Lile’s Sandwich Shop

I found this lovely place by accident and saw the limited menu from the window so I assumed that they would be one of those places known for x.
I asked what they recommend i order ham or corned beef. In unison, the staff of three said ham so a ham sandwich is what I ordered. Not expecting large portions I also ordered the bean soup.
The soup was fantastic, but could use a bit more ham. It was the almost perfect comfort food. Next time Im just having soup! The staff was very friendly and atmosphere total Americana!

Best corned beef ever! That’s my opinion.

Today was my first visit and the best I can do is say it was OK. I had a corn beef sandwich. The meat was boiled and kept warm in its juice. Not quite the Jewish deli sandwich I was looking for. They are known for their ham sandwiches, so with different expectations I may still give this place one more try.

The Fastest Food ever! I once I stopped for a red light outside… ran in, got soup and a sandwich,…and made it out before the light turned green! located across from city hall with GREAT service and GREAT FOOD! I’ve been going there for almost 40 years now.

I agree with Tom F. Nothing special about this place! I’ve had better corned beef sandwiches at many other local restaurants.
It’s very plain, just the meat, no coleslaw, fries, even the bread is plain white. No sauce or dressing inside at all! I don’t need a hundred items on the menu, however I do want my sandwich to be flavorful! They packed up some pickles and 2 mustard packages in my to go bag. Very underwhelming! I will not be back!

Some of these reviews make me wish this site had a downvote feature. Ding Lile’s for the tired décor. Ding Lile’s if you think their corned beef is bad. But don’t ding a restaurant for offering exactly what it’s intended to offer.
You don’t go to Miller’s for a salad. You don’t go to Roast for chicken strips. You don’t go to Slow’s for the soup. You don’t go to Lile’s for an extensive menu.
Simple: if you like flavorful, huge portions of ham/​turkey/​corned beef on delicious bread with nothing but mustard and pickles as condiment options, you will probably like Lile’s. Their meats are succulent and tender, never overcooked, and the flavor profile is left exactly as the meat arrived. They present these sandwiches unadorned for a reason: both Joe Public and «foodies» alike can appreciate the pure flavor of these meats from time to time. Chips, soups, and drinks are just pleasant distractions.

There are choices here, you can have bean or pea soup with your ham sandwich, oh yah several types of soft drinks. IF YOU WANT CHOICES DON’T GO TO LILE’S! Now if you are looking for the best ham sandwich in the area Lile’s is your place.

It has a plain brown brick exterior in a section of Dearborn that has preserved the aura of West Detroit and there are only three nouns: Liles [sic] Ham Corn Beef. As basic as it gets, stunning in its simplicity, perfect in its execution: Liles. Ham. Corn Beef. All the reviewers here have nailed it — it’s just a good, convenient, quick sandwich and soup shop with a lot of charm and I can’t wait to go there again.

Great place. Corned Beef is excellent. Ham very good. Fast and inexpensive for lunch. Consistently good.

Was trying to go to Alcamo’s which was closed an extra day after Labor day, so we scooted over to Lile’s to give it a try. To sum it up, horrible. My husband and I split a ham and a corned beef w/​swiss on onion rolls, the only other bread choice was rye and the only other meat option was turkey. The ham was boring, with a very thin slice of swiss on top, a 5 year old could make a better sandwich. The corned beef did not taste like anything, basically air. They must have boiled it in water with not even salt. I don’t understand how they have been in business for 50 years. Terrible.

Gee, I’m with Tom F… Just like yesterday when I went to a seafood place and couldn’t get a burrito… (insert visual of me rolling my eyes).
Seriously though, if you are tired of places offering 50 menu items, but all mediocre, try this place that does only a couple of things, but does them exceptionally well. First, the ham sandwich is fantastic, nothing short of amazing. The corner beef is very good, but a notch below the ham IMO.
My family loves the split pea soup, but I hate peas so I have never tried it. I can say the bean soup is very good though, but most times its too much food if you order a sandwich too.
The only negatives I have is the bathrooms are very small, the dining area very basic and they have short hours daily, and little to none on the weekend. Obviously they cater to the local business lunch crowd
I grew up north of Detroit and live in Chicago now, but almost any trip back to the area includes a stop at Liles.

