Tommy Pastrami New York Deli

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED FOR RENOVATION. I walked over for lunch break from nearby jury duty and was disappointed to find the restaurant closed. Call before visiting. Posted 11÷1÷2010

I love this place. I use to be a regular every Friday for happy hour. I love that they have Shock Top on tap and Pastrami sliders. Great service and awesome atmosphere. I wish this place would be open during the weekend but it can’t compete with Crosby or Proof.

Tommy Pastrami is a nice break from the standard sandwich/​burger/​diner food joints in the downtown area. It’s directly across from the federal courthouse so it’s mostly a suit and tie crowd during lunch time. The dark wood and subtle lighting make for a nice relaxing lunch. They also have the requisite flat screens playing ESPN.
The sandwiches are made with loads of good quality meat and served dry so you can put your own condiments on them. The fries tend to be overcooked and extra crispy, so I’d stick to the other sides if that’s not your style. At $ 10 – 15 per person for lunch Tommy Pastrami is by no means a great value, but it’s a nice change up every so often.

Tried the limited time special, meal for two for $ 12.95 for a 12 oz pastrami and corned beef sandwich. Not impressed. Thought I was going to take half the sandwich home but ate it by myself. OINK… OINK.
Much better pastrami sandwiches around… like Johnny’s Pastrami in Culver City, Benji’s Deli in Santa Ana and the over-​priced Jerry’s Deli in Costa Mesa.

My food wasn’t as good at this location as it was at other Tommy Pastrami stores. It’s a bit pricey for lunch. They’ve got a good spot and it looks like it might be a good spot for happy hour or to hang out later at night but they close so early. Almost every time I would try to go there they would be closed. The pastrami had a lot of fat and tough spots. I’ve had much better at other delis.

I have provolone cheese fries within walking distance, but better than that, they actually deliver too! I haven’t tried that service yet, but hey, nice to know it’s there.
Yes I did spend almost $ 10 on fries, but it was a lot of fries and a fucking LOT of cheese. The jumbo order of fries is about $ 5, but each piece of cheese is $ 0.89. So if you don’t want to cheese it out quite like I did then you shouldn’t be spending that much.
I definitely want to come in here for a drink sometime, they have Stella on tap! Cheese fries, meat, and booze… does life get much better than that?

I know Tommy Pastrami, but this location is one of the best, if not the best ! And this one has a sports bar atmosphere! On the food side of the story, this is what a pastrami sandwich is supposed to be, but often is not! When I have pastrami, I want to leave knowing I had what I went for! I want the spicy-​meat pastrami and a lightly-​firm, chewy rye, with mustard and pickle to be memorable enough to set up another visit! I want to know I had a real pastrami sandwich that lived up to expectations! I want to leave full and satisfied!
I had the regular yesterday, with fries, although I often would prefer cole slaw. Although my English was not fully understood when I ordered, the food was exactly what I’d hoped; hot pastrami slices stacked high on a rich rye that had a crust that could hold the meaty package tight until gone! With spicy mustard and pickles to make it right! And they were! My chips were crispy-​skinned perfect. I like fries with mayonnaise, so forgive me, my English heritage is showing!
I’ve had pastrami elsewhere in the area, and only Benjie’s adds up and compares! Another very well known place in Orange, famous for sandwiches, does not! It is unfortunately disappointing when it comes to pastrami. No disappointment here, however!
From atmosphere to every bite, it made «going for pastrami «worth going!» I no longer need to look elsewhere for the best, as this satisfies that crazy urge for pastrami when I have to have it!
And the chili fries! I once drove from Tulsa, OK, to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater for «famous chili fries with cheese!» They were nearly as famous as Dink’s Barbeque in Bartlesville was for pulled pork sandwiches! Dinks is an hour north. of Tulsa. The chili fries at Tommy’s were spot on! I say that because I had a spot of mustard here, and spots of mayonnnaise there! I usually tell people «If I have no spots on my shirt, I probably haven’t eaten!»
Downtown Santa Ana near the Artists Village is starting to make a real case for itself! With The Crosby around the corner, Memphisat the Santora and Proof Martini Lounge around the corner, and Lola Gaspar near the fountain on the Second Street Promenade, I might be changing some old eating habits and finding a new spot or two.

I heard this place had cold beer and good pastrami so I thought I would give it a shot. It’s right across from the federal building in Santa Ana so I’m sure it gets really busy at lunch and happy hour. My husband and I decided to go on a Saturday afternoon and needless to say they were not busy at all.
We both tried the pastrami which was lean and very good. We got the smallest sandwiches and they were still loaded down with meat. We tried the potato and chili fries and both were tasty. They actually put chopped meat (pastrami I assume) in their chili which gives it a different texture. The potato salad was tasty and not at all acidic like most.
They have four beers on draft and several bottled varieties. The best was that they serve their draft beer in frozen glasses — yum! For those inclined to have a Nathan’s hot dog and a glass of wine they have several varieties of both red and white wines and you can even buy it by the bottle.
Next I am going to try the one on Harbor since it got even better reviews than this location. That said, I definitely recommend if you are in downtown Santa Ana.

