A family owned deli located on Rand Rd. in Palatine. Open 7 days a week offering hot and cold Polish foods to go. Their stuffed cabbage rolls were fantastic! They also do catering. They also have a nice deli and bakery section. Everything looked fresh and they were very busy on a Saturday afternoon. read more

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I was in the area and saw this Polish market and stopped in. It was crowded and the aisle are cramped but well stocked with so many Polish foods. The lady at the deli counter quickly transitioned to English when I ordered and smiled politely. I ordered some stuffed cabbage rolls (gołąbki) to take home for lunch and they were quite delicious. The baked goods are from Ideal Bakery in Elk Grove Village. I enjoyed my visit here and I will return when in the area again. read more

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Best Cabbage rolls around! Today we tried their Coconut Cake...OMG! It's a layered cake, and I swear you can taste every different flavor on it! Also big enough to share! read more

Smakowski's Deli - Coconut Cake - Grocery Near Me - Palatine, Illinois

I made the rookie mistake of not getting paczki for fat tuesday. On a total whim, I stopped into Smakowski's and did they hook it up! Not only did they have fresh paczki, there were some day old available as well. They also had a pretty good selection at the hot bar, but as I went later in the day, it seemed like there were a few items that had sold out earlier in the day - not going to fault them for that. Bakery items were super sold out, but what was left over looked pretty good. Their pricing is also super reasonable compared to a bunch of other places. One of the younger girls behind the deli counter was the nicest employee, everyone else was... well.. they aren't gonna leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. Not rude, just not overly nice. I probably wouldn't recommend if you've never been to a polish deli /don't know polish food. read more

Best polish sausage ever! We make the trip a couple of times a year. Nice people. We have been going there for years... read more

Decent hot food bar tho I've had better. All the Polish needs you could want here, dziekuya

Went to get an early dinner from the hot food selection and was not disappointed. Golumbki was wonderful, and very large portions. The only thing I was sad about was there were only meat pierogi in the hot ar, but then they found a few potato and cheese in the deli section for me. Great service and also very fresh rye bread. The cucumber salad was really good too! read more

Have bought deli meats from their Palatine location on Rand...many a time....Yesterday, we had the pleasure of enjoying all their faire at Taste of Polonia in the Jefferson Park area, at the Copernicus Center, on Lawrence & Milwaukee Avenue. Brings back memories of many a celebratory occasions when we enjoyed many of our cultural faire. Highly recommend their two locations when driving by. Smacznego, Sto Lat, Cheers! read more

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Nice place for some good Polish goods. I always make sure to grab some plum, strawberry or blueberry pierogis and if you're in the mood for a quick lunch they have a selection of hot food. read more

Nice, and convenient store to quickly grab necessities! I always stop there if I ran out of milk, bred and other small things.

Rip off! Prejudiced against Americans and being a woman! Terrible. I went in for hot foods. It advertised: "$6.99 for 1 meat and 2 sides." I ordered a meat and the older black dyed hair female yelled - like a commando- "meat is 2 dollars extra!!" I was suprised. I said OK. I watched her barely dip her spoon behind the counter into the beef stroganaff, and hardly dip the spoon into potato, and as if her wrist was broken, she thinly put a tiny piece of beets in the styrofoam box! She smirked the whole time. She knew what she did. If I was a man, she would be lopping the portions into my styrofoam box. A man was was behind the counter too with an accent too. He was a jerk. He was smirking too. Both of them made it perfectly clear they were prejudiced and gave me such tiny portions so I would never come back. I came home and weighed the box and it was 0.26 pounds! So, they charged me $8.99 for the carry out box × 4 = #36.00 F-ING DOLLARS A POUND for 3 small pieces of meat- 1 piece was 1/2 total fat, potato & beet. Potato and beet are the cheapest vegtables! Do not walk in here unless "you speak their language." Disgusting. read more

Can't thank you enough for the amazing food delivered to us on 5/28 for our sons Baptism! We ordered the pierogi, pork tenderloins, saurkraut (sweet version), coleslaw, stroganoff, and other things and everything was DELICIOUS. The portions were also very generous as I ordered for 20 people and still had leftovers to have the guests take home. The delivery had impeccable timing, pulled up to the house at 3pm as requested. Thank you again, we will definitely be ordering again for the next special occasion. read more

The food at the hot bar is unreal. This is my go to for amazing authentic polish food.

