Jake’s Deli

Jake’s is amazing, we go there all the time and have tried all 3 of their locations. You’ll need to wait a couple minutes for your sandwich, and it won’t be cheap. But if you order anything made with pastrami it will be the best pastrami you’ve ever had anywhere and I don’t say that lightly.

Absolutely horrible, 20 dollars for a pastrami sandwich meal, small cup of coleslaw and fountain drink. Tried the sandwich but couldn’t eat it. Nothing but fat. Took it back but was told to return next day because they didn’t know how to refund a credit card purchase.

Just came back from the Southridge Jake’s deli. Two of us decided to go with famous Reuben sandwiches. The menu said you can have a meal (includes a sandwich, choice of side, which can be either coleslaw or potato salad and a choice of drink), that feeds two, so we ordered it. Well, upon receiving the order, we found out that the supposedly meal that feed two contains just one large sandwich, tiny box of coleslaw and one slice of pickle. What was that «meal that feed two»??? Go guess… Oh, another thing was the attitude of the stuff, to the point that one of them showed me the finger after I asked for a second spoon and the box. The meal quality was good, don’t take me wrong, but it is enormously overpriced. Indeed, for a fast food place, we wound up paying $ 25 dollars and left the place hungry and angry. Would not recommend it and wish the owners would be more selective about people that they hire to work there, because what we faced there made us want to never come back.

Just finished my meal and overall, I’m not impressed. To start, service was slow. There were two couples waiting for food and only my family in line. We waited 5 min just to give our order. The food itself was ok. My wife got the turkey senator which was good. I got the Reuben which wasn’t very good. The Reuben was overly greasy and fatty. For $ 16 I expect that sandwich to be perfect. The waffle fries were good. Finally, for two sandwich meals, the price came out to $ 31. I could have easily gotten a better meal from a sit down place for about the same cost. Don’t waist your money.

Heyooooo!
Another entry on my reuben quest in Milwaukee. When I heard that one of the best reubens in Milwaukee might be at the food court in the mall I was pretty skeptical. I had an appointment in the area, however, and on a whim decided to check it out.
I’ve never been to the Jake’s on North. Let that inform your interpretation of this review as it may.
The sandwich is stacked. The corned beef is cut thick. The kraut is mounded on, but it’s not wet and sloppy. There’s globs of melted swiss dripping out. This isn’t health food.
Surprisingly, the sandwich actually held its shape fairly well. It only fell apart a little.
My one complaint is the price. It set me back a little more than I’d like for lunch with just a sandwich (a huge sandwich, though it may be). It’s by far the most expensive place in the food court.
Four out of five.

Wait 2 minutes just to be served when I’m the only one in line. 5 little nuggets for $ 6! Waited over 10 minutes for them. Honestly how are they even in the food court. Cost is too high and wait is too long. The flavor was there but even my chicken pieces had pieces of chewy fat I couldn’t swallow.

On our most recent trip to Southridge Mall, my husband and I were pleasantly surprised to see Jake’s Deli in the food court. I had never eaten at Jake’s before and was excited to try it. Jake’s Deli is a Milwaukee institution. They have been in business since 1955, and now have a total of 3 locations.
The food is your standard deli fare, and I will admit it is a bit pricey. But it is absolutely delicious. I had the smashed meatball sandwich, which comes with provolone and marinara sauce on Italian bread. It was a fairly large sandwich, which made me happy. And it was delicious! I also tried the Matzo Ball soup. I had always wanted to try matzo ball soup, and I was not disappointed. The matzo ball in the soup was huge!
One thing that Jake’s offers, which I think is nice, is a craft your own sandwich option. You pick your meat, cheese and bread from their selection. And unlimited toppings and sauces are included. The sandwiches include chips, potato salad, or coleslaw.
The staff was very nice to us. We would definitely go back and eat at Jake’s again.

So expensive… The sandwiches are actually pretty decent, but it’s really expensive for what you get. Did I mention it’s expensive? $ 13 for a Reuben? Really? I’ll stick with the Reuben from Arby’s & save $ 8!

First, last, and only visit to Jakes. Discovered they have extremely overpriced sandwiches ($ 15 – 20), incompetent employees that mess up simple orders, and their food just isn’t very good. Fries were rock hard, meat had fat on it, and I ordered one thing and got the lady in front of me’s order. Worker tried to give me an extra punch on their punch card. Left that thing on trash bin for next sucker

After my bad experience at north ave I was going to try the south side location. I had the $ 10 corn beef sandwich. See the pictures. The sandwich comes with a pickle only.
Jakes is in the southridge mall food court which is next to Sears if you want to go right to it. Walk across the lot and into the food court and its on your left half way down the food court. You order at the order window and then move to the pick up window. I ordered for take out and I was clearly asked at the order window but I was given a plastic tray with my food when it was ready, why bother asking if your not going hand it out correctly. When I said I asked for take out you could see that attitude face like I f*#ked up and now she has to work harder to put it in a bag and that just totally inconvenienced her.
The sandwich visually looks good, I took the bread off just to see if it was all fat like the last one and it was not. The corn beef was lean and not all fat compared to the pastrami I had on my first visit. The bread was good with a crispy crust. I really liked the quality of the rye bread with the first bite. After my first bite I was not blown away like with Mc Bobs, it didn’t have big corn beef flavor compared to how it looked. Ok it was not awful but it didn’t do anything for me.
After my second visit to jakes I don’t see what the hype is all about. I agree with other reviews that it’s over priced for what it is. I can’t say I will be back when you have Mc Bobs and the Rochester deli that do a better job at lower price points. I have really tried to like jakes more than any other place especially after my first visit but it doesn’t do anything for me. Please give them a try because everyone’s tastes are different.

