Mike's Deli West

Really, Really Good Deli. First ever visit here: lunch 11/28.

Location: In a strip shopping center on South Church Street (US-70). The area has lots of business, is well traveled and there is plenty of parking.

Food: As a deli, you are going to get the all the usual suspects but Mike's deli has one of the more extensive menus I've ever seen in a deli. I'd hate to have be one of the cooks with this list! The core sections are sandwiches and subs but you also have wraps, salads, soups, hot dogs, hamburgers and even breakfast sandwiches! For the sandwiches, there must be 40 or more choices of meats and cheeses, at least 6 bread options and more add-ons (i.e. tomato, onion, etc.) than I could keep up with. There are 20 something subs listed most of which are familiar and comforting. The hot dog section offers you're standard dog plus an all beef coney and the burgers are listed as 1/2 pounders with several options there as well.

As it was my first visit I was a bit overwhelmed - which is cool - so I asked for some recommendations and the guy manning the order counter (Mike?) did a good giving me a run down on the specials and a couple of other suggestions. I eventually went with roast beef marinated in port sandwich on wheat and choose the "plate" which adds a mound of ruffle chips and a pickle spear. I also added a fountain soft drink.

My order arrived about 10 minutes later and...TASTY! All the individual components were fresh and flavorful. I have to give props for the amount of roast beef included and the soft freshness of the wheat bread. In the future I'd probably pass on the plate option but that's mostly because I'm not a big chips guy.

As you would expect, there is a counter full of meats and cheeses that I'm guessing are available for bulk sales though I didn't see any pricing or information on that (though I did see fliers about ordering your holiday hams and turkeys in advance). They proudly sport the Boar's Head logo. There is also a large selection of drinks. 4 Stars for food.

Service: My service was fine. It was efficient and polite in a strictly business kind of way. That probably makes sense for a deli during lunch when customers need to eat on a schedule. Throughout my visit a decent stream of patrons came and everything seemed to move along smoothly. 3 Stars for Service.

Value: The subs come in half and full sizes with the half's in the $5-$6 range and the full's around $9 to $11. The sandwiches are $4 to $6. If you go with a "plate", add about a buck. You can get a single dog for as low as $2.29 up to a two coney plate for over $7. The burgers run $4 to $5. I've seen worse and I've seen better but based on the quality of my lunch I think the prices are fair. My plate and drink was about $8.5 after tax. 3 Stars for value.

Atmosphere: The bulk of the space is committed to the kitchen and drinks area but there are probably 10 or so tables. The décor is early turn of the 20th century advertising signs but everything seemed clean and in order (I did not see the Sanitation Rating, however). 3 Stars for atmosphere.

Overall: I can wait to go back and try some of the many options. I'm giving four stars overall for the excellent tasty and quality of my lunch and no obvious flaws elsewhere, though, this wont' be your cheapest lunch. Gotta pay for quality!

Food: 8/10; Service: 7/10; Value: 7/10; Atmosphere: 7/10