CLOSED Review: Stanley's New York Deli
Author: WIBIA | Filed under: Food Reviews, Location: Indianapolis, INStanley’s New York Deli
Indianapolis, IN
8555 N. Ditch Rd.
http://www.stanleysdeli.com/
Being a food critic (I use that title loosely) is a lot of fun, except when I am at the crossroads of writing a negative review.
Stanley’s has a great story. Independent family owned restaurant wanting to bring some of his NY favorites to the Midwest. I read the story on the site and I couldn’t wait to go. Grand opening was 3/14/09, so this is still their first week.
What I ate:
Classic Corned Beef – $9.50 (Sy Ginsberg Corned Beef, Rye, Mustard) (Me)
Yankee Doodle Dandy – $8.99 (Wife)
(Medium Rare Roast Beef, Cheddar, Lettuce, Tomato, Horseradish)
Corned Beef is possibly one of the easiest sandwiches to makes. Three ingredients, nail them and you have a winner. Rye was biggest problem here. Plain, bland and boring. Quality of corned beef was good, no problems there. However, it is a healthy portion of corned beef. You can get ½ meat for $7.50, I didn’t like the math.
The Yankee Doodle Dandy left me to try and figure out what the dandy part is. The sandwich was dry and the roast beef was dry and not medium rare as advertised. Same rye as above.
Sandwiches come with a pickle (extreme vinegar taste) and chips. The chips were good, but very salty on some bites.
Would I Buy It Again: No, unless I hear consistently better reviews. It wasn’t horrible, but for a $22.00 lunch for 2, I didn’t realize the value or think the taste justified it.
Instead: Shapiros is still the king in Indy. Their Corned Beef is $10.50, but worth it. ½ Price through March as well (Carmel Location only)
Additional Rambling: I applaud independent restaurants and think that everyone should give it a try to judge on their own. I want more start ups like these in Indy, but they have to deliver.
What wasn’t lost on me was them charging $1.75 for a can of Coke. That is absurd!!!!!
Opposing Viewpoint: Another Indianapolis blog enjoyed it: http://worthyourattention1.blogspot.com/2009/03/stanleys-new-york-deli-indianapolis-in.html
-WIBIA
Tags: Food, Indianapolis, Stanley's New York Deli
Thank you for your review. To start, you are correct with the price of the can of coke, it has been changed to $1.25, don’t know how I missed that.
I would like to say that I have heard from many people about the bread. I spent a few months searching for a great Rye Bread and I know I found one in S. Rosen out of Chicago. Unfortunately for me, they did not deliver me what they showed me, during the first two weeks of operation. I have since received the correct bread and now, instead of slicing it on the bread slicer (smaller size pieces) we are slicing it on the meat slicer (cleaned of course) at an angle, providing a larger and thicker slice of bread. It has been received well by my guests.
As for the meat, that too I searched for the best, and Sy Ginsberg out of Detroit certainly does provide me with the best meat in town, hands down. During the first few weeks I will admit that when my top slicing employees were not present, others tried to step up but did not always slice the meat correctly. We have fixed that with more and better training.
Finally I have heard mixed feelings of the value for what your are purchasing. The meats I use are all natural, absolutely no chemicals or perservatives. They cost me a little more and I have added a complimentary portion of homemade chips with every sandwich (which I have been told are the best chips in town).
Last but not least, the math $9.50 vs $7.50 for a full stuffed vs a 1/2 stuffed sandwich. The pricing is not just all about the meat, there is the cost of bread, the cost to pay the employee to make it and an endless amount of expenses to run this business.
I hope you will give us another opportunity to show you that we are another good option for deli in this town. I am not trying to replace Shapiro’s, they have been here for a very long time, I am just trying to offer folks on this side of town another option.
Thank you again, we can only get better when we receive feedback from our guests.
Greg.
Welcome to the blog. Sounds like you are on the right track and any restaurant that listens to their customers is thumbs up in my book.
Some people that do reviews don’t review a place twice, I do. Some don’t go within the first week, I will.
I think that Shapiro’s is crazy expensive for their sides and pretty much everything. The only things that I like from their is the corned beef and bakery. I really want to take my business elsewhere. You said that you don’t want to replace Shapiro’s, but just to give people another option… Lets agree to give them a better option, not just another one!
You have a nice place, a huge menu, quality meats etc… Indy needs a great deli, iron out a few small things (it seems like you already have) and you will do very well here.