Steve's Deli - Chicago, IL Review

Yesterday a group of us went out to grab lunch at the newly opened Steve's Deli. With only a few days under its belt (it opened three days ago), Steve's Deli was a scene of chaos. There was plenty of staff, just it didn't seem like they knew what their roles were. It started off with confusion over who would take our order - once we located a gentleman to do so, he was completely unfamiliar with the menu so it took a bit of time to explain each selection. Once the order was placed we proceeded to wait 35 minutes for our order to be filled. During that time, a number of potential customers wondered in only to turn around and walk out after a few minutes of watching the chaotic scene. When we finally received our order, out of the five in our group, one's order was completely forgotten. Had we walked out of the deli without checking the bag after paying, there would have been one very unhappy customer.

I ordered the Steve Special which is a bowl of soup and half a sandwich of your choice. I picked the Mushroom Barley soup along with a Hot Beef Brisket on pumpernickel sandwich.

The Mushroom Barley Soup
The soup came in a glass jar. The glass revealed that there was not a grain of barley to be found in it. It was more like chicken noodle soup with some mushrooms thrown in. On the plus side, the soup was piping hot. On the minus side - have you ever tried to handle a glass jar with hot liquid in it? Pouring the soup into a bowl proved to be a less than ideal experience as some of the soup ended up on the table. Enough said about the use of glass jars for the transport of hot soup. The soup itself was quite good - just not what I had ordered.

The Hot Beef Brisket sandwich on Pumpernickel
Well the bread was fine. The meat on the other hand was cold and dry. Again not what I had ordered. Maybe it was hot when the sandwich was carved, but the 35 minute wait to get it to the cash register gave it time to cool down. Who knows. On the bright side, the quantity of meat was in line with what one would expect from a deli - a generous one and a half inches thick or so. There were also two spears of a kosher dill pickle thrown in, that were quite tasty.

So after this experience why would I go back? I understand that there are birthing pains associated with starting anything new. Seeing as Steve's Deli has been open for less than a week and the food my coworkers had was in better stead than mine, I'm willing to give them a second shot. It's also the reason I gave them three stars. It's a vote for hope. Hope they live up to expectations on the next visit.