Smakowski's Deli is fantastic! Pastries-pączki, cakes are the best of the best! The staff and especially the owner takes care of every single customer.I have been shopping for years and highly recommend this deli to anyone.The food here is too good to pass up. read more

A friend of mine used to buy Paczki here and I always thought they were extra good. Stopped by today and bought a Rose flavor Paczki and some other awesome treats. Yummy! read more

I went to the Southside Polish Fest yesterday and had a craving for Kishka!(Blood Sausage) and assumed this would be the vendor to get my fix from. Boy, I was wrong. $6 for a burnt, dried out sausage, 2 pieces of stale rye bread, and a small serving of very basic cole slaw.(I know Fest Food isn't cheap, EVER) It was almost as if they gave the American the bad piece from yesterday because I wouldn't know better.....You were wrong......Been with my Polish Wife for 10yrs! In the end I will say THANKS.......I shouldn't be eating that crap anyway...... read more

Pros: Smakowki's is a Polish Deli. Their variety of deli meat and Polish food is amazing! The meat is always fresh and very appetizing! I absolutely adore the soups! OMG! They're so AMAZINGLY GOOD! Plus I've found that they make for a really good lunch because their so fulfilling. They also have a very good variety of freshly baked breads. Their actually really healthy as well. Their Polish Desserts look and taste amazing. Really REALLY worth trying! Their shelves are also packed with a variety of polish foods that can be found in Poland. It's really great place to get Polish food and Deli. Cons: Although I think this place is great. I have some concerns with it. My grandmother and I go there two to three times a month (she doesn't drive, so I make the trip out to where she lives to take her shopping.). While she seems to enjoy Smakowski's, I have noticed that they treat her differently. I don't know if they don't hear her when she talks, or if they don't want to answer her questions or if they don't like having to repeat themselves, or if it's just that they don't like her. I don't know, but what I do know, is that I don't appreciate the lack of attention she seems to get from them. I don't speak Polish, so I'm not really of much help to her. Keep in mind that this is a Polish Deli, so the workers are Polish. Now I don't speak Polish, but my grandmother does. There have been numerous times where they have not understood her when she has spoken in Polish. So when, on occasion, I understand her I tell the lady behind the counter and then I realize that she speaks little to no English. So she now doesn't understand both my grandmother and I. PERFECT EXAMPLE! My grandmother and I were there one weekend doing the usual shopping routine when she found a cake she liked. Well she asked the question in Polish and the woman didn't understand her. Then I try to say it in English. Lady doesn't understand me. Well as it worked out there was a child probably 9 or 10 years-old who decided to translate for us. If it wasn't for the kindness of that little girl, Smakowski's would have lost our business. Oh and It's located in a VERY VERY small and tight store. If there is two of you split the list in two. read more

I order from here regular for work functions and for lunches with my family. I like that they have soup available for purchase in the cooler and that when I order via the phone they are very helpful. The store is small and isn't fancy, but that's okay with me as it's the kind of deli I grew up with. I wish that they had a website that had what's available on hand so that I could just order. Meals already made that I could pick from in the case. read more

