Beachside Deli

Came here last night for the first time and was very impressed with the friendliness of the owner. We ordered a gyro sandwich and he made us a smaller plate of hummus, baba, and falafel.
One of the few late night joints available at 2 a.m., so we were very grateful for that, as well as his hospitality, but I intend on ordering something else the next time I visit, like a burger or something. The baba and hummus weren’t very flavorful and the falafels had a mushy texture. The gyro I wasn’t a fan of either for the same reasons.
We had some of our friend’s potato wedges though and those were delicious!

First time ever coming and will be the last time. The guy working acted as if I was putting him out by even stepping into the restaurant. He was rude to the point we didn’t even order. Worst experience.

Just had the most RUDE service I’ve ever had. ANYWHERE. The kid practically took our heads off for wanting to place an order. We immediately left. And I really wanted a flippin sandwich.

It was 10pm on Sunday in downtown St. Joe, I was starving and NOTHING was opened… except this place. We went in and was a bit overwhelmed by the menu on the wall. (It’s as if I had been drinking!) The owner/​manager was very nice and suggested the Gyro — guaranteeing I would love it. I paid the extra $ 1.00 for black olives, Feta cheese and could have got peppers, but didn’t want them. It was AMAZINGLY good. The pita was grilled perfectly. The meat was sliced thicker than I am used to seeing it, but was SO good. I will have to go back again when I am not starving to determine if it really was that good, but for now… «as good as it gets!»

Do not go here. The manager on duty was an older lady I did not catch her name but she would not listen to anything I was saying. I asked for tzatziki sauce on my gyro and she do not put it on there after having a 3 minute discussion about it. The gyro itself was mediocre and overall would not recommend this place to a friend. The other employees were friendly and apologized for the managers poor listening skills.

Very nice Fast Med. hummus and baba came with good sauces plus the spicy hot sauce upon request, falafel sandwiches were delicious, i added hummus and hot sauce inside but you can request it spicy at ordering. the Pita bread was only neutral point, not fresh made on site, kind of flat and cold. I would request to try steaming the bread to give it some life. They offer baklava too! The greatest thing is the service and friendliness of the owner and staff. You feel so welcome here. I would come here again in a heartbeat, or take it to go to eat at the beach!

Very delicious gyro and tzatziki sauce. I love tzatziki so I ordered more to dip my gyro in and it was fantastic. I had the pistachio baklava for dessert and also really loved it. The owner is very friendly and fun to talk to and it is the heart of St. Joe’s near the beach. What a lovely location!

Food is decent to average, and way overpriced. Service also ranges from lacking to rude. The only upside is that they are open late.
Visits: 5

Really, really enjoyed this place. Been coming to SW Michigan with my family since I can remember, and this was our first time coming to this spot. The owner, Steve, and his staff took great care of us, and the personal touch was much appreciated: welcoming and warm, but not overbearing.
My dad and I had the gyro, and my mom had the falafel. All were really good– especially the gyros. We had grape leaves as an appetizer, and those were great too. As Steve explained it, he uses thinner pitas and orders them custom from Detroit to make sure the gyros and falafels aren’t all bread, as many are. Much appreciated.
If you’re passing through or have been coming to St. Joe for years but have never been here, check it out! Reasonably priced and great food.

This is definitely one of my favorite places in downtown St. Joe and I’ve been going here for four or five years now.
Usually I go in if I see the manager or owner working, just because I like my food prepared by more experienced hands, but I’ve never been disappointed by the food.
I haven’t tried a lot of things on the menu, I go in for a gyro every time, which in my opinion are always fantastic and always fills me up.
My only problem with this place is that it does take a little while to get your food, but it’s definitely worth the wait

Well. We ordered a falafel sandwich and a gyro sandwich. The falafel, traditionally a fried chick pea patty, was not crisp. More like mashed beans spread on the pita. Instead of tahini sauce it was a thick sesame paste that was actually difficult to swallow. I did not finish the sandwich it was an $ 8 struggle.
The gyro was equally expensive and disappointing. We were surprised to learn that the meat was just a couple rectangular pressed sausages. There was no other distinguishing flavor. The only reason we ate as much as we did was because we were starving.
I would not consider this food authentic, fresh, or tasty.
The service was fine.

great food. was just passing thru st Joseph and loved the food… service was really good and I was amazed to see an older chinese man very patiently cleaning the front window both in and out… I had a gyro, which was recommended by the nice young man at the counter and a baklava & coffee for dessert. I typically do not eat gyro’s as I usually not impressed… this one was amazingly good. I will be back.
I then got to talk to Steve, the owner, a very nice and enjoyable man from Morocco. we talked about his loyal staff, and how well they treated me… He told me a chinese family now worked for him. They are like family as they have solved all his employee work ethic issues. I highly recommend the experience.

