Liehs & Steigerwald Downtown

Having L&S open a branch downtown made me happy when it was announced. I loved going to the one up on Rte 31 to get quality meats and sandwiches. My hope soon left me after multiple visits where the sandwiches were dry and flavorless. The burgers had no seasoning and were overcooked. The deli sandwiches felt short of the quality received at the other locations. Aside from the disappointing food — the music tends to be too loud so you can’t hear when they call your name to pick up the order. When it comes to my lunch or dinner choices downtown during work, L&S Downtown is low on my list, right above Subway

Absolutely not impressed. Walked in the door, a man who worked there gave me a dirty look. someone had burned something in the kitchen and it filled the store with smoke… basic italian products you could get at Wegmans or Price Chopper… Nobody asked if we needed help. The refrigerators were basically empty… all we saw were some sausages and hotdogs. We walked back out. Never going back to that particular branch… tried to go to the «original» on Grant but they were closed on Monday.

Let me put it this way: if I found myself here again, I would be okay with it, but I don’t think I’d actively seek it out.
A disclaimer here should be that I didn’t try any of the meats that they are known for, so you may have a better experience than I did. I went in with a friend for a late lunch. There is a lot of signage that says «Eat Local» around the place, but I saw a lot of imports (the wine I ordered was from Italy), so I’m not exactly sure what the connection was. You have to order at the counter, deli style, and then take a seat. The atmosphere is nice and there is a decent amount of seating available.
I ordered a glass of white wine. The pour suggested that they don’t serve a lot of wine: about 8 oz, filled almost all the way to the top of the glass. Certainly a good value for the price, but that’s not what I look for in a glass of wine.
For lunch I chose homemade pierogies and a garden salad. The croutons on the salad appeared to be house made and were delicious: very buttery and crispy! Unfortunately, the croutons were the best part of my lunch. The pierogies were deep fried and tasted like french fries (perhaps made in the same oil?). The salad had way too much iceberg lettuce for my taste. One plus was that everything seemed fairly fresh.
Prices were very fair, and the people were friendly enough. Nothing remarkable about the service.

Liehs & Steigerwald Downtown is part of a trio of identically named businesses in the Syracuse, NY area. They were established on the North Side of Syracuse on Grant Blvd in 1936 as a meat merchant or butcher. They still continue there today with great success. Their second venture is in the suburban area of Clay, NY on Rt 31 where they extended their offerings of fine traditional German style meats and custom butchered meats.
This downtown location is a new hybrid which is composed of butcher/​deli/​grocery/​pub. They have taken on new roles as a pub/​deli/​grocery in this downtown spot. The focus of the two original locations was the butcher and deli sections. In this Downtown spot, more attention and space is given to the pub/​lounge area. The butcher/​grocery section is still present with a smaller foot print yet, with great customer service and essential offerings.
I have experienced the delights of their older established locations through buying meats I could prepare or enjoy at home. In my recent encounters with the newer Downtown location, I focused on trying their cooked sandwiches and beverages.
I visited Liehs & Steigerwald Downtown on 2 occasions late on a Saturday afternoon. I intended to try their offerings from their deli. As I have had their meats, sausages, bratwursts etc… from their other locations which I prepared at home. I was anxious to try their home made meats cooked and served in their establishment.
From the first time I approached this business, I was truly enchanted with the presence of the façade of the exterior of the building. They truly put great thought into their presence in the downtown location and have a classical, tasteful and urban presence. Enter through their doors and you are welcomed with a large high ceiling first floor business. Their floor space is wonderfully enhanced by their approximately 20 foot high ceilings. Clean, classical and soothing tones punctuated by butcher centric decorative elements in the form of antique photos, art work and thematic furniture in their lounge area offer a great environment. If you want to grab take out, buy groceries, eat a meal or simply enjoy a relaxing adult beverage, you can do this all here. Pretty damn good for a butcher !!
Their meats are top notch and a true gem to be able to encounter the offerings of a German style butcher. So, how does this translate to their prepared foods offered for on site consumption? I had their bratwurst sandwich with a soda on my first visit. The bratwurst sandwich was served in a basket lined with wax paper and served with potato chips. A soda cost $ 2.00. I didn’t indulge in their beer offerings since I was driving. The bratwurst was one of their home made top notch meats grilled nicely and simply put on a toasted roll. This was perfect as I liked the simplicity which preserved the star of the sandwich, the bratwurst.
My second visit tempted me to order a hot pastrami sandwich. My genetic code expects a pastrami sandwich to be served on rye bread with caraway seeds with pastrami that is produced in house and hand carved. I grew up ordering pastrami (one never had to specify «hot» because who the hell ate it cold??) on rye with mustard. I asked for a hot pastrami sandwich on rye (I had to specify light rye) with mustard. I was then told this is served with Swiss cheese… BLASPHEMY !!! I politely requested no Swiss cheese. A side order of macaroni salad for $ 2.00 and a soda completed my order. The macaroni salad was simply the pasta, mayonnaise and mild flavoring i.e. celery seed. Simple and well executed but, a very small portion was given. I would prefer that they offer the option to skip the potato chips for a larger portion of the side salad.
The pastrami sandwich was presented with buttered and grilled rye bread. I expected a dense and chewy assertive rye bread for the pastrami sandwich. In addition, the pastrami was thin sliced on a deli slicer. It was not hand carved. This takes away a great deal of enjoyment from the sandwich… no meaty slices full of flavor and protein texture.
About their ordering practice, one orders at their counter and takes a seat. They then call out your order by your full name (first and last) if you pay by credit (I do not like this at all… I don’t need my full name broadcast to a bunch of people I do not know). Pay cash or prepaid debit card and avoid this. You never know if your parole officer is on site :) Seriously, a first name is adequate or use a receipt number.
Before I left, I bought about one pound of their home made ring bologna. It was only $ 4.99/lbs. Their meat products are awesome. The butchers are enthusiastic and highly informative. Ask them a question, and you can be confident their answer is based on great experience. Their advice hasn’t steered me wrong.
Overall, this place, despite my nitpicking, is wonderful. I hope to return and enjoy more of their offerings
PS Loud TVs with football games. A little uncomfortable…

