Windsor Pickle Deli

Closed recently after a bad fire

This is a great neighborhood deli with very good sandwiches in a no frills atmosphere. The Hot Chicken Special sandwiches are excellent as are most of the other hot sandwiches, and the chicken and macaroni salads are quite good as well. The rest of the standard deli fare is… well, standard deli fare. Seating can get cramped at lunchtime, which is both a factor of the popularity and the very small seating area inside. People who work here are attentive and quick, but i would recommend the Pickle Deli more for take out than eating in.

Oh how the mighty have fallen.
When I first moved to Windsor in 2006, this was one of my favorite places in town. The staff was friendly, the food was fresh, and the prices were right. Not only was I living in Windsor, but I was working in town as well, and I made the trip for lunch at least a couple of times a month. The chicken cutlet sandwiches, chicken salad, and Reuben were my favorites, along with the macaroni salad.
Something happened, though, and for the past couple of years things haven’t been the same. First, the deli is no longer open on Saturdays. This could be a function of economics, and I get that in this economy some businesses are forced to cut back.
The thing that really bothers me, though, is that the food quality has diminished across the board. I work in Hartford now but occasionally come into Windsor for meetings, and have been back to the deli a number of times for lunch. Every time I hope that the deli will return to its former glory, and every time I’m disappointed.
Maybe I’m being a little harsh here, and a three star review is still warranted. I can’t give this place a «no go» recommendation, since the food is decent and there are slim pickings in Windsor even for delis. That said, it’s no longer a place that I’d go out of my way to visit.

It took me about a year to finally go in here on my lunch break — mostly because there weren’t any reviews. Finally, I took a chance since one person reviewed it in January — thank you!
Positives:
1. Clean inside.
2. Very friendly owner/​staff.
3. Decent seating area inside and outside, and the inside area has a big window that they open when the weather is nice — making it more of an «open air» seating area.
4. Breakfast till 11am
5. Large menu (salads, soups, sandwiches, hot dogs, quesadillas, and daily specials)
6. Boar’s Head meats and cheeses
7. They give you a pickle (don’t worry — it’s pickle-​y, not cucumber-​y) with your sandwich and a little chewy candy with your purchase.
Negatives:
Just one — As I said, they use Boar’s Head so that has me psyched; however, I’m pregnant so I am avoiding lunch meat for the next few months since I don’t like hot lunch meat. Instead, my first sandwich was the chicken salad, as recommended by the other reviewer, on pumpernickel. I really wanted to love it. Honestly, the flavor was good, but there is so much mayo that it’s really more like a goopy sandwich of chicken-​flavored mayo. I’ve gone back a few more times since and tried the eggplant parmesan sandwich (ok, but the roll gets soggy by the time I bring it back to my office so I’d recommend eating it there), a grilled chicken sandwich (not my favorite b/​c the chicken is precooked and then microwaved so it ends up being pretty dry) and an egg salad sandwich (good).
I know my food review itself sounds pretty mediocre at best, but I do recommend this place. If I could in there and order my fave turkey or roast beef sandwich everyday, I would hands down give it 4 or 5 stars. If I didn’t like chicken salad or tuna salad (as many people don’t), I guarantee I would’ve given this deli 4 or 5 stars since I would’ve never noticed this. Sadly, I love chicken salad sandwiches. I just really really wish that they would cut out at least half of the mayo that they use. I’ve looked at the containers in the case everytime I go in, and it’s not a one-​off type of situation. The tuna, chicken salad, tuna mac salad and all other mayo-​based foods have a slimy/​goopy purée look to them; oddly, the egg salad didn’t seem to have the same issue.
Bottom-​line: I recommend the deli, but I don’t recommend the mayo-​based salads unless you know that you particularly love to have extra mayo in your sandwich. I think from a food service perspective, it would make more sense to err on the side of less mayo since more can always be added for patrons who would like it. I’m also very disappointed that they list the chicken and tuna salads on their website menu as being «heart-​healthy» options. There’s no way that much mayo is heart-​healthy.
So I’ll definitely continue to go here although probably moreso once I’m no longer pregnant. If you’re braver than I, perhaps you can politely suggest they cut their mayo usage… I would love it. :)

I LOVE this little gem! I usually get chicken salad on pumpernickel with pickles and lettuce. So simple I really don’t understand how they make it taste so good. Sandwiches always come with a pickle and a chewy candy. They have a cute little cozy dining area too.

MY GOODNESS, everyone needs to visit this little deli! They have SO many different custom deli sandwiches, all made by hand when you order. LOVE IT! If you go, try the Corned Beef Reuben Sandwich (I personally get mine on white bread instead of rye, not a big rye fan here.) It comes out warm and toasty, cheese is melty and the sauerkraut is tangy. MMMM! Every order comes with a pickle, wrapped up in it’s own little package. Their little desserts are great! Love, love, love this little place. Go!