Gandolfo’s New York Delicatessen

I love gandolfos! No average sandwiches here. Everything is packed with deliciousness! My personal favorite is chicken salad sandwich on sour dough. Salad lovers have no fear cause all the salads are amazing as well. The staff and owner are extremely nice too. If you’re a sandwich concierge like I am you must make gandolfos one of your stops in mission Viejo. :)

Really 2.5. Half a sandwich for 9 bucks. I’m still hungry. I don’t think I’d come back.

A+++! Awesome food! Awesome music!
Side note: Just ‘cuz an establishment plays a certain kind of music doesn’t mean they’re pushing it on you– that goes for Country, Italian, Indian, Chinese, or whatever music– it’s the identity of the place– period.

Great food and I enjoyed the music as well. May God Bless this establishment for many years to come… for those who feel that Christian music is pushed upon them, do you feel the same when any other type of music is played when you eat or shop at any other establishments?

I love this place! I come here on my lunch break and do my bible study and eat yummy sandwiches! So grateful to have an establishment nearby that plays Jesus music! Oh and I love the prayer box they have too! God is good! All the time! Keep fighting the good fight Gandolfo’s and feeding my belly!

Coffee Shops, Deli’s, are sprouting just about anywhere where a large number of people are found. Their titles vary, and this one, Gandolfo’s New York Delicatessen, is quite popular. I imagine that even though their roots might, indeed, come from the Big Apple, it is seldom one can compare a Deli like the finest found in New York, to the delicatessens found in other locations, specially across the country. Same as New York Pizza, a big selling point for many lovers of the pizza that started the name, to delis all across this great country. Titles only tell part of the story, for in the end the food will dictate and validate, their claims, which in most cases falls short of the mark.
We found this place right across the street of a mattress store, and everyone in our group was hungry, so since it was a skip and a hop, we decided to check it out.
What do I look for in the ideal deli? First and foremost, above average cold cuts. The finest hams, really good roast beef, great variety of cheeses, and in this particular case I was hoping to find an above average pastrami.
The manager of the place looked and acted like he was from the eastern part of the US, of good disposition and efficient at the job. The place at a busy time of the day in most places, was only 40% busy at around 12:30 PM. Definitely not a deli, in that you could buy cold cuts by the pound, mostly a sandwich factory with a long list of the most popular combinations found in most deli’s. The following were ordered:
Dagwood Specialty Sandwich, half $ 8.99, large $ 4 more. We opted for the large. Roast beef, turkey, ham, corned beef, swiss, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mayo, spicy mustard, cold hero. Bread apparently made in the premises in a large hoagie type, soft and easy to eat. Meats must say, nothing spectacular but edible, a slight better than Subway’s?, not so sure. Overall it was a big sandwich and two in our party felt very satisfied upon finishing, with a little slice given to me for the sake of this review. Yes, edible, but certainly not New York impressive. 3.5 Stars.
Little Italy $ 7.49 plus $ 4 for the large: Ham, salami, pepperoni, provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, cold, in the same bread type as mentioned above. Single eater ate the whole thing, perhaps because our group had missed any kind of breakfast, and his opinion on the description was: decent. Cold meats again, not specially great, just good enough. 3.5 Stars.
Pastrami on Rye, $ 7.99 add $ 4 for the large, meaning the whole slices. Pastrami was better than most places, soft and tasty, the size of the sandwich not big by any stretch of the imagination, together with swiss (which I realized is not the purest way to eat one of these) and spicy mustard, which a side container was requested. For $ 2 extra one can ask for Deli Style which they say includes a much more generous amount. The manager stopped me from ordering the extra, by saying that the amount provided in the regular was ample enough. Yes and no. Came to the table and it was not piled high like at Carnegie, and yes, I should have asked for an indecent amount more, for old time’s sake. Very easy to enjoy, better than most I have had in California. 4 Stars.
Service was brilliantly good, everyone in the operation ready to be of assistance. Water was the drink of choice, and the water was decent. Final bill: $ 39 plus.
Is easy to claim a credible heritage, and enjoy the ride while it lasts, by saying New York Deli leads to believe that quality is top priority, plus generous servings known over there. That was not the case. 3.5 Stars.

probably one of the best sandwich shops I have been to in awhile ! their sandwiches are nicely portioned and don’t forget to check out their deli man/​deli boy sandwich combo of the day! only problem I have with this location is how large and confusing the menu is, took me a couple of visits to take in all the options.

