Tommy Pastrami
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 6:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
Sat 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. - Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: No
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Lunch
20 Reviews for Tommy Pastrami
I'm torn between The Hat and Tommy's for the world's best pastrami. Tommy make some great "sandwiches" but I like The Hat's Pastrami just a LITTLE better (it might have to do with the bread though) either way you HAVE to try this place, it's AWESOME
Order Half a sandwich because it is HUGE!!!! but I got the Philly Cheese Steak one time, it was pretty good, not the best PCS I've had, but it was good enough (skimping on the meat on this sandwich though)
they don't serve sandwiches. They sell pounds of meat with a bit of bread stuck on the sides. Don't even attempt the full sandwiches unless you are really hungry.
The cost is higher than the average sandwich shops but this isn't an average sandwich shop.
Holy crap this place is good. I honestly think pastrami sandwiches are better when the cuts are thicker. I don't know what it is, and I know you pastrami purists will call it blasphemy, but I just think thicker = better. With pretty much everything in food... and life!
But seriously for the price you can't beat Tommy Pastrami. For an equivalent at Langer's in L.A. (famous deli) a sandwich is literally like $12.
The rye bread is just so rye-perfect, and the coleslaw is awesome. Even their fries are good and seasoned just right. I am craaaaaaaaaaaving a sammich right now!!
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I've been looking for a good pastrami, so the first time at Tommy's I ordered a jumbo pastrami and figured it would last me two meals. I'm a skinny guy and don't stuff myself, but after eating the whole sandwich, I was left wondering what these other reviewers were talking about when mentioning the portions. Maybe I went on an off day and got a smaller portion than usual, but I expected more from a $11 "jumbo" sandwich. I had to go make myself a salad to fill up. It tasted good, but didn't stand out as better than any of the other good pastrami sandwiches out there.
After a couple weeks I decided to give Tommy's just one more shot and ordered the jumbo brisket. OK now THAT was filling, I struggled to finish it. Next time I'll order a small side and split the sandwich into two meals. The meat quality was good, and the au jus was steaming hot and full of flavor (and oil).
I'd come back for the brisket, but the pastrami wasn't the good deal I was hoping for.
Thank God!!! After several failed attempts at finding a decent sandwich in Southern California Tommy Pastrami shows up. Huge sandwich with lean pastrami and a side of steak fries to make this complete. I will definitely be back....
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So damn gooood!!! I had the jumbo corn beef on rye w/ swiss. Awesome!! One of the biggest sandwiches I've had and one of the tastiest. I heard that their philly cheese steak is pretty good too. I gotta go back.
This is probably one of the best pastrami sandwhich I've had. I prefer Tommy over The Hat, Jerry's famous, Johnnie's in LA. The meat is very tender, even the rye bread is great, soft inside with a crispy crust. The meat is more thinly sliced than the pastrami like that of Katz in NY, but still excellent....and doesn't cost $15.
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Me: Hell yeah?
Co-worker: Hell, efff yeah.
That's basically what my co-worker told me before we got Tommy Pastrami. The price was a little bit on the "high" side, but when I saw my pastrami sandwich, "Hell efff yeah!!!" Now THIS is a sandwich. It's so big and filled with soooo much meat. Man, I'm starting to salivate just thinking about it. The best pastrami sandwich I have ever eaten. Period.
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Met my boss at Tommy Pastrami for lunch today. He had been there before, I hadn't.
The layout of the place is a little strange. You can tell they made themselves fit into an existing space rather than create a space for themselves. There are two counters, the one you need to order at is all the way in the back. Just seemed like an odd setup.
I ordered the bbq brisket sandwich combo with potato salad. The brisket was tender and tasty. But, they serve the bbq on the side--I would have liked it much better if the sliced brisket had been coated in bbq sauce. And the bbq sauce itself was very sweet and thick. The potato salad was good.
The service was adequate for a deli counter. It's not that hard to take an order then call out a number when its ready. They were friendly and our food came out right.
The pastrami looked really good too. I'll be back to give it a try.
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I have been on the search for good pastrami and brisket, venturing to highly recommended Canter's and Katella Deli. Though all 3 places have decent pastrami, Brisket is another story.....Tommy's brisket is the BEST brisket by far. Canters and Katella deli served up dry brisket that were big disapointments, and Felippe's wasn't competing either tho I haven't been there recently.....I have never been disapointed with pastrami or brisket at Tommy's... this hole in the wall in Costa mesa takes the honors, maybe not for ambience, as if I care bout that....I am here to EAT!!! They are Huge satisfying sandwiches!! ..glad I don't hafta go all the way to LA to get a decent sandwich....thanks Tommy for some consistently awesome food!! For all the people that think The Hat has a good pastrami sandwich, give this place a shot.
