Maury’s Delicatessen

I found myself in Worcester yesterday around lunch yesterday with a coworker. I look for a good grinder whenever I’m in a new place. (all the time really, no matter where I am.)We drove around and there it was, a 30 year old sign, old crumby corner and «Famous Grinders» and «since 1947» This was definitely the place.
I got the #3 Italian: Salami, Peppered Loaf, and Ham. Not a typical Italian grinder but that was the closest of the 3 Italians and the 40 types of sandwiches they boast. I’m not sure what Peppered Loaf is. I got it with everything but onions, per my usual. This included sliced raw green peppers which I hadn’t seen in a long time, in fact, since I didn’t like peppers and used to order a «Large Italian Grinder with out onions or peppers… what, yes, hot peppers, just no green peppers. ok, thank you.»
The Oil and Vinegar was good and there was plenty of it but it went on the lettuce like it should and didn’t soak the bread.
The bread was soft and slightly chewy, very good bread-​consistency.
The meat was good, flavorful and plentiful, as were the vegetables and cheese.
The price was very fair and it was a good sized grinder, the kind where you can eat a half now and half later or both halves now and want to fall asleep. They also have 3′ long Family Size grinders which I would like to explore if I lived in the area.
I got a pickle which was barely past a cucumber. It was different but not bad. I’d ask for one from the bottom that has been pickling longer next time.
The blonde woman who served us was polite and helpful and brought our sandwiches out to where we were sitting.
Upon entering and knowing by the clientele and décor this was the spot, I was not in line but staring at the menu board for a while but when she saw I was ready and walking over to the register she caught my eye while the others helped the people that had come in after us.

I’ve been in this place two times since I had heard how good the food was. Happy with the food but I have to agree with some of the other people. Both times I’ve come in here the girls working behind the counter acted as if we were interrupting them and they’d rather be doing something else. Where are the owners?

The food at this place is WILDLY inconsistent. No owner on site, perhaps?
I’m positive that shills craft these 5 star reviews. No basis in reality.
Counter help is of the surly, snarly variety. Jesus ladies, stay home if your hangover is that bad.
Disregard glowing reviews about Maury’s pastrami, it’s stringy, veiny and over-​nuked. An abomination.
(Weintraub’s, on Water St., is the real deal in Worcester. Disregard the décor. Go to Katz’s in NYC for the REAL, real deal.)
Corned beef at Maury’s is very good.
The Maury Burger, a legacy sandwich from Maury’s glory days, used to be great, a world class mini meatloaf with «27 different ingredients.» Now it’s a crumbly, flavorless mess. Why bother folks?
The meatballs, conversely, are very tasty.
The onion rolls are stale, weirdly sweet and crumble apart when touched. Some sort of sawdust enhanced bread substitute perhaps?
The chicken-​noodle soup is definitely concocted with jazzed-​up Ramen noodles and deli chicken. I AM NOT MAKING THAT UP. The chicken-​noodle soup is vile. To die for… literally.
Worcester has hundreds of dining places that deserve support.
I will not subsidize this level of indifference and incompetence with my dollars.
I’m giving this place a wide berth until they smarten up.

This review has been a long time in the making let me tell you… This place is like my family history. We love pastrami. I am ashamed to admit that it took 22 years to finally go out and try the staple known from my parents, aunts, uncles and everyone else in my family. (THE BEST PASTRAMI AND WORCESTER). Finally I can say I’ve tried it. The Food Detector tests are in and they determined. THAT WAS NOT A LIE!
I’ve had pastrami everywhere, and I mean everywhere. All the local pizza joints (Nikos, Peruchos, JJ, s, Road Runner) I’ve been to them all. I’ve sampled them across some of the greatest deli destinations in Worcester (Belsitos and Regatta). Even Major League Roast Beef in Auburn. I only include them because they’re second in the running. Even if they’re not as local.
So I tried the Pastrami on Dark rye with Swiss cheese and yellow mustard. (Mouth watering right now). It was really really just an excellent sandwich. I can’t even explain how amazing it was… Just go try it. That’s all. Do yourself a favor.

