Paul’s Deli

Good quality, I had the roast beef and it was good. I was a little confused at first as to how to go about ordering but then I figured it out. Good food.

This is a great college pub. The menu is huge and includes some of the best seafood bisque and clam chowder I have ever had! Food is a little pricey, but the portions are very large. I always make this a stop when I visit.

Very friendly staff and a HUGE menu. Asked what the locals get, they referred the Holly. Weird to me but it was very good. My girlfriend got the chicken parmesan entrée. Chicken was grilled, not breaded but was good. It came with a pound of pasta and garlic bread.
This place doesn’t pretend to be anything fancy, it’s a perfect hole in the wall with good food and friendly people.

Simply the best if you are in or around the College of William & Mary or Colonial Williamsburg.
My friend got the Philly Cheesesteak Special and I got the Chandler.
Always good to be back!

This is still the most amazing unexpected