Corky and Lenny’s

My friend David took me to lunch earlier this week, claiming Corky & Lenny’s was one of the best delis in Cleveland. He was 100% correct. I ordered the Beachwood sandwich (brisket) which came with some delicious potato salad on the side. They have the infamous Cleveland Indians ballpark mustard on every table, which tasted great on the sandwich. I will definitely be back!

Corned Beef. Where is the beef??? and the price for a sandwich… oy vey

With all due respect to people that love this place, I’ve never loved this place. I am unbiased. I’m born and raised CLE and have lived north, south, west, east, down in Columbus and on the east coast for 6 years. I’ve visited Corky and Lenny’s a handful of times in the last 25 years and have never loved this place. Besides the high prices, their food is just not that great. Especially their corned beef. I’ve never been able to figure out why people love this place, unless it’s the nostalgia? It’s ok but their corn beef comes from the same vendor that so many other places in CLE buy from. Oh! and after you eat outside of CLE at a similar deli (and we’re not talking NY city here!), you’ll see there is absolutely no comparison. The only item that I’d order from here if I still lived in Beachwood, or was in the area, is the matzo ball/​kreplach soup, but I’d get it to go.
Those that know me know that I give an unbiased opinion. I worked in restaurants for years back in my college days. It’s a tough business, however, in order to survive restaurants have to continually adapt and cater to the customer first. Corky’s is merely ok, but with rising food prices, service and competition, they need to do better.

I just love this place. It has been in business for years, albeit in another location. This Chagrin location is easy to find in a small strip mall with Whole Foods on one end. It is just off 271, near TJMaxx, and is super convenient for a drop in. Service is smooth and quick.
The menu is home cooking for sure. Amazing soups and yes, the matzoballs are tasty. They know their chicken soup.
Loads of wonderful sanwiches that are so large you can share, if you have a fairly normal appetite. They have lovely entrees, all sorts of choices from blintzes to chicken to chopped liver. They have their own bakery so the great stuff is right out there to see.
You will never walk away hungry. You will feel like you stepped into the past with wait staff that actually talk to you and try to make your life a happy one for the short time you are with them. Their dill pickles are the real thing. Breakfasts are amazing.
Did I say I love this place? Great bang for the buck and great service.

This is pretty much a typical deli. The food is delicious, but the service is spotty. I actually got the completely wrong sandwich and didn’t realize until after I ate it which sounds silly. I wanted the turkey and pastrami sandwich and just got turkey, and it was delicious, but still annoying. I also ordered cottage fries that never came but after finishing the sandwich I didn’t want them anyways. I felt confused the whole time I was there, I don’t think the food is made in the kitchen just behind the deli counter? Really good pastries too. I’ll have to give it another try.

Food is great service is ok! But they have this old ass rude ass hostess there, for the second time that has given me attitude. The first time I keep my mouth shut. But this time I went off on her. Retire you bitch u give this great food establishment a bad concept!!!

I had a turkey and cheese sandwich from here. The food is overpriced and I would not return. The service from the staff is okay and not very informative about their products. Overall, I would not return not worth the money.

Always a great place to stop by in Cleveland for soup, Sandwich & desert. l’ll always drive 30 minutes out of my way to come here.

The review is for the restaurant. (The food in the market section up front looked like it could be potentially good, but we were here over a recent holiday weekend for breakfast.)
I was expecting some good, decent solid deli-​style food. What we got was eggs that were probably poured from a carton. Everything was bland, blah and undercooked. Nothing was even remotely flavorful.
Special bonus for the morbidly obese man sitting near the door making fun of us in between huge gasps for air. Yeah, that will make me run back to this joint, for sure.
It was a one-​off that we even went (we’re visitors) but I recommend that people run away from this place as if they are on fire. It might work as cheap slop for the over 80 crowd, but anyone with functioning taste buds will want to steer clear.

Worked down the street from here in high school. This was my staple for lunch then. Make a point to stop in whenever possible when visiting family and friends in Cleveland. Their stuffed CB sandwiches are the best anywhere. I’d put them head to head with any NY deli. Pickles!!! Take a Chinese Almond cookie home with you!

This was a blast!!! Place was packed!!! Day after Thanksgiving. Everything was like another day at the office. Loved the pickles!!! Another order to go please!!! Now that’s what you call «Kosher!!!» Recommend!!!

I would venture to say Corky & Lenny’s is the best deli in OH. My family has been coming to this location since before I was born. Usually, we get their sandwiches straight from the deli to enjoy at home. This past time, we decided to dine in.
Unfortunately, the hostess seemed less than capable. I’m not sure if she is new or what, but there were a ton open seats in the front and she sat us, a group of 6, in the middle of all the booths that were totally filled. People kept on running into our table and space was limited.
Our server, Max, was great. None of our waters or pops were ever half empty. He kept us hydrated the whole time and made sure we always had pickles on our table!
The food. Corned beef. Pastrami. Slaw. If I could afford the calories, I would eat at Corky & Lenny’s every time I was I’m in town. You just can’t beat their corned beef! They do it the right way! I had the Sammy Kay with corned beef and pastrami with thousand island dressing. Corned beef and pastrami on rye bread. Yes, please!

