NYC Pickle Deli & Grill

Food is average, not great, not horrible.
The staff is completely rude though. I had ordered food for delivery, the girl that delivered was quite rude. When I realized she delivered the wrong food I called her back and she had to come back and was not happy about it, got even ruder then peeled away in her car like a crazy person.
Also talking to the lady on the phone who took the order, she was even rude over the phone.
I don’t get it. If you are a relatively new establishment trying to make a name for yourselves, would you have such rude people working for you?

We ordered Clam Chowder, a Chicken sandwich, and a Gyro. We rhymed the last with hero, which is how my Greek friends pronounced it, but the owner correct us by rhyming it with pyro. After throwing the chicken sandwich at us and handing us the Clam Chowder, we sat down to an inedible, hard as a rock, burnt piece of chicken with rubbery, cold bacon. The soup tasted mediocre, like something that came out of a generic soup can. The gyro (as in pyro) was average as well, not as good as I have gotten at pita stands all over the US. We will never return.

Yay! I’m def a fan!!!
You can eat as good or as bad as you’d like here! There are alot of guilty options: egg salad sandwiches, gravy fries, corn beef, you name it! However, if you ask, they’ll make you a fresh salad to order. I’ve noticed theyre super accommodating with customers I’ve overheard ask for anything. The friendly attitudes of NYC Pickle really stands out!
Both times I was in here for lunch the pre-​made salads in the cooler had tuna or turkey on them, each time they made a large fresh salad for me, while letting me pick out any toppings for about $ 5.something.
Additional bonuses: homemade pickles, desserts, plenty of sides, different daily specials, homemade soup of the day, and they just opened a bakery/​ice cream shop around the corner YUM!
There are a few booths to dine in if you desire. NYC Pickle is a great spot to grab lunch to go. I was out with my custom order in less that ten minutes! Also, this is a great spot to compromise grabbing lunch with both veggie lovers and carnivores! I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of this little pickle during my stay in NY.
**Interesting tidbit: if you give them you’re business card, they’ll send you their daily specials each morning!**

This place is difficult to pin down. I’ve been here a couple times now, and got the idea that NYC Pickle opened with designs of being a real deli, which would be welcome in a town where processed cold cuts pass as good deli meat; the owner is very enthusiastic about his product — the first time I went in, he was quick to offer a sample and note that he gets his brisket from New York.
Trouble is, neither the lunch crowd nor much of the counter help seems to be well-​versed on the many joys of good deli food, and the quality isn’t there at this time.
The bread isn’t good. Very soft rye, which translates to rye mush about 90 seconds after the sandwich is made. Not sure who their baker is, but someplace like Harrison Bakery could really help them out. Heck, even Wegman’s could probably help them out.
Also — and this is probably due to lack of customer interest in the deli offerings — both the brisket and the pastrami have been a little tough. I get the sense they’re not turning over some of the product very quickly and it’s spending too much time on a steam table. Of course the counter people have to rush people through at lunchtime, so they may be taking a shortcut by pre-​slicing their meat in the morning, then leaving it on low heat to be served as ordered. It really kills the texture of the meat, especially the brisket.
Another gripe is that some of the counter staff have seemed pretty baffled as to how to make a sandwich. Serving meatloaf or slicing stromboli makes for an easy order, but when asked for corned beef on rye, the staff slows down and goes into Burger King mode: «How would you like that? No cheese?» (There’s a dead giveaway that this isn’t a kosher deli.)
NYC Pickle has a few tables in a back room for people looking to eat in. Cool décor out front (Trivial Pursuit and other board games are affixed, upside down, to the ceiling), and pretty kitschy atmosphere in the back (think of every New York-​themed poster offered for sale by the street vendors along Fifth Avenue and the Grand Army Plaza).
NYC Pickle looks to have a good meat purveyor, and the owner has a high standard, but he could stand to make a couple tweaks. As it stands, the restaurant looks a little like Babu Bhatt’s Dream Café — spread pretty thinly among a lot of different types of food while excelling at none. What it is is a busy lunch spot with a diverse selection of foods and pretty quick service. It’s still better than just about any Syracuse-​area deli, but it’s not spectacular by any means.