The gyros our group ordered were spectacular, and the selection of drinks wasn’t too bad. The service was nice as well as the location of the deli from nearby businesses and the beach. I highly recommend the gyros or the baklava.

–First off great food!!! Their Gyros are huge and packed full of juicy flavor I highly rec
–If you are going for the speed of service or the customer service friendliness you may be a little put off. Getting food can take anywhere from 7−20minutes (but remember it is delicious) and sometimes, unfortunately the staff isn’t the kindest of the bunch, Stephen the Owner is a great guy always full of smiles and good cheer, but I think the daily grind, late nights, and constant busyness (because of the delicious food) gets to some of the other employees.
–Looking for good mediterranean food? This is an awesome place to get while you are in downtown St. Joe! Just order to go and wait outside or shop around for a bit while you do. Oh and they are open til like 3am for all the late night owls out there so you can get your Gyros and other Mediterranean goodness as a midnight snack.

After reading Sheena’s review, it brought to mind my only experience at Beachside Deli. I went in here a few summers ago with my tween son on a busy hot summer day to buy a bottle of water. There was a woman there that I gathered was the owner that was screaming at the top of her lungs and dropping F bombs at a younger employee. The place was crowded. She had EVERYONE ‘S attention with her bad behavior. I love Mediterranean food but not enough to frequent this place ever again.

My family and I had such a great experience here tonight. It’s a small place, but very very friendly and the jolly older guy working there made us feel right at home! Non GMO, gluten free options, even organic ketchup. I got the sample platter and the delicious potato wedges, delicious! My mother Loved the falafels, the best she tasted in her life, and she can be picky;). Highly recommended.

I come home to visit my family and am always on the lookout for vegetarian and flavorful food in the area. I tried Beachside while I was in town last summer and it was decent. This time around I had a
certificate and called in an order and was pretty specific. Extra hummus, extra spicy and all the fixings in my falafel wrap and grape leaves. They were super friendly on the phone and when I picked it up and when I got home the food was awesome.
I’m a bonafide Flavor Freak and whatever they added for the spiciness and not dry out the falafel (common problem with falafel) did the trick. The grape leaves and the tahini sauce were all excellent as well.
I will definitely come back — especially because they were so open and accommodating to my personalized order (and passed my Flavor Freak Test).

I stopped by here for a quick grab and go lunch today. When I entered there was only a few customers inside. The one and only server/​counter lady was wiping down some tables. She let us know it would be just a moment while she finished wiping down the tables. No problem. So I stood there for five minutes. While I was waiting, one of the customers at the tables had to walk up to the server to get her attention. The server was very VERY rude to the customer right in front of me. I wasn’t comfortable with it, so I almost left right there, but decided to wait since she was ringing the customer out. I assumed she would take my order next and then cash me out too. Instead she made some rude remarks about the previous customer to the line cook and walked away in back. By this time I had been standing there for ten minutes and still hadn’t gotten my order in. Being so uncomfortable, I walked out.
This is during the off-​season, too. I’m really surprised they’ve been open this long by treating the locals horribly.

I was looking for a quick late-​night (Wednesday) meal and since the Take-​Out window at Silver Beach Pizza was closed, I decided to go to the place I knew would be open.
I studied abroad in Germany and anyone from Germany knows the splendor of the Doenor Kebab.
I immediately went for the Gyro — I chose lamb because I was feeling adventurous. First thing that I noticed was the price — it was slightly over $ 10 for a Lamb Gyro with the extra toppings (feta, olives, etc…). I can afford it, so it was fine.
I was a little irked by the amount of time it took to prepare. I was the only one in the restaurant, but I think that I was used to the instant service from the Kebab shops in Germany.
I did take-​out and didn’t open up my Gyro until I got home. I was very pleasantly surprised at how large it was — so definitely worth the price! The gyro pita/​bread was nice and toasty warm, it had the right amount of Tzatziki, and the lamb tasted fine — I’m not sure how old it was.
But I would definitely return. I really enjoyed my gyro,

The food is fantastic, after you wait forever to be served.
I used to come here a lot a few years ago, the owner asked me if I’d like to start working there. I was 18, had nothing to do, so why not?
Those three weeks were absolutely awful and I cannot believe they’re still open! On the 4^th of July I had worked 13 hours with one 10 minute break, it was absolutely ridiculous, especially because that holiday turns St. Joe into a zoo and there were only 3 of us working.
The owner had me coming in every day without any days off, no schedule to work from, and there were days I just left because I didn’t think it was acceptable to expect someone to work for so long without breaks.
When I finally quit, he scammed me out of a lot of money he owed me, wrote me a personal check saying some was left out for taxes, but that was BS. I didn’t argue it because at that point I hated him so much I wanted to just leave.
I wouldn’t come back here to eat, even if it is good, because I know that the owner is scamming some poor kid and making him/​her work unreasonable hours. He shouldn’t be in business.