Katz’s Deli & Bar

Even though this place went out of business, and even though I only went here once, and even though it was over ten years ago, I still feel it necessary to write a one-​star review.
Suddenly thought of it, and remembered the horrible, horrible food poisoning I got back in 2002 or so. Unilocal was years away from existing when that happened, but I remember it all quite well. It was supposed to be a good fourth of July, but instead I both humiliated myself in front of others and then finally passed out from throwing up too much.
**** you Katz’s Deli. **** you.

A canticle for Katz’s Deli, which never kloses in my heart.
The first time I ever «did» the 6^th Street thing, many many years ago, Katz was one of the required stops. For breakfast. After being up all night. With another round on the way.
In the years since, I passed the torch on. It was a great place for whatever meal you were closest to. A great rally point when all else was lost. Watching the suspicion turn into delight when someone tried a fried pickle for the first time. Wondering if this was the weekend we were going to get towed for parking in the wrong lot. Joining in with a round of mimosas and bloody marys because why the heck not.
As time went by, I went here less and less. The all nighters downtown became less frequent, some weird stuff went on with Katz trying to run for office, a bunch of condos went up where empty lots used to be. I don’t know if it was as much Katz’s Deli changing as Austin changed around it. It was funky, displaced and offbeat compared to everything else going on. But it wasn’t the kind of thing that «fits» with the new sterilized Austin that people move from California for.
It kills me to read reviews that claim it wasn’t the deli experience they wanted. That it wasn’t fast enough. That it wasn’t New York enough. That it was too New York.. God damn it, it’s a 24 hour deli on 6^th Street run by a displaced New Yorker with a penchant for cult of personality. It’s not supposed to be what you want it to be, it’s what it is and that’s why we loved it.
So which changed first? What influenced what? Maybe it had to change to survive, but I don’t think it could and still be Katz. Perhaps there was a limit. Perhaps it’s time came and went. Now it enters legend with the Armadillo World Headquarters, the old ACL studio, and dozens of bars on 6^th Street that are no more.
It was an amazing, improbable run. For those of us of a certain generation, Katz will never klose.

I was fortunate enough to have enjoyed Katz’s for the last time on New Year’s Eve 2010. Their sandwiches are expensive for what it is… Reuben or Philly Cheesestake for $ 14. Nothing special and I’d say it’s just a typical deli restaurant. Their advertising campaign and image definitely are the only things that brought them fame, that and they’re always open. I don’t miss it being gone.

Farewell old friend!

Sorry to see them close. I have been here about twice in the last 20 years. I found the food to be OK and the atmosphere very good.
However, I have not been there in several years.
Hum, maybe that is why they are closing.
Would I go back? I guess not since they are clsoing.

This place is going straight down the shitter. I have never been a huge fan… but sometimes when you’re in that area it beats driving drunkenly to Kerbey or Magnolia… I have good, albeit blurred, memories of the reuben and the supposed homemade chips and pickles. Those memories went down the shitter, as well.
This place is obviously a sinking ship and the wait staff and cooks have to be aware of it. Service was lackluster and the quality was piss (or maybe I was just sober). I think Mark is an alright dude… but if he wants to swing from the Katz’ family’s nuts with the name… he better represent. Good bye to bad rubbish.
If there is a new location, I will wait for at least fifty reviews before i subject my GI tract to the punishment it endured after this reviewed outing.

We went to Katz for a late night snack. We had heard rumors that it might be shutting down, due to financial problems. Since we had fond memories of it, we felt like we needed to go again just in case.
You know how you remember awesome movies as a kid and then you re-​watch as an adult and are like «What the frites was I thinking?» And it totally ruins the memory for you. Well that’s what happened.
They were not even remotely busy. We ordered two knishes, a latke and the bagel with lox. It took over an hour to get our food. The waitress stopped by once to let us know that the kitchen was backed up. Then we didn’t see her again for a while. My friend flagged her down and asked, politely if she could check on our food. Before she could finish her sentence the waitress snapped that she was on her way to do that. Well okay then. When we got our food it was lukewarm and the consistency can only be described as gluey. And to add insult to injury when the waitress dropped off the check. She made it a point to say. «Remember, its not my fault the food was late. Don’t forget that.» Fishing for an undeserved tip much? I understand that the kitchen errors are not the waitresses fault. But being inattentive and rude is your fault.
And we’re pretty sure that they let hubs Salmon sit out because he was sick all the next day. So that was awesome.
So just keep the memories, don’t ruin the good ones you have.

