Madison Deli — Restaurant in Virginia

I would take the reviews about their cheesteaks with a grain of salt, especially if you've lived in SE PA or NJ and know what good cheesesteaks look and taste like. Their Royal cheesesteak is nothing different than what you can get at Santinis Italian deli or any other NOVA deli. Definitely would not be able to call it "Royal" in SE Pennsylvania or NJ. Just an average cheesesteak on a small sub roll with more lettuce, peppers, tomato and mushrooms than meat and cheese (filled more with the cheap ingredients than with meat and cheese). I lived in SE Pennsylvania so i know what good cheesteaks look and taste like. They can call it "Royal" all they want but that's just marketing mumbo jumbo, there's nothing special about their cheesteaks in size, taste...

After living in McLean for six years, I decided to venture out beyond my usual spots to see if another deli might get onto my list of favs. Uh, not this one. The phone order person was friendly and efficient. Check! The November sandwich and onion rings were tasty, especially at the price. Check! Finding the place is tough the first time since the entrance is in the back of the building. Not a big deal. But the customer service - greeting (none) and general help with how to retrieve a phone order (none) left me wanting and feeling invisible. My experience was really disappointing given the clear “love” handed out by the same workers (especially the manager) to what I can only assume were regulars. Oh well. Guess it wasn’t...

Busy around lunch time, but it was such a pleasant experience! You can really see how close they are with their community through the pictures displayed on the walls and how respectful they are when communicating with their customers. The staff was also fairly quick with serving my bulgogi quesadilla combo, which was delicious! It came with a generous portion of crinkle cut fries as well. In addition to that, they offer a wide variety of sandwich and salad options too. I hope they consider offering more Korean food options other than bulgogi! Definitely recommend getting their bulgogi...