Stopsky’s Delicatessen

These guys are now closed. I unknowingly went here on their last day of business and the waitress said «enjoy your last meal here». I was like my last meal? What did you do to my food? Only to find out she meant our last meal at stopskys. Sad they are gone cause they were great.

CLOSED
Had heard a lot about this place and finally stopped by today
Closed remodeling into Home something.
The chinesse place next door was good.

drove through rush hour to get here and they are not open. They say that they are open on google and Unilocal.Extremely disappointed. Their lox benedict was pretty good when I came and they were actually open. But the latke was burned. Now Never coming back.

Delish. That’s all I can say.
A hidden gem on Mercer Island, Stopsky’s is right out of Fremont or Capitol Hill. Super trendy and is everything I want in a restaurant! They make their own pastries, pickle their own pickles, have great coffee and have I mentioned the burgers?
Ok I’m not really a Jewish deli kind of person, sorry to break it to you. So if your looking for a good rueben or latke… I can’t really answer that one. My husband brought home a burger and sweet potato fries… I’ve never had a better burger. And it wasn’t even warm!
I’m a pastry and coffee person and if the baked goods are sub-​par, I’m not coming back. Their pastries and coffee are so delicious.
Foodies…beware. This may be your only hope for good quality food on Mercer Island. Lets be real.

I really, really want to like this place. We have a dearth of culinary experiences on MI, and a Jewish Deli would be a wonderful place to take friends near home.
Alas…
The Service
One lone server for the whole place at 1pm on a weekday. She was also handling the bakery counter. I felt terrible for her, jogging back and forth between the 4 table tops and the counter. Obviously, it took forever to get our order in and then again to pay the check.
The Food
I can handle mediocre service. It happens. But bad food? Might as well stay home and fend for myself.
Matzo Ball soup — someone forgot to season with salt and went whole hog on black pepper. I had black pepper sediment ½″ deep at the bottom of my bowl, and yet the broth was insipid. The balls themselves were akin to wet cardboard — no flavor whatsoever.
That was one sad bowl o’ soup.
Turkey Sandwich — piled high with turkey meat, but again no flavor whatsoever.
Ordered a cup of coffee which never came.
As this is my third unfortunate experience with Stopsky’s, I won’t be coming back. Mercer Island prices for poor quality? I think not.

Stopsky’s was entirely unimpressive and the portions are absurdly small. I was craving a lox and bagel sandwich and didn’t see it on the menu, so I ordered the cured fish plate. I opened the box, and I was in complete shock of how little food there was. For $ 16, there was a piece of lox the size of my palm, a smaller-​than-​a-​golf-​ball-​sized portion of whitefish salad, a toasted onion bagel, and the other fixings (1 piece of tomato, couple slices of cucumber, cream cheese, pickled onions and capers). I actually went back and asked whether that was it for $ 16 (I’ve never asked about the quantity of food). The manager said it looked small and asked the kitchen; she came back and said it’s the normal portion and looks bigger on a plate.
In the end, after some persuading, she was able to re-​do the order with a lox and bagel sandwich for $ 10 (they offer it but it’s off-​menu) instead, and gave us a $ 10 gift card. Moral of the story — don’t order the cured fish plate if you hate bad deals!
Now on to the food — the onion bagel was nice and chewy, though it came toasted so I couldn’t evaluate it as is. Smoked salmon was good. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to lox and bagel, so I wasn’t a fan of the pickled onions on the sandwich. My boyfriend ordered the pastrami sandwich — while the pastrami was pretty good, there were only 4 pieces of thick pastrami. Again, small portion for a $ 13 sandwich.
We ordered take-​out at the counter, and it was probably the slowest POS transaction I’ve ever encountered. We repeated our order almost 3 times. Food came out quickly.

Overall, I like Stopky’s a lot. I’ve eaten there many times. Great vibe, not always the fastest service, but always friendly.
– Their meats are good… very good.
– They have this thing called «steakon» that is excellent with breakfast. It has a maple syrup’y flavor.
– They do a great latke.
– Motzah ball soup is mediocre.
– Their Russian dressing has mustard in it – personally, I don’t like that, but others do.
– They make the best coffee on Mercer Island.
– Also, best bagels on Mercer Island.
The one thing I will say is that they’ve raised their prices recently, and it’s starting to get pretty spendy.

It was my first time trying this place out. Overall, not bad. The food was just okay. Nothing wonderful. Service was great!

Dinner with the family. Service is spotty. We wanted corned beef sandwiches at a deli — original, right? «Sorry no corned beef.»
Potato latkes — «nope, we don’t have that either. And oh by the way, if you want hamburgers, we just ran out.» Note this is a Saturday night and it’s before 6pm — no corned beef, no burgers, no latkes. Oy Gevalt! Such a shanda! A deli without corned beef is like a sushi joint without raw fish. Seriously???
It’s empty — actually 2 other couples are here. We’ve ordered appetizers that showed up the same time as our meal. I wish there was just a bit more attention — this place has tremendous potential but it’s just not there. I’m hopeful they’ll get their act together. Make it the kind of place a mother would be proud of.