Best Pastrami sandwich on the planet. Recommend a better one to me, You can’t. I haven’t tried anything else on the menu but i have seen them make some masterpieces with my 2 eyes and would give them 5 stars without blindly. I don’t want to hear you cry about the prices, you pay for what you get and you GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR and what you pay to get, you Recieve. And you can receive what you put your money TOWARDS. :-P

Great Food great service. If your looking for that small spot with big flavor this is it.

So, I have been going to Maury’s since I was a kid. It has changed ownership more times than one can count and has always seemed to hold on to it’s market in Main South.
It had been a while since I was there, so I went to have lunch. It was 12:38 PM when I walked in and surprisingly, there was not one other person there– yes, that’s right, Noon at a deli and I was the only customer! I was greeted with a «You know what you want?» (it was actually pretty amazing how the lady could say that and show no affect at all) and I proceeded to order a pastrami sandwich with a small macaroni salad and a drink. When she brought the food out, I said «Thank you» and got no response, which I have a hard time with. Pastrami was salty, but ok. The macaroni salad was pretty tasty. But the people working there were incredibly unfriendly and instead of all of them standing there doing nothing, perhaps they should wash the tables, since there was only one clean one in the place.
The price for the sandwich, small macaroni salad, and drink was over $ 14! Are you kidding me? How about this– a smile and/​or a thank you for the business, since it appeared that I WAS the lunch crowd that particular day!

yum. you get exactly what to expect here. they nestle a little pickle right in your wrapper. these folks know how to make a bomb sandwich here.

Do you ever wonder what happened to all the good deli’s in Worcester? Maury’s must be the last bastion of the local delicatessen. I love going here and find everything is good and definitely splurge on the pickle.
If you can make it here on a Monday or a Friday order a Maury burger…

Pastrami was delicious but reuben was disappointing, too little corned beef and way too much sauer kraut. Look forward to trying some other sandwiches there soon.

So I’m minding my own business, when suddenly it hits me. I need a sandwich pronto. Subway won’t do it for me on this day. D’Angelo’s? Come on, I need variety in my life. Not the same shit since ’02. Ain’t you learn nothing from Dora? I need to explore.
My bro, who isn’t actually my real bro puts me on. «Harry, I know of the spot in Worcester, you want a sandwich? I know a guy. You need a grinder? I know a guy. You’re looking for a sandwich to change your views on life? I know a guy.»
So we go see this Maury character. I am hesitant, I don’t know what to expect. I go in, the menu covers the entire upper portion of the wall. I’m talking variety in my life. Three different types of Italian subs… Yeah three, or tres’ if you’re Italian which invented those sandwiches.
TV on ESPN2 in the corner showing highlights of the WNBA, I immediately realize that this isn’t real sports and ask I i can correct this error, the friendly staff notices the terrible error and puts on ESPN the reg. Kobe doing the Kobe face awaits me. Justice.
Anyways, I decide today is the day I see how good this sandwich shop is. No tip toeing. I tell them straight up, this is my first time, I enjoy a lucrative life with money earned as a safety engineer (door man at a bar). This could be the biggest investment meeting of your life. What is the best sandwich you can make, and I need 2 of it. Boom, Pastrami on a bulkie, american cheese because I love freedom. Yellow mustard, like the yellow submarine.
She puts it and down it is, aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. I feel confident as I pick the sandwich up. Proper weight, they drained the grease from the heavenly smelling pastrami. And then it happens, I bite into this sandwich and the meat triggers off the thousands of sensors on my tongue and I realize it’s finally happened. I found my sandwich soul-​mate.
I feel like the rest of the meal happened in slow motion. It was like when Jack Dawson waited for Rose to come down the stairs on the Titanic. People around me were smiling and clapping. Music was playing. It was a triumphant moment in my life.
I washed the tasty sandwich down with an IBC Rootbeer, glass bottle of course because I have class. Paid for my meal, left a hefty 2 dollar tip, along with my phone number to a girl who apparently lost it because she never called.
The rest has been history, I’ve been back many times, tried many different sandwiches, I’ve never had stale bread or a bad experience.
My Unilocalians, this has my stamp of approval. Enjoy.

