Giant Grinder Deli

Sadly, The Grinder made it’s last sandwich on March 28^th. They will be sadly missed. However, the Long Beach location (Del Amo/​710 Fwy) is still open and ready for your appetites…

Still rated a 5… but…ARE THEY CLOSED or SHUT DOWN??? Been by twice this week and they are not open… no signs…
What gives? I need my Grinder sammich, dammit!!!

Great food, but a little pricey. The worst thing is that they are only open M-​F 10 – 3.

E side of Cherry N of Willow
Big Fan… BIG Sandwiches
This is one place where the name certainly does not disappoint on size or flavor… a word of advice though as a just in case… make sure you have your sammie toasted… it will open up flavors and add texture to your grinder! Hang a fang!
I’ve been here a couple of times because a dear friend lives near here and I have never been disappointed.
The place is kind of dated, but who really cares? Both the food and the service are great and their prices are quite reasonable!
I can only tackle their small sandwiches which are still pretty huge so you’ll have a great time if you decide to take on one of their «larges!»
The bread is soft, fresh, and fluffy, the cheeses prove full flavored, the veggies are as if they were pulled out of the backyard, and the meats prove well seasoned and flavored without tasting fake or processed.
I wouldn’t recommend making a trek out for one of these, but if you’re in the area it is most definitely worth looking up!
Their menu is pretty varied between hot & cold sammies, pastas, pizzas, soups, and salad.
They have a pretty good sized dining area as well as a pretty good sized parking lot.

Sandwich quality is comparable to cafeteria grade food.
The only plus side was the portions.
They do not serve coffee!

came here a few times because its right across from my work!
The place is small and it seems to always close early. The food is great. i always get the turkey breast half, because the whole is already 18 INCHES!!!
i have not yet tried the other food, but every time i step inside the food pasta smells really good and the place is always pack. if i had a choice between subway or this deli, i would go for this deli!

Service was average. Very quick and accurate, but not friendly.
Sandwich was tasty and the ½ sandwich was just shy of a foot long in itself. I ordered the hot pastrami. I also had a side salad, but think I will go for the soup next time. Salad was very average.
I will return, and would recommend this to a friend.
Update:
Staff was much more friendly… Maybe I caught them on a bad day my first time.
Food was excellent. Chicken Noodle soup was fresh like Grandma would have made.

Food — 4 stars
Service — 2 stars
Please hear me, this is a GREAT sandwich. Where it fell apart for me was the service. Now, anyone can have a bad day and this was the first time I have visited so there is certainly a chance to round up to 4.
I was excited when I showed up and immediately saw men was calluses in the parking lot. No, not what you think. What I mean is that the place was passing the blue collar test. After all, if you are going to eat a sub you certainly want it to be hearty and who knows comfort food better than the men and women who actually burn calories while working?
When I walked in, I felt like I was transported back to 1983, which was certainly the last time the interior could have been refreshed. Again, a good sign because real men don’t like fancy…
I ended up waiting maybe 4 to 5 minutes before anyone acknowledged me. Mind you, the were four people behind the counter. It certainly didn’t seem intentional, nor did I get the impression they were that concerned about me either. The woman who took my order really sealed the deal though. She literally had the personality of a soggy piece of bread. No eye contact, no life in her eyes, no service. Hey, I get it. Not much to be excited about slinging sandwiches for a living or maybe she was having a bad day but I did watch her and every customer after me got the same treatment…
I ordered the lunch combo, which is any sandwich, chips and soda for under eight bucks. Now, considering the sandwich is 9″ long, that is a smoking deal. I found the bread to be very fresh, the Italian Salami was tasty and plentiful and the lettuce, tomato, mayo and peppers really drove the experience home for me. This was a darn good sandwich. So big though, that I ended up picking out the meat and leaving some of the bread. Two people could split this for lunch, easily.
I will say that I think the owner was also there, he looks like Carson Palmer. He seemed engaged and was chatting with customers, so it is hard to say if the service I experienced was typical or just someone not into their job on that particular day. Either way, the food and value are good enough to bring me back. I wonder if I will get the same «No soup for you!» attitude?

