Stuffed Sandwich

OK. Let’s get one thing straight. In spite of the name, you don’t come here for the food. You may or may not like the sandwiches — which, depending on what you order are either bombalicious, or really overpriced — but the real reason, the only reason this place is on the national radar is the beer. The Stuffed Sandwich is arguably the very first «gastropub» on the west coast. In fact, an argument could made that Sam Samaniego (sadly deceased) and his wife Marlene started the Craft Beer Movement in LA County when they opened this oddball shop that included obligatory food purchase in order to drink, a bona-​fide «Beer Nazi,» and an amazing assortment of craft and international beers, and styles at a time when even a modest
Heineken would have been considered exotic.
Personally, I love the pastrami, prepared with a secret, wildly hot sauce called «Love» if you ask for it. The chili beans with cheese and a little onion are also good. Perhaps my favorite thing not on the menu is a special Malt, prepared to order by hand. Ask for «malt with obnoxiously over malty malt» and you will be happy — providing you like malt.
But again, the food is required for admission if you want to drink. And if you want to drink beer, especially rare beer, the kind of beer that lingers on the mind and palette like some exquisite ghost long after you leave, then this is the place for you.
There are places like The Yard House that has a hell of a lot more beer on tap, than the
Sandwich. In today’s Johnny Come Lately world of hip beer drinkers, anything with a little to much hops tickles the fancy.
But if you want a 1988 Samichlaus, or every year of Hebrew’s Funky Jewbilation, or sequential bottles of Abacus (before it was forced to change its name to sucuba), or even a bottle of Alexander, which hasn’t been bottled since 1998, in short, if you are a serious beer drinker who really knows what the hell you’re drinking, then this is the place for you.
Is it perfect? No. But what is? In the world of heavy weight beer drinking, this place deserves props, and is well worth your time — even if you have to buy an overpriced sandwich to get through the door.

This is a great sandwich shop!!! I am big sandwich fan and this place is legit! And on top of that. they have an excellent beer selection! They have several coolers with cans and bottles and taps. Prices are great as well. Some others have commented about salty pastrami. I had it and it was great, it was not salty at all, lean and not greasy. A large sandwich is large enough for 2 people to share. There is also a small patio in front.

Great hidden spot in San Gabriel Valley, great food and craft beer. Been coming here for many years, you can buy glassware (that you can use there to fill), shirts and lots of gifts etc.

3.5 Stars. Like their Pastrami Dip Sandwich & roll with salted butter. Both are very salty though! Was in the mood for pastrami sandwich & satisfied my craving without going to Phillips The Original. Spaghetti with Meatballs, Cheese, Roll & Salad was «meh». I happened to like the roll cuz it was soft & the salted butter appealed to me, but I have to say the sodium for this place must be through the roof! If you’re going to dine here, make sure you don’t have any dietary restrictions for sodium! Don’t drink beer, but the selection looked awesome.

$ 7.25 for half a sandwich — $ 14.40 for a whole sandwich. And it’s not because of the meat. Ham, turkey or in this case liver wurst, same price. They don’t charge this much in Beverly Hills.

I was craving a Pastrami sandwich and wanted to try somewhere new and found this place on Unilocal.The meat itself is tasty, but make sure to hold the juice!!! Waaaayyy too salty! So much sodium I passed out for almost 2 hours after eating it! I want to try their other sandwiches cause the reviews are good and they look pretty good from viewing the other patrons orders. Nice service and pretty fast too.

I loved it here!
I highly recommend their pastrami. I’m always on the hunt for a good pastrami sandwich and this place hit the spot. My friend got a polish sausage sandwich and said it was delicious. He said it had a good kick of spicy. And their beer selection?! Good lord, it’s heaven. The staff is super friendly and knows their stuff. Coming back for sure :)

I would have given 3 stars due to the beer selection but since I went during work hours, I didn’t get to enjoy that.
My turkey sandwich was $ 8.50 and honestly, I make better sandwiches! Grrrr… I don’t even have to describe the sandwich you can see the pic for yourself. Ridiculous.
The reason it’s two stars is because the cashier put my order in before the large group that was ahead of me. She noticed I was on my lunch break. That was nice.

