Zaftigs Delicatessen

Didn’t meet expectation. Mediocre food. Don’t recommend waisting your time. Better to go home and cook ramen S noodles

Can’t wait to go again. Worth every pound to gain!

Oy gavolt, I walked in to this place and I was faklempt. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read on, I’ll explain.
I grew up on the northside of Chicago. Jewish delis are everywhere. It was a part of my childhood and every time I step into one, that smell transports me home. I recently moved from Chicago the Rhode Island. While there are plenty of great places to eat there, Jewish delis are just not their thing. After all, Jews don’t eat shellfish, this one does, but don’t tell my Rabbi.
ANYWAY, this place is fantastic. Delicious corn beef, delectable pastrami and the potato pancakes, oy, forget about it! The breakfast looks terrific, but I was there for the meat!
EAT HERE, you’re all skin and bones.

I heard they have awesome bagel chips when you first get seated. We were never offered anything and the food was alright. Honestly I think it’s kind of expensive for just okay food. I’ll have to go again to see if the other options are any better. My food seemed kind of bland compared to the description on the menu. I’ll go again because it wasn’t a horrible experience, but they definitely missed the mark with me that first time.

This place brings me back to my childhood growing up in a Jewish suburb in Baltimore, Maryland. And again, Unilocal didn’t let me down. Food just as I remember going to delis with my Mema back in the 90s. We stopped here on our way out of Boston for some down home Jewish cooking. The potato pancake was probably the star of the show. Crispy and potatoey on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. Their applesauce was so damn good. It wasn’t like any applesauce you get at the store, it was actually a sauce, probably puréed. And it was bae in my mouth. The challah French toast was pillowy and sweet. Very good too. My eggs benny was memorable too. The eggs were farm fresh, they reminded me of eggs I’ve had in Mexico, fresh from a farm. The English muffin was huge, great for sipping up the yolk. Hubby got the pastrami scramble and he was very impressed. The food is definitely worth the trip and something to remember. The prices are a little steep and the chairs are a bit uncomfortable but can be dealt with. Definitely recommend a visit here.

The wait is insane.
Minimum 45 minutes.
Completely worth every minute of it!!!
Just be prepared for the wait.
The food is Amazing!

Very solid deli! Wish this place was closer to my house, perfect week night or Sunday night spot when you don’t feel like cooking.
Had a fantastic Saturday brunch here. I’d been warned about a long wait, but we were seated at the bar immediately!
Bagel chips are a fun complimentary starter… And I imagine very welcomed for those who suffer an hour plus wait.
Must get:
+ smoked salmon Benedict on potato pancakes (VERY big and filling, share this)
+ matzoh ball soup — homemade and delicious!

The past couple of times the food at Zaftig’s has just been mehhhhhh and it’s so upsetting!
Maybe I’m ordering the wrong things?! I DON’T EVEN KNOW OR UNDERSTAND.
Per usual — the bagel chips & schmear with them are on point. I could eat those for days.
However, entrees I have ordered for breakfast & lunch have been a miss lately! They’ve been super bland and not tasting super fresh like it used to be. For example– I got a latke smothered in gravy & beef brisket — while the latke was good, the gravy was not good and the beef brisket was sooo dry.
I’m hoping this will change soon or it’s just me — but I had to knock them down cause they haven’t been as solid as they used to be lately & I’ve been going other places in favor of breakfast because it’s been a miss lately.
I promise I’ll come back Zaftig’s if you promise to step up your food game!

Four words: Grilled cheese on challah.
You’re welcome.
Zaftig’s is one place I always try to eat a meal at every time I make it back to Brookline. This local staple is located in the heart of Coolidge Corner. The service is always top notch and the food is great. All the dishes are flavorful and filling — we rarely leave without leftovers. Some of my favorite dishes are the knishes, stuffed cabbages, grilled cheese on challah (excuse me while I drool all over my keyboard), and any of their salads.
This place can get pretty busy during dinner hours, but don’t let that discourage you from going. The tables move pretty quickly and the food is definitely worth the wait! Plus, you get bagel chips to enjoy while you peruse the menu (#winning).
Go here!

What a great place for brunch. Good for groups, dates, a quick bite to eat. Their menu is extensive so there are always a ton of options.
We got complimentary bagel chips with a cream cheese spread and it was great! Crispy chips with fluffed spread.
BBQ brisket quesadilla was a great appetizer. The sauce they use is more on the sweeter side.
The Raphel was a great, heavy dish. However I wouldn’t recommend it for lunch. Can not go wrong with turkey, cranberry, stuffing, and mash potatoes.
The deli is nicely decorated and the service is great.

