Izzy's Deli

Izzy's Deli

433 Wilshire Boulevard  

Santa Monica, CA 90403 

(310) 394-1131

Parking: lot on site, plenty of street parking as well.

Crowd: Fairly busy. A large table might face a 10 minute wait on a weekend.

Review: The pastrami club schlepped to Izzy's on a cool Saturday in January 2012. It quickly became the most divisive of all our pastrami jaunts: while some of us rated their pastrami a 4 out of 5, others rated it 2 out of 5 (one person even gave it a 1). Based on a consensus, their pastrami was "boo" and "mediocre", but their pastrami rueben was "excellent" served with "crispy french fries". The rye bread was "nothing to write home about, certainly nothing that would compare to Langer's or Greenblatt's".

The matzoh ball soup was "ok, but not as good as Greenblatt's", while the blintzes were "pretty good, but not spectacular".

The food "took forever to come, but it was ok, because our older European waitress was a character". We received a discount because of how long the food took to arrive and the fact that most of our orders were screwed up.

The decor was "classic Jewish deli. You really feel like you're in New York". The "crowd is mostly on the older side, which adds to the authenticity". Based on previous experience, the "non pastrami food is pretty good, and worth hitting up if you're on the west side and craving classic deli fare".

All in all, probably the least good pastrami we've had so far...