Halsted Street Deli

First time here, I told the guy I wanted a ham and swiss sandwich on rye. He proceed to ask me if i wanted lettuce, tomato, and mayo, I said yes. I then told him that I wanted yellow mustard. I also asked what other ingredients he had to offer, he named a few off and I indicated that i would also like cucumber. When the sandwich arrived, he had only put on cucumber and yellow mustard.
I thought routinely adding things to the sandwich wouldn’t take away everything else i acknowledged. Needless to say, the guy behind the counter was rude and clearly was too worried about how he sounded yelling out soup orders to pay attention to what I was saying. I won’t be back.

This is a great lunch spot for Loop workers! I regularly order the Turkey BLT on whole grain bread, and I’m left satisfied every time. With bag of chips, the tab comes to a little over $ 8 which is less than the majority of other lunch spots I frequent.
The lines are small to none (though admittedly I tend to eat lunch closer to 11:30am), the sandwiches are great, and the staff is friendly.

This is a very small location but there is seating. It’s new and clean and well lit. There are plenty of sandwich choices, very standard fare but with local names (their Reuben is called «The Ohio St.»). They have soup and 2 kinds of chili (beef and chicken, or red and white). Both are very good. The staff is friendly. Prices are fair for the Loop. One of the best things about this place is they use Manny’s corned beef! Delicious and located closer than Roosevelt Road and Jefferson (though it’s really not a long cab ride). Recommended.

I used to come here a lot when I worked by it. I usually got the Italian beef, and I just loved it. They use a bigger roll that is soft and holds up to the juices well. I don’t like when my Italian beef is soaking wet and makes my bread soggy. Put some peppers and mozzarella cheese on it and you are good to go. If you don’t like super greasy Italian beef, then try this one. Their chicken chili is fantastic as well. I often find myself craving this place.

Halsted Street Deli moved a few months ago from its former location on Franklin near Madison to its current spot at a former Quizno’s at 128 S Franklin. We were actually working downtown today (and quite busy too) during this deep freeze, so our boss treated us to lunch from HSD for our collective efforts. My selection was a Dijon chicken sandwich, with a bland and thin layer of chicken breast on a tomato focaccia roll, and topped with tomato and shredded lettuce. You can ask for the chicken «hot or cold». I asked for the chicken to be warm, but I could not tell if that was the case, though I blame that partially on the deep freeze outside. The sandwich was decent but far from memorable. My co-​workers who selected the Italian beef seemed to like their selections better. My boss ordered a cup of chicken chili and he seemed to be the happiest of us all.

Great customer service and lots of options. This is a great place to run in and grab a bite without destroying your wallet. They have soups and sandwiches available as well as some tasty looking deserts. My experience is that the pastrami rueben is amazing!

Obsessed with their chicken soup.

LOVE this place.
First, I tend to grab a quick soup for lunch and I like that they have interesting options. If I’m not into the soup available that day they always have chili available, and it’s really good.
But, you can get soup anywhere in the Loop. Why the 5 stars? The service here is stellar. There are very few places in the area where you can walk in, be greeted, and have a «neighborhood» feel. Everyone that works here is so nice. It’s a refreshing change from other sandwich places nearby that are overflowing with people, and nothing annoys me more than when I’m in line deciding what I want and there’s someone rushing me through my order just to get to the next person in line.
Also, for those of you who ordered and didn’t like your food, maybe tell the staff next time? I’ve always found them to be helpful and accommodating, so maybe they could help get you a menu item you’d prefer.

The Big Italian here is the best I’ve had in the city. Service during lunch rush is speedy and efficient. Price is very reasonable as well.

If you work in the area and are tired of all the other lunch places, it’s probably worth it to give this place a try. The food is standard, nothing fancy, but not crap either.

Nothing special… just your typical deli. Ordered the Big Tony, $ 5.99. It was ok. Bread was toasted which was nice. Staff seemed friendly.

The food is standard. I was jonesin’ for a ham and cheese and instead of going to potbelly and deal with the hoo-​hah, I went here instead. Not bad. But what I really liked with the older spanish guy making my sandwich. Super friendly and when i said i wanted easy mayo/​mustard, he listened. I opened up my sandwich and it wasn’t drowning in sauce, like potbelly and subway usually do.
Will I go back? Yeah… the chicken salad wrap is awesome in a loop where chicken salad wraps are far and few between. And, the sandwich is huge…

If you want a bagel or a roll, this is the place.
Anything other than that, Meh.
I’ve had the breakfast wrap, and bagel sandwich — both are alright. The bagel is awesome but theres a lot of it, eggs are warmed in the micro. Gone are the days of an actual scrambled egg. They’d have time to do it too — there’s never anyone there.
Had a beef sandwich (5.99 for the just the sandwich) and it was tasty and sizable, but again, the bread wins everytime. If you’re a carboholic, try the bread. Otherwise, Meh.

