Stage Deli Restaurant — Restaurant in West Bloomfield Township

For decades now, II have been coming here when visiting metro Detroit. It's always been a classic Jewish deli. And ironically, like many Jewish delis, it's not kosher.

I've always highly appreciated the quality of their food and consistency to deliver it. As I always do, I went with a group of people, we tasted each other's food, and it was all excellent.

One of the traditional menu choices in any deli are always the sandwiches and they so often come with a classic deli pickle. The sandwiches are ridiculously large and the classic deli pickle is not the kind one can buy in any foodstore.

This time at the Stage I was truly disappointed by the lack of size of my sandwich and the pickle. The bread was half the size of what I'm used to at the Stage Deli. And with the bread half the size, they put half the filling between the two bread slices. The meat and the bread were both excellent but I felt as if I was getting half a sandwich. I noticed on the menu their prices had not gone up from last year or the year before. I would have preferred to pay more and gotten more. As in gotten a true deli sandwich. And then there was the pickle! It tasted like a blase' pickle out of a glass jar which I could buy at any run of the mill food store. It was utterly disappointing.

I was the only person in my group who ordered a sandwich. Everybody else got a robust plate of food. And the food was otherwise top-notch except for their seasonal gazpacho. Three of us ordered the gazpacho. Before, I've never been at the stage when they're serving the cold tomato soup, which is only available exclusively during the summer. The three of us agreed the gazpacho was nothing remarkable. And to know, we all see the stage as a remarkable restaurant. Making gazpacho is like an art form. It takes true culinary skill do successfully bring out all the delicious flavors of this vegetable cold tomato soup. What we all tasted was an over-reliance on spice. I for one life spicy foods, but if it's overdone someone doesn't really taste the flavors of the food but more so the spice, it's not working. I would give their gazpacho a rating of fair. Home cooks, as in my friends and family, make scratch gazpacho much better then what we had at the stage. Otherwise I love their soups.

Will I still recommend the Stage Deli? Yes, and very favorably. We are all but human. And humans are fallible. On the day we were there the gazpacho was not "restaurant quality." And there will always be those pickle snobs who say the pickles aren't to snuff when they go into delis. Well I've always been happy with their pickles. And at least in the day that we visited, their pickles were not the pickles of their past.

Will I be back? Of course I will! I'm never going to order their gazpacho again if I'm there in the summer. And my deli sandwich was excellent, except this time there was no leftover to take back home, which I always enjoy.

So, in closing, I'll be back this early winter. They don't have gazpacho on the menu during the winter. And I will order another deli sandwich. And I hope my sandwich does not look like it came from the children's menu and my pickle tastes not like a pickle out of a glass jar from any food store but as always in the past, being a proper deli pickle.

Oh, and their kreplach...

DISCLAIMER - I have done business through companies and recommended business to Stage Deli for YEARS.

I have ordered from Stage for years for special holidays personally (as a treat) and on a regular basis professionally. I have never been so dissatisfied until this year - mind you this is not just my interaction is to why I'm SO done with this business, there are a lot of professional recommendations that have been extremely dissatisfied lately by this business.

MY MOST RECENT INTERACTION:

I placed my order on 12/19/20 to be picked up on 12/24/20. I ordered 1/4 lb of whitefish salad WITHIN my small personal order. I was confused when I took the order out of the bag to see a soufflé cup with whitefish salad in it as this was not something I had seen before from Stage. I called the restaurant to inquire as I had weighed the amount on my food scale (yes I did do a TARE) and it was 3 ounces - 4 OUNCES IS A 1/4 LB! I was met by nothing but attitude from the staff and manager. I asked what had happened and was met with nothing but a combative attitude from the gal who answered the phone - who quickly put me on hold for 15 minutes. I hung up and called back and was met by a male who had another harsh and incredibly combative attitude. I tried to finish my story and he cut me off and said all of their soufflé cups are 4oz and dismissed me. At this point I didn't want a confrontation so I let it go and hung up with him.

Bottom line - I have been in customer service and the hospitality/restaurant industry my ENTIRE career in addition to having a culinary degree. I know pounds to ounces and anyone can have a food scale in their home to know the difference (including TARE). The dismissive attitude and harsh combative way of approaching things with their customers will not travel far.

Best of luck to this business (especially in this climate) - I used to recommend and utilize this business (both personally & professionally) for many reasons and unfortunately that will be no longer . I understand being busy and COVID being a factor but that is not a reason to treat people the...

ANY MOTHER WITH CHILDREN, AVOID THIS PLACE! The hostess/ manager was one of the worst I’ve ever encountered in the service industry. I waited for curbside beyond ten minutes and called twice only to be hung up on after the host told me that I was parked incorrectly. Awful experience and I don’t recommend it to anyone for solely that reason. After I came into the restaurant to pick up my curbside order carrying my baby, and walking my three year old in, they gave me my food and asked if there was anything they could do. Yes, actually, don’t tell a customer they’re parked incorrectly then when questioned for clarification respond with “exactly what I just said” and hang up. Your apology falls flat to a customer that reads beyond your excuse of you were trying to rush and get my order to me. This is embarrassing service for an establishment and your goal should be to treat customers with respect. They definitely don’t value their customers in any way. Avoid coming here.

-my response to the owner as google will not allow: What a lovely response you have written to my google review, stating that your curbside lane is "clearly marked" and that my parking was the reason for the delay in my order getting to me. This was a very nice way of insinuating this was my fault, and also that I lack intellect in reading a sign which is not clearly labeled. Placing blame on a mother and calling her child a "challenge" is not your place, nor will I accept it. Telling the customer to think about their responsibility here is repulsive. Maybe one day you can come to understand to have compassion for others, gain perspective and understanding, and instead of place blame, simply apologize on behalf of your employee instead of try to embarrass a mother on a...