Tommy Pastrami

what a ripoff soooooooooooo expensive almost $ 20 for a sandwich combo. You got to be kidding me

Came here for a quick lunch with my bf during work. Maybe we’ve been spoiled with such amazing Pastrami in NY that it’s just too hard to compare. But we both honestly did not this the pastrami was no where near as good. The entire sandwich itself was just too dry. It wasn’t juicy nor that tasty either. We also got the Philly cheesesteak sandwich. That too was not that great. I had to use ranch and ketchup just to add some flavor to my sandwiches. To me, that us not a good sandwich. I most likely would not come here again. Nothing worth coming back for. Sorry Tommy, but you guys got nothing on Katz!

The BAD
$ 13 for a ½ reuben, chips, and a soda is fairly expensive for lunch in a strip mall eatery.
The GOOD
Being a 50-​something chick and having the cashier call me «hon» and «sweetheart» in a way that only a native New Yorker could get away with. (I’m lookin’ at you Jeff!)
My tasty half Reuben on rye sandwich was stuffed with enough meat that it would qualify as a whole sandwich. Love the Russian dressing. The fries are hearty steak fries. One order could easily serve two people.
However, given the prices and portions, I couldn’t eat here every day. But if you want fairly authentic New York Deli food – this is your place.
RECOMMEND

This pastrami on rye though! OMG good… and the potato salad is great. One of my fav spots.
Traditional NY style deli! The Matzah ball soup is yum… the chili is good. It’s all good and fresh.
The service is good and they are really friendly. They will give you samples if you haven’t yet tried something.
Love this place!

The food at Tommy Pastrami is pretty good and the quality of the sandwiches is solid. The bread size they use for their sandwiches are quite standard but they pack a lot of meat in them. They have two sizes for their sandwiches, but the only difference is the amount of meat they pack between two same size pieces of bread. I have no complaints on the quality of their sandwiches other than it can be a bit dry at times depending on which type of meat you choose.
The folks here are super friendly too. You order at the register and they call out your name at the counter for pickup when your food is ready. Everything else form drinks to napkins you get yourself and find an open table. The dining area is clean yet small and a bit cramped, but they also have table outside the store front as well.
I love the mustard they have at the tables in larger than normal sized squeeze bottle. I like to put gobs of mustard on my sandwich especially when I choose one of their dryer selections of meat. Their jumbo Chili Cheese Fries are ginormous too and easily enough to feed 4 people. I’m not very fond of their chucky beefy chili however, and have more of a preference for a type of chili they serve at The Hat.
For a casual sandwich eatery however, I think the prices are a little steep. For a combo meal at Tommy Pastrami, you can order a complete meal at a full service sit-​down restaurant, for around the same price.
Even though I like this place, I come here much less frequently than most sandwich joints because of the price. They are priced a little high for what I perceive as being reasonable for a good sandwich.

When you try the namesake meal at a restaurant, there is an inherent expectation that the meal will be good. Or, at the very least, not suck. Hopefully, from the very first bite of a Buffalo Wild Wing you’ll see why it’s called Buffalo Wild WINGS; same with Umami BURGER; Domino’s PIZZA; etc.
But at Tommy PASTRAMI, I took a bite, then another, and soon realized that there was absolutely nothing special about this pastrami sandwich. The meat seemed old, frankly, like it was fresh hours before I got it. It wasn’t exactly hot and nor was it juicy in the slightest.
I’m obligated to give credit where credit is due, though. The rye bread was fantastic. The exterior had a good crust and the inside was nice and soft.
Don’t get the knish. It’s $ 5 for a greasy, chewy, heavy blob of carbs that tastes nowhere near good enough to justify its unhealthiness or price.
I wanted to like Tommy Pastrami so badly because I’ve recently discovered how good pastrami can be. But, alas, for a good pastrami you may want to go elsewhere.

I was leaning towards 3 stars, but this place is really nice and clean and has a very friendly staff. The person who took my order helped me choose the meat on the skyscraper and was pretty funny as well haha.
I split a skyscraper with pastrami/​corned beef. It’s not like «the hat» style pastrami, but rather a new york style on rye bread… It wasn’t too salty or anything and had a good amount of meat. I thought the sandwich was a little dry but the mustard made up for some of it.
I definitely thought the steak fries were one of the best steak fries I’ve ever had. For someone who doesn’t like steak fries, I couldn’t stop eating them! Crispy on the outside and yet still light and fluffy on the inside. Mmmm. The pickle included was delicious as well. The sandwich itself though and the prices are kinda ridiculous :/​
$ 18 for a skyscraper sandwich + fries+ drink.

To be very fair… my two star rating for TP’s would be, if it existed, in the category of «Traditional NY-​Chicago Deli Sandwiches.» Remember that by strict Unilocal-​standards, 2-​star = «…I’ve experienced better»… not, this was a bad experience.
Last week, I gave the Irvine Tommy Pastrami another chance, and this time ordered a full sandwich, but one side all pastrami and the other all corned beef, with melted Swiss, cole slaw and Russian dressing on rye. The pastrami was OK. The corned beef, again, lacked flavor. For about $ 11.50 w/​tax (not the combo, just the sandwich with a pickle on the side), I wasn’t impressed… again. But hey, I did finish both halves.
But don’t be turned off by my 2 star review. This time I’m taking Unilocal literally. I’ve experienced better, but it was OK, but not a 3-​star «A-​OK.» I still feel Unilocal needs something better than their 2 and 3 star options. I felt a little better, in that originally I didn’t intend to return at all. After this visit, I’ve changed my mind… «Ahl bee bach.»
Would I return because I was willing to quench my thirst for deli with just a «hint» of what I could have at Brent’s? Probably. But why can’t someone bring «kick-​ass» NY Style Pickled Beef Deli” to South Orange County? I don’t know? I wish I did. If I were wealthy and stupid… I’d open a decent deli. (I did include «stupid» in my pre-​qualifications, right?)
Just a thought??? I’m beginning to believe that part of the problem is that the employees, who were actually very nice, are not «deli people.» The young gal that took my order was new, and got a little confused when I started to «customized» my sandwich with cole slaw and Russian dressing. She was very accomodating, but it appeared she wasn’t a deli person, let alone had any history with pastrami, corned beef, brisket, etc. And if I had asked details about the Jewish Rye… I’m afraid her response would have been, «It’s just rye… I don’t know about it being Jewish?» :-)
Their fast-​food/​sit down sales model and marketing does work. (My ex-​business partner loves their pastrami) And it’s not the prices that cause the issue. It’s that ongoing thing about «quality.» (I’m talking about taking good to great) I’d pay more for great, but maybe noone else agrees? Maybe they could vendor in the high end stuff and «feature it?»
While TPastrami doesn’t satisfy my ongoing search for really decent NY style Jewish deli, it’s OK in a pinch… but if you’ve done Katz in NYC, for G*d’s sake… don’t get your expectations elevated. You’ll be in for a bit of a disappointment.