I have been driving past this place for many many years for work… generally I am off work before they open (graveyard shift sucks sometimes) and few times I have been by when they are open, they were packed… so I passed.
I finally made an effort to go after work and get a sandwich… I walked in at 10 am when they opened… the lady behind the counter was very friendly… showed me their sandwich sizes… and 6 bucks for a 9″ sandwich was a pretty good deal. I ordered an italian on white and couldn’t wait to get to my other job and eat it… I was very impressed and pleased with my sandwich… I only wish their hours suited my needs better! Lol.

After living in Signal Hill and driving by this place for more then 10 years, I FINALLY decide to stop and check it out.
I head over there Friday afternoon because I need something to eat for my friend and I once we get to the Hollywood Bowl. I figured «Deli sandwiches… perfect!» I walk in the door right at 4 pm and they tell me «No hot sandwiches, cold only»… turns out they close at 4pm, hmmm…
The sandwiches are H-​U-​G-​E! A half is 9″ and the full is a woppin 18″ long, WOW! I order the Italian combo for my buddy and the turkey & roast beef for moi.
By the time we got to «The Bowl», some of the bread was a little soggy (I assume they use oil & vinegar? I didn’t pay attention), but the sandwich was still pretty damn good (or maybe we were just hungry).
The amount of meat on the sandwich was ok I suppose, it would have been nice to have another slice or two. Or maybe that pastrami sandwich I had last week (stacked 3 inches high!) is still on my mind??? LOL
Bottom line? What little I’ve tried so far was good, now I have to go back (BEFORE they close for the day…) and try a few other things.

Nom Nom Nom.
The sandwiches are great and HUGE. We struggle finishing a large with 3 people. I love their Italian combo. It’s a small place with counter service. I think the staff is friendly, and they helped me out when I wasn’t sure what to get. It gets really busy during lunch, so be prepared for a line.
The parking is a little weird, but not that big of a deal.

I have been coming here for years and The Giant Grinder Deli is a great place to come to. My co-​workers and I always complain about how there are limited places we like in the area — you can only eat at the chain/​franchise establishments so many times — this place is a great departure. In response to some of the other reviews — there are times when the workers dont seem to into coming to work that day — but the owner is always full of smiles and checking to make sure he says hi or sees that everything is ok.
The Combo sandwich is a favorite of mine and their pizza!
The 6 daily specials are a good deal and if you sign up with your email every month or two they will send a coupon to you.
Give it a try. If you are somewhat hesitant, try it on a Friday where all sandwiches are on special!

I was so excited to unwrap the sandwich that I skipped breakfast for. In order to add to that excitement, I added avocado to my turkey sandwich for good measure…
I think I counted 3 small slivers of avocado that I could barely taste. Sigh. I’m not psyched on the calories I consumed so I wouldn’t waste the money I spent on lunch. I’m not sure if someone was in a rush or if perhaps they didn’t like that I modified my order (no mayo, no cheese, no oil isn’t that much of a pain in the ass, is it?!) The bread wasn’t as fresh as it normally is.
I love you, Giant Grinder, but my stomach and wallet are disappointed with you today.

I order 3 sandwiches from this place today and somehow I felt cheated on the quality of the sandwiches I ordered. I cannot begin to describe my anger as I was looking at my pathetic looking pastrami sandwich when I got home and wanted to go back there and return the sandwich to them.
I’m pissed off. Someone needs to called the manager and have a team meeting cuz something is not right. Either the workers hate working here now or whatevers. But this pisses me off. For me to lowered the rating of this place from 4 stars to just 1 star breaks my heart. I can’t sit here and allow bad quality to be experienced by other people.
Somehow the pastrami sandwich I’ve always loved from this place was looking sad and blue. I couldn’t believe it. Of all the places I give «4» stars to, this really saddened me. I couldn’t believe it. The worker who made my sandwiches was nice, but my tummy is judging the sandwich here. Geez, what happen to this place? Either the manager is on vacation, but this hit me in the face like Mike Tyson. I never expected this to happen to me today at this place. It happen so I’m more than likely not to go here for a long, long, long time. Sorry Giant Grinder Deli, you disappointed me today and for the future too. I’m just driving by this place now until they do something about it. Sorry, I’m just moving on to other foodie places. No money for you now.
Two Thumbs Down.

