Thank goodness... we still have Cecil's in the Twin Cities!!!…read more The mood, the relaxed comfortable and kind staff who do not rush you to sit rush you to order. Instead EVERYONE is 100 % natural welcoming laid back and genuine in wanting to see you content and pleased. Nothing is ever pushed onto you. The quality of the pastrami, its seasoning, the textures and bright flavors of the breads and bagels the nova the chopped liver the extra creamy marinated Cole slaw and perfect half sour pickles ( wISH they had bialys!). All perfect. All old world. Our favorite very old deli in West Palm Beach was sold 1.5 years ago and gone gone gone are the DELIGHTFUL happy charming old staff and the perfect old world flavors, cooking. In Sarasota where we just lived the last 5 years, a new deli closed after just 2 years, and there is nothing left. We've been visiting family in Sarasota every year for 40 years. Gone too in the Twin Ciries is the ownership by brothers Scot and Stu of Hopkin's beloved Crossroads Deli just last year. The new owners, a corporation owning 6-8 other restaurants have CHANGED almost all the recipes for breads, cakes , wonderous cookies and 80 % of all pastries! No more butter, no more fine ingredients and no more of their once " Grossinger's taste/quality" STELLAR seeded rye bread! They even eliminated the lemon flavoring. In their incomparable lemon coconut cake! Their stuffed cabbage is one of their only true deli dishes left. Sandwiches are half their original size...... heart breaking after going there 3-4 times a week for 25 years........ Cecil's of course had to cut back on the $$ use of butter in their pastries. But they have WORKED VERY HARD to still retain their wonderous long long ago heart warming flavors. ALL their sandwiches are AUTHENTIC. Old world New York City flavors! Made with care and love. My husband loves their beautiful generous Nova salmon platte. Noshing away happily! I love their pastrami Rachel's with plentiful half sour pickles lots of Russian dressing and creamy Cole slaw. Mmmmmm. I hope and pray Cecil's owner refrains for a long long time from selling his rare business. We must support Cecil's too.... Or lose it with all the others, and lose part of our joy and heart. Thank you Cecil's .....

Trying to avoid a chain restaurant, and craving a deli experience, this was such a wonderful visit…read morein Saint Paul. Thanks to the staff at Patina for the recommendation! Old school all the way. There's a restaurant in the back, and a full-scale deli counter in the front. It is such a good stop. They have their own private parking lot too. Wood paneling, and a bunch of local reviews all over the walls. Clean, normal sound. Simple, with excellent customer service, and a huge menu that will have something that you like. Packed the midweek afternoon we visited, and we did not wait for a table. Loved my bowl of Matzo Soup, superb broth and the Matzo was delicious. Enjoyed my BLT on whole wheat and the homemade potato salad was amazing! Had a cherry cobbler for dessert that was incredible. Restaurant has been open for over 70 years, and I met the owner/manager, Cecil, afterward, and he just oozes customer service being a priority. It's a must-visit place.

Love this neighborhood market downtown Stillwater. Right amongst all the great shops and…read morerestaurants. It's a mainstay, lots of grab and go items, bakery, smaller grocery market, full of organic and fresh salads, sandwiches, soups, etc. Great place to pickup some items before heading down to the river for a picnic. You can also eat on a patio in the back they have tables available. I got the Italian sandwich, it was delicious, fresh Italian meat selection, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, oil and vinegar. Yum! Picked up some chips and a freshly made pumpkin muffin and walked down to the river. At checkout they were rounding up for the local library, which I love, support local!

Nicely run little food co-op in Stillwater by the river. Popular deli for orders made to go around…read morelunch time. A little bit of everything here. Love the 10% off discount last Friday of every month and you don't have to be a member!

Stopped by for lunch and it was so good…read more They have daily specials, and the portions are no joke. Even a half sandwich is a huge, very filling serving. Everything is made fresh to order. They slice the meat and cheese right there and you can fully customize your sandwich, which I love. The service was phenomenal. Super friendly and welcoming, which made the whole experience even better. Cute shop and they also have a great selection of Italian products in the shop, plus their own ready-made items like homemade frozen pizzas and take-and-bake entrees, which is such a nice bonus. It's takeout only, but they make it easy with online ordering. Prices are very reasonable for the quality and portion size. This place is truly a hidden gem.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Italian market/deli/pizza/pasta. No energy or inspiration to cook dinner?…read moreThis is the answer! While it's got zero space for sit down dining, they are on top of their takeout game. The staff were efficient and filled orders quickly. I found the prices fair, and I look forward to a return visit to try out some other items. I really enjoyed the soup and see they post a new daily soup/pasta item to Facebook. What we tried: - Italiano sub 3/5 (bread was harder/crustier than I would have liked & sub was so wide it was hard to fit your mouth around it) - Chicago roast beef sub 4/5 (hefty amount of beef) - Daily soup (5/5) chicken vegetable (really great flavor and wide assortment of veg with huge chicken chunks) - Carrot cake (5/5) - Tiramisu (5/5).