Katz’s is … okay.
Back in the early 00s when we were first dating, my husband and I frequented this place, I guess because we often ate at odd hours and it was close to our respective domiciles. But neither of us had been since moving away from Austin in 2005 (not counting the time I went in with a friend while we were both rather tipsy and dehydrated during SXSW 2008 … let’s just forget about that time).
Maybe my husband and I didn’t go under the best circumstances during our recent visit, either. We had just tried out a yoga class at a nearby studio that we hadn’t gone to before, and found it to be higher-​impact than we expected. So we were sweaty, shaky, worn out, and thirsty, and wearing stupid-​looking clothes. We basically picked Katz’s because we knew where it was and what it had, and knew that we could get water right away.
It was again an odd hour, around 3pm or so, and though the place was pretty deserted we were seated in the bar area rather than the main dining room, in a table placed rather awkwardly up against the window/​wall. We ordered waters and iced teas and they arrived promptly and were large, so that was good.
We both ordered classic size sandwiches: my husband got the Reuben and I got the «Grilled Turkey Ham and Swiss Cheese.» I asked what came on the sandwich vegetable-​wise since I’m picky, and the waiter said «maybe a slice of tomato» so I told him that was fine. I also asked to substitute sourdough bread instead of rye because I hate rye (bread, not whiskey!).
Didn’t take long for the sandwiches to arrive. They were big and salty. My sandwich was just meat, cheese, and bread … no veggies and no dressing to be had. If I wasn’t so exhausted I would’ve at least asked for some mayo, but I decided that the meat was juicy enough that I could make do, so I just put a tiny bit of the table mustard on the sandwich to add more flavour. Other than the salt, it wasn’t really what my body wanted (you know … yoga puts one in tune with that, right?), but I ate the whole thing anyway. My husband enjoyed his sandwich well enough. At least it had dressing and a vegetable (sauerkraut totally counts!).
Throughout our experience there the waiter aggressively tried to upsell (appetizers, sides, desserts, etc.) though it should have been obvious that we weren’t interested. He was probably just trying to rack up a bigger tip percentage-​wise since the place was dead, so that didn’t really bother me.
What did bother me was almost $ 30 for 2 sandwiches (with no sides) and two iced teas. (No, we weren’t even offered the little complimentary pickles-​and-​chips tray of times past). Maybe we’ll go back to Katz’s if it continues to exist, but I’ll definitely wait until I’m craving a Patty Melt, which is the only thing on their menu that I’d actually seek out for the price (and who knows if those are still good considering that I haven’t had one in over 5 years!).

It’s heartbreaking when a place selling Sysco food for New York prices goes belly up.
Is there no justice?
.

Well, ate there once hoping for decent traditional deli food… ordered corned beef and was not good but pricey. My suggestions are to purchase meats at Central Market and spare yourself a trip to K’s. Not representative of a good deli.
Ownership 1 star (had skeezy experience at Top of the Marc as well), food 2 stars… Hopefully this place will die and a better/​real one will sprout

I love you Katz. Even though your stuffed cabbage can be a little greasy, your cheese stuffed potato is a heart attack on a plate, and your cobb salad seems to have shrunk.
You have Guinness on draft, and that makes me happy.

This is about the Katz Catering!
I love it!
Katz’s comes every day to my work and wow, do they serve great meatloaf with super garlick-​ity mashed potatoes!
Holla!
And they have Waffle Wednesdays too that make all of the 9^th Floor Smile like it was 1999!!!
I think Katz’s itself is great but the catering, forget about it, it is the cat’s meow meow now now!
LOVE IT!
And a big shout out the the AMAZING Caterers that are the finest representation of this biz that our office gets the honor to see every day!

My husband and I went to Katz over the summer to grab brunch before leaving Austin. 2 friends joined us. First, the waitress approached our table and just dropped of the set ups and then went to check on the rest of her section before coming back to get our drink orders. It was 100 degrees outside and we had walked there about half a mile. We were obviously in need of water.
Anyway, the food took quite a while for a brunch. I dont mind waiting for food — but not at brunch when the place was not even close to full.
My husbands french toast was barley even close to warm and was totally cold by the time he finished his first slice. The waitress forgot to bring the syrup and he had to wait. He ordered hot tea which the waitress said was earl gray — but it was lavender infused earl gray which was too fragrant for hubby and just plain gross.
I ordered the cheese quesadillas with beans instead of chicken, the cheese tasted like it came from a tube and the beans were of meager proportions and my food was also not hot.
Our two friends did not enjoy their food either.
We had told the waitress at the time we sat down that one of our friends had to catch a flight. We asked for the check when the food arrived yet it still took until after we were finished to get it.
Avoid this place.