Wowzers. I’ve been to other Tommy Pastramis and they’ve all been just ok. I don’t think it’s the greatest pastrami ever. It’s just a fast food chain. So I was a slight bit confused as to why we were making a Tommy Pastrami Pub Crawl stop. But the second I walked in here…
«It’s the nicest Tommy Pastrami EVER!»
The tables were a lovely, sophisticated, dark colour. There was a freakin bar! With Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale on tap, which I now have a 12 pack of in my fridge. There’s a Wii for customers to play with! I mean… what the heck! It’s freakin awesome!
Ok so I didn’t try the food at this particular establishment but I did stare at the chili fries as it was being devoured. They didn’t look too bad. Does that help?

I guess I’d never been to a Tommy Pastrami before, I always pictured them to be akin to Charley’s Steakery or The Great Steak Escape or some other joint with a giant grill and «steak» or «pastrami» in the name. Boy, was I wrong. About this location anyway.
I’d come into this location just to hang out and have a beer in an absolutely frozen beer mug. Oh wait, that’s exactly what I did. Seriously, a they’ve got a superb setup in here. I can’t believe I’d missed it so many times on my ventures to downtown Santa Ana. The owner is a cool dude who seems to love him some beer. They’ve got a few microbrews on tap that change seasonally. Good stuff too.
I hear they’ve got stellar happy hour pricing too, I think I’ll pay them another visit for some $ 3 beers and to actually try some pastrami next time.
Thumbs Up:
–Very cool microbrews on tap.
–Awesomely friendly owner/​bartender/​cook/​one-​man awesome machine.
–Good prices.
–TV’s and all-​around nice ambiance.
Thumbs Down:
–The morning after a night of pastrami and drinking is NEVER a good time.

Tommy Pastrami happy hour is as good as it gets for me! Great place for a few beers after work. $ 3 Stella and Fire Rock on draft served in a super FROSTY mug! Happy hour grub is good too — the chili cheese fries and pastrami sliders are excellent. We went there with a group of 6 after work and the manager (David) kept the drinks coming. I’ve been here for lunch a few times as well and I’m not sure of the reason for the previous two-​star reviews. The place is packed for lunch and the food is good. I recommend the chili and the pastrami, you can’t go wrong. :-)
Update: Happy hour has changed a bit and the prices went up a tad.

I’m still a fan of Tommy Pastrami… just not this one
I was ecstatic to see that one of my favorite chains was opening a store so much closer to me than the one near SCP…
However the 2 experiences I have had at this particular location have definitely missed the mark and is not representative of the great sandwiches I recieved at other Tommy Pastrami locations — –small sandwiches even if you order the jumbo, stringy, chewy pastrami, and service staff who for the most part could care less about the level of service…
Guess its back to driving across town for a decent sandwich

One word comes to mind when I think about this location: Ambiance.
This well-​lit and cozy restaurant snuggled between Jason’s Downtown Restaurant and Bistro 400 is the perfect answer for Monday Night Football and all other after work events.
When I first heard that Tommy Pastrami was coming to our downtown, I figured anything is better than another bridal/​currency exchange/​taqueria joint (all of which are fine, but we’ve got enough for 3 cities already).
As things started taking shape, I noticed as I peered through the windows that this wasn’t no ordinary sandwich shop-​distressed wood floors, brick stone façades, four 46″ lcd tvs-awesome…awesome to the max!
On to the food-​to be honest, the Pastrami is good, but I’ve found it to be too filling at times (larger portions give me the poopies). The chili has to be one of the best I’ve ever purchased at any restaurant. Having been to several chili cook-​offs (often coating my tongue with candle wax to protect myself from the chili prepared with peppers from a Guatemalan insane asylum ;), I think I know a thing or two about chili.
My first choice is always a plate of pastrami/​hamburger sliders-​a creation by the owner of this location, David Mehrazar. I could eat a platter of these tasty morsels everyday if I had a better exercise routine.
The bar is stocked with just about any beer you could ask for. On tap is Widmer Hefeweizen (soon to be replaced with an organic Hef), Stella, Shock Top, and Kona Ale-​all of which are only $ 3 come Happy Hour, which makes me very glad my front door is well within walking distance.
I’m a firm believer that great customer service always starts at the top and permeates its way through the floor staff. David has assembled one of the finest staffs in this town and leads by example. Smiles and hellos are guaranteed every time.
Ever since I was a little tyke, I knew I’d want to go somewhere after work where everyone knew my name, the vibe was nothing but chill and employees were often sleeping with each other…2 out 3 ain’t bad.
I’ve got another review of this location here if you’re interested.
Thanks for reading!

Walking down downtown Santa Ana for lunch on Friday, they had one of those spinning signs at the corner of where I work, so we decided to check this place out. I’m not sure if it’s new, because we hardly walk that far towards the courthouse. It’s located across of the federal building, next to the bistro. We got there around lunch time, and it was quite busy. Checking other reviews of this chain, thought It’d be a pretty good place (4.5 stars in 26 reviews). It turns out I was quite disappointed, and so were all of my co-​workers. It’s quite small, and expensive. I had about a 6-​inch pastrami sandwich cut into 2 pieces and a side of chili and coke for a little over $ 10! The sandwiches wasn’t even stuffed like The Hat. The sandwich was very dry, so dry, mustard couldn’t save it. The bread was just as dry! The chili was pretty bad as well, chucks of pastrami doesn’t really fit well into chili. I didn’t like this place at all! I probably wouldn’t give it a second chance. I think they have a decent happy hour menu, but who really wants to stay around where you work when you can go home?! I’d much rather go to Tummy Stuffers!!!