John’s Famous Deli

Just when I thought I was going to miss Brooklyn here is another Brooklyn great on Staten Island!!! This place happened to come up as a suggestion on my Unilocal,and when I seen johns deli I wanted to scream! I immediately asked my husband if this is the same from Bensonhurst! Then looked at the pictures on Unilocal,and seen the roast beef and brown gravy!!! You have no idea how happy I was, and then when I went that same day my navigation said three minutes away! Which made it so much more better!!!
There is also parking on the side, but I was so excited I illegally parked right in front, it’s a small place, tables in the middle, and a long time, same signs on the wall, like the one in Brooklyn, I ordered my roast beef on a roll, with mozzarella, onions, and a LARGE brown gravy on the side. Rushed home (3 mins) and to my surprise it was the same!!! Same great taste!!! I must have demolished that sandwich in three minutes!
A guy on line recommend the shrimp parm, one day I will try it, but I’m such a sucker for that roast beef!!!

This place is what makes New York food great. Worth the trip if you aren’t from Staten Island. Closed Sunday’s (the owner deserves time with his family too guys).
I usually get the shrimp parm (crispy, good cheese, great sauce) or the Roast Beef (best Roast Beef in the 5 Boros. Accepting nominations for competitors).
The place makes everything fresh, has as diverse a clientele as it can get, parking in the back, and really great group of guys behind the counter.
I can’t recommend this place enough. Even the teenagers (usually the most annoying part of any eating experience) are respectful here and clean up after themselves. Stepping in here and chatting with the table next to you while you wait for the huge awesome sandwich is enough to make it feel like there are still some gems of old New York to find.

Me and my friend Gary went here, and it was worth the trip!! Great guys that work there GReat tasty sandwiches amazing!!! they got it done so so well! Roast beef! Shrimp! cant wait to get back!
LOVE THE FREE SAMPLE!!!

I had wanted a veal cutlet and a shrimp parm. They didn’t have either. They did have eggplant parm. The cheese was great! There was a another layer of cheese midway ummm (this layer is often neglected). Tasted good. There was a lot of good sauce. The dish was heavy on the sauce. I’m not a sauce person. However the sauce was good. Just way too much sauce for me. Heck the 4 stars. I have the parm without the bread it was about 8 dollars. Large portion

Wonderful owner! He gave a sample of shrimp parm… then I bought it. It was damn good. I also got the hot roast beef sandwich and it did not disappoint.
The owner is so proud of customer service and his store. You can definitely tell. Will be back again!

The hot roast beef with mozz & gravy/​sauce ($ 6.50 cash only) is solid, a nice indulgence but nothing I’d crave; was also handed a shrimp parm sample while waiting. Very nice guys, space to sit.

I traveled 2 hours from Queens, taking 2 subways, the ferrry and a bus to try the roast beef, mutz, gravy and onion sandwich from this place and it was totally worth it. Definitely up there with John’s on Stillwell and Fiore’s in Hoboken for the best italian roast beef sandwiches in the area.
Just be warned if you get there around 2 or 3 on a school day you’ll have to fight your way through swarms of kids getting out of school in the area, but it’s definitely worth knocking them out of the way, lol.

Excellent sandwich shop
Shrimp parmigiana, chicken parmigiana are outstanding
The star of the show is the roast beef fresh mozzarella with gravy
Best I have had… make sure you get an extra cup of gravy on the side
Parking is tight and there are usually high school kids hanging around
Cash only
No seating
Prices are different every time I go

Excellent shrimp parm sandwich. Will definitely be visiting, again.

Hot roast beef with gravy and onions is the Best of the Best. So good, makes you wanna slap your momma, and your mommas momma. Now only accepting cash only. So be prepared. Very nice staff and liberal with free samples.

I went in the summer time and there was no line. I got the roast beef which was really good. Get the gravy on the side so you can pour the gravy on and then dip it as well. I couldn’t get enough of this gravy.
I also had the chicken parm and fried ravioli which were both really good. Both sandwiches had fresh mozzarella and had great flavor. I wish the meat were just piled a little higher. If it was then it would have been a definite 5 star. I’m looking Howard to coming back on a Wednesday and trying the fried shrimp parm which I hear is awesome.

Been going there since sophomore year of high school and keep coming back long after i graduated. Roast beef is awesome. the shrimp parm is delicious. Definitely recommended

Line is long, but worth the wait.
I didn’t try the roast beef, but instead had eggplant parmesan with broccoli rabe on top. The broccoli rabe was superb. Not bitter, garlicky and delicious.
Free samples on line while you wait, which is sweet, because staring at all that delicious food is guaranteed to make you hungry (if you weren’t already)
No where much to sit down, the line snakes around the whole store. More of a take your food to go place.

