Maven's Delicatessen — Restaurant in Pawtucket

Drove an hour and looking forward to Maven's. Going to a show in East Greenwich, so the perfect place and time to stop by. Arrived at 5:05.

Was immediately told you were out of rye bread (how in the world) and latkes. No one mentioned not a bagel in the house and down to 2 half sour pickles.

There were at least 12 open tables but told a 25 minute wait as "the girls" had to catch up. Jeez. Seat people and let then wait sitting. Get them a a drink. But no. Half empty and a 25 minute wait for pastrami on sour dough!

Seated at 5:30 And ordered. The waiter had no idea what was on the menu. No idea two sizes of sandwiches or what they were named. Had to repeat an order for three sandwiches, a knish and a Black Cherry three times.

And we waited.

And waited.

Waiter kept coming by to ask if we wanted anything else.

ANYTHING ELSE? How about our food?

After 35 minutes called over the general manage which was too young to have the skill set to deal with disappointed customers. Said would handle ASAP. The ASAP turned out to be another 25 minutes for the sandwiches and another 10 after for the knish.

The sandwich, which we ordered the 12 oz version, could not be more than 6. Not even the 8 of the smaller sandwich on the menu. And looked like it was built by a third grader rather than a crafted layered sandwich and the pastrami was incredible fatty. And don't you DARE tell me if I wanted lean order the corned beef. This was fatty down the middle of the cuts, not one edge.

The knish was luke warm outside and cold in the center. And tiny for $7.95!

The meal was comped. And should have been. Did I mention that the "cook" making sandwiches spent more time taking meat on and off the scale than building sandwiches? Who runs this place? No bagels, no rye bread, no latkes, running out of pickles, poor sandwiches, cold knish and an hour and a half for this abomination? Truly. I was so ready to enjoy. The only thing done right was comping the check.

You really should be ashamed and I don't say that lightly. Seems like no one there was trained in the least. I don't think you will make it unless that bagels are amazing and at $23 a dozen generate enough to pay your lease.

I will not be back and will restrain any friends attempting to go.

BTW: These "Reply by Owner" show you re not even proud enough to use your name. And no, not all new businesses go through these issues on opening. Only poorly planned, trained and run ones. And where were you when all this was going down? Not at the restaurant. Total denial.

UPDATE: 7/2/2024

Maven's replied to my review several months after I posted and sent me a $20 gift card to try again. Today was the first time I had that chance.

Of course, I had to try the pastrami again - and knish to accurately compare. First the good: The knish was perfect. Heated through and through and did not taste or feel microwaved. And even better, delightful server today.

However, while the pastrami sandwich (the big one) was more filled than my first visit, it was soggy and tasteless. Truly. Compare to NY Bagel in Framingham, Katz's, anywhere that knows pastrami. And I could not find it in me to say this was a $25 sandwich.

Took home two bagels. They have good promise. Might be their salvation :)

Personally, I would do a few things differently:

Perhaps ask before bringing the pickles if one prefers half sour or dill. You get a little of both. i would have preferred more half sour.

Get a decent Jewish Deli Mustard. I would suggest Batempte (sp?) but there are choices. Michael's should not be one of them. Michaels???? Moishes I could understand.

A sign on the men's room would be very helpful.

Improved, but not enough for me to go out of my way again. Good luck...