Nice meat market in the heart of Robbinsdale I haven't been…read moresince the new ownership but I enjoy their jerky sticks- lots of choices and staff has always been friendly and efficient

I have always wanted to try this meat market but we generally only come over this way during dinner…read moretime so it's always closed. I finally made it over around lunch time and apologized in advance because I wanted to "taste test" a variety of different items. The gentleman who was helping me was super patient and just overall thrilled to have me wanting to try so many things so this was my spread & reactions: 1. Turkey jerky - very interesting compared to others I've had, a bit too salty for my liking but my husband said it was in his top 2 and is a turkey jerky fiend so I'd take his word over mine 2. Normal jerky - a little thinner than I prefer but really great flavor, easy to chew without being too soft nor hard like leather. It's in MY top two for sure! 3. Beef stick & cheese beef stick - these were both really good! The butcher helping me recommended trying the cheese because it's his personal favorite but I actually thought the normal beef was actually better! 4. Smoked salmon - this was actually my favorite of all the different snacks we tried, it was smoked really well that brought out the natural flavors of the fish. It wasn't dry or crumbled, but kept its own and easily was devoured without any morsel left behind! Although I didn't try anything from the freezers, they had such a huge variety we just have to come back again soon! Thanks for the great service and hospitality while I took forever to explore!

S Q U E A K Y. C L E A N!…read more What a gem of a deli/butcher/knickknack shop Mr Dragos, a self taught Butcher and Sausage Maker Extraordinaire, is directly from Romania . His Romanian fare is authentic, as all the Eastern European items he creates and imports are. With the help of his wonderful wife, he has even nailed Swedish Potato Sauage . Having both Scandinavian & Romanian heritage I can attest to the true traditional recipes he uses. To make it even better, a Romanian lady from the Cities brings stuffed cabbage rolls to add to his options. "Sarmale", as it called in Romania, is just like my Grandma made. WORTH THE DRIVE!

The beef sticks were old and filled with grizzle. The…read moreconsistency of the stick was terrible, the color of the meat didn't look right at all. I bought two packages and they were both like this.

My husband will work in Stillwater every now and then and stop here to grab some steak or brats but…read morewe've been here a few times together now and I can safely say it is in my top three meat markets! Everyone is always so friendly, the cuts are always so fresh, and you can't really go wrong! We love getting their picanha and Billy brats if we want to grill out but truly you can't go wrong with any of their meats. It's nice because there's also a small cafe inside so if you're super hungry, you can grab a sandwich and some fixings to hold you over if it's a trek to get back home like it is for us. We'll be going on hiking trip in a few days and actually stopped in to get a pound of their beef jerky which we'll vacuum seal and take with us to snack on. Super great Smokey flavor, perfect snack to nibble on, and keeps super well!

Love this cute and quaint market/country store in the heart of Lake Elmo. We normally go to…read moreHagbergs to get a sandwich, chips, and drink and eat lunch there. They always have very unique items such as unique chips, candy and drinks! This trip I got clearly Canadian...where would you be able to find that drink? No where else. They also have gluten free bread which makes me a happy gal. Today I got a Rueben on gfree bread...delish! Don't walk but run to this local favorite in town!

The hot italian sandwich is easily the best sandwich in a 10 mile radius. Their burgers are also…read morereally good and I enjoy ordering the special ones they occasionally have. It's never a "hit or miss" place, it's good pretty much regardless of whos behind the counter. Also the PS bbq sauce and seasonings they carry are really good and have edged out my previous favorite (wee willy's). Worth browsing their deli and grocery options!

If you read my reviews, you know I love a good Reuben so I had to try The Butcher's Deli's version…read moreand it was pretty good. The meat:kraut ratio didn't have enough kraut and the cheese disappeared into the bread, but overall a solid outing. The Thousand Island dressing (fortunately on the side) tasted too strongly of mayonnaise. Luckily I had some and also had extra kraut. Girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I ordered the Potato Salad and it was bland but a little hot sauce made it taste good. Texture of the potatoes was perfect.

Kramarczuk's was my first time trying Ukrainian food, and they have a lot of easily accessible…read moreoptions, so I didn't know what to get and just trusted them. I got the borscht soup, and they complemented it with bread. It's a nice flavorful soup. I went during summer, but during the winter this would definitely hit the spot. My favorite was the cabbage roll with tomato sauce. I got half tomato and half onion, but the tomato sauce was my favorite part. I also had to get a perogi. I've had a couple of these before, but this one tasted amazing. I didn't try any, but they also have hot dogs made with their sausages, and I had some at the Twins game, so I'm assuming they taste amazing too. Service is great, and it's all cafeteria style.

A TC institution! Excellent meat shop. Solid cafeteria style restaurant…read more The goulash is really good comfort food, worth getting some to take home. The mushroom pierogi are so also good, but sadly only available for eat in. Otherwise, most of the menu is available for takeout. The booth seats are old, so a bit saggy, so that's good to be aware of that if you have issues with seating and plan to eat at the restaurant (older folks, people with back problems, this is for you...).