Roma Deli — Restaurant in San Bruno

One of my favorite sandwich shops in the country(well, in the world). I have moved to Austin several years ago, but I stop here every time I visit the Bay Area(~once a month). This is an old Italian no-frills deli owned by a Korean family which serves quality sandwiches for reasonable prices. The decor is old and they haven't updated it since the 50s or 60s, but no one goes there for the decor.

I have never seen them completely empty. I have gone there at all sorts of odd hours and I always find people getting multiple sandwiches and the owners always working. They have Boarshead brand deli meat which is high quality to begin with. On top of that they make their own chicken and egg salads which are tasty. And they don't skimp on the meat. They hollow-out the bread to make sure the meat sits properly.

Their Dutch crunch bread is to die for. I haven’t found the Dutch crunch like theirs anywhere else, not even in NYC. I love the homemade chicken salad and the spicy sauces. The owner Sun is so sweet and awesome; I love her smile when she serves sandwiches. I have been coming here since 2007 and she remembered me and my order even after I didn't visit them for over 2 years. Her husband is also very friendly.

I will be visiting for another 20 years.

Update(2019/2020): Sun and her husband sold this shop and went traveling in Korea. I very much miss her warm smile. Luckily the new owners are their family friends and so they are keeping up with the tradition and still serve...

What in the actual other worldly wow is this?? After being sorely disappointed trying a burrito at some forgettable Mexican place in San Mateo last night, I felt I should stick with sandwiches, and I am so happy I decided to come here!

I ordered the large Salsalito Turkey Supreme which comes with jalapeño pepper jack and this Cajun Aoli sauce... I also got it on toasted Soft French loaf... YESSSS

The veg is chilled and fresh and the meat cheese and bread toasty and warm, the contrast with warm and cold is nit something sandwich shops really ever can quite figure out. They got it here!

The lettuce is shredded which I prefer, tomatoes are nice BIG fat slices.. I was thinking of asking them to swap the jalapeño pepper jack with Swiss, but I am so glad I didn't tell them to do that. Keep it just as they make it, it's so worth it *

For the large sandwich, which they walked out to me, when they placed it in front of me my first reaction was to say "oh... that is indeed a very large sandwich, thats great!" and she just laughed

The LG sandwich a bag of chips (normal size not small) and 2 canned sodas it was $23! That is way acceptable.. I paid $25 for that garbage burrito I ended throwing half away of last...

Honestly, I was a bit scared to eat here when we walked in. This place inside is a total mess, and I'm being nice about it...

Storage along the walls. You can't see any of the meat or breads. I wanted to walk out, but my wife was starving, so we ordered .. shit just thrown everywhere kind of..

She got the hot pastrami on the Dutch crunch, and I did the gyro on a Dutch crunch aswell.

The food was surprisingly very good. A solid 4.2/5 for taste and quality.

They definitely skimp on the gyro (a few slices only). However this qualifies as a hole in the wall for us.

Run down beat up but knocks out some tasty eats. Definitely try it when your in the area. The staff was very kind and accommodating aswell.

Will definitely try more sandwich combos next visit.

Moral of the story don't judge a book...