Are you permitted to say HOLY SMOKES regarding a Jewish restaurant? Idk about all that but let’s break this down.
I NEED PASTRAMI. They have it. Not just any pastrami. And they have a TON of things you are so full of stuffing your face with that you can’t even talk about during the meal because you’re so busy chowing. Seriously. But then… they also have beautifully, luxuriously, sensual cocktails.
After a long day of work in the yard my husband and I went for dinner, quite frankly, looking like scum. It did not matter, for we were famished. Bring in the food. We commenced to order anything that looked like we should have it and began to taste what it means to eat Jewish cuisine. It was devine at Stopsky’s Delicatessen. Let’s stop for a moment. Delicatessen makes it sound like, «get yer sammich and get out». Not the case.
We opted for a cocktail and I chose a caramel-​apple-​spice something and it was Mercer Island price, as I expected it to be. This was a cocktail. Not a mocktail. Not a shot of house vodka. A cocktail. Aromatic and hitting every part of your tongue.
After a day in the yard, and cause this is the type of people we are, we deemed an app was a must. Hummus and Pita. Done and done. It comes with smoked olives. Yes. I said smoked olives. Never had ‘em? Neither had we. Turns out, by the time the evening was said and done, we took some to go for a party later in the week. Damn, they’re good.
I ordered the «Pastrami — hand sliced, with mustard, rye bread $ 13» and it was worth EVERY penny. It came with a side of delightful potato salad — not the mustardy, over cooked potato store crap.
We’ve been back since, and had equally tender pastrami in the «Latke Benedict» for lunch. You know how restaurants can screw up an egg? Not here. If this is how latke cakes are supposed to taste… I’m screwed for any other latke I ever taste.
Make the drive to Mercer Island. Don’t be a Seattle snob.

I love Stopsky’s for coffee, breakfast, meetings, work stop. The food is healthy and delicious, coffee is tasty, staff is friendly and it’s a great place to nosh and work in between meetings.
I don’t eat meat, so the vegetarian options and field roast are fabulous additions. They have a full bar, so wine with friends or bloody mary brunch are great ideas as well.
Highly recommended little place.

I really wanted to like this place when I came in, but I was not overwhelmingly impressed by service or food.
We showed up last night at 6:30pm for a table of 3 plus an infant. We were originally seated in the bar and then told we couldn’t have the two month old infant sitting in the booth. For real? What on earth could she possibly do? So we had to move. Unfortunately they had only a few tables in the restaurant, and the patrons were hanging out. One table of 8 had enough tables to host a party of 12, so they were wasting some of their valuable and much needed space. The estimate for a new table was 10 – 15 minutes. It ended up being more than 30. Fail.
While we were waiting at the kitchen bar (three feet from our first bar booth), we asked to order our food so it would be served right after being seated. Not much of a surprise, food did not just rush out of the kitchen. We were seated for about 20 minutes before our food finally arrived.
I had the burger and sweet potato fries. The burger was big and juicy, but not much seasoning or flavor. The fries were a pure winner. Combined with the aioli served on the side, these were the best part of the night and something I’ll probably go back for in the future. All in all not a bad dinner, but could use some improvements around being efficient.

This is quickly becoming a new favorite! So far, I have tried: Mr. Paul’s Matzoh Balls, Latke Benedict (with lox), Cured Fish Plate, Cabbage Rolls, Reuben. Everything has been delightful (I especially loved the Cured Fish Plate and might order it every time I go!), and customer service has been super-​awesome! They also have a full bar, which is always a plus!

Nothing bad can be said about their great service and the waiters willingness to wait for us difficult customers.
However, if we’re purely judging based on food, as we believe we should on Unilocal,I think the food was very so-​so.
Off the lunch menu, we ordered grilled cheddar sandwich and lamb burger. The cheddar cheese was very sparse in the sandwich and was for some reason very lacking in flavor. The lamb burger was also quite dry and not particularly exciting with flavor.
On the plus side, the lemon poppy cake was totally dynamite! So tasty, not too sweet, but very rich and creamy. Yummy! Next time, I’ll probably just come here for the desserts.
REVISION:
The owner reached out to me after I wrote this review. While I appreciate his strong concern for customer service and continuous improvement, after returning to Stopsky for dinner again, I am still standing by my original review. I ordered the grilled salmon from the summer menu and the reuben sandwich. Both were only okay (the salmon, especially plain) but their customer service was speedy and attentive. Stopsky is a great establishment with lovely ambiance and a nice atmosphere to match its lovely community, so I will likely return, but only for the pastries or coffee.