Atmosphere: I really love the environment here! Great place not else much to say it’s very homey you should come here just to check it out!
Food: the sandwich I got was a pastrami sandwich and I give it a 7.75 it’s a little less saltier than the hat would recommend they make sure to put a good amount of pastrami which I look for !
Side note: curly fries were not good they were hard and frozen I really wanted them to be good too):
In short I feel that you should try this place atleast once to see if it’s something you’d be into! Me personally I will be coming back to try more things on the menu and my opinion can change !

This is definitely a little hole in the wall. Good sandwiches, great selection on beer. I’m not a beer drinker but I do like my ciders and the owner was very nice, she showed me a few Apple ciders she carried and it was delicious. A bit pricy but worth the cost. Restroom was well kept and it was overall a nice experience. They sell mugs and cups, some shirts. Great place to come if you’re a beer lover. Every month they have different selection on tap. Cool little place.

I love this place even tho i don’t come here often enough! It’s one of those local treasures that’s kinda hidden if you don’t know about it. It’s hanging in there despite their troubles keeping it open. During the day it gets hot in there but you can eat outside and smoke too. Warning: the Polish sandwich is ridiculously spicy and you can have it two different ways but it’s hot either way! Just get half a sandwich to try it if anything but I think it’s ghost chili they use, lol. if you get whole sandwiches they are HUGE fyi! Recommend their BBQ beef and pastrami. If you wanna drink you HAVE to buy something to eat, it’s their custom so come hungry if you want specialty beers they have!

Awesome service! And the beer selection is off the hook! So many to choose from so come with a high tolerance and try every type of beer! Also the spicy polish sandwich is what bring home the bacon!!! It’s super spicy (for me) but durable hahaha. But it all taste so gooddddddd! I give it 3 thumbs up! With the help of my friends of course haha! Cheers!

This place feels kind of like a dive bar that serves food! I came in on a Saturday afternoon and all the lights were off, it was dark inside, but lots of people there eating. I tried the pastrami which was pretty good, the service is really friendly and nice. I didn’t get to try any beers this time, but I definitely want to go back to try some beers! There is a HUGE selection.

This is the Mecca for craft beer snobs everywhere. Sam, the late owner, was a pioneer in bringing craft beer to the limelight in So Cal. So it feels like a place you should visit if you are into craft beer now.
The selections are simply amazing and span across the globe. Marlene, who has taken over operations, will help you in choosing from the vast selection here. If you ask her, she might be nice enough to let you buy from her rare collection. But you’ll have to break out the checkbook for those.
The food is surprisingly good and I think half orders are big enough. Rule at Stuffed Sandwich is that you have to buy food in order to drink here. And that’s why people literally buy a half order of a PB&J sometimes. Get the pastrami or beef dip. They are hearty and real tasty. Skip on the fries however. They are the oven baked ones and are all bland and mushy.
Go by yourself or go with a group of beer snobs. Perfect place for either.
DONT FORGET YOUR CUP FROM HOME! Dixie cups suck

I’ve been dying to try this place for 3 years now! I’ve heard nothing but good things and how huge and awesome the sandwiches are. So it sucked when my friend and I ate here and it was so terrible. Overall do not waste your money at this sh*t hole. There are plenty of other craft beer joints with actually decent to amazing food and way cheaper prices.
Firstly, there is no glass cups. They only serve beer in paper cups, which is gross and messy. Plus it’s $ 10 dollars for a 16 oz beer in a paper cup!!! Outrageously over priced especially for not having glassware.
Secondly, the soups… Clam chowder tasted like it was from a can and the potatoes were uncooked and chewy. The broccoli cauliflower was ok but really watery. The ravioli was gross.
Thirdly, the French fries… The most disgusting fries I’ve ever eaten. And the worst part is… THEY WERENT EVEN FRIED!!! They were baked… BAKED!!! And some were not cooked and some were overcooked. And they had no salt. They were the French fries you buy at Ralph’s out of the frozen food section… –_​– nasty
And finally the sandwiches were disgusting!!!
I had the BBQ beef which was ok but I’d never get it again. Way to much sauce, it soggied the bread quickly and all the insides kept falling out.
My friend had the meatball sub and it was like vomit. There were not meatballs but ground mystery meat. The sauce tasted worse than canned tomatoe sauce.

