Stephen Cafe/ Deli

After two days of eating at chain restaurants in Manhattan (what kind of monstrous corporation charges $ 11.15 for a single Jameson???) with my extended family, I was ready to set fire to everything, but finally I managed to convince my mom to let me show everyone what eating in New York should be like. I fired up Unilocal,spotted this place with good reviews 11 minutes from our hotel and navigated us to this deceptively tasty little deli. Their philly is on point, and the proprietor was absolutely patient with us trying to order for 4 people who can’t read much English. All the food was super fresh. If I’m ever in Queens again, I’ll definitely be stopping here.

Food was great in the beginning. I always used to get my breakfast there, now there’s a new guy that cooks in the morning and the sandwiches don’t taste good at all!

My new go to fav deli 24hrs near me. Their hot sandwiches are supberb! Their service is impeccable! Must try when in the neighborhood!

We get delivery from here. Good for what it is – deli food. Not quite diner quality or portions per se. But still hearty in its own right.
Cheeseburger deluxe — Small thin patty, and very dry. No juice or moisture in it at all. Reminds me of the nuked burgers at Burger King, maybe a hair thicker. Not appetizing.
French fries– must have used old oil, because they were tough and brown.
Mozzarella sticks 8pcs — Were kind of cold by the time they arrived, but I don’t hold that again them considering they had to deliver them. *****One HUGE issue is that the marinara sauce semed as if it had gone bad. It wasn’t tangy or acidic from the tomatoes, it tasted so acidic it seemed rancid. Not sure what they were serving, but I ended up using my Raos marinara pasta sauce for dipping. BARF!
Buffalo wings 5 pcs. — Liked the seasoning. Not just sauce tossed onto the wings, but it seemed liked spices caked onto the skin and then baked? Weren’t crispy wings, but still delicious.
French toast 3 pcs. — Smelled really good, and slices were thick. I wish it had a little more egg batter covering the entire piece of bread, but overall it was good.
Sausage — pork sausage links similar to the ones you would find in the freezer section of the supermarket.
Hungry Man sandwich — breaded chicken seemed dry. I took a bike and needed a drink to get it down.
Panini sandwich — did not match it’s description: Sicilian panini, prosciutto, ham, mozzarella cheese, sun dried tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette.
***Yes, it had the meat and cheese, but I tasted NO sun-​dried tomatoes or balsamic vinaigrette. No tangy notes from the dressing. Just salt from the cured meats. BLEH. Part of the desire to get the sandwich was for the sun-​dried tomatoes and dressing.
Took about an hour to get the food. That could explain why some things weren’t as good, like the mozzarella sticks. Those are always best hot, fresh, and gooey cheese once you bite into it.
My husband put ‘No Sesame seeds’ on the burger and sandwiches — we got a call from them asking us if it was OK to substitute with Kaiser rolls. So we appreciated the call! Communication is always nice from businesses.
Great hours — but not sure I would want to get delivery from here again, even if I was starving at 2AM.

My go to deli in the neighborhood. They have the best sausage egg and cheese sandwich!

I love them… the coffee is always hot and the orders are always spot on. The menu is vast and they delivery late… how could you not like it?

Thank you Stephens Café for being the only available place that delivers at 2am… According to seamless.
Most of the time I have no problems with my order or the quality of the food served. Rarely there will be something not as described or missing (from an item, not the entire item itself) but at 2 or 3 am you have to expect some substitutions or omissions.
Also, it’s 3am with no other options in the area… Just be happy you can even get anything.
They’re usually pretty quick with delivery times as well.
And to the Unilocaler who complained that they’re delivery guy wasn’t friendly… His job is to deliver your food in a timely manner and that’s about all.
But to those who would be upset about this, I’ve never had an unpleasant delivery man experience.

This is just a great little deli! Stephen, the proprietor’s son and the store’s namesake, is such an adorable little boy. He did a great job entertaining me while I waited for my falafel sandwich (which, by the way, was probably the best falafel that I’ve had ever). I’ll definitely be coming back again.

great food and they have large selection of beers, and the most important they deliver ²⁷⁄₇.
also they have online ordering (grubhub+seamledss).they
also they accept credit card too.