Katz's Delicatessen

must visit – simply the best. don't even think about ordering anything but the pastrami sandwich. do NOT sit in the waiter service area. DO elbow your way up to the counter and enjoy the whole katz experience; make sure to tip your counterman. do NOT wear your good shirt. the sandwich is capable of making homer feel stuffed.

No Beefs About the Corned Beef – Incredible corned beef. Always make sure you order at the counter (don't use table service) and give the counterman a few dollars for a tip and ask for the best quality corned beef. You will not be disappointed with the juicy, crisp outside, tangy meat. They will give you a sample while slicing the meat, and the sandwiches are big enough to easily share (no charge either!). The turkey's great too and the steak fries are about as good as frozen steak fries can get. It can get crowded on the weekends, but bring your appetite and $1 bills and you will leave happily satiated.

Don't Miss – Food great! Staff great. Physical ambience OK...but who can argue with the hustle and bustle and the true NYC, Lower East Side atmosphere? Pastrami superb. Love the matzo balls and chopped chicken liver. Go for self serve. Much more fun.

Yum – I had a great corned beef sandwich at Katz and that was without tipping beforehand because I only had large-denomination bills in my wallet. So I'm looking forward to going back and see if the sandwich is better with the tip. The counterman seemed really concerned that I get just the right sandwich. Overall, great food and good experience.

Echo Tourist thoughts – The place is really neat to see once, but at least $10 for a relatively small square sandwich (meat and bread only) - talk about a complete lack of value - I'm glad I wasn't very hungry. I tried the pastrami and corned beef (both warm), and the cold roast beef - all were good, but not quite $10-13 good, for such a small sandwich. A crowd, with many taking pictures really echoes the tourist trap it is - I'll never go again unless my tourist friends really want to go. I didn't know tipping them $1 would make a difference....still.

Go Back To Your Roots – Long time favorite for pastrami and corned beef. The food is still good but I wish the ambience was what is was 20-25 years ago. It is turning too much into a tourist spot and the prices reflect this all too well.

Delicious! – I'm not a connoisseur of deli food, but I know what I like. I had a chopped liver sandwich and a vanilla egg cream, and my husband enjoyed a pastrami Reuben with a chocolate egg cream. Both sandwiches were heaped high and very tasty.

Pastrami=Orgasm – You won't have to fake it like Meg Ryan did... get the pastrami and tip the counterman at least $1 WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR ORDER and he will give you a better cut. If I only had one meal to eat on a stopover in New York, it would be here. Expensive? Yeah, but look at the quality you are getting. You just don't find cured meats like this at your local grocery store or even your local deli. Katz's is a New York institution that will hopefully live on for another 125 years-at least! Also, probably the best frankfurter in town and hands down the best half sour pickles in Manhattan.

ATKINS HEAVEN – ONCE YOU EAT PASTRAMI HERE ,YOU WONT BE ABLE TO EAT IT ANYWHERE ELSE,MAKE SURE YOU TIP THE COUNTER MAN A BUCK BEFORE YOU ORDER AND HE WILL USE A BETTER CUT OF MEAT AND MAKE THE SANDWICH BIGGER.ALSO BE FRIENDLY WITH HIM AND HE WILL ALSO ADD EXTRA MEAT.THEY USE TWO CUTS,ONE FOR THE CHEAPIES AND ONE FOR THE SMARTIES,REMEMBER THAT BUCK.

Deli. D-E-L-I. Not F-A-N-C-Y. – Don't go to Katz's for anything but the food. It never ceases to amaze me when people write negative reviews of excellent, cheap-eats type places and fault them for their spartan decor, surly puryeors, and basic service. Go for the Reuben, Brisket, or any of their other hard meat selections and leave your high expectations for superflous qualities at home. If you still don't get it, then maybe next time you should leave yourself home as well.

Best Pastrami in Town – All the other delis might be able to boast better service or better seating or this or that. The one thing that Katz's does better than anyone else is Pastrami. I'm a regular uptown at Carnegie, and make my trek to Second Ave once in a while. Grew up on Pastrami King and Ben's Best in Queens, so I know a thing or two about Pastrami. No one does it better than Katz's. Their corned beef and other sandwiches leave a little to be desired, but the Pastrami, you ain't gonna find any better. Anywhere.

Best Deli I've been to! – Katz's Deli is a MOST stop everytime I go to NY. Nothing compares to their hot sandwiches! You must try the hot pastrami or hot brisket sandwich. They're big enough for 2 people!

