Stage Door Delicatessen — Restaurant in New York

When traveling I usually rely on reviews like here on Google to help me pick where to eat. I found this little gem in New York while visiting the World Trade Center memorial. The reviews were good so we had to try it out for ourselves. The pizzeria is at the top of the building so be ready to climbs some stairs, no elevator sorry. We decided to try some New York pizza. I would have to say this is one of the best pizzas I've had in New York by far. There are lots to choose from it was hard for us to decide. Since my wife and I could not decide on one they allowed us to do a half-and-half option. My wife wanted the Hawaiian pizza which came with thick pieces of ham and lots of pineapple it was so good. My pizza came with lots of veggies and it was outstanding. One more thing I had to try was the New York cheesecake. You definitely cannot leave without trying a piece of one of their freshly baked pastries. Everything looks so good and fresh I didn't know what to get. We sat down to eat but if you're on the go they do have fresh pizzas hot and ready for you to grab a slice. The staff was friendly and welcoming. The place was clean and accommodating. I like the fact that they have big windows so you can see the view. I enjoyed it so much I had to introduce myself to the owner owner and tell him he was going to receive a 5 star rating from me. Make plans if you are in the area, you can't miss out on this place. Also the name says deli and on the bottom of the building is a fine deli which we did not get to try out but I hear is also very good. I guess we will have to leave that 1 for...

I really don't understand all the great reviews of this place. I can only guess they were written by people who don't know what real New York deli is. First of all, the pizza restaurant is a completely separate place, upstairs. So reviews of the pizza shouldn't be taken into consideration when you are considering eating at this deli. When I walked in I could see they had pre-cut their bagels, which was a bad sign and should have made me turn around and walk right out, but I had to get to a meeting, and this place was convenient. I came for matzo ball soup, which they didn't have. That's ridiculous right there, as every self-respecting New York deli has matzo ball soup. So, I ordered the chicken noodle, and from the first bite, it was clear it was rancid. Here's the kicker. When I took it up to the register and showed it to the owner, he didn't seem in the least surprised! He said, "Old, huh?" and gave me my money back without a second's hesitation. I got the distinct impression it had been around for days, and they made a decision to go with it, even though it was old. A person would have gotten food poisoning from eating this soup, although it stank so badly I can't imagine how anyone would. It's certainly possible someone did though. Since I wasn't able to have my soup, I went for the dubious bagel, which turned out to be as stale as I guessed when I saw they were pre-cut. I'm glad I avoided the meats; I probably would have gotten listeria poisoning. New York is full of great Jewish and Italian delis. Don't waste your time at this pathetic, low...

I wanted to have a pizza party there because I filming something and needed to feed everyone lunch. I called a few days before to order pizzas, which the manager said he could hold in the deli for us to eat around 7 since the pizza restaurant closes earlier than the deli. The man on the phone, Nick, was very accommodating.

I went in person a few days later to give them my credit card to make sure I’d have pizzas waiting for my crew after we finished work. The man, who I believe was also Nick from the phone, told me that the pizza restaurant closes at 6 and there was no way to have my pizzas at 7 in the deli. He didn’t recognize me as the person from the phone but he was so adamant about the pizza shop closing at 6 that I didn’t question even though he said it closed at 7 on the phone. The next day, after the film shoot, Stage Door deli was calling me about the pizzas I ordered over the phone and went to pay for in person.

I think the owner or manager or whomever is racist and classist. I sound professional on the phone but I was wearing sandals with socks and I am black. I think he was much friendlier and wanted my business when he didn’t know I was black. He even told me his wife has my name which is Arabic. The whole situation rubbed me the wrong way and I urge people not to spend money...