Delicious corned beef but small portions and high prices for a sandwich. Nothing more than fast food.

This is the BEST place in town to get a deli sandwich! I’ve lived in Milwaukee for 32 years and 7 in Chicago. I’ve eaten everywhere in, and between, these two cities and just love food! People that don’t know good food, like Gina, have no business posting on Unilocal.When we have friends or family come into town this is a must-​have. Not many places in Wisconsin have consistent, quality and awesome food every time you visit. The service is always top notch and quality food takes time to prepare… period. The manager at the Southridge location, Steve, runs a tight ship and is very personable with all the customers. The last thing that I will say in regards to comments about the cost, is that I would rather pay a little more to eat quality, great tasting food, than your typical cheap and greasy fast food.

The storefront of this food court restaurant is a notch and above all others. I didn’t know the Jake’s Delicatessen brand, but for some reason, I thought that this place is special, and I have to try it. As I approached the counter, I waited for about 5 minutes while the 3 guys running the place were huddled around a cell phone in the back corner. While a 5 minute wait, as we perused the menu, wasn’t terrible, it was odd that we weren’t greeted and I had the impression that we weren’t standing there waiting for a legitimate reason. I ordered the large Rachel sandwich with turkey pastrami. The flat top grill is out in front and as they started to prepare my sandwich, the delicious smell of pastrami filled the air. I swear, when they started to cook the sandwich, the smell beckoned over customers from near and far. The sandwich was on a bun, that they tried to toast, but it was saturated in oil. The meat was really delicious, but it wasn’t the high pile of meat sliced paper thin, that I was expecting. The meat was chipped fairly thick. The Rachel has gooey cheese, thousand island dressing and sauerkraut. As the sandwich didn’t meet my initial expectations, with each bite I started to really enjoy it. I should be less judgmental. I even licked the paper that it was wrapped in! (sorry for the disturbing visual) I ordered a side of homemade chips and matzo ball soup. The food was very good and it was nice to have a, «something different» experience, in a mall. I don’t know of anywhere else, short of going to a deli in Chicago, where I could get this meal. Jake’s really is something special. Despite the rocky start, the customer service ended up being pretty good.

I absolutely love the Pastrami Dip sandwich that comes on the pretzel bun and au jus. It is what turned me on to pastrami originally, and I have never been able to find a sandwich like it anywhere else. I was happy they opened a small one in Grand Avenue Mall because it was easier to access.

I’m not sure of the problems that people seem to be having here. In my experience, everything here has been fast, top notch and this is a really welcome addition to the Southridge area food scene that is inundated with cheap and cheesy fast food and chain restaurants.
On my most recent trip, I had the Philly corned beef sandwich. Again, I don’t understand the complaints with portion size, my sandwich was packed so full of corned beef I had to eat half of it with a fork since it fell out of the bun. It’s really tough to find a better tasting sandwich than this in this food court and if it’s too expensive for your tastes, there’s a Mickey D’s across the food court that has a sorry, cheap ass sandwich to meet your fiscal needs.
I appreciate not only having the choice to have potato salad instead of the requisite French fries that seem to accompany every sandwich, but a damn good potato salad that made for a perfect meal.
I came in here at twelve noon on a Saturday and it was less than five minutes from putting in my order to getting my meal. Again I don’t understand the fuss. That’s better than I get from other more popular nationwide fast food establishments.
Almost ten bucks very well spent and I will definitely return.

Slow service. Ordered a reg. Turkey pastrami sandwich w/​cheese, a cup of matzo Ball soup and a small potato salad. The bill was $ 15.84. The sandwich was nothing to write home about. The bread was dry. The pastrami was lackluster. It came with a quarter slice of a pickle spear. The bread slice was on the small side, you get better larger, wider rye bread from the grocery store. The soup was ok. I do make it better myself. The employee told me that whether you order a cup or a bowl, you only get one matzo ball. Really? The matzo ball was flavorless. The broth was good with chunks of chicken, carrots and celery. The said employee remove the potato salad from the refrigerator fiddled around with removing the label that tells when the potato salad is good till finally got the label off and placed in the bag. Would not return, even if they told me my meal was free. Not worth your time or money. There are other places to eat at in the malls food court.

I had Jake’s Deli for the first time today. I had the Senator sandwich and it was delicious. My friend had the reuben and she said it was the best she’s ever had. (A big reuben lover) There was so much flavor in the sandwiches and you definitely get your bang for your buck! We will definitely be back. This is just the kind of place Southridge needed and I can’t say enough good things about it.

The Jake’s at Southridge seem to be the chain version of the other Jake’s locations. WAY overpriced for the portions. I’m really disappointed because it is really good food and this location is much closer to my home than the others. Probably wont be back to this location again.

I’m wavering between 2 and three stars.
Been to the original location and had a less than great experience and now decided to try the Southridge Mall location in the food court. Still not sold. Sandwiches are good but don’t care for all the extra fees like if you want them to put it down on a griddle to toast it, it’s $ 0.50, really? to grill a piece of bread? It’s not like it’s taking extra time or holding up the line because that is done by the workers all on their own. If you are in a hurry or don’t have 20 minutes to wait for a sandwich, don’t bother, it’s ridiculous. I have been there twice now and experience the same slowness both times and it was not during lunch rush. Everyone around me had the same complaints.
Food tastes good, just wish they can get their act together.

The portion on the Corned Beef sandwich too small for my $ 8.45 spent. The coleslaw is factory made minced sweet as candy! The Kosher Pickles not home made. The Corned Beef was a little under brined/​seasoned. I wish them luck but not for me!
I prefer the competition you know who they are ! The place that’s been around since the early 70’s the place I grew up with !