DeFranko’s Submarines

Hole in the wall places are by far my favorite! DeFrankos is not only a hole in the wall that had great sandwiches but is a hole in a wall that has great customer service and an even better turkey sandwich!

Ok, well I must say the owner Is a nice lady all the way! But, she definitely needs to get rid of MAGALY! This little girl couldn’t make a sandwich if her life depended on it! So, I called and ordered a mini pastrami and roast beef, with cheddar, mustard, extra onions no mayo and everything else that comes on it. MAGALY even read the order back to me to confirm. I asked for Peppercini peppers once I got there to go. I paid, left and got to my local bar to have a michalada with my sandwich. Once I opened my sandwich I found a half piece of bread, with no roast beef, no extra onions, barely any meat and not the peppers I asked for. I called them on the phone and MAGALY was unapologetic, rude, had and attitude and smart comments to make. I drove back, now having drank part of my drink already and wasting my gas money and my time, I demanded my money back and asked the little girl with the attitude to call the owner. The owner was kind enough to offer another sandwich at the regular size, which I accepted but after that whole experience, I really didn’t even want it anymore. MAGALY was horrible! My suggestion to the owner is that you hire employees that demonstrate positive customer service, who take responsibility for their actions and the ability to make a simple sandwich. The employee started to argue with me. For $ 7 for a mini sandwich, the picture below is what I got, with a whole lot of attitude from MAGALY. If it’s that difficult for customers like me to come spend money to buy a basic sandwich every time I go there, I rather not. I’m not even going to eat the replacement sandwich just because the experience and attitude of MAGALY makes me want to just through it in the trash. So, I gave it away to someone else. Worst experience ever today here!

When it comes to «hole in the wall» there is no place that defines that phrase better than this restaurant. You are talking about a couple hundred square feet of room to work with and yet they produce one of the most amazing pepper steak submarines I’ve ever had. It is a must to get the sandwich with cheese, they don’t shorthand you on the cheese either. I got two large Subs 1 Pastrami and 1 steak and both were delicious but the steak left my mouth watering for more even after I was full. You wouldn’t think that onions tomatoes and pickles make the most ideal toppings for a sandwich but they make the perfect sandwich.

Fresh tasting and traditional! It is def a cute family owned and operated place. Takes a little time to make and isn’t the cheapest sub but they are very friendly and the food is good. If I can be really honest I felt a tiny bit disappointed as it didn’t quite live up to the hype I expected.
Nonetheless, I’m glad we explored and tried it out. We may stop by again but will def call ahead next time instead of wait there.

Best subs I’ve ever had … Pepper steak is my favorite. If you’re coming on your lunch definitely call your order in ahead of time.

There is nothing special about these sandwiches. This is as mediocre as they come, and they don’t seem to trying to be anything else.
The service was very friendly.
The place needs a serious bath. the whole place was straight up dirty. The ceiling fan (which was right over my head) was CAKED with dust and grime

Great sandwich. Employees have to be slowly coached through sandwiches tho, tomatoes on a pastrami?! They must be more stoned than me

Lived here 5 years ago. Loved it then and stopped by today for a hot sub. Just as good as I remember! I’ll be taking one for the road also

The best tiniest sub place I’ve ever been too! Love love love. Apparently it’s been there for ever and I just discovered it this year via Unilocal

Girl that made sandwiches was not very friendly. She hardly smiled and had no customer service skills. The bad review is not for her lack of smiles. The problem is her lack of hygiene.
She used the same gloves to ring up at the register and take cash. She stuck those dirty gloves into the produce buckets then into the meat buckets. Stuck them in the paper bags where they keep the bread then back to the register, soda machine, then back to sandwiches. She never changed those gloves; It was disgusting. There was a customer right before us that ordered a cheese sandwich, maybe a vegetarian? With all that cross contamination I doubt she only got cheese. I’m pregnant and I have to be careful with raw deli meat. So I was really uncomfortable watching this, the girl who works the grill made my sandwich because I asked for cooked ham. but how many times before me did the other girl stick those gloves into the produce contaminating it with bacteria? I regret not stoping her, and I really regret taking the sandwich. We will never go back there again. It was really disappointing.
Side note:
normally there is two girls working so let me try to point her out a bit. If you don’t pick up on her bad attitude you can distinguish between the two because she’s the skinny latina, average height about 5 – 4 she has Brown hair and fair skin. Hopefully this helps.

