New Yorker Deli — Restaurant in Roanoke

I had my first "Sub" at the New Yorker (in the original re-purposed cigar store location) in 1966. My father and occasionally later my grandfather would never miss a chance to stop at the New Yorker. Dad befriended Harry and in the mid 70s tried to get him to expand to our home town of Lexington. Dad's offer was that he would buy the old Lexington train station and rent it to Harry. Harry's response was "sorry Don, but the only reason I am successful is because I am here every day when we open and I am still here when we close".

After the 1975 move to the new location, I always took the time to get off of I-81 and make a pit stop at the New Yorker. Sitting in a comfortable booth and being welcomed with recognition by waitresses who had been employed there for years, then having that glorious hot sub covering every inch of a large oval platter sat in front of me was every bit as satisfying as having rack of lamb in a five-star restaurant.

Much has changed. I was not aware after moving to Florida that Covid introduced "take-out ONLY" until I pulled in with my usual high expectations last week. Ordering from and eating in my car was a bitter-sweet experience. The Sub? Very close to the same, exquisite sandwich I had been enjoying at the New Yorker for over 55 years.

A nice man running the register told me that even though the rest of the world had "opened back up", they were making the same money without the hassles of running a restaurant doing take-out only. Quoting him, "No one wants to take a job unless you pay them $30 or more an hour and the ones who will take a job can't be relied on to show up for work when you need them".

Sad. I miss Dad, I miss Harry. I miss the waitresses who did not need to ask me "Do you want slaw? Do you want your onions and peppers on the side?" because they remembered me from my years of every two or three months visits.

The "Story" link on the NYD website states that the Russel family still owns and runs the New Yorker Delicatessen. I am glad they are still making a good living selling the best sandwich south of New York City, even if you have to eat it...

I lived in the Roanoke area for almost 21 years and to me the New Yorker Deli was a special place to me and my family. Now fast forward I've moved away and when I've come back to the Roanoke area I look forward to visiting this restaurant. My mother and I decided to come visit to New Yorker deli after a long day and just wanted to sit down and relax especially after driving hours to get to Roanoke. If you're looking for a place to sit down and relax this place is definitely not for you and you'll definitely encounter some rude customer service not only from the person who takes your order but also the person who hands out your order. When multiple people ask when they're going to open up their dining room they stated multiple times that they have no intention to opening up their dining room in the future. Which I concluded to being able to cut down staff and profit more money since they wouldn't have to pay for waitresses or waiters in the area. The food is still good but for me it's not going to be the same because I can't get the full menu nor the experience of eating at the restaurant. I understand covid hit pretty hard and hit a lot of restaurants hard in the area and they have no attention to opening the dining room, but if that's going to be your intention, the current staff should not be so rude to their customers that they do have coming into their store or maybe they should put picnic tables outside for customers who have nowhere else to eat and do not wish to eat in their car. I know this review seems like I am being quite negative and rude towards the business because her dining room is closed, but the ultimate point that I'm trying to make is if you're going to make certain decisions customer service should be your key priority to keep your current customers. When I go back to the Roanoke area I will definitely be looking elsewhere to eat food and have officially marked this place off my list of favorite places to come back to when...

I write this review with a heavy heart. I’ve been going here, always a two or more hour drive, since 1981. Solid, consistent service and food and always for the submarine as it is called. The bread was perfect, with a distinct slight rye flavor, and held up to the wonderful combo of meats slaw peppers and toasted cheese. Spot on. Even stopped there during COVID and took it to go and still spot on. Stopped by today on way back from South Carolina…two years later, still takeout. I’m ok with that. There are some red flags that make me worry that my favorite place has gone down hill. Red flag number one is the large empty dining area, chairs stacked up since March of 2020 ((info from cashier). The bread is not right. Fillings are the same but the cheese lacked that toasted umami. It is different-smaller, the bread too soggy and not crusty enough to house the wonderful meats slaw onions and pepper. Next red flag is the note saying they will not burn the sandwich (cheese? Bread?) if requested. I talked to cashier. I don’t think people are asking for their sandwich to be burnt-they want it toasted. Their is a disconnect here. This raises another red flag-not listening to the customer. Next red flag, and I know times are tough, isthe empty refrigerator displays. No imported Jewish delicacies-the pickles, peppers, sauces, etc. just large dark empty refrigerators in the main area. The empty deli case-couldn’t even buy one of those wonderful pickles that are hard to find. I wonder if this place was sold at some point and new owners are compromising this jewel of a place. This place is an American icon and needs to be saved. The bread needs to return. This is a tough review-I have loved this place for 40 years and want it to succeed. I hope they read reviews and revisit their roots. Maybe I’m just getting old and this is the...