I know others haven’t really felt the love for this place, but all of my co-​workers love it. There is no line because they move you through it so fast; great for a peon such as myself who needs to get back to the office stat with lunch. Their chili is fantastic and one of our guys swears by the Roast Beef. Sure it’s not the cheapest option out there, but for the quick service and good food — it gets my vote.

Not knowing where to eat for lunch, I walked past this place at 12:30 PM on a weekday. We were on our way to Roti but spotted this little joint out of the corner of our eye. And from the outside looking in, it was promising. A decent menu with respectable options, I felt invigorated trying something new. I walked in and found myself at the front of the line. Umm… where was the line? Am I in Chicago? There was literally not a soul in line. Anyone familiar with lunch loop dining knows that’s rule number one on the ‘do not eat here’ list. Had my brain been functioning normally I would have turned around and left. But I was blinded by my hunger and plowed ahead with my order.
«I’ll have the tarragon chicken salad wrap please».
This is when my afternoon took a nose dive. My tarragon chicken salad wrap started with them putting my tortilla on what looked like a large waffle iron. Awesome. From there, bland iceberg lettuce was piled high along with reddish looking tomatoes and a small amount of their chicken salad. I paid for my order and found a seat in the empty dining room. Again, a warning sign of what was to come. I unwrapped my sandwich to find a mess in front of me. The tortilla was dry and flavorless, too much lettuce was used, and the flavor of the chicken salad was off-​putting. I took one bite and felt my soul leave my body. Even writing this review leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Halsted Street Deli is everything that’s wrong with lunch in the loop.

Tried out the Halsted Street Deli today and, just like most of you, I did not read the reviewed prior to my visit. Ugh… I wish I would have.
At any rate, I ordered the chicken salad wheat wrap. The chicken salad was okay (at best) but the lettuce seemed quite dated and as luck would have it, my tomato came from the center slice… ya know… the one with the tough core? oiy.
Save your cash — this place sucks ass.

I read Unilocal’s reviews about a $ 6+ sandwich, soup, drink and chip combo and jumped on board since Halsted Street Deli is so close to my office.
Not only did my combo not come with chips — I could substitute my drink for chips, if I wanted, the counter girl said — but it was $ 8.31 total! The half sandwich was too bready — not enough turkey, onion or mayo. And now that I’m thinking back, did tomatoes even grace my sandwich?
Soup — chicken tortilla — was all right but not outstanding.
Service was wonky; the counter folk all seemed to preoccupied with what was happening behind the counter than what was happening in front of them. And there really wasn’t anything happening behind the counter.
I would probably give this place 2.5 stars if possible, but since I can’t, and since I walked out going, «Meh, I’ve experienced better,» 2 it is.

Don’t get me wrong, for a quick lunch in the Loop it’s decent. I got the «Al’s Special,» a corned beef sandwich with spicy mustard and added on Swiss cheese. The corned beef was pretty good in and of itself, but the meat was lukewarm and the pumpernickel bread was soggy and cold. Thus, half the sandwich was warm while the other half was cold. There was a decent amount of meat on the sandwich (I have definitely had less) but it is not like some places where you have to take some off the top to be able to fit it into your mouth. Those are the best! I like spicy mustard but there was way too much on the sandwich and it was generally overpowering.
To drink I got a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice which was actually really good. Overall, the lunch cost about $ 10.50 and was relatively quick service. If I was in a hurry in the Loop I would eat here but it’s not a place to go out of your way for.

Sorry guys… I gave one near the Board of Trade 4 stars, but I was probably feeling really generous and hungry that day… it should have been 2 – 3 stars.
WE WANT MORE MEAT.
The bread to filling ratio was not ideal. I ordered a sandwich, not thick (though fresh) crunchy Italian bread with slices of meat and soggy shredded lettuce in the middle.

Wherever you’re going for your breakfast sandwich, stop. The ham egg and cheese on a bagel here is better then anything else nearby. They are a deli so they have thin sliced ham and they are generous with it. And they do just fine with the bagel, egg and cheese part.
Oh, and for lunch, well, Halsted Street Deli is okay. Probably just three stars there.