I was very lucky that I have this next to my house. As a broke college student, I have no idea what brunch is like and this restaurant changed it. I have been here 4 times total, 3 times with my husband (including our 2^nd date) and one with my family. My favorite was the potato pancakes and chocolate french toast. But anything one the menu is amazing. They have fast service and the price is reasonable. I reccomended this place to my boss and she is now a fan also. The complimentary bagel chip is surprising good. Who is the genius that thought about slicing bagel and make chips out of it?

The paintings are very nice — there’s a dog with a cap and a Lego abstract painting. I wish there was a good painting of the food before we ordered, because we would not have had to gob down three fried slabs of oil with potatoes in them. They call this a potato pancake for some reason…
We ordered what was the headliner item according to Unilocal,people potato pancakes with smoked salmon and sour cream. Extremely fried bland not interesting. Don’t think I’ll be coming back

The food is good! But the line is very very long. We came in on a Sunday for brunch and had to wait a long time to get seated.
There is a plethora of options on the menu, but I’m not sure if the quantity/​quality is the best I have had. Furthermore, given how busy it was, I felt a little rushed.
I’ll be coming back during non-​brunch hours to explore more!

Had breakfast here and even though the wait was nasty at 45 minutes on a Saturday AM, the Challah French Toast, the Eggs Benedict and the side of homemade hash were INCREDIBLE! Very much worth it and the service was phenomenal! Go here!

Came here for my first Boston brunch. I loved the bagel chips with cream cheese that came out first! You can tell that it’s homemade because it looks so awesome. We got the banana stuffed french toast which was probably one of the best stuffed french toast I’ve had. It was super fluffy and had lots of bananas inside, combined with a perfect bourbon vanilla sauce. It was unfortunate that the strawberries on top did not look fresh at all and that they didn’t bother cutting off the white/​brown part of the strawberry where the stem and leaves attach so I had to do that myself when I ate it. We also got the San Francisco Joe’s Special which was the more forgettable dish out of the two just because it’s a typical type of hash that you can get at many brunch locations. Pretty cool that they make their own ground turkey though.
Overall, closer to a 3.5 but I just couldn’t find enough to bump it to a 4 but the Banana stuffed french toast is a total 5 minus the strawberry business.

Wow I’ve come here more than ten times by now because the food is CONSISTENTLY amazing. Last weekend I took four of my friends who have never visited before and we DEVOURED everything. WE HAD THE BEST SERVER EVER!!! She gave so many free bagel chips with chive cream cheese!!!
— banana stuffed French toast (a must)
— Reuben rye sandwich (really tasty!!)
— Salmon Benedict w/​potato pancakes (ugh YAS)
— zaftig combo (so good so good to share)
At the end we were nicely content but were not painfully or overly stuffed so the portions and price was amazing for what we had. Such a good place but the wait can be brutal. We waited over an hour :(!!! But it’s worth the brutal wait!
Tip: The peanut noodle salad is good too!

You know it’s good when they serve breakfast all day. Whenever in coolidge corner, zaftigs is my default breakfast place. It has a family restaurant feel. The ambience is old school but you feel like you’re part of a suburban community. The place is always busy so there’s usually a wait.
To start we’re given bagel chips and herb cream cheese that you can munch on while you wait for your food. I absolutely love these and always ask for seconds hehe.
My all time favorite is the banana stuffed french toast. If you’re looking for something savory I recommend the eggs benedict.
Although a bit out of the way, it will be worth the trip!

I’d like to say I’ll never go back to Zaftig’s, but that’s not true, I live around the corner and my parents who live in Newton love this place, it’s where they always want to meet for breakfast and half the time for lunch and dinner. The food is variable, some things are fine, some things are so-​so, most things are overpriced, like $ 10.95 for a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich.
Which brings me to my reason for writing this review. I had dinner there with my parents last night, my mom and I both ordered grilled cheese, I ordered mine on light rye, she ordered hers on white without bacon and with all Swiss cheese, it usually comes with Swiss and cheddar. I’m not a huge fan of Swiss but I do like it melted and combined with other cheeses. It was the worst grilled cheese I have ever eaten, I finished half of it only by dunking it in the Au jus that came with my dad’s brisket. I took the other half home thinking maybe my son would eat it.
I just opened it up to slap on some American cheese and re-​grill it because I really wanted it and I thought that might make it better, imagine my surprise to find that mine had been made with all Swiss, no wonder I hated it, that’s way too much Swiss for me. I called and spoke to a manager named Mike and told him the issue. This is the first time in my life I have ever called with a specific complaint about food, telling the manager I had half of it left (not to mention telling him I live around the corner) and not had an offer to remake the food.
I worked in restaurants for many years, server, cook and management and this to me is unconscionable. I will do my best to encourage my elderly parents to get out of their comfort zone and go somewhere else in the future. There are dozens of restaurants in Brookline and I hate to see Zaftig’s getting so much of their money.