We are local and in the last week have attempted to eat various meals at maven’s: breakfast, brunch, lunch, early dinner, late dinner, with little success due to long lines and sold out stock! Good for Maven’s! Being so new, It’s totally understandable that they had to completely pivot on their original open hours and menu offerings. I adjusted my expectations based on their pivots along the way. Finally, after checking in once or twice a day with little success, starting with their opening day Sunday, I was finally able to get two lox sandwiches to go Around 11 AM on Wednesday. The total came to $30 and the bagels were good and I really liked the lox. There were a few thin onion slices and capers, and no tomato slices, which is perhaps traditional. The cream cheese was OK, but I would really prefer a vegan option- I was hoping for a house made cashew cream cheese like another local bagel shop had. Vegan cashew cream cheese on a lox bagel was always my go to! I think a lot of people Would love that option, and it goes so nicely with lox. I’d also love to see more variety in the bagel options as my family’s favorites are spinach, pumpernickel, garlic, rye raisin, rye, and jalapeño and they didn’t have any of those. They also don’t seem to have all of the varieties of cream cheese offered clearly listed at the front because I heard people ordering many types I didn’t know they had. The lox sandwiches were delicious enough to excitedly bring my boyfriend back to get one this morning, Sat., Dec 9, a week after their opening. Unfortunately, we got to the register by around 8:30 AM, Only 30 minutes after their opening, after about a 25 minute wait in the line, and they were completely out of lox. The menu board had not been updated to reflect that, and there were tons of people just waiting in the line for lox and there were various hostesses and waitresses wandering around not alerting people to the updated menu offerings. We tried to get an answer as to when lox would become available, so that we could perhaps put an order in for it, and just wait a little longer, but they had no idea when or if it would become available. They must have either opened with no lox in stock or sold out within the first 20 minutes? I feel like the various staff members walking around should’ve had alerted the people in the line (including elderly people with canes, waiting for about 30 minutes), or updated social media either last night or this morning, or the menu board sign at the front. Perhaps the social media menu offerings should be updated more specifically out of respect for the many people making a special trip into the area just to visit maven’s. Online ordering with an updated live menu of availability would be amazing. Other than that the staff seem like genuinely sweet people that actually care, which is a nice feeling. We ended up getting two plain bagels and a container of whitefish which was offered at 8 ounces for $16, it was OK but extremely salty and I found the smoke flavor very overpowering. I prefer Whole Foods white fish salad they sell at the seafood counter, so perhaps I am not accustomed to the this traditional deli style type we received. It felt quite mayo-ey. I understand people’s frustration but one and two star reviews seem uncalled for, After all, it’s their first week, and they are having issues because they are so sought after! Unfortunately, a business’s open hours and menu offerings are, in a sense, a promise to the customer and that is why the disgruntled parties feel that way. Overall, I think Maven’s will be very successful because there’s obviously a very huge demand for what they are offering and people have been wanting this for a...

We came here to Maven's which is the new Jewish style deli in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From the moment we entered, we were warmly greeted (even though we got there about 40 mins to close) the waitress came right over with iced water 💦 and gave us some time to look over the menu. I should note that there is a variety of seating here. It is handicapped accessible for those that may need it and there's also plenty of accessible parking. The decor is modern and upbeat and gives the aesthetic vibe as if almost sitting in an NYC Deli, but also gives a roaring twenties throwback vibe feel as well. I love it. We did ask if they had any Egg Creams, the waitress said no, but did write down our suggestion, because the owner wants to know these things. And I love to hear that. As someone who went to School for Culinary and worked in the field, I know when a Chef or Restaurant Owner says that they honestly want to always find a way to cater to their customers. We for one, will definitely be coming back. They brought us a basket of pickles! Seriously, super good pickles too. And pickles don't have carbs or at least not as many as bread 🤣Too many things to try here still. Highly recommend the latkes as an appetizer or just by themselves, whatever. They are served with Sour Cream and Apple Sauce. But they're absolutely delicious alone even. You shouldn't skip them. Seriously. Don't. My partner chose the meatloaf sandwich. Her sandwich had Sliced Jewish Style Meatloaf, Fresh Tomatoes, & Horseradish Cream Sauce on Challah Bread(not one complaint from her🤣). I Chose the Upstreet Dip Sandwich, it has slow roasted brisket (the brisket is so unbelievably tender and tasty 😱) caramelized onions 🧅, Horseradish Cream Cheese and it was served on Challah Bread because they ran out of Bagels. But even with that, it was a delicious sandwich and didn't take a thing away from it. I took about 3/4 of it home. (Weight Loss Surgery Life, I did not eat my bread because I cannot, but I wish I could have) Nice portion size for the price. Two people went out for a date night and split two appetizers and we each had our own sandwich and two waters for under $50.00. obviously that doesn't include tip. But that's a great price for a lil lunch date or date night. Even breakfast! I love a good breakfast date. ❤️ I am aiming to review their breakfast soon too. Let me know what you think, if you end up...