The Essen Room — Restaurant in Pikesville

My wife and I had lunch for the first time at the Essen Room. I grew up in Baltimore until I left for College and have only been back periodically for business. We were told about this place by my cousin. I grew up in the deli business. My father had a successful deli downtown Baltimore back in the early 70's. There I learned how to slice meet, among other things. I am a big deli snob. Most deli's these days do not impress me.

I have been to some of the older original deli's of Baltimore on my trips back into town over the years and have been disappointed in how they have gone down hill. So when my cousin said I must try this place, that I have not heard of, I was a bit skeptical.

Upon entering this deli the biggest thing I noticed was how clean it was and how beautiful the cases were. The meats and the bakery items looked amazing.

The proof however, was in the eating! Normally, most deli's dont know how to slice their brisket. The average person does not know that it is cut wrong, but I do. And it makes a big difference.

The waiter we had was excellent and attentive. I ordered the Pastrami sandwich. My wife had the bagel with lox with a potato pancake. We shared a blintz.

The Pastrami was cut perfectly and it tasted every bit as good as Katz's from NY. The rye was crusty on the edges and soft in the middle-just the way it is supposed to be. They make their own mustard and it was the perfect addition top the sandwich.

Her bagel was really good. Lots of flavor. Most bagels are not very good outside of NY. But this was! We enjoyed the blintz as well.

My wife could not get over the pickle bar they have. All the pickles come directly from NY and they were crisp and tasty.

Of course the other very important part of a real Jewish deli sandwich is "how much meat is on the bread". I ordered a HALF. But there was probably at least a half a pound of meat on that half of sandwich. I had some left over for later that day.

We ordered some bakery items that I would also recommend that you have there. If you are too full, bring some home. It is definitely worth it! They have the biggest Hamantaschen that I have ever seen.

I consider myself an expert on Jewish deli's. Besides growing up in the business, I make my own briskets at home. If you are anywhere close to Pikesville Maryland you MUST GO to THE ESSEN ROOM on Hooks lane. In my opinion, there is no other deli today, that...

I don't usually like to make negative posts but felt compelled to as I went out of my way to find an awesome Rueben. The corned beef was mostly fat and gristle and was a very light pinkish color with an orange sheen on it that made it look as if it was spoiled. I could not chew it and once I examined the beef, it was all over for me. The photos you see online show a piled high sandwich of fresh looking meat and looked like brisket. The meat I got was definitely of the lowest quality. It looked great at first until I tried to take a bite and nearly all of the meat came out on my plate because it was just a pile of fat. It was terrible. The side was a potato pancake and was hard as a hockey puck. I could not cut it so I picked it up to take a bite and it was completely void of any taste. I've had potato pancakes before and this was not that! Then I noticed something in the bakery case and I asked if they were rainbow cookies layered with raspberry jam and was told they were. They were super expensive for a pound but authentic rainbow cookies always are. When I got home and tried one they were as dry as a bone and not a drop of jam to be found. They were just okay. The free pickle bar was fine - but not worth the prices of the food. I would rather pay for the pickles and reduce the menu prices which are really high. There were several other people there who also thought so as well. Plus, if you use a credit card, they pass the processing fees onto you. I want to be clear that I am only writing because the Rueben is a $23 sandwich. For that price, I expected quality meat. Since I still had a craving for a Rueben, I went to Arby's and got theirs which is less than half the price and the beef was excellent. No free pickles but I...

I ran into a hick-up with one of the clerks taking orders, and I'm intentionally not going into details because I do not believe the interaction I had with that employee was commonplace for this business, and I'm willing to also say it may not have been common for that employee, as well. a

Because of the wonderful reviews and my craving for a corned beef sandwich with lingering memmories of the best salted beef sandwich I had in London 6.5 years ago (!!), I elected to let the customers behind me get served until I could get assistance from another employee. The next person who worked on my order was friendly, explained the potential reason for the hick-up with the other and apologized. Wow! Off to a fabulous fresh start! Turns out, the gentleman who assisted me the second time was the owner Lou! He was friendly, knowledgeable, professional, patient, and had an extremely positive attitude.

The food is amazing! I had the corned beef special with the perfectly cooked crispy wedged fries and flavorfull pickles from the pickle bar! Oh and the raisin kugel! Yummy. I also had some small rolled cookies that Lou said were homemade, and they were delicious.

The atmosphere is what you would expect for a deli. It was clean, organized in its layout, and welcoming, with no frills.

Highly recommend this business - it worked out...