This is a delightful Jewish deli and restaurant if you like to burn money. I was shocked to see how steep the prices were for a sandwich or salad at lunch ($ 12 – 16). Yes, I did read the Unilocal reviews but I figured they would have something appealing that wouldn’t set me back from buying random items from Amazon when I’m bored. I guess everything is more expensive on Mercer Island. I had their lunch special (half pastrami sandwich + creamy tomato soup) with a black cherry soda (~$ 18 tip included). The meal was too salty for me. I don’t mind the cured meat being salty as much as eating a liquid soup that is saturated with salt.
Note to self: don’t splurge on lunch on Mercer Island.
Overall, nothing wrong with the style of the restaurant, just a tad too salty for my taste with the food, and the price was too steep to be a regular.

[8/​20 Update] Jeff — Thank you for your reply! I appreciate you responding to each of the issues I highlighted in my review. I’m excited to learn that your regular menu items are now available to-​go; a staff member told me otherwise at some point around the time you opened. Thanks for looking at bringing back the Mediterranean Pasta and also for committing to evaluate alternative salad container options. I’ve added two stars to this review (upgrading from 2-​star to 4-​star) for two simple reasons: First, you replied to my concerns in a professional manor and it was evident that you thoroughly read my review and took my issues to heart. And, second, you have committed to addressing several of my concerns, which I very much appreciate. I’ll be sure to connect with you next time I’m in, but I’m pretty sure you already know who I am :)
—
Over time I’ve realized just how fickle Stopsky’s is. Every time I come in for a to-​go order I get a different kind of experience. Most are relatively decent experiences (the people are nice). But there are many that are just avoidable on their part.
For instance…
–Sometimes they remember to give me a pickle with my sandwich and sometimes they do not. So sometime I’m overpaying and sometimes, well, I’m still overpaying… I think their items are overpriced by at least $ 1.
–If I order an ad-​on salad, sometimes I also get the side of my choice and sometimes I do not. Given that the add-​on salad is $ 4, but really only about $ 2-​$ 3 worth of salad, it would be great if they would automatically include the regular side (ie. Potato salad). I believe I’m already paying for it.
–Recently, I called them to place a lunch to-​go order. The phone rang and rang. I go their VM, which should never happen during business hours — someone should always answer the phone, even if it’s to put the caller on hold. I then called back. And called back. And called back. And it went straight to their voicemail every time for about 35 – 45 minutes during the lunch hour (it became a game of curiosity after the first 3 – 5 attempts). Really, folks? Just terrible service.
–I also frequently wonder if the owners/​managers have ever eaten salad out of their brown to-​go boxes. My guess is that they have not or they would be using different boxes because their current boxes make it very inconvenient to eat salad that is in large pieces from a tiny box that has four flaps in the way of your fork. Not smart.
–I also really, really miss their Mediterranean pasta salad. I wish they would bring it back.
–I noticed that some time ago the portion of their Kreplach Soup seems smaller; especially the dumplings.
–It would be great if they opened-​up their to-​go menu to include the dine-​in menu. Their dine-​in menu looks good and I’d like to try it, but you can’t get any of those items to-go…very weak.
–Finally, for to-​go orders, I would like to see them put napkins and utensils in the bag. They are a nice enough restaurant that they should be doing this automatically for their customers.
In conclusion, I think Stopsky’s has a lot of work to do when it comes to their to-​go service. They are inconsistent, slightly over-​priced/​under-​valued, and don’t seem to take a customer-​centric approach to their business. There are still a few things I do like to eat there and I’ll probably go back once in a while, but not as much as I used to… especially if they continue to ignore their phone.

I was excited to check out this place after reading its review from Seattle Met magazine’s article on brunches. While the article raved about the eggs benedict, Unilocalers suggested that the lox and eggs were the best, so that’s what I ordered.
All in all, I found the lox extremely fishy. Yuck. Salmon lox shouldn’t taste that strong. The portion was really small, even after adding a side of the steakon (the beef version of bacon, rhyming with same) AND fruit. And sorry but, I really think an establishment that charges that much should at least cut the green tops off the strawberries.
This was a disappointment and I don’t see myself giving it another chance.

Reuben sandwich — very delicious. I’m a huge fan of sauerkraut and this was amazing. It was so satisfying that I didn’t even finish the pickle that it came with because i had enough sour, which never happens!
Salami and eggs breakfast — eggs were soft as my pillows and very flavorful. It tasted like it came straight out of a mother hen.
Good service and no wait, so definitely a great brunch spot!

We recently hit up Stopsky’s to get a sandwich to go before our hike at Discovery Park. We got the pastrami sandwich– nice cuts of pastrami between two pieces of delicious rye bread. The sandwich is really easy to eat, not like some of those sandwiches that you bite into and all the innards come out at once.
The sandwich was good, but $ 13 (plus tax) is a little too much for a casual lunch.

Pretty good. My husband and I were cruising the neighborhoods of Mercer Island checking out homes and decided to check out this Jewish deli.
— We shared the Matzah ball soup
— I had the reuben, he had the pastrami sandwich
— coffee was delicious (stumptown)
— dessert was awesome (cookies and pastry goodies to go)
Would go back. :) I have been spoiled, growing up in New York and with many Jewish friends — at least I know where we can go when hungry on Mercer Island!
Very good friendly service.