Really bad sandwich — really bad sandwich shop.
I’ve driven past this place a lot and have always wanted to go there and really like it.
Walking in, the employee behind the counter asked another employee if they wanted to take our order. «No,» she said, walking away. Okay, that was a red flag, but their sign said they had the best sandwiches. We ordered, waited while they tried to find enough lettuce, and then paid and left. The place was empty of customers and not clean, so we decided to eat outside.
My sandwich, a pastrami, had apparently been premade. Oh well, but first bite was a solid chunk of fat. Kind of really disgusting.
My wife’s sandwich was on stale bread, with less than ¹⁄₇₅^th of an onion (seriously), part of a bad tomato, and chicken that was more dry than the butcher paper it was wrapped in. At $ 6 a sandwich, this was a rip off.
When we got home we immediately checked Unilocal to see how badly this place got panned, and were amazed to see 4 stars. I just figure good reviews come from the owners/​employees.
To try and stress just how bad this place was, I created a Unilocal profile so I could try and give a better picture of how bad this place is. Over the past three years I’ve trusted Unilocal but never felt I had to have my own profile as I generally agreed with all of the reviews. Not anymore.
In this sandwich store’s defense, they had nice butcher paper, but everything else was awful. They even had those awful napkins that everyone hates.
This is a place that I’ll drive by and feel sorry for the people I see inside ordering food.

This place was nasty.
I really can’t explain all these decent reviews; it causes me to distrust Unilocal.Yet, I assume most people who review this place really like it and are the only ones who eat here.
The bread was stale, veggies seriously lacking freshness, meat was dry and the mustard was sparse. The portions are large, but I am not one to eat for quantity but for quality. I fed the chicken breast to my dogs and went to Togos across the street. Seriously.
The inside of the space is old and I really thought they were going out of business due to the lack of food (they literally had one bowl of lettuce out for their sandwiches).
I enjoy good food that uses organic and/​or fresh produce. I am all for small business, but this one needs to rethink their quality.

Okay, I need to upgrade Giant Grinder from a 4 star to 5 star. The owner, Eric messaged me to thank me for my review… and it’s not because he replied to my review. But it’s what I found out from Eric about the history of Giant Grinder Deli.
He told me that the pizza recipe came from the original Perry’s Pizza! How cool is that?! Well that’s too cool for me, since I was a big fan of Perry’s while I was growing up in the South Bay.
And the other too cool thing is that Eric’s father was one of the owners of the Original Giant Grinder store in Manhattan Beach back in the 70s. And that was my favorite sub shop when I was growing up and when I went to Mira Costa in MB! The subs at Giant Grinder Deli take me back to the good ol’ days growing up in the South Bay.
For a great tasting subs and pizza at great prices, and great service, you definitely need to check out Giant Grinder Deli!

Seriously that’s a large? It’s two sandwiches! This place ain’t no joke! But the sandwiches and pizza and pasta is so good.
I’ve been going here since I was a kid. I would ride my bike to this spot. And when I was lucky my mom would bring home half a sandwich for me.
Today I brought it back old school. I got the sandwich my mom would bring home. The turkey with everything. Of course I ordered a large. Just so I can have one for later. They are that good. I can eat them twice a day.

This place looks questionable from the outside, but I went anyway because my friend really wanted to try it. Oh man, I will be back!
I had the #3, which included a small salad, regular sized drink, and a half sandwich (I chose the chicken salad sandwich and it was awesome). Their definition of half sandwich is like a foot long! The regular-​sized sandwich could probably feed a family of four. The next time I’m craving a good sandwich, I’m coming back here for sure.

Fellow Unilocaler Michael P and many others on Unilocal have been raving about this place so i definitely had to give it a try.
I went with fellow Unilocaler Grace S. We got there at 11 so we wouldnt catch the lunch rush. We walked it and was immediately greeted by the worker. I ended up ordering the number 3 which included half a sandwich, salad and soda all for $ 7.50. I ordered the roast beef sandwich which included roast beef, swiss cheese, mayo, mustard and lettuce all on wheat bread. The half sandwich was huge! it was atleast 10 inches and definitely had an array of flavors that quickly satisfied my palate. The roast beef and all other ingredients were really fresh. The cheese made the sandwich even better. The salad was ok too.
The place had an old style deli look which was really nice. one thing i didnt really like was the parking, but the food was well worth itl
Im glad i took the advice of fellow Unilocalers and tried this place out. ill definitely be back.