I drive past this place every time I visit my dentist and finally decided to stop in. It's great if you read Polish as all the items are in Polish, fortunately, the labels are the same as they are in English so you can sort of tell what it is. Now, as I didn't know what some (most) of the stuff on the shelves were, I only purchase two cartons of cookies (kolachkes and chocolate covered butter cookies), I LOVE beer sausage and found some in a vacuum sealed package so I bought that also (haven't tried this yet) and 2 each of their Perogis). Stopped at the deli and perused their deli meats, mostly variations on ham. Saw a smoked pork butt and asked for a half pound. I'm directionally challenged so I made a wrong turn heading for home, and the road I was on, you had to travel QUITE far before you could turn off or make a right turn. So, I cracked open the kolachkes - YUCK! Moist (almost uncooked) and tasteless. The butter cookies fared a bit better, but not by much. So I figured I would try a slice of the smoke pork butt. OMG! IT WAS RAW. Just about barfed in my car while driving at 60 mph! Needless to say - everything went into the garbage when I got home. Shame, I really wanted this to be a good place to stop. Oh well. Live and learn. On the plus side, everyone was very pleasant and prices were reasonable. read more

Not bad. First when I walked in I didn't think they made deli sandwiches since I didn't any menus up or anything but when I asked, the girl was nice about handing me the menus of what sandwiches they had that were supposed to be hanging up. Anyway, I got the turkey sandwich on rye. It was pretty good. Definitely wouldn't say the best deli sandwich I've had in that area, especially compared to Capri deli, right around the corner which I dearly love. However, it was good enough to satisfy my taste buds. read more

I have been shopping there for about 10 years. This store has a good selection of Polish items and the fresh food is tasty and reasonably priced. Sometimes the place is messy as they try to restock the shelves. They always seem to be short-staffed, there are two registers but only one is open and the line gets long. The staff needs to be more helpful to non-polish speaking customers who are interested in trying the authentic food but are afraid to buy it as it is not clear what those items are. All of the fresh food and cakes need English labels as well. The staff also needs to wear their masks over their noses! I'm glad they expanded and finally updated their registers so that they can scan all items instead of entering all prices manually one by one. read more

I had a hankering for high quality old world hot dogs with that crunchy snap to them when bitten (type with skin on) without having to make the trek out to the Wisconsin border. So these Polish Deli's throughout the NW burbs came to mind. Decided to try Smakowski's. The place was rather small compared to Krystyna's, EuroFresh, and Farm Fresh. All they had in the hot dog dept were veal wieners at $4.79 a lb. So I got 7 dogs for $7.60. They looked great and tasted good but their skin was so tough, it ruined my beautiful Chicago Dogs. They didn't snap and crunch but instead my sandwich went smush and became a slippery mess when I had to fight the darn thing and pull it from my clenched teeth like a play toy from a dog. Never coming back here for dogs. So frustrating that they could not get something so simple right. read more

I was driving down Rand Road knowing that I had to get on 53 to go back into Chicago and I was thinking I'm getting something to eat before I got on the road but the thing is I don't normally do fast food and at the last minute I saw this new Deli that opened. Well much to my surprise and with my selfie in Polish on top of it I had to stop in and check it out. OMG what a gold mine. If you love Polish food and anything and everything about it then this is your place!!!! The staff is very friendly and cordial. The food is fresh and the smell when you walk in will literally carry you into the store. They have a really nice hot meal you can put together for a very reasonable price you must go check it out. Two thumbs up read more

A good local polish deli, though on the expensive side. We ordered a number of the kielbasa, and some perougies. Overall it was a good experience with friendly staff that helped us make up out minds. I wouldn't come here to get much more than a few sausages though. read more

Smakowski's Deli - a view of the deli counter - Grocery Near Me - Palatine, Illinois

A wonderful deli with fresh-made food, an amazing array of cold cuts and cheeses, a little bit of fresh meat, and lots of amazing baked goods. I usually come in ever week or every two weeks to stock up on sliced ham, swiss cheese, polish mustard, pickled beets, veg pierogi w grilled onion topping, rye bread, berry sufganiyot, and some fruit and nut chocolate. read more

Love this deli. I live in central Illinois where there are no polish delis so we make the drive at least twice a year to get fresh polish sausage. Love the expansion and hot bar. Can be a challenge to communicate as most speak polish but the food is to good to pass up. They also have items like dried mushrooms and horseradish that are authentic to Poland and can't be made in America. read more