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I'd seen this place for awhile, and expected it to go the way of Puffy's or Poofy's or whatever that other place was--one day I'd drive by, and it would be gone. Selling New York sandwiches in Southern California? Seemed like a big gamble. But it stuck around, and even more surprisingly, got excellent reviews here on Yelp. Now I HAD to try it, to see what everyone was raving about.
First I tried the pastrami, I mean, it's Tommy Pastrami! I was a bit, just a bit, underwhelmed...while the meat was good and fatty (everywhere else is too damn lean!) I couldn't taste any smoke or pepper flavor, and pastrami should be permeated with it! That's the difference between corned beef and pastrami! Instead, the pastrami tastes like a really, really good corned beef. Sadly, they only had little ground pepper packets, no fresh-ground to add. But they did have Ba-Tempte mustard...and as an absolute mustard FIEND, I have to give them their fifth star for that alone.
Next I tried the brisket. Now, I've never had a "brisket" sandwich...I have had eaten more than my fair share of French dips and Italian beefs, however, and this put those to shame. By itself, the well-done, thin-sliced beef was on the dry side...but dipped in the au jus...my god. Hands down the best beef sandwich I've in California, and it beats 98% of the Chicago-style beefs I've had, French or Italian or whatever you want to call it. The au jus is salty, meaty, and dare I say a hint--just a hint--of garlic to make it rival the best Italian beefs? Add some giardinara, and I'd be back on Chicago's North Side stuffing my face.
Foolishly, the happy glow from brisket led me to try the corned beef in the excitement of discovery. BAD. BAD BAD. The corned beef is almost exactly like the super-cheap, super-lean crappy supermarket "corned beef" (read: pickled processed meat-byproduct loaf) I used to get when I was broker than dirt. I ended up eating the delicious French bread and skipping the meat, which considering the size of the sandwiches was a huge loss.
If you want corned beef, get the pastrami.
If you want pastrami, get it to go and add your own fresh-cracked pepper. It won't be perfect, but it helps. Immensely.
If you want the best beef sandwich west of the Mississippi, get the brisket with au jus, and prepare to moan like Sally. It's THAT GOOD, people.
The sandwiches aren't cheap, but you get your money's worth, over a half pound of meat on each. I weighed my brisket...over 11 oz of meat alone. I couldn't eat the whole thing.
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Tommy Pastrami is a huge step up from the coffee shop that used to be in this location. Business is booming during lunch hour. I've never been impressed with the service. The cashiers are rude and unfriendly, but food service is pretty quick.
The food is tasty and portions are enormous. I've had their coffee a number of times, it's not their specialty and if the wrong person is working the espresso bar, theres no telling what strange beverage you will end up with. Stick to the sandwiches, you won't be disappointed.
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Delicious!
My boss recommended this place and i talked her into taking all the employees out for a "team bonding" lunch. She did, and we did. We bonded over the yumminess that was the beef at this place. Everyone got something different and everyone loved what they got. I got the beef brisket dip. Never have i had au jus so tasty and garlic-y before. The fries are delicious and the portions are huge. luckily, you can order half meat and half sandwich so you don't necessarily HAVE to stuff your face.
You get a choice between rye and French bread. My boss chose the rye for me and i was pissed because i hate rye bread . . . usually. This bread was great. Perfect texture and slightly toasted. They are really efficient here and get the food out ASAP. I would highly recommend this place even if you think you dont like pastrami or brisket. Its gooood!
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Best item is the brisket! GREAT!
Tender, rich beefy essence, moist, and a generous portion. Au Jus for dipping is rich and flavorful. I recommend the French roll, not the rye bread since the roll works better for dipping.
The rye bread is very good, but the crust is sometimes thick and tough to chew through.
Chicken soup is delicious, tastes homemade with big chunks of soft veg, noodles and chicken.
I would avoid the Matzah ball option. The interior is coarse and tasted oddly starchy. Not good. Try Arnie's Deli over by John Wayne for much better Matzah balls.