This was (and still is) the it place for the students of PRHS. Breakfast and lunch were my main reason for coming here, the food (and coffee) is great! The BLT, ham/​egg/​cheese sandwiches and ham/​cheese (lettuce, tomato) heroes are good too. The service is okay, although maybe a little too friendly. Takes a little while to get your food though, I’m not sure if they even have delivery.

Simply the best roast beef sandwich I ever had! I have brought dozens of friends and relatives and they all agree.

Best Food Ever ! I Remember Coming To Johns Deli Right Before School Started & Right After School Was Over

It’s all about the black tar motor oil-​esque gravy.
The Roast Beef Hero with onions and fresh mozz is the way to go. Get the motor oil gravy on the side and dip the sandwich in it. Add some potato croquettes to your order and you have some more items you can dip into that gravy.
They also make fried ravioli’s and mozzarella in carozza which is delicious as well. The staff is very cool and will hook you up with a sample if you are not sure what you want.
They make shrimp parm heroes on Wed and Friday as well which are also excellent.
If you put a tip in the tip jar the workers yell out «Thank you, Subway!» — Want a history lesson? (from their site)
There were this group of wise-​guys that came in to eat all the time. They were all dressed up and the smell of Old Spice and Paco Raban cologne would take over the store. One day they came in and one of the men said to me: «When I put money in the bowl say: «Subway!» I asked as an innocent, naïve guy what that meant. He told me in the early fifties if you gave a deli man a nickel before he made you a sandwich the man would bang on the counter to show his boss he wasn’t stealing, make the sandwich and use that nickel to take the subway home.
This staff is worth way more than 5 cents! 5 stars for sure.

The benefit of working with all men is they get the best food delivered for lunch. The worst part is watching them inhale everything as you are likely to gain weight by smelling this stuff alone.
What should you order? That shouldn’t even be a question on your mind — «Roast beef and muzz» with or without onions and ask for the gravy on the side. Dipping the entire sandwich into the bowl of gravy after every bite is almost mandatory, so now isn’t the time to watch the calories.
— Potato Croquettes, even when eating like a gavone you need an appetizer and of course this gets dipped in the gravy as well!
— Fried Ravioli, and in case you’re with some friends share these…
Realistically, for $ 10 bucks you can eat better than royalty. Add a buck to that for a big Arizona iced tea. And maybe add a few bucks to that for the tip in case you choose to get it delivered, if your going to eat like a an obese person may as well be lazy like some of them… *Sidenote: not the same owner as the other Johns Deli that opened in Staten Island’s New Dorp area, however both are somehow connected to the original one in Brooklyn*

First time I gave them a tip they yelled at me. He looked at the amount and yelled to his dad/​boss «Some Tip!» and his dad or boss mocked it with «Some Tip!» and I was ashamed. The next time I was there I decided it must be some type of slang in some other language. Then the final time I was there I found out they yell «Subway!» as a tradition because it notifies the rest of the staff that they’re not stealing from the register, and that the tip is «subway money.» Pretty cool, dudes.
So this place is not at all vegetarian friendly, but it was the only restaurant within walking distance and quite literally across the street from where I was staying, so I had to come in here when I needed a quick bite or morning coffee. Their specialty is meat sandwiches, and I can’t tell you anything about those. Useful, yeah? Go ahead and click the button now.
But for vegetarians that are cool with not eating at all healthy, they do have some nifty options, and my favorite is this small side sandwich whose name escapes me (useful, yeah? You can log out and click «useful» again), but it’s basically a fried cheese sandwich. If I had to describe it, I’d say it tastes like a mozzarella stick — but it’s a sandwich. It’s also cheap, and they give you some marinara dipping sauce to go with it. It might be the most artery clogging vegetarian sandwich possible, but it was still pretty excellent.
They had a tomato and mozzarella not-​fried sandwich also that was pretty good. Little heavy on the vinegar, but I think other people will like it. Their coffee was also some generic Colombian drip brand but it tasted excellent.
I was really happy this place was nearby, and while I wish they had a few more things I could eat, it’s a deli. So… you know. It’s not like I’m mad at butchers because they don’t slaughter enough vegetables.

While visiting my cousin who lives in Staten Island, he suggested we try John’s Famous Deli because «they have the best roast beef sandwiches in New York». I am not a big roast beef fan, but i’m always open to trying something new, so why not.
The deli is small, and not the most attractive place, but one thing that stands out when entering is the big hunk of cooked roast beef (not cold cut style) on the slicer. The options for ordering a roasting beef sandwich are in roll or hero form — I opted for the roll. I don’t believe you have much options for the sandwich but it comes with onions and fresh mozzarella and then they put the sandwich back in the oven to melt the cheese.
The final topping and probably the most important ingredient is the sauce they put on in the end. When you look at the sauce in the pan and the guy behind the counter scooping it up, it really looks like tar or a pot of italian coffee…
What to expect when eating the sandwich — the meat is tender, the taste is flavorful and the sauce is awesome… You gotta try this place! I believe they have 3 locations and 2 of which that are in Brooklyn.