Greatest beer selection & the hottest hot link sandwich!

A great sandwich in a tiny hidden away little hole!
The location doesn’t seem that great, the décor isn’t terrific, but the staff was friendly and the sandwich was great. Not a whole lot else to say, but liked it!

Perhaps because I’m not a beer aficionado…
I visited this place on a Friday night an hour before close with a group of friends who are regulars. It is in a bit of a nondescript plaza on Las Tunas; I probably would have driven right past it if I hadn’t been following my GPS. If there isn’t parking in the front (and there wasn’t for me), go to the back of the buildings, there’s a lot more.
Honestly, all of these stars are more for Marlene’s hospitality than the actual food and drink. My friend led me inside after I arrived and she took over to explain how her restaurant worked. As other reviews explained, it’s required to purchase food with your beer, so pick a sandwich. (I’d go with a hot one, and personally ordered pastrami with cheese). Afterwards, she asked me what type of beer I enjoyed drinking on my own time, and I honestly blanked and could only come up with «uh, Stella Artois and Blue Moon.» Marlene suggested a Wittekerke and I had no basis to disagree, lol. You get a paper cup to accompany your beer, or can purchase/​bring your own glass.
To my surprise, we sat on the patio well after the posted closing hours of 8pm and were not encouraged to leave so she could close up. After we did decide we were done, Marlene called us in to have us sample some new products she considered carrying. I’m not sure if that’s her normal practice, or because she knew my friends on a first name basis… Overall, the experience felt like eating in her home kitchen rather than a restaurant.
The Wittekerke was good but I honestly couldn’t tell a huge difference between it and Blue Moon. Again, not an aficionado. The pastrami itself was good but the bread was wet and soggy by the time I got it, which was a sad detractor from its taste. :(Prices were reasonable– about $ 8 for the sandwich, and about $ 5 for the beer.
I’d come back with a group, but wouldn’t come back alone.

Stuffed Sandwich isn’t too bad but not that impressive either. I was hoping to find another great sandwich place but I don’t think this would be it.
I ordered a half size of the Pastrami Dip sandwich and it was just okay. They didn’t skimp out on the pastrami which was a plus and it was just right for one person; a whole order of the sandwich was the size of a foot-​long. We also ordered the Spicy Fries which would be your average curly fries that are seasoned… and no… it was not spicy at all. In fact, it was undercooked. We didn’t even finish the fries but we found the mac salad to be pretty good, though.
The lady behind the counter was really nice when she took our order and this place also offers a huge variety of beer. Sadly, though, I don’t think I’d be coming back.

Holy moly! I have died and gone to beer heaven! First time here and I’m already a fan. Service was really good and the owner’s wife was very informative about their beer selections. Gave me alot of recommendations and I was like lets do this! Every wednesdays, they have a support system of drinkers that interact with another and drink together. You’re able to meet the man himself… the Beer Nazi! From his wife, she tells me that he knows everything about beer!
We had couple of beers on draft. It kinda felt weird when they served their draft beers in a paper cup. The owner’s wife said to bring you’re own mug or drink out of paper cups. I think i’ll take her recommendation and bring a mug when I go. This place is a restaurant… not a bar. So you would have to buy food in order to buy beer! We also had their famous Pastrami Sandwich! Their portions are crazy big… compared to Philipes and the Hat! Mmmmmmm… writing this reviewing is making me salivate for more Pastrami. Have another excuse to go tomorrow… i’m «BULKING»! haha I wonder where the internet comes up with these new terms!
RECAP — Fast and friendly service
— Started buzzing after a few brewski’s
— Pastrami sandwich is AMAZING!
–Never bring a friend that is like a black hole for alcohol consumption.
–Meet the beer nazi every wednesdays except holidays!