We tried this deli after my negative experience at another local deli (click on profile to read my "review"). This place is very cozy, and not very big at all. But WOW! Service is Exceptional here! My wife and I were very surprised at how much they care about the customer. They have adequate foods, and service is big with me. Their prices are very reasonable, and compared to the prior deli we used, sometimes half! My wife gave an example of where she asked the lady about a recipe, and the lady took time out to explain a recipe for making Zurek, a type of borscht. She was able to manage my wife and other customers very well, while wearing a smile! I definitely recommend this Polish deli to others in the area. read more

I don't speak Polish, but the gentleman behind the counter was exceptionally friendly. As we were looking at the candy section, he asked us what we were looking for and even opened up a bag of rum-filled coconut chocolates and had us sample them- they were amazing! As we wandered around the store, we stopped by the deli and the woman working there happily let us sample kielbasa before making our choice. My boyfriend and I are not from the area, and have spent the day exploring different Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian restaurants and delis, and this is by far the best service we've received. We'll definitely be back! read more

Really great service and good pricing. I love getting my lunch meat and cheeses here. The staff is always very friendly. Love this local deli!! read more

I moved to palatine about year ago, this is my go to place for fresh food . Very nice staff , always greeting me with a smile!!

Darn good polish deli. Lots of fresh meats and a better selection of sausages (both smoked and unsmoked). Staff is very friendly. The bakery looked and smelled amazing. It's small in general but does carry the essential groceries. read more

My grandparents were Eastern European, Slovak, and I remember the food having a lot more flavor. The pierogi eps are kind of bland, and honestly if you put 3 or 4 different varieties in a sampler plate, I'd be hard pressed to tell you hat was in each. I'm really disappointed, as I've yet to find a deli that brings back those tastes I grew up with. read more

I was driving by and hungry. I have been to Tony's a bunch and thought about turning around. But decided to try a new place. I went in for a sandwich. They are an authentic polish deli. Every thing was in polish. I asked if they made sandwiches. The counter person was very nice and helpful. She gave me some cards with 6 sandwiches, but I could get what ever I wanted. I ordered the Polish sandwich. Duhhh. The bread was amazing. They make it fresh and the oven just finished a batch. The meat was very good and a lot of it. Price wise it was a five star. The meat tasted very fresh and flavorful. It was tied for the best italian sandwich in the area in my opinion. Didn't give it five stars because I don't think a sandwich can ever be five stars. read more

The staff is exceptionally rude. I don't speak Polish. Customers were gracious and helpful but the lady behind the counter treated me with disdain because I speak English. The store is messy, bordering on dirty. The luncheon meats are of low quality and not very fresh. The soups were good and the hardrolls were warm and fresh. I am of European descent and my parents were immigrants. Such behavior is just unacceptable. read more

I bought chocolate candy called "Trufle w Czekoladzie" (translation: Truffle in chocolate). We opened the package at home and attempted to eat the first three chocolates from the package. These chocolates, and many others from the box, were hard as rock. I took the package and receipt back to the store and the manager was giving me a hard time. She opened up several chocolates claiming they were good. The ones she opened up were white tinged (old) and were very hard. This manager gave me a hard time about returning money and attempted to gip me out of the tax that I paid with this chocolate read more

A lot of products on shelfs are out of date. The lemons that I want to buy was mould. Sorry that I have to say that but you have to be careful and check if the products are fresh, because mostly they aren't. I like "goralska" sausage there. But if you see the white thing on sausage don't buy it, it means that is old and salt is coming out. I hope that they do not wash sausages during the night. read more

for a long time you could not order anything from the deli in english. This has changed as now they have english signage and employees who understand english (more or less). Once you've ordered you're in for a treat. their sausages are good and for 5 dollars they will build you a sandwich that is an ENTIRE days worth of food. serisously, i work a 14 hour shift and will eat 1 of their sandwiches throughout the day. also, some of their customers travel great distances for this polish deli... which leads me to believe they're even better then this irishman can understand. get a sammich... you'll agree. read more