Their corned beef is worth the trip all by itself. They brine it, roast it then brine it again. Then they trim it down to about half it’s weight. The result is corned beef as tender as can be. I made up mine with Russian dressing, lettuce, and some Coopers cheddar cheese on marble rye. Half sour pickle and some grape soda.
You all know where to get a 5 dollar footlong, but if you want a serious sandwich, this is the place. Pastrami was just as delicious. You won’t leave hungry.
Not being from the area, I needed a GPS to get me there, but its just off 291 near Holy Cross.
They also do grinders and family style grinders, and special dinners on Saturday.

The bread was soft and meat was good quality, but no flavor. I had a turkey sandwich. Everything was bland, heard about this place alot so i had to try it. Nothing to rave about.

Been there twice and it was like I was at two different versions of the same place.
The first time my wife got there first, sat at the counter and ordered me a Tuna Sandwich. It was fabulous all white tuna with fresh bread and just the right amount of mayo– not too much not too little. The guys working the counter were friendly and attentive and joked around with us. We had a nice meal and decided we would definitely come back.
Our second trip we walked through some kind of Twilight-​Zone type portal because although the restaurant and the menu remained the same the staff was completely different. This time there were two older women manning the counter and one other couple who were just leaving as we came in– the man said «good luck» to me as he walked by.
That’s not usually a good sign.
I spent a minute looking at the large menu and neither of the women working acknowledged we were there. When we were ready to order we had to basically flag one of them over.
We got a Roast Beef and another Tuna sandwich. I watched her scrape the last remnants of the TUNA out of a HUGE tub and thought to myself this could be trouble.
Sure enough– the tuna this time around was so dry I could barely choke it down. The bread, which had been amazingly fresh the first time around– and that visit we were there right at closing– was nearly stale.
Price wise we didn’t notice the high prices the first time but when the service and quality fell it was much more noticeable.
We haven’t been back since and maybe we’ll have to call first to see if the men or women are running the show before we bother.

I woke up this morning with a craving for hot pastrami and Swiss on light rye with spicy brown mustard. Why I can never have a craving for carrot sticks — who knows:) So off I go in search of a delicatessen — which I know has to exist in Worcester. I have passed by Maury’s numerous times & they were always closed. Not today though! Their neon «OPEN» sign was my beacon of hope on this miserably rainy day.
So in we go and the place is pristine! Good thing because as we parked I was already planning my get away if the place was as grubby as the parking lot. The set up is great — at least a dozen counter seats and 4 booths for small groups. Being with a toddler meant wrapping it to go this time. I ordered my #41 ($ 7.49) and looked around as we waited. The counter help consisted of an older gentleman, a lovely lady & a younger gentleman. Everyone was polite & struck up conversations with the little mister.
My order was up in under 6 minutes & out the door we went with lunch in hand. The total for my sandwich & a bag of BBQ Wachusets was $ 9.07. Kind of steep — but so worth it. As I unwrapped my sammie — it was stacked almost as high as Katz in NYC. Almost. The pastrami was moist & had a great black pepper flavor. There was just enough Swiss and spicy brown to hold it together but the star was the bread. The light rye was so buttery and soft… I think I just had the perfect sandwich.
There menu is extensive in the way of grinders, sandwiches, and the elusive Mauryburgers served only on Mondays & Fridays. They have daily soups & homemade desserts. They also carry a huge assortment of beverages. When’s the last time you had a grape Crush in a glass bottle?
So please, get out & enjoy Maury’s! This is definitely a gem on Main Street!