Never quite understood the hype about this place. Standard breakfast items, not done exceptionally well or dauntingly bad. Just average at most. Slow service and long waits too.

Not many options for deli in Brookline, which is crazy. It’s expensive, it’s not authentic, but what else to expect as there is no competition pushing them. I just wait for my trips to NY to get real deli food.

I love love love Zaftigs. Ever since my friends recommended it I’ve been hesitant to try it because they said it usually has a wait. But although they tell me about 20 mins when I go they always buzz me around 5 – 10 mins for 2 – 3 people. (not sure I would totally recommend for groups bigger than 5 but I have seen group of around 7 before) And even if you have to wait longer there are things to do close by in coolidge corner!
I love their food quality, variety and traditionalism and especially their modern atmosphere. Truly a fun new twist on an old school jewish diner. I highly recommend for both old and young people and even kids!
The service is fast, friendly, and attentive. You’ll want to keep coming back either because your favorite meal is just SO good or because you want to try more of their amazing dishes. Check it out for brunch especially! I got french toast with strawberries and chocolate chips and it was to die for!

Zaftigs is one of the best choices you can make when dining in Brookline let alone the entire Boston area. Yes there is typically a long wait especially when you are going during peak weekend brunch times but it’s well worth it and they keep things moving. Though the breakfast items here are my favorite especially the french toast its hard to go wrong with anything on the menu. Oh and THE POTATO PANCAKES ARE A MUST! I seriously dream of them. They are fried perfection and the tart applesauce they serve them with is to die for. The bagel chips they bring out before the meal are also addictive! Zaftigs is affordable, quality, a large menu with good variety, and always consistently good!

This place gets 1 star because it pretends to be nice but it’s actually worse than any corner pizza joint. You know, the type that’s open till 3 am.
1) My girlfriend and I waited an hour to sit down, during which we were treated pretty much like cattle (manager repeatedly told us to move to get out of the way of the servers). You would think the place should be worth the wait, but you would be very wrong.
2) Our glasses had weird white residue inside, which we couldn’t see until we drank half of the water. Very disgusting suprise.
3) Latkas were not cooked properly, and were served with about 1 drop of sour cream. I had to ask for an extra cup of sour cream. Anyone who’s ever had latkas knows that they need a lot of sour cream.
4) My girlfriends wrap had stale lettuce and tomatoes. The wrap wasn’t even toasted or anything. The pickle it came with was warm and bitter.
5) My tuna melt was tiny and tasted like it came straight out of a 99 cent can. Could at least have your own brand for 12 bucks.
6) The server was too busy to pay attention and forgot to bring things she was asked for, like hot sauce.
To recap, this place is way overhyped. I really do not understand why so many people spend their precious time waiting in line for this crappy joint.

Ahh one of my favorite places for brunch. I went to Zaftigs on New Years Eve day and the place was packed! Unfortunately, they don’t take reservations. I put my name down for a party of two and the hostess said the expected wait time was at least 25 minutes. To our delight we were actually seated in about 5 minutes!
To start with we were given bagel crisps with cream cheese. Our waitress, who was friendly, took down our drink orders and we placed our food order at that time as well. While waiting for the food to arrive we noticed we didn’t get our drinks. I tried getting our waitress’ attention to no avail.
Food:
Load Latkes (8.95): potato pancakes stacked and topped with cheddar, sour cream, bacon, tomato, and scallions. This comes with two potato latkes: perfectly fried and crisp pancakes. There’s something about bacon, sour cream, and potatoes that just makes the perfect combo.
Chelsey’s Cheese Fries (4.50): with cheddar, house made turkey gravy, and lots of fries. This definitely something you can share among 3 – 4 people.
Empire Eggs (14.95): potato pancakes topped off with two poached eggs with spinach, smoked salmon, and hollandaise. The hollandaise sauce was a bit sour (perhaps from the lemon juice), but nonetheless it was still tasty! Plenty of smoked salmon slices. The potato pancakes was something new (in my opinion, more preferable) compared to your traditional English muffin. These came with some more potatoes (diced) on the side.
We were mid-​way through our food and our waitress still didn’t provide us with our drinks :(. She was serving the surrounding tables but I couldn’t get her attention. Finally, after half way through my meal, I got my cup of coffee. We later asked for her to pack up leftovers. She grabbed a couple of plates but forget to pack the rest and we had to remind her.
Overall the meal was delicious and the pictures in the review can visually justify. I would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a brunch option.

