Dicostanza Sandwich

Had high hopes for this place and needed a relatively quick bite on the way to Talen Energy Park. Two stars is generous and is only because they give you an honest sandwich at a fair price. They seem to cut the meats for every sandwich fresh — which is nice and they skimp on nothing. The rest though is tough sledding. First the service — simply do not go if you are in any kind of time constraint. We arrived at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon and one person in line in front of us. Took almost 10 minutes just to place an order and 20 more to get four sandwiches — and these were all cold cut kinda subs. That’s nuts. Second, the quality of the meats is iffy at best. Third, the bread is one step up from gross — especially for this neck of the woods. Veggies used on the subs was low end and barely ripe (i.e. crunchy tomatoes). Finally, the overall flavor of the sub (Italian — supposedly their «Best») was flat as the Kansas plains. Bottom line, not worth the stop…

I have never had a better Hoagie (Italian Sandwich), and every other one I have tried there is awesome. I am in a 12-​Step program for the Nigerian, which is like the Italian, but has Roast Beef, Turkey, and I think Ham… just an awesome sandwich.
Don’t be fooled by what they term a «Small» sandwich. It is two meals. If I eat the whole thing… well, I can’t. A Large will feed a small village (OK, 4 people).
It takes time when they are busy, but while you wait there is great conversation to be had. The people there are wonderful to talk with, and when you step back and listen to the conversations, you realize they really care about their customers lives.

This place is spot on. Been here twice, most recently on 2÷7÷16 and we ordered three hoagies to go. They were perfect. The rolls I think made the meal the best part. Italian, turkey, and ham. Each one was unreal. This place is a definite must try in the area.

Poor customer service. In the interest of saving time I began calling the shop at around 6:40 pm. The line continued to be busy so I decided to get there as soon as I could. Coming from Wilmington, I arrived at 6:53 and I was told there were not making any more sandwiches as there were closed. All the while I’m watching the line cook take someone’s steak sandwich off of the grill. News flash Dicostanza, you clean up after you close not before. If you have customers who are in before closing, then you should service them. I won’t be back EVER!

Best Italian hoagie in the area. There is a lot of meat, it is always fresh, and it’s location right off of the highway is convenient when coming from DE. We usually call our orders in so that we don’t have to wait.

I loved this place so much that I frequently came to get the hoagies every time I was back home. I loved it so much that I wanted to have hoagies sent to me to share with my family for the holidays. Im sure many other people who are from the area also want to getva taste of hime every now and again… so i started the process of making my plans to receive my hoagies… Well low and behold they ship by fed ex and it wouldn’t get to me in the day that I needed it. First issue… I was bummed but I had another plan. I researched UPS and they were able to do it for me. So I called to order and low and behold Dicostanza does not accept payment by phone. Second issue. So I had to send the money to my family to pay for it. I sent my cousin to pick up the hoagies and they tried to discourage her and me from shipping my order by way of UPS because they couldn’t guarantee that I would get the sandwiches overnight. Third issue… Well i spoke with UPS and I was given the guarantee by UPS that I would have my order on time. So that was no longer the problem. Then she (dicostanza)told me that it would be expensive to ship. Fourth issue… Well I already knew that and I was fine with the cost that is why I proceeded with my plan from the beginning. I know that they thought that they were helping me but they were actually making me more stressed about the entire situation. I was thinking that Dicostanza would be helping me with getting it to me so that I can continue to give them business and hopefully add more business but instead they put up more barriers. As a business you need to be able to make sure that your customers are satisfied and if that means going the extra mile from time to time then do that. Dicostanza had the ability to make my holiday dinner the most memorable ever but now I have mixed feelings about the place that I loved to visit when I was back in my home town.

I’ve had there food, it’s delicious. Their Italian hoagie is hard to beat. It’s kinda hard for me to give this place a 4 star review but the service is SO SLOW! It’s always a ¹⁵⁄₃₀ min wait. The staff are very friendly and always courteous. It’s nice to see a community friendly business even tho I live on the other side of the county.
Great food, slow service.

The steak was awesome French fries w/​cheese even better. Service — we don’t come here for the service we come here for the food.

Worth driving off the NJ turnpike for! Whenever I’m driving through I take 95 just so I can stop here!

