The Real Italian Deli

Best sandwich ever! It melted in my mouth with each bite being better than the one before. I’ve never been there and have only had one sandwich, but dying to get another. My husband found this place and brought me home a sandwich. Can’t wait for my next one.

Let me start by saying that the food here is amazing and the employees are friendly and always helpful, but everyone working there is overworked, anyone who works 8 hours a day preparing food deserves to work in an air conditioned building. The temperature in there was unbearable and made it very difficult to enjoy my food, so until they get their air conditioning under control I won’t be eating here.

Awesome sandwiches. Very high quality ingredients. Friendly staff.

The quality was a LOT better last year! Not sure what happened. It seems the turkey is different, maybe now they use a different sort? And the pricing is a bit high for what you get now, compared to last year. We used to see Scott here all the time and thought he was an owner or something, but I guess he is either at the other store or gone. A real shame that as I believe he was the key to the quality control.
The bread today was stale (NOT MADE TODAY for sure!) It wasn’t bad, but it was not fresh. I’m a bread baker and I know bread, especially a proper and very simple Italian style bread. This was like a ciabatta but less crusty (except for the stale bits, those were inedible like stone! Hence my comment on freshness — if it were simple, ‘overcooked a bit’ or ‘crusty’ it would have at least been able to bite through with my regular teeth — it’s a sandwich for gosh sake!
We ordered 5 sandwiches it took forever to make them. Skip this place, go to Ralph’s get the fixn’s and have yourself a delicious sammy in your condo! If you’re in a pinch this place certainly won’t make you sick!

Nice little deli. Staff was very friendly and nice. Sandwiches (Barese and Caprese) were very simple and flavorful. We tried the crème brûlée after hearing good things about it. When we bought it, the crème brûlée was frozen so we had to wait a bit for it to defrost. It was good, but not the best crème brûlée that I have tried. Overally a good experience.

love the staged 5 star reviews, this place was over priced. waited 45 minutes and they ran out of bread. obvious staged or paid for 5 star reviews. boars head meats. told us there was no delivery. explained that their commercial said so, got told i was a liar! DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT EAT HERE!

Really good sandwiches. I avoided this place for a while, I don’t know why. When I finally tried it I was pleasantly surprised. Very high quality.

I found this little Gem of a place about 6 months ago. A friend of mine had told me about them a while back and it took my a while before I went… man I wish I had gone sooner. One of the best sandwiches I have had in the valley. I now go about once a week for lunch.
On top of great lunch, they have sweets and awesome random Italian goodies. I have only tried there cannoli and cake bites which both were great, and The pastas they carry are excellent! My goal is to try one of every product they have in the store.
On top of all that good stuff. There service is perfect. Everybody is very nice and knows about all the food and products they have. Anybody looking for a quick bite to eat when your in the mood for a sandwich you gotta go here!!! :)

Great authentic Italian sandwiches!

Oh, my goodness!!! Hands down, the best sandwiches ever! The kind that make you close your eyes and go «Hmmmmm!!» The pesto spread totally makes it!!! There are 5 kinds of bread and a dozen sandwiches.
Of course, you can also custom order a sandwich too.

Without s doubt ‘The Best Deli Sandwich’
in the Valley. Fresh, made to order with several options for bread or roll.
I have tried many, and none can match the Real Italian Deli.

I loooooooooove this place but today I wasn’t even greeted with a Hello or how are you. Totally different staff and the only one who offered to take my order was David, very polite man. I’ve been in the customer service alongside to being bartender and a server, for over 8 years and being in a small intimate setting as this place is everyone should be acknowledged… just even a smile can change the atmosphere to being warm and welcoming. Usually every time I have gone before everyone was super upbeat, acknowledged me and even started up a conversation. I love this place for its authentic cuisine but also going in to the staff was a bonus… I hope you take this into consideration. Just a loyal customer giving some constructive criticism, and thank David for being so nice.

Wow great sandwiches. I had the caprese and it was delicious. They have a lot of fresh Italian food like pasta salads, sandwiches, eat. Definitely coming back.

Huge sandwich lover, and the sandwiches are great, but it’s good to plan your trip here carefully and avoid the lunch rush between 12 – 1, otherwise you will be waiting 30 – 45 minutes for your sandwich since the service is a little slow.

LOVE-​LOVE-​LOVE!!! Amazing sandwiches! Awesome bread! Lisa (the mgr) ROCKS!!! Goes out of her way to help. Just go!