Looks like I made a mistake with this one.
I don’t mind the slim amount of choices, but I guess I should have purchased the ham sandwich.
Instead, I got the corned beef and was very disappointed. This was probably the blandest corned beef sandwich that I’ve ever had. I’ll give them credit, the roll was real good, but the corned beef lacked any definable flavor and was best described as chewy. Sure there was a good quantity of it, but a lot of nothing is still nothing. Add to that American cheese and basic yellow mustard and I was totally underwhelmed.
Next time, if there is a next time, I’ll give the ham a try. I’m not sure if I’m a fan of the ½ inch hunks of ham on a sandwich, I may give it a try. It’s got to be better than the corned beef.

Known for their ham sandwiches and soup. I took a leap and tried their corned beef sandwich with cheese. I think one reviewer before me said it perfectly: the sandwich is a bit one dimensional — meat in between two halves of a kaiser roll. But man oh man is there a lot of meat! And the bread is tasty. Thank goodness they have containers of pickle at each table. That along with mustard (regular yellow and the fancy grey poupon) and to me, that’s really all you need in a good corned beef sandwich. I do prefer the taste of their ham, but I’m not sure I would be able to handle that large a quantity in one sitting. I will have to try the soup next time.

Obviously if you don’t like ham, then don’t come here.
But really people, you have to appreciate a place that is really focused on what they do. Lile’s must be doing something right, since they have been making great food for the Ford Lunch crowd for years!
For me the Ham is mild and flavorful, and best of all, hand cut at the inception of your sandwich. Now I fully admit that the Ham sandwich is a bit one dimensional with a large stack of ham between two slices of bread. I prefer the corn beef which is a nicely sliced, tender and melts like butter in your mouth.
The true star for me is the Split Pea soup. It’s thick enough to hold your spoon in place by itself, and it is rich and flavorful with a few chunks of ham thrown in, which have been marinating in the soup for hours. I actually have to dress it up a bit with a fair amount of black pepper, salt and hot sauce to reach optimal seasoning, but you have a great green canvas to start from. I used to skip the sandwiches, and just get two bowls of split pea to get my soup fix.

Poor Tom F. His friend should have told him that Lile’s isn’t about choices. But Miller’s isn’t about choices either, and they have the best hamburgers in the state. At least Lile’s has a menu! True, there are only four things on it, but they are all really good. I am a soup nut, and when I want the best split pea and ham soup, I go to Liles.
If you don’t like ham, corned beef, peas, or navy beans, go somewhere else.

Choices, choices, choices. They have NONE!!!
This place is like a cafeteria without any choices. Burger Boy likes choices!
When my friend (not any longer) suggested this place he said «let’s go for a ham sandwich». Little did I know, that just about all they had.
You get in line, get your tray and order like you are in a cafeteria. They slice the ham, very generous portions (4″ high) and slap it on some bread (nothing special). First off, I am not a huge fan of ham, only on holidays and pizza. Second, I need a side to go with. They only offer soup, split pea with? ham or navy bean what? ham. WHAT??? no fries, chips, cole slaw, salads, etc So I go and sit down (cafeteria style remember) and choke down my very plain lunch of HAM. The ham was cut about ¼″ thick and stacked high so you can’t even take a bite out of it. It falls all over your plate. Now you have a sandwich without meat, so I am stuck holding my bread so to speak. The ham was salty. Normally Dearborn ham is not that salty. It was so salty that my body swelled up so bad I looked like a buoy on the Detroit River.
Needless to say, this was a unique dining experience that I will never partake again and he is no longer a friend to me.

Ham sandwiches are the key here. It’s been happily tucked away across the street from Dearborn City Hall for years serving up massive ham sandwiches, thick split pea & ham or navy bean & ham soups and probably every other thing you can do to ham available. Busy and sometimes hard to get into at lunchtime, but worth it.
Other tasty items available on the menu, but so far I’ve not wanted to have anything other than the great sandwiches and soups.