Love this place… But please change the gloves when handling money and credit cards. This is a health scare waiting to happen.

This place was reffered to me by one of our techs since I don’t know the area. I tries the Pastrami it was amazing so delish can’t wait to go back and try the pepper steak.

Tuna. Tunnaaa TUNNAA!
by far favorite shop. been coming here for about 11 years now!

Wowww this place is soooo good!!! It’s such a small little shack but dang what they got going on here is amazing!!! I just happened to drive by and noticed the name as one of my bookmarks and pulled right in. I got the turkey sub with cheese which is an additional $ 1.00 but totally worth it. I got it their way with all the fixins and I asked for lettuce which was like a spring mix. The pickles, onions, tomatoes and seasoning they added was a party in my mouth. So delicious and flavorful! The bread was super soft and I loved the sesame seed bread. They don’t skimp on meat or toppings it seriously is a big sub and stuff will fall out so make sure you open wide and enjoy! Looking forward to coming back again. Really good!

Mehh, not impressed.
In my opinion, the sandwiches here are nothing spectacular. I was excited because of the other reviews but was very disappointed. How about not over-​loading those sandwiches with onions and pickles??? I couldn’t enjoy my sandwich comfortably, it was overwhelming. I also picked off most of the toppings they piled on.
Simple goes a long way.

Holy Kraft ed sandwiches this place is
I think I just found my favorite sandwich establishment. From fresh ingredients to friendly staff you can’t go wrong with any item on the menu! The toppings consist of pickles tomatoes and onions so know what you want before you go in its always busy which is a really good thing in my opinion.

This place is amazing each and every time. Its a tiny little location, standing room and usually a little bit of a line, but they are on it. Ive seen men almost come to blows fighting over who gets to order first, thats how good this place is, no one can wait to dig in to their sandwich. Portions are good, heaping toppings and seasoning on top make it perfection. Don’t miss it, stop and try this place out.

I was introduced to DeFranko’s by my friend. A group of 4 of us stopped in on Monday. The place is a tiny little shack but the amazingly big subs make up for it. They definitely don’t hold back. I bought a small sub and still couldn’t eat the whole thing but it was soooo good I wanted to! The 2 girls that made our subs were awesome too! They really made the difference. There was only 2 of them and so many people there. They must have made 15 subs in 10 minutes. I wanted to tip them because they were working so hard and still had time to be so nice and polite but I noticed the sign that said no tipping. Not sure if I’m happy about that. Those girls were working their butts off. I at least hope the owner is paying them really well if they don’t allow tipping. They deserve it! I will definitely come back here when I’m in the neighborhood again!

Really good sandos! Love the pepper steak, chicken breast, and pastrami sandwiches. The pickles, tomatoes, Italian oil, and seasoning, with dash of salt is perfection. Ordering process is not super easy though, as you don’t know the condiments. the hot dog was not great either… but all in all, a very good place with nice people. Will definitely be back, been there three times now.

I’ve heard a ton about this place but had never been. Finally decided to give it a try and it did not disappoint. I had the pastrami sub and it was delicious. My buddy had the meatball and although it was a good meatball, it didn’t have any marinara or tomato based sauce which he expected. Only reason for giving this review a 4 star. Both subs were still delicious. Very tiny place but there are some benches to eat in the back so that’s nice. If you are a pastrami fan, you will like this place. I sure did!

I love going here when I am in the neighborhood. Delicious cold and hot subs. Overly gracious with the toppings. Try it and you’ll like it.