Best pastrami for 100 miles – Every time I come to NYC from Pennsylvania I stop for a pastrami sandwich & take a 5 pound piece home. It's the best place i NYC.

oldie but goodie – Still a classic w/ NYC attitude and the best pastrami in town

Katz is the Best Deli in NYC – Now I know why Sally from "When Harry met Sally" reacted like she did...the food is that good! A must for all NYKR's and Tourists!.....Forget the high priced Stage and Carnagie Delis this place is better and much les expensive

Best of the Best – their corn beef and the pastrami are the best that money can buy and one sandwich is enough for two

yumm yumm – Born and rised on the lower east side. The food is still as good now as when I was a kid. Luck me, my grammar school was across the street. You have to eat their steak fries.

Half a cow between two bread vans... – A vegetarian's nightmare (and the cow isn't sleeping too well either), Katz's Deli offers little in the way of comfort, luxurious decor, or for that matter politeness in its staff. What it does offer in spades (make that tractor loads) though is meat; accustomed to UK (read:normal) sandwiches I was little prepared for the eight inch high pile of pastrami and corned beef that was heaped between two slices of strangely insubstantial bread. It tasted fine, as did the excellent slaw and macaroni, though it was deadeningly heavy. Less pleasing was the bill which was higher than expected.

Get RRRREADY for STUFFING! – While the decor does not inspire romance or images of a good-eats place (I guess this is why they call it a deli... so one is prepared), the portions are ENORMOUS and quite yummy. Go there on an empty stomach, and you won't need to eat for the rest of the day!

One of the Last.... – The pastrimi sandwich is simply the BEST in the city. The lunch-room, no frill dining adds to the charm. Don't ever change!!!

WOW What A .. Hmm... – Hard to put into words. Quite an experiance with my 3 kids having gone to some of the nicer places in town, we went to katz after theater in my suit. Needless to say I felt out of place. I saw some of the roughest looking people in Manhattan in this place (patrons and workers). I loved the pastrami and the experiance. My wife and kids were not as thrilled. Dingy w/ yellowed pictures of all the famous people IE President Clinton after 2 hot dogs and a pastami WOW howed he do that, Jerry Lewis, and of coarse Harry & Sally.I do recommend Katz!

one of my favorites – i love this place!! the pastrami is delicious, and my fave sandwich. don't miss out on a plate full of fresh dill pickles. try the chicken noodle soup when you need some comfort food. enjoy an egg cream or a cel-ray soda with your meal. if the guys at the counter are working slowly, head over to the waiter service tables... they can get in and get your sandwich faster than the guys at the counter if there is a long line.

Sweet Potato Pickles! – Dear God without doubt-the best sweet potato knish's and also some of the best pickles you can come by!

The Best Deli in Town – Puts Carnegie and Stage Delis to shame! Dingy but colorful, great food, huge portions -- and just plain lots of fun. If you come to the city and miss going to Katz's, shame on you!

The Zorro of Corned Beef – You stand in line with twenty other starving souls. You nudge to the front of the line and the server slides a small dish your way with a piece of corned beef and a wedge of pickle to nibble on while he slices your sandwich. The pastrami and corned beef are handed sliced. You like lean...they got lean. You like fatty...they got fatty. You want New York Deli...this is New York Deli. Any place that uses a slicing machine for corned beef and pastrami might as well move to the suburbs. Katz's will still be in New York.

send a salami... – Sure it's expensive and dingy, but come on... it's Katz's. I don't see how anyone can think you'll get a better pastrami sandwich anywhere, and the hot dogs are the best around. Katz's is classic New York, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

What about the houseflies??? – Great tasting pastrami if you get the extra lean, too expensive for the amount of houseflies. A classice New York deli atmosphere, minus the attitude.

Good Meats but Nothing Else – The meats (pastrami, corned beef and tongue) are quite good (note: NOT best) but don't have anything else. Matzoh ball soup was tasteless, pickles were limp and fries were mostly soggy and greasy. And the ambience is supposedly "tradition" but more like an excuse to avoid spending money to renovate. For the business and prices they charge . . . . Take the meat to go, or go a bit further north to 2nd Ave Deli.

Divine Katz – Katz's pastrami is juicy, tender, and simply divine! Service is quite fast as well.

Forget Katz's - Go to Second Avenue Deli – I have lived in the Lower East Side most of my life and have seen the quality of Katz's decline during the past few years.

Last night (a Monday night) my husband and I went to Katz's for corned beef sandwiches, french fries and a soda. The meat was old and funny tasting, stringy and very small in portion. The french fries were also old and had been re-fried. We were extremely disappointed. We spent $30 on two sanchwiches, one french fries and 2 soda. That's outrageous for the quality of food we were served.

Spend a little more and go to the Second Avenue Deli, you can never go wrong.