I wonder how much nostalgia plays a roll in this. I haven’t been here in a couple of years, the last time it happened I was killing time to pick someone up from jail. True story.
Anyway, I’ve always come away with a good feeling. The potato pancakes are awesome. I like their French Dip sandwich, great jus. Fried pickles are very good and for all you sniveling wretches who say that pickle chips are better I say to hell with you.
If you have a good metabolism AND don’t plan on eating anything else for 36 hours, get the cheesecake milkshake. Thank me later.

I want to like Katz’s. I really want to like them, but the Tavern on the Green Salad I had today just didn’t do it for me. «Fresh turkey breast, turkey ham, salami, roast beef, Swiss cheese, tomato and hard-​boiled egg on a bed of lettuce.»
Okay, what the frig is «turkey ham»? I know they can’t have actual ham because they’re kosher, but why bother having something that unsuccessfully tries to taste like ham? The «beef bacon» I had on my burger last week tasted like a ham steak. I’m amazed it came that close to ham. It was still lousy tasting, though.
I will have to figure out what took the place of bacon on my potato skins during Visit 1. Was it beef bacon — which tasted nothing like the beef bacon that was on my burger last week — or was it turkey bacon?
Have you ever noticed that turkey is like the O– of meat? It can be used for almost any other type of meat, just as O– blood can be given to a person of any blood type. I’ve seen turkey burgers and turkey hot dogs, which are awful in my opinion, and now I’ve been the disappointed recipient of turkey ham.
I don’t know why I was expecting the turkey breast to be actual turkey breast. Silly me. I should have expected cold cut turkey breast. I had also hoped the swiss would be shredded, but it wasn’t. Bummer. The roast beef was good, though.
Waitress Maggie was super nice. I gave them three stars because Maggie was quick and got me out of there fast, and because they had fat-​free Ranch dressing.
I easily could’ve made this salad with simple cold cuts from H-​E-​B for less than the 9-​something dollars Katz’s charged me.
Marc Katz was at the bar when I was there. I failed to collect the necessary guts to tell him how little I thought of the Tavern salad. Boo for me.
I’m really tempted to order the Golden Roast Turkey Breast and Dressing to see if it, too, is merely cold cuts.
I will come back later this week to try the crepes. If those fail to please me, I will only ever go to Katz’s to have drinks.

When I need my Ruben and Matzo ball soup fix, this is where I head.
not really anything else to say about it. new york deli style sandwiches and good soup.
make sure to request pickles and chips when you get there. and as they say, Katz Never Kloses. There’s not even a lock on the front door so stagger over here after you’ve gotten sloshed on 6^th.

Over rated 24 hour NY Deli style food with little flavor and way over priced for the tiny portions. It’s almost a NY deli, it just needs good recipes and real portions.
The Deli’s in NY City are ²⁄₃ the price and twice the portions.

I went here again last night and was impressed how they handled the ACL crowd. Man, they got people in and out.
But that’s not really what I wanted to talk about. I just wanted to remind people of the FREE CHIPS AND PICKLES that you get here. You have to ask for them, but they are free nonetheless. So be sure and ask for them next time you’re there.

Favorite Katz’s memory — Hangin with the late Clifford Antone @ 3:30 am. Katz’s has been on my late night road map since I was in high school. One of the only places in Austin that you will wait in line at 2am. With that said heres the acceptable fare:
Katz’s Klub (ask for soft cooked beef bacon)
Free pickles
Eggs (broadway/​linda/​laura) — poached eggs over turkey ham with potato pancakes and creamy horseradish sauce ala prime rib. This item isn’t on the menu any longer so you have to ask for it
Blintzes
I’ve basically stuck to the same grub since I started going there years ago. Its a bit overpriced as the egg dish mentioned above is $ 10. It was still worth the price for the 3am BS sessions with Mr. Antone. Katz’s may not be the best but I wouldn’t trade the memories and the experience for nothin.

Many, many thanks to Alison P and Kevin N for hoofin’ it all over downtown Austin with me in search for ANYWHERE that would serve food post 1am on a Friday night…
As I was STARVING, the food tasted pretty good… but I agree with AP, a bit overpriced for the quality. I am always shocked by NY deli prices, but I think if you are an NY deli in Austin, TX… prices should adjust accordingly.
I did a «build my own omlette,» which proved very difficult in my mildly sober (I guess conversely that means mildly drunk as well) state of mind. I ended up with a Denver… good thing they sprinkle the selected ingredients on the top… a nice reminder of what I had actually ordered.
Ok, the other bonus of this place: PRIME people watching late night. I saw more people stumblin’ down the street than I have in awhile, and it was fun. My comment, «Hey, this is Austin’s Wrigleyville!» They kind of looked at me blankly, but its pretty true :)
Food, Ok. Service, Ok. Yes, I was full… so 3 stars. Oh, and it would help if they closed the windows when it drops below 50 or so late at night, I was freezin’!