Elephants Delicatessen — Restaurant in Portland

I would rate everything a 5 here except that it's often too crowded (atmosphere) - people like to hang around the main deli area and booth seats while the "back room" which has about 65 seats could be empty. The crowdedness of the store can cause staff inattention (service) and a long wait on line to get food or to pay for food. My main complaint is that the sandwiches are not made very carefully (food) - for example, a turkey club sandwich might have all the lettuce on one half of the sandwich, and none on the other half; or the center of the sandwich might be twice as thick as the outer edges. That was something I liked about their first two styles of ham & cheese sandwiches, one was on a hoagie type of roll and the second style was on focaccia. They always appeared to be carefully made, even if they were quickly made. Their new style of ham & cheese is the same as their turkey & cheddar and turkey club. Maybe if they tore up the lettuce into smaller strips and diced the tomatoes, the sandwiches would be more balanced. The tuna salad sandwich is a good "in between" example, it's fairly easy to spread tuna salad uniformly and evenly, but they still don't place the pickles uniformly or evenly.

Update: the lopsided sandwiches have now been repackaged so that you put them together yourself. Their nutrition information page is missing a lot of items, however, such as the vegetarian frittata and sausage frittata they have in the morning. I try to keep my daily sodium intake below 2,000 mg to avoid high blood pressure, it's difficult to do here. For example, their bacon breakfast burrito has about 1,700 mg sodium and the jambon de Paris sandwich has over 2,000 mg. They have a kale chicken caesar salad which is 700 mg, this is a good lunch or brunch option. Breakfast items are limited to 2 kinds of burritos, 2 kinds of frittata, and some sugary stuff like scones, muffins and yogurt. They have a small sign indicating bagels are available but it's a weird process of asking for a bagel, then they pass a note to some other section. There was a Starbucks 3 blocks from here for about 30 years, it closed recently, so I think Elephants should take up the slack and offer some breakfast items that aren't unhealthy. (I won't go so far as to expect healthy options; please just make them...

The food here is really delicious. I got a Reuben and some Mac and cheese and it all was very good and fresh tasting. My only slight complaint was it can be confusing on how to order for the first time and pay. This was slightly exacerbated because we were with a large group, so the confusion was also partly on us but some of the staff weren't very forthright with information and sometimes when you asked them for something it seemed like they were annoyed at you for not knowing where to find silverware or napkins.

Also the food is plated a little weird where if you get a side they give you a plate with a scoop of a side on it and another plate with your sandwich and you have to do this assembly maneuver where you move everything to one plate then have to ask where to take the old leftover plate. Seemed a little odd for how much $ they charged.

Also had to ask for silverware and I guess they keep it behind the register but the staff seemed to be confused on why I was asking? I guess there are stations for water and silverware but it wasn't obvious and it was another example of feeling like I was being a pain when I just didn't want to eat Mac and cheese with my fingers lol.

Good food but felt awkward and sortof unwelcome because I had to ask questions and bother the staff. I'd say that was just my feeling about it but several people in the group said the same thing so I don't think it...

Came here to visit with a friend; BEST IDEA. The cafeteria style choices make you feel right at home despite being in a bougie part of town, eating at what i would consider one of the best eateries of the land of ports. If you are worried about your wallet maybe don't come here, not because it's overpriced or anything, but just because there's SO much to ogle and awe at; walls lined with food and hot and cold lunch options and just so many cute well priced craft knickknacks and goodies. The staff is so kind here, they could obviously tell we were overwhelmed, and immediately stepped in to help us out (even though i definitely repeated questions too many times) and while i walked away with SO MUCH MORE than i went in planning to get, i loved EVERYTHING i ate and took home. About 3 hours later and a very full tummy and take home bag and i had one of the best days I've had in the PNW.

If you have far more restraint(and adderall) than i, this is such a killer place for deli style eats. Super recommend the lil crab&shrimp cakes and the caprese mac salad with a nice hot sammy. Maybe they'll even let you meet the elephant that makes the...