From average to just bad in five visits.
I was excited when this spot opened in my neighborhood-​I have shopped at their northside place for many years. Having a butcher/​grocery I could walk to at last-​hooray! Since the first week, they have been scaling back the selection of meat and groceries available-​and putting more focus and resources into the café/​bar section. Ok-​I get it-​you invest in what the neighborhood supports. So my question is-​why does that part of this business keep getting worse? A quick overview of my visits there to eat:
1. first time –italian sausage sandwich. Pretty good, nothing outstanding but a nice tasty lunch. I asked for some of their horseradish mustard, which I have purchased at their other shops-​they don’t have it there. Confusing. It’s their brand and I believe is made locally-​why wouldn’t they have it at their eat in establishment? Loud nineties angst rock blasting while I ate.
2. turkey sandwich-​a pile of very dry turkey shavings on 2 slices of packaged rye bread. One side of one piece of the bread had started getting stale-​reach a bit further into the bag if the bread is weeks old, people. The shavings were taste free, messy and I was confused as to why I couldn’t just have some slices of turkey. Every time I took a bite, the shavings fell out the side like confetti. Loud nineties rock again.
3. chicken ceaser wrap-​I was looking for something a bit light and «salad-​y» Very dry chicken pieces and dumped from a Sysco bag ceaser salad wrapped in an ice cold tortilla. Tasted like something you’d be served on an airplane. Loud classic rock today. Louder than usual, ie ear splitting.
4. Went back to the sausage since it was the only thing I had somewhat enjoyed there. They were cleaning up and obviously looking to close up-​so I asked if they were closing. Was told they were closing early but they didn’t know when. Ok-​ordered the sausage sandwich. It was barely cooked on the inside. Gross. Loud Dave Matthews band playing.
I give up. I am so disappointed. This place offers nothing out of the ordinary, their hours are inconsistent, and they keep scaling back on the butcher and grocery offerings. They can’t decide what to focus on and it shows. Nice knowing ya Liehs and Steigerwald downtown-I’ll be shopping at your northside store and avaoiding your place right across the street from my home.

They have a pretty good cheese steak sandwich and the burger of the day reminds me of Bob’s Burgers. The burger wasn’t anything fancy when I went, but it carried a $ 10 price tag. I would prefer something a bit cheaper for the over all burger quality, but it is still a decent burger.
The steak sandwich is a classic and they do it right with peppers and onions. Chips are alright.
The tap beer selection is poor, but that’s okay. I’d only come here for food anyway.