The reviews brought me in. I wasn’t too impressed with exterior or interior. Probably because there were so many grocery items that Im just not familiar with. The sandwich board didn’t have a huge selection. I was expecting to see something like a Subway Italian, with a combo of rich salty meats. I chose the Genovese (simple, turkey sandwich) and potato chips.
I was going to eat the sandwich at home, but I was curious and took a bite on my drive home. Damn, that poor sandwich didn’t even make it home. I ate the whole thing during the drive. Everything had such good flavor. The bread was a tasty combo of slightly flakey crust, but also a soft middle. The turkey had Thanksgiving flavor. Super super good. I take back saying anything about a small menu board. They obviously know what they are doing and what flavors work well together. Simple enough for each component to stand out!
I can’t wait for my husband to try this place, and to have sandwiches made for a gathering or occasion. My friends will love it.

Needed a quick bite to eat and Unilocal sent us here. What a cool little place. It is pretty unassuming from the outside but once you walk in you can sense that some care is out into the food here. You can easily see that their food looks fresh and well prepared. In the store there is one small table if you choose to eat in and the rest of it is filled with cool imported grocery items. It would be fun to try a lot of these things. It seems like they are trying to do a lot in a small space but it works. Luckily no one else was there so it was easy to navigate and take a look at everything. I would imagine at a busy time this place gets crowded.
Everything looked fresh and clean and there was fresh baked bread on the counters. I think that’s always a cool thing.
We ordered two sandwiches: the Genovese ( Unilocal recommended: turkey, pesto mayo, lettuce, tomato) and a Combo that was recommended by the employee. Both sandwiches came on a fresh baked torpedo roll. We thought both sandwiches were of very high quality and to me they were as good as sandwiches get. The combo (I can’t even remember what was in it — spicy salami and some other meats) was right up my alley in terms of flavor profile. The Genovese was also solid, but a little too heavy with the pesto mayo for me. The only downside to this experience was that it took about 10 minutes to get both sandwiches and we were the only ones there, so if others were here its hard to imagine the wait.
Overall, both sandwiches were of high quality, fairly prices, and service was fair. This place is a gem and though what they do isn’t super unique, it is of high quality and I wish there were more places like this everywhere. Will do my best to come back and support them anytime I’m in the area again.

Love this place! Great selection of items I thought I only could find in Chicago including Marconi Giardiniera, Caputo Double O flour and some very good premade pizza dough. Also, my pizza’s would be much worse without their Mozzarella. Love their desserts too. Tortufolo especially.. I only thing they were missing as far as I was concerned was Hot Italian Sausage (only comes in mild from their «distributor») — since what they do have is awesome, i still give them 5 stars.

Awesome handmade sandwiches with amazing spreads like gorgonzola (blue cheese/​mayo), basil pesto, pesto mayo and sun dried tomato pesto. A great stop for after the College of the Desert craft fair. The bread was also phenomenal and there was plenty of beautiful hostess gift ideas and interesting pastas.

My fellow Unilocalers in the Palm Desert area did not disappoint.
The friendly staff was very helpful, they split the sandwich that my wife and I shared perfectly, going the extra mile for us as we’d just arrived from a long drive south from the Lake Tahoe area. An example was our interests in their olive selection resulted in about 15 olives being given to my wife and I to enjoy with our sandwich.
Beyond the good food and the staff, they have a quality air conditioner, and when it’s 110 outside, it’s nice to cool off inside. They’ve even got a picnic table setup inside for your immediate use.
We had the cannoli and it had a very unique taste, and we loved it.
So, follow your Unilocaler friends to this place, keep your eyes peeled, as you may miss it if you’re not looking carefully, but know that it’s worth the stop.

Service was fantastic. The food was excellent. They gave samples and gave generous portions for a wonderful price.
I got a custom sandwich of salami and porchetta with mozzarella, tomato pesto, and aioli. I’m so sad that I can’t have this sandwich in my life everyday.
My boyfriend got the prosciutto sandwich. He died. The prosciutto melted in his mouth like butter.
I will definitely be back.

I ventured in yesterday for a to-​go sandwich. I selected a Roast Beef variety that is accompanied by Lettuce and Tomato. I also requested the Torpedo roll that was moistened with a certain spread.
The sandwich was tasty & fresh. This is a no frills IN YOUR FACE deli. I like it and the service was helpful and quick. Heck, you can even pick up some special items while you are there. I was on a time frame but when I go back I will do some more snooping.