Pastrami is juicy and well marbled, but very bland, under salted (it's supposed to be SALT CURED!). It's like the outside had been scrubbed and washed. There was virtually none of the peppery salty smoky exterior you associated with good pastrami. Instead the exterior was just colored black.
I would recommend getting the pastrami on the French roll just to keep the rye bread from overwhelming the taste of the pastrami. Same problem with the table mustard which is very sour and tends to completely blot out any pastrami flavor.
Potato salad is the WORST I have ever had, they throw all kinds of junk in it such as Eggs, Sweet Pickles, Green and Black Olives, Dill Weed, and so on. Yuck!
Fried potato wedges look good.
Very quick service.
Only little packets of salt/pepper (for takeout customers), no shakers, a pain for eating in.
Prices on the high side but ok given the high quality.
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Pastrami + spicy mustard + soft, aromatic rye bread = Little Piece O' Heaven.
Seriously, this is the best Pastrami you can probably get in Orange County. It is not one of those pseudo-deli's that give you a namby-pamby sandwich that is 80% bread, 20% meat. Oh no. Here you can order your sandwich by the oz. Mmmmmm. The pastrami on even the smallest half is quite generous and comes with a dill pickle and your choice of seasoned fries (mmmm), coleslaw (pretty good), or potato salad, plus a pop.
The corned beef is really tasty as well, and the beef brisket is good. I was also happy to see that they have Dr. Browns soda available (seriously, if you have never tried their Black Cherry Soda, you are missing something tasty and good), knishes, and Halvah. Sweet!
The service is fast if you are in a hurry and if you are eating in, the room inside is a bit small, but they have loads of seating outside.
So if you need an NY deli fix, you must try this place out.
Bring your appetite to this place! They have the largest, delicious pastrami sandwiches in California. As they say, "It's all about the meat!" These sandwiches are stuffed full of meat - at least the pastrami is and that's all I ever eat here.
A basic deli menu consists of hot and cold sandwiches, soup, burgers and dogs, salads and fries.
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They are serious when they stay 'overstuffed' sandwiches. I went with my brother and we ended up splitting a 'jumbo' (whole) pastrami sandwich and an order of 'jumbo' chili cheese fries. The pastrami was good, the fresh rye bread was delicious and the crust was crunchy, and the 'jumbo' chili cheese fries was way too much to eat (I prefer skinny rather than fat fries, more fried surface area).
They are even open for breakfast. I was curious as to whether they actually served breakfast food or if people really came in for pastrami that early in the day! Turns out they do have some breakfast, hehe.
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Tommy Pastrami is not a character in the Sopranos. It's a great little lunch place here in vaccuous Orange County. My pastrami Jones has been partially sated, at least until I get back to NYC or make it down here again. This is good, East Coast-worthy pastrami on the West Coast. What a nice surprise. Tommy Pastrami is a strip-mall bland space offering huge sandwiches like rich, succulent, tender pastrami and lucious tender NY-style chicken salad. I was thrilled to find this place, hence my partial babble. It was not the very best pastrami I've ever had but it's definitely the best I've had on the Left side of the continent.
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Not only do they have great quality pastrami, they also server a killer breakfast burrito. The burrito is packed with eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese and salsa. Yum! And the pastrami sandwiches are great, because they're full of quality meat with some great soft rye. If you're into chili cheese fries, there's a surprise - Ham. Yup, they serve chunks of ham in the chili. Not the healthiest place to eat, but the food is done well and at a great price.
Possibly the best pastrami and brisket sandwiches I've had in Southern California, including some LA standards like Canter's and Langer's, and in OC places like Katella Deli, The Hat, Kaplan's and Jerry's. (The Kaplan's in Costa Mesa, by far the worst of that bunch, has mercifully closed.) The pastrami when it's at its best is neither too fatty nor too lean. It does vary somewhat though. With their delicious crusty rye bread and spicy deli mustard, a great sandwich. The brisket is better than the pastrami, juicy and with just the right flavor. Comes with bbq sauce or (as I chose) au jus. Probably should have gotten the french roll for dipping but the rye bread is _so_ tasty. As I ate I felt that smug sense of superiority over the people eating at Quizno's on the other side of the parking lot. Undoubtedly the same people who would go to Paris and eat at McDonald's or Pizza Hut. (Oh wait, that was me.) Of the sides, the potato salad is very good (as long as you aren't offended by olives in it), the cole slaw is ordinary, and the fries are surprisingly good, crispy wedges.
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