Well this is my second Vist in 2 days… Day 1 was amazing. So I thought maybe it was that I was really hungry… Day 2 wanted to eat I said let me go back and try that Sub again… It was amazing will be back many more time I can’t wait…

Excellent food and even better service. Pastrami and steak sandwiches were the bomb.

By far the best steak & cheese sub in the San Fernando valley. They use good (soft) quality bread and the best part of the sub is they serve it overflowing in onion, pickles, tomato which could get messy but it’s delicious if you like the vegetables. Don’t think twice about this place if you’re looking for a good sub. They also have really great (tuna sub) if you want a cold sub. I promise you won’t be disappointed unless you have a bad palate. LOL. The Mini is a good portion for lunch.

This place is amazing. It’s small and quaint with a great staff that interacts with you while you wait. It took about 15 minutes to get my pastrami but who cares when the sandwich is this good the wait does not matter. The cook keeps you up to date constantly on your wait time so you never feel you are waiting long at all. Second time here and just as good as the first.
Waited outside in the rain with about 10 other people so that should tell you how good this place is.

Definitely the BEST sandwich in L.A. !
The bread is fresh, they pack the meat in the sandwich, and top it with and sandwich type of oil and seasoning. I usually get the roast beef with onions and pickles, which makes a mess becuase they put a lot on it. The small sandwich is more than enough for lunch.
A must go to for lunch.

Good stuff. If this place was open late at night, it’d be perfect for any after-​party grind. The sandwiches are over-​loaded with chopped onions, tomatoes and pickles. They’ll fill you up.
Nice staff, too.

It’s a small place but they make one of the most best pickled pastrami submarines with great bread. It’s my first time and trust me I would rather spend more than 10 bucks then to go to subway. They fill up the bad and pack in the pastrami so for me the price goes really well with the flavor mixing. Plus everything is done in plain sight and fresh. I would definitely make this one of my go regular sandwich place.

World’s smallest restaurant (shack) and one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. A pastrami with everything except cheese. Absolutely delicious. From the fresh sesame seed laden bread to the delicious meat abundance of pickles onions and tomatoes and the salt and pepper and vinegar and oil and of course mustard… this particular sandwich is fresher and tastier than most.

Wow what a hidden gem. Great pastrami sub. Got it with everything. Chopped pickles, mustard, chopped tomatoes, and the kitchen sink. I got the mini. Ya mini. Fully loaded not so mini. Try there meatball subs too. Don’t judge a book by its tattered cover.

One of the BEST sub sandwiches ever!
I always get the turkey and cheese with everything on it… so yummy–
very small inside but all the staff is so friendly!

This place has the best sandwiches I ever had. They are huge and very delicious .Just check out the uploaded pictures and you will see what I am talking about.

Amazing sandwiches and wonderful staff. I heard how amazing it was— now u actually got to taste and experience

Huge sandwiches (even if they don’t look like it while you’re ordering), hefty portions, and great staff. Sometimes they act like they’re in a rush, even when no one else is inside, but they mean well. Why would you want to wait longer to eat anyway?
Pepper steak with cheese is always my go to, but the pastrami has been very popular with my friends.
Careful when asking for extra toppings… saying they provide the toppings generously would be a huge understatement. If I had the money for it, would eat here everyday.

This place is great.
It’s a small spot that doesn’t seem to get any down time.
The bar seating area indoors seats about 5 – 6 people, so secure a seat, and stay!
I had a small ham and cheese sub.
I had everything on it except for onions and lettuce (the lettuce was on it’s way from the store).
That sucker was no joke for a sub!
They fill their sandwiches up, and make sure to not skimp on what matters.
The bread was good, the ham was good, the dill pickles were freshly chopped up from giant dills in the back, the seasonings were addicting.
The prices are absolutely worthwhile.
Especially considering that the employees remember you, and treat you like family.
I felt bad for the sandwich lady preparing orders to go, and having to put everything on the side.
Shout out to the man who decided when she put salt & pepper on your oil & vinegared goods, that the salt was too much. –_​–
I felt for her.