Corey’s and Lenny’s gets a thumbs up from this former New Yorker. Here are the facts… It’s a Jewish Deli. It’s in a strip mall. It’s one of three Corky’s and Lenny’s scattered throughout the Cleveland area.
Eh what more can I say? The look, the feel, the taste are all befitting of a Jewish deli. So that means it’s brightly lit on the inside and kinda sterile looking, but heck, like I said it’s a Jewish deli. The front of the business contains several glass counters of refrigerated food items and beverages for take-​out. The rear of the business contains a full service restaurant with a wait staff for dining in.
I’m not particularly a huge fan of Jewish food. I find it kinda plain and sort of bland. But sometimes I do crave a good sandwich or a good heaping mound of meat. On the night I visited I got my heaping mound of meat in the form of hot turkey. It was good and so were the two bowls, not one bowl, of thick gravy that accompanied it. My dining companions also enjoyed their meals as well, which included chopped liver and a pastrami sandwich. Our potato pancakes were enjoyable too. Like most Jewish delis, the amount of food we received could have easily fed twice the amount of people at our table. It made me wonder how much food gets wasted on a daily basis. But I digress.
The menu is a little bit confusing. It’s almost got too many items and categories listed on it. But it’s misleading because a lot of the items on the menu are repeat items. For example, I think I counted the word turkey on the menu about four times. The differences are the portion sizes and the cooking method (hot or cold).
FYI, at the end of your meal, you pay at the front cash register before you leave. Did I mention it’s a Jewish deli ;-)

Popped in for a badly needed pastrami fix, and I was not disappointed.
As usual, my sandwich was perfect.
I was a bit disappointed that a pickle was not included though…
What’s up with that?

I had high hopes for this place, but it fell flat. I’ve been twice now and both times the service was good. Kudos to our recent server, Chad who was very kind and helpful. He checked in on us and made sure our glasses were always full. He made our experience pleasant.
The food on the other hand was sub-​par. The french fries were fresh but weren’t salted. The matzoh ball soup was decently sized, but the matzoh ball itself lacked seasoning and I only had two pieces of carrot in my soup. The broth was just average, not terribly rich or complex.
The sandwiches are large, as promised. The Pastrami Reuben and the corned beef sandwiched were good. The meat is always better warm. When I had it cold, the sandwich was just too dry. The sauerkraut helped a bit and was decently seasoned and a good condiment. The Tuna melt tasted homemade, but again, lacked seasoning and was a little dry. A little dijon mustard helped on both accounts.
If you’re looking for a quick lunch and decent service, I recommend this place. Otherwise, I suggest you find an alternative deli for more flavorful food.

I have got to say I was greatly disappointed.
First, we were seated within 2 minutes. So it was a little crowded but seats to go around. From there, it went downhill fast. It took about 20 minutes for someone to come and take our order. Mind you the whole time we only had the small glasses of water that within 10 minutes were empty… and remained empty the entire time.
Orders were taken and then … 30 minutes later a Corned beef sandwich and French toast came out.
So, the French toast was good. No complaints. My hot corned beef sandwich came out cold. Seriously, not even attempted at ‘hot’. Just 2 pieces of dry rye, some dry corned beef and two slices of cheese. Pitiful.
Bill was put on the edge of the table at the same time the food was dropped off in their drive by kind of way. No asking is this was the order, or if it looked good or… anything. Just tossed to food on to the table and kept on moving. Not even the same person that took the order (they made a point of telling us this).
So for me, there are a lot of other Deli’ around that are better. This was just a mess and I am not willing to even give a second chance. It has just been ruined.

The food is pretty good but super pricy! I was shocked at how steep the costs are here. $ 2 for a can of pop! $ 11 for lox bagel — no sides. I’m not sure it was entirely worth it.
However, the service was good and they had a great kosher for Passover menu for my bf. My to-​go kugel was pretty good though.

It was pastrami week for me last week. Corned beef week too, and pickles, cole slaw, potato salad, Dr. Brown’s, etc. When I’m in Cleveland I always stop in at Corky and Lenny’s and I’m never disappointed. I can’t find this in Seattle, so I go for a sandwich piled high with pastrami or corned beef on rye and a couple of pickles. Makes my day.

Breakfast was a solid three stars for me – but something tells me this would be a 4 – 5 star review if I would have come for lunch or dinner.
My personal stand-​outs that I tried were the bagel and the corned beef hash. That hash was perfection. I’m not really sure if I’ve ever had better… and that with an egg and rye toast probably would have been the most epic experience, ever. The coffee was also pretty damn good diner joe. I had the jitters from 1.5 mugs. My western omelet was good, but pretty average.
The menu is huge, but most of it is lunch and dinner. The staff is nice. If I lived closer I’d probably be here more often, but I am determined to come back to try it for lunch.
Until then, it’s still bookmarked!

For considering myself a sandwich obsession person, I can’t believe I had never gone to Corky and Lenny’s until just last week. And I’ve been living in this area my ENTIRE LIFE!
I ordered the Corned Beef Reuben. Now while the sandwich size itself is below par — I like them big ;) — the quality was great! The quality of the deli meat is really what is solidifying the four stars. I mean the presentation, size, and price are all kind of lackluster in my books. It’s a diner, so of course presentation isn’t a huge deal. Size, like I said, was wimpy for a Reuben sandwich. Due to that, price was a little high! But I suppose that is the quality talking, not portion. Overall though, I will be returning once I have someone who will go with me. This first time I went I ate alone and looked like a loser. Awkwardddddddddd!