These are the best Italian hoagies I have ever had. My dad used to bring them to me almost once a week. We live a little under an hour away, but the drive is totally worth it for these sandwiches! I recommend this place to any foodie or hoagie connoisseur, you will not be disappointed.

the food was good but I stopped going there due to an incident one evening right before closing. There were a couple folks ahead of me and when I started to order the lady who runs the place was incredibly offensive. I was like: OK your sandwiches are good, but I don’t need a helping of verbal abuse with my hoagie. Especially not with all the good places within a mile radius of here. So I put them on the D-​list. (D for Don’t Go). Although to be fair, the young guy who was making the sandwiches was really friendly and helpful but the old bag had already ruined it.

Awesome! What a great little family run sandwich shop. Was in the area three days, ate here three times for lunch. Nothing fancy, just good quality sandwiches. I could eat here everyday.

The Italian with hot and sweet peppers was great. The small size is still huge. Nice folks. Super convenient location while traveling.

Excellent cheese steaks and hoagies. The best I’ve ever had of both. My family has been going to Dicostanzas for decades. Keep up the good work!

I’ve heard a lot of good things about this place, but what originally peaked my interest was the slogan on their sign, ‘the originator of Italian sandwiches’. It’s a bold claim in an area soaked in hoagie lore.
The good: a huge hefty hoagie, with a huge helping of freshly sliced deli meats. The kind where you reach for your deli paper wrapped baby and are startled by the weight. The staff was friendly as well.
The bad: the roll was your boilerplate hoagie roll, but on the cusp of stale. I like my onions to be fresh and pungent, but these had obviously been washed, and were flavorless crunch on what could have been an epic sandwich. The dressing is vegetable oil, and a sprinkle of oregano, where you’d want some olive oil, oregano, pepper, salt etc. Would I return here? Probably, it is not a bad shop by any means, and outstrips many other shops. I wanted to offer a counterpoint to the overly gratuitous reviews bestowed upon dicostanza’s, which it doesn’t really deserve.

This is one of our favorite places to get a good, authentic hoagie… The only thing I miss there is the lettuce — I do like lettuce on my hoagies but they just don’t do lettuce! Probably best to call and order ahead — otherwise you’re likely gonna be standing there for awhile. Worth the wait though :)

Good hoagies. Peppers onions tomatoes fresh and big. Don’t ask for lettuce, there is none. Large is very large. Italian and Nigerian best on menu. Home made long hots slamming. Turkey was decent not great

This is the best sandwich I’ve ever had. I recently returned to the northeast after three years in Louisiana. But this wasn’t just the case of a hungry man seeing his first hoagie in three years. These sandwiches (and the homemade peppers!) will knock your freaking socks off.
I highly recommend the Italian with olive oil, onions, and cherry hots. If you wanna try something a little out of the box, as for a tuna hoagie «italian style.» It’s not tuna salad — the tuna is treated like a cold cut, and it works remarkably well.
After I went for three lunches in a row I decided that not only did I need to get back on my diet, but I had to curb my visits. However, there’s no question that I will be back.

Best around. Period. Great fresh meats, fresh ingredients. The original.

If I ever decided to move back to Delaware County, Dicostanza would probably have something to do w/​it. I’m a city girl now — so whenever I have even the slightest craving for a hoagie, that means I’m hopping in the car and heading down I-​95S. I remember going to Dicostanza’s as a little girl when they were located on 2^nd street in Chester. For the most part the crew is still the same — and maybe it is something in the oregano or the oil, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve aged at all over the years. Especially the guy who works in the front (I think he’s about my dad’s age) but he has a head full of dark, full, good hair (as Wendy Williams would say)!
I always order the Italian — which is chock full of all of the best meat … ham, salami, really sharp provolone. No puny onion rings but chunks of sweet/​spicy onions, pickles, delicious peppers (I’ve never tasted anything like them). And I love that they don’t do lettuce … a real italian hoagie, does NOT lettuce have!
The hoagie rolls are soooo long … and I’m pretty sure that I read somewhere that this was the bread that the little boy had in his basket when Jesus fed the masses with the 2 fish and 5 loaves of [Dicostanza] bread.
They also have all of the chips and sodas that you can only find in certain neighborhoods (if you get what i mean) — all the throwbacks like tahitian treat, pineapple, and key lime sodas and the honey bbq chips, spicy cheese curls, etc!
HAPPY HOAGIE-​ING!