Love It – such delicious, comforting & hearty food.
Just moved to Brookline & love living so close to this great restaurant. Every meal starts off with an order of bagel chips & cream cheese — yum! I always gobble these down because they are so good.
Everything I’ve had here has been really good. My favorites though are the classic deli sandwiches & Jewish cuisine. Their reuben is AMAZING & they make some of the best potato latkes ever — you can order them as a side with any dish, & it comes with apple sauce & sour cream, yes please.
The service is friendly & fast. Table seating is tight and you feel like you are on top of your neighbors, but it’s worth it for the food & prices.
Only downside of this restaurant is that it is so good that it is almost always crowded. Be prepared to wait a good amount of time on the weekends, if you want to skip the crowds, head there for dinner time!
I’ll be back for more, Zaftigs. I’ve got so much of the menu to still try!

3.5 stars overall. Vast selection of diner classics if you’re willing to put up with hour plus wait. Came with party of 3 at 11:15 on a Saturday and was quoted 30 – 40 minute wait which ended up being 50 minutes. Luckily had an awesome server who kept our coffee hot and got our orders in quickly.
Empire Eggs (smoked salmon benny on latkes instead of English muffin): COLOSSAL, comes with fruit and roasted potatoes. Generous portion of smoked salmon hit the spot. Split the dish with a friend, which was perfect.
Granola pancakes: Buttermilk pancakes with granola sprinkled on top — still tasty but thought this would be more of a multigrain pancake with granola in the pancake.
Blueberry pancakes: Friend enjoyed this.
Large selection of latkes, bagel and lox combos, club sandwiches and your usual diner suspects. Would love to try the pastrami scramble next time.

Wow I finally ate here and I’m kinda sad realizing all the weekend brunches in my past I could have had here.
It’s always packed on the weekends but don’t worry the my do a great job to cycle people in!
I had potato pancakes with poached eggs and lox. This was amazing and probably one of the tastiest and most satisfying breakfasts I’ve had in my whole life.
Go with friends go with family really it’s a great atmosphere for everyone– even kids.

I think I tried almost all breakfast/​brunch place in Cambridge, so I decided that it is time to extend my breakfast/​brunch mission to greater Boston area. Zaftigs has great reviews and it was on top of my list, so we decided to give it a try.
We were seated immediately, because we were lazy and we arrived at 3pm. We ordered the Greek omelette, the fruit plate first and the famous French toast with banana filling to share. Omelette and the fruit plate was good, but the French toast was, just okay. The challah bread is delicious, but the cooked banana in it was like hot lava, and together with the bread, it created a mushy mix. Nevertheless, it was tasty.
Service was great and the environment is okay. I would go there again if it was in my neighborhood.

I always love a delicious sandwich and Zaftig’s never fails me. They make the best reuben I’ve ever had. When you go for dinner they give you yummy bagel crisps with a yummy cream cheese spread to munch on. They serve the same menu all day (including the breakfast food). If you love breakfast and have a sweet tooth, I recommend the banana stuffed french toast.
I highly recommend going for dinner instead of waiting in the brunch line since it’s much less busy. I have been several times for dinner with parties as large as 6 people and I’ve never had to wait.

Oh wow. what a gem. We arrived at 10:30 and Harvey, the wonderful host told us there was a 1.5−2 hour wait. We took a pager and went shopping for an hour. We came back and were seated in a fabulous 4 top booth with a chair at the end. Our server was a delight. Her accent wonderful. We started off with the sampler: latke, knish, kugle and a blitz. DIVINE. My daughter and I shared Matzo Ball soup (my first and certainly, not my last). Loved the salty flavors and the ball was great. We shared a lox and bagel plate which was ok but nothing amazing. Oh, my friend loved her stacked latke plate and my other friend LOVED her Empire Eggs: poached eggs over latkes with salmon, spinach and Hollandaise. Oh, I ate most of her home fries. to die for… My friend LOVED her borscht, not me, blech. This place rocks beyond belief. It is worth the wait!
We found plenty of meters along the street on this glorious fall Sunday.

