Zan's Deli — Restaurant in Town of Smithtown

As a long time customer (5 years+) I was extremely disappointed today by both the food and the service.

My girlfriend and I decided to have a lunch out together and decided on one of our favorite restaurants. Upon entering the place was deserted except for the cashier who didn't greet us or say a word until we asked her if they were taking the coupons... after she responded in the afirmative she went silent again until we had to ask if they were seating to which she took us to a booth.

Once seated we purchased the coldcut platter and "difficult decision" which was a choice of 3 appetizers. At first our waitress was quite pleasant and we enjoyed most of the food we ordered... the coldcuts were all delicious, as was the chopped liver. The beef tongue polonaise was edible; though, their beef tongue has had a noticeable drop in quality over the years and I would probably not purchase it again.

All that being said, the whole chicken livers appetizer tasted rancid. Biting into the individual livers left my mouth desperate for a palate cleanse and my stomach clenching. I don't know what was wrong with said livers but what I do know is that we frequently eat both calf and chicken liver from home and in restaurants and the taste of the meat was bad.

The kicker in this story was that when we made the waitress aware of this she began questioning us as though we had no idea what we were talking about. " I saw them take out fresh livers", huh. I wonder how you can take the time to watch the cook prepare food much less assess the quality of raw liver as a waitress attending 3 other tables.

My girlfriend and I were both extremely polite and did our best to be nonconfrontational... we have complained about food once to a waitress out of hundreds of restaurants visited. We were not interested in any free food or replacement, just wanted to make them aware the livers were not edible. We also understand a place is not always perfect and have no expectation of that, but the way we were treated turned it into what it was. The know-it-all attitude was really appalling, and myself as a past fishmonger and her as a past deli-worker, we probably know better what fresh food looks/tastes like. Regardless, the customer is always right and should never be made to feel like there is something wrong with their taste buds.

Give those old livers to the dogs! You lost a dedicated customer who only had good things to say about your restaurant because of a waitresses' ignorance......

I’m not one for writing bad reviews but when I’m basically called a liar by the cashier it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

We come to Zans weekly (well we did until now). Usually our server is a redhead who is incredibly nice and on top of things. She knows us, as again we go every week, usually on the weekend.

Today (a Monday) our waiter wasn’t good and that happens. As some examples: There was only one other customer in there yet it took forever to get our drinks, we weren’t served pickles which we always get, and when I asked for a refill it never came until we asked for the check. When I said don’t worry about the refill in a very nasty tone he told me “Drink it!”. On top of that we were overcharged by the waiter which I had to have corrected when we paid.

When I told the cashier she basically said I was lying about everything. This because when I mentioned the refill and how nasty the waiter was about it I used the word “yell” as in he yelled at me, which may have been the wrong word, but I explained that it was his tone of voice….not to mention the other problems. But since I used the word “yell” she said she doesn’t believe anything I said.

So because I was called a liar I am writing this review. We will miss the exceptional service of the red haired waitress who we asked what her hours were, but that was before being called a liar which now makes us not want to go back. I won’t miss being overcharged or their high prices though and certainly won’t go to a place where the customer is...

Our dining experience at Zans was one of the worst. I have never in my life heard of serving customers different cuts of Pastrami. We could not even chew the Pastrami with all the fat on it. The fries were hard, dry and burnt. When the waitress returned to ask if we wanted the food wrapped I told her that the Pastrami was not edible, full of fat. Her response was they have different cuts of Pastrami for a dollar additional we could have had LEAN Pastrami, Not (CAN I GET YOU A LEAN PASTRAMI SANDWICH) to replace yours.I asked to speak with the manager who was no help and gave the same poor excuse of the $1.00 more for a better cut.

So $60.00 later, never even an apology, This review is to warn potential customers to order lean pastrami or you will have a terrible meal. Bit of information, the only reason we went to Zans was PASTRAMI AND FRIENDS in Commack was closed for a week. If you want the best Pastrami around every time without worrying about a bad cut of meat pay a visit to PASTRAMI AND FRIENDS you will never be disappointed.

To the management... Your policy of serving different cuts of meat to your customers is strange. People are paying good money for these sandwiches we should only be severed the best.

I hope you consider changing your policy and only serve lean Pastrami in the future to...