10 dollars of New York giant sandwich is smaller than my hand. Too expansive with nothing really special. Not impressed at all.

I hate this place don’t go here there are so many Better sandwich places to go to and this place is very expensive.

Great sandwiches awesome New York deli awesome bread also. everyone is so nice. I love the deserts too.

A little pricey but you do v get v what you pay for. Really tasty and the sandwiches are big! Hungry get the full sized sandwiches. Great for splitting too. Took a while though for a sandwich spot.

The sandwiches here are on point, but they always play Christian rock.

This place has the best sandwiches!!! I also love that they have Christian music playing. The Hampton in spinach wrap is my favorite. Gotta try this place

I was looking for a real New York pastrami experience, but when I entered and looked up at the menu, I didn’t see a lot at first glance that reminded me of New York. The menu is large and on the wall, and WAY TOO MUCH on it. It’s almost confusing. I finally saw a pastrami on rye but with all the Italian influence, I thought I had better stick with Italian.
I ordered their «little italy» or something like that, and it was ok. Just meh. The bread could have had a little crispier crust, and one of the meats (maybe the ham) had a strange taste somewhat like liver. I ate every bite of the sandwich, so it couldn’t have been too bad. I do want to come back, but maybe next time I’ll try the pastrami on rye.
The young man behind the counter couldn’t have been friendlier or more efficient. Prices were fair. I will come back.

Well Hallelujah and Praise the Lord, finally a good deli! (and obviously I have no problem with the Christian music tho I wish I could hear it as I went deaf a few years ago so for those of you who complain… count your blessings!).
We were up for an overnighter in san clemente and rode our motorbike all the way here via no freeway (and of course, got lost in the hot sun due to mapquest errors) so you can tell how much I wanted my pastrami and it did not disappoint! We got 2 on rye (tho they didn’t ask and first put it on the bun) and could only eat half. Let me tell U, those sandwiches hold up. We rode to laguna and then back to our hotel in san clemente. Put the sandwich in the fridge, had half of the half for lunch the next day COLD– still good. Bought it home and had the other half microwaved with strawberry jelly and it was even better! AND they gave us the punch card so on our way to a freebie.
Another reason why I love Unilocal as it just popped up that there’s one in Oceanside closer to where I live!

The 42 nd street fills with chicken breast, pastrami, swiss cheese and zesty sauce. The price is quite affordable around $ 10 for a full length artisan sub.

The food is always great!
My only complaint is dirty tables…
Urban Cowboy, Little Italy, and 42^nd street are yuuuuummmmy

My boyfriend and I frequent this place at least once a week, sometimes more. The food is good, what you would expect from a sandwich shop. They have some really interesting sandwiches, like the Godzilla (Sriracha and a breaded chicken breast). The prices are a tad high for a sandwich shop, expect about $ 20+ for two people. I’m not really a fan of the Christian music they play, but to each their own.
The giant pickles are addictive. My favorite sandwich is the Hampton and the Meatball subs are delicious as well. Staff is sometimes very friendly, but some are a little lackluster. Not rude by any means though.
Overall, good for a quick lunch (or as a hangover aid… It’s been used as such between myself and my boyfriend a few times!)

The Italian is good, that’s my go-​to. Don’t care for the diced onions. Fresh, tasty sourdough rolls. Great salami and pepperoni. Also got the chicken noodle soup-​good flavor, great chicken to noodle ratio. Clean, Cashier was so nice!
Will go back for sure!

Aww, yes. I came back. I dropped off a friend at a shop nearby to get some custom fabrication, and lo and behold he mentioned that he heard of this place and wanted a bite. I wasn’t hungry so I came in for some… they call it ‘pop’ in NY?.. ‘soda’.
I saw a lady who I guess worked there yelling at some mother who was there with a young boy. Wow. Apparently, the child ate something that wasn’t supposed to be in there and the parent complained about the mistake in the order. I couldn’t believe it, not only was the mother calm but her face turned red from embarrassment because of verbal abuse in front of all the customers.
My buddy threw the rest of his food away and we just walked away. God may forgive, but that was too much for us. We had some friends who were supposed to meet us there but we called them up and chose a gas station instead.