I don’t think this place is worth waiting outside to be seated. Honestly, food was mediocre in my opinion. I ordered the roughrider omelette and I thought it tasted just okay. We waited about 40 min to be seated and that was truly a big disappointment… maybe my expectation was set way too high.
I personally think this is one of those places that gets hyped up like crazy for some reason and people start liking it just because everybody else does…
Also, they were setting up dishes after people would leave the table and I thought some of their cleaning/​setting up practices were a bit unsanitary… Wiping the table with a dirty rag and they place the dishes on the table with hands that they just used to wipe the table… I was a bit turned off by that.

Not worth the wait for a weekend brunch. While the food is decent, it is nothing exceptional and especially not worth a 45 minute wait.
I ordered the empire eggs– 2 poached eggs with spinach and smoked salmon on a potato pancake. I’m a huge sucker for any dish with smoked salmon, but this one was too salty for my liking and struggled to finish the dish. I wish the potatoes on the side were cooked a bit more as well.
What I’ll remember from my meal their is their hot brewed coffee– very tasty and they’re good about refilling.

Brought my friend here who was visiting Boston — I came here on the recommendations of many of my grad school friends. I had heard amazing things about Zaftig’s, so I couldn’t wait to try it.
We came on a Monday morning, avoiding the dreaded weekend crowds. We were seated right away. I decided, against my better judgement, to get the Empire Eggs (basically salmon eggs Benedict). It was good and a large portion but between the saltiness of the salmon and the saltiness of the potatoes, it was too salty of a fish overall.
I will definitely give Zaftig’s another chance, but next time I’ll try the infamous banana stuffed French toast.

Zaftigs is a fantastic place to get some great breakfast food! They offer breakfast ALL day, which is great for me because usually the only time I eat breakfast food is at night xD They are usually packed during brunch and breakfast hours so you’ll have to wait a bit, but the buzzer they give you has a pretty large radius so you can explore different places nearby in Coolidge Corner while waiting for your table (I personally like going to Brookline Booksmith to kill the time with friends!).
Regarding food, if you come after 12 then you will get delicious bagel chips with an amazing cream cheese-​based spread! I absolutely love them, but realized they only give them to you after noon! Entrée wise, I love their San Francisco Joe’s Special (great homemade corn beef hash), which comes with some fresh fruit, parmesan potatoes, and toast/​biscuits that will fill you right up. If you want a burger then I would recommend the Egg & I, which is exactly what is sounds like-​a burger with an egg on it (pretty standard to other places). If you want an omelette, I would strongly suggest you try the Roughrider since you get that great corned beef hash except spread out in a giant omelette!
Honestly, Zaftigs has SOOO many different menu options so I encourage you to explore other things that may stick out to you because I’m sure it’ll be great!

I ate at Zaftigs with my partner and her best friend. She ordered the Turkey hash, he ordered the 2^nd avenue, and I ordered the Reuben. Of the three dishes we all agreed mine was the best in terms of flavor, presentation, the whole nine yards.
The hash seemed under-​seasoned and the Second Ave fell flat. The best part of the meal was actually the free bagel chips! Oh man, those bagel chips-​so good!
A solid three Unilocal out of five!

Pre-​game! Eat a snack! Eat breakfast before your brunch. Pack muffins in your pocket. The wait time is horrendous. We waited over an hour for brunch at Zaftigs Delicatessen. I was starving by the time we were seated.
I guess it was a good thing because I was ready to conquer the menu. The wait also turned out to be worth it. So good!
If you’ve ever been to a Jewish deli, then you already know how satisfying it is to bite into a pastrami sandwich. Zaftigs has that and more.
First they give you a complimentary plate of toasted bagels. They’re thinly sliced and have a great crunch to them. Since we were hungry and I have a slight obsession with noodle kugel, we ordered the Zaftig Combo appetizer to share. It comes with a latke, blintz, knish, and the noodle kugel. Classic!
For lunch we each got our own dish. Stuffed Challah French Toast, Reuben, Grilled Pastrami and Swiss, and Chocolate French Toast. The breads borderline on being dessert like. It’s really difficult to choose between the French Toast and a sandwich. I opted for the Reuben. With the melted Swiss and sauerkraut on top of corned beef it was the perfect blend of textures and flavor. Oh and of course I stole a few bites of the French Toasts.
The best of everything!
Just don’t come here on an empty stomach. I’m warning you about that line.