Friendly staff and good food, what else can you ask for? I had the burger of the day, but I really want to try the sausage next time!

Nice Unilocal event here tonight. The best (and only authentic) pastrami sandwich I’ve had in CNY. Jeff Steigerwald, the owner is friendly and extremely knowledgeable. He is the go to guy if you want something unusual in the meat dept. Lots of really interesting sausages, all home made, pierogies, etc. Try it for the deli style food. The quality is really good.

Fun atmosphere. Of course a nice selection of meat and other food items. They have an awesome bar with a great menu of wraps, sandwiches and appetizers. We enjoyed the pastrami sandwich which was great. Very tasty, excellent pastrami. The buffalo chicken wrap was classic. A little spice in your choice of wrap. Sandwiches are served with chips and a pickle. Definitely a downtown winner!

Best Local Butcher and Deli! This place knows their meats! From a wide variety of fresh cuts at the meat counter to a large selection of fresh deli sandwiches (wraps and hot items), this place is a meat lovers dream! I tried their cheese steak sandwich tonight and it is the best I’ve ever had, even from Philly! The bun was so fresh. The shaved steak meat was tender, seasoned and cooked to perfection. All meat no grease! The cheese was melty goodness that completed the sandwich to perfection! Stop by for lunch or dinner downtown. They are even open late on games nights!

What a cool little spot! Stopped here for dinner and a drink on a week night (they stay open til you leave, don’t be fooled by the wrong hours posted online). Had some good food (cheese steak wrap and hot pastrami sandwich) and some wine. We sat at the bar– Kelli the bartender was fantastic! The owner Jeff came around and was super friendly… Overall a clean, down to earth, nice atmosphere to come and unwind. Can’t wait to try some other menu items!
Grabbed some pierogies and bratwurst to try cook at home and try this weekend… Can’t wait!

Delicious!!! Just had the steak sandwich which was flavorful and mouth watering good. We also had the burger of the week and once again the meat was just cooked to perfection!!! We love the open feel and the staff is super friendly and homey.
They have a bar, cool cow themed couches to hang out in and plenty of awesome seating areas! Everything is fresh fresh fresh none of the frozen stuff we see so much of nowadays.
I highly recommend this place! We need to come back to try the rest of the menu!

Well, it’s been a month and change, and I’m out… the employees are still eating while preparing food, the air conditioning doesn’t work, and it takes what seems like a dozen employees 10 minutes to make a cold sandwich. Soup r’ Salads and other sandwich spots are around the corner… unfortunately, this spot just doesn’t hold up.

I came here to try the recently-​opened downtown location of the premier meat shop in Syracuse (which was a staple for the best meat in the area). This downtown deli’s menu offered a few unusual items on the «Appetizers» and «Hot Off The Grill» sections, so I was curious.
The app. — Sausage & Kraut Fritters sounded appealing, which is what was ordererd. It was 4 deep-​fried balls which certainly had sauerkraut and flour, but, try as I could — found no physical or flavorful evidence of sausage! It came with a small cup of Russian-​type dressing.
I am not one of the typical, young, eat-​and-​run young downtowners who just want to gulp and go, so I was aware of what I was served and tried to savor it.
The original store seemed to specialize in sausage all these years! Why wasn’t it here?

Good food, fair price. I liked it. We ordered Ruben and pastrami sandwiches and they were delicious.

I want to love this place I really do! However after 5 – 6 visits I realized its mediocre at best! First month the portion sizes and prices were great! Recently the sandwiches have become much much much smaller and even the chip portion became smaller! Nachos were acceptably priced at $ 7 and all the sudden the price jumped to $ 9! Much much better places in Downtown! Try soups r salads around the corner instead!

I ordered 3 bone in rib eye’s cut 1−½ inches for a recent cookout. Excellent cut, full of flavor. These guys know how to cut and trim the perfect steak

Went here for lunch today, right at noon which I assume is peak lunch hour. Was sitting at the bar and received great service. Fried perogies were great and the reuban was amazing. Look forward to visiting more and hopefully utilizing the small grocery, as a downtown resident it looks to be a good simple place to shop.

Very popular at lunch time. The Ruben was delicious. Ordered perogies and was disappointed to see that they fry them– kind of tasteless. Will be back for a drink and a cheese and brat sampler.