya on the corner of 72nd & Broadway and have a Papaya dog. If I had to rank Pastrami Queen, I'd put it above Sarge's, but a few steps...

I go here a lot but it seems whenever i get a takeout order they never get it right and i only find out when i get home. I specifically asked for them to put russian dressing on the sandwhich (not have me do it ) - they did not - one pays a fortune for a sandwhich they can at least put the what you want on it and not have the customer do it.

Also I ordered franks in a blanket and again specifically asked for the cups of mustard so my guests could dip (not the little packets they normally give) - of course they did the opposite.

This is getting tiring - time to move to a new place.

Here we go again today 12/20/24 - so I tried this place again this time ordering delivery of well over $100 worth of food including about $25 plus tax for half a pound of “turkey pastrami”. When I opened it after they closed already, I learned instead of turkey pastrami they just sent me plain turkey breast, which is a lot cheaper by the way so now I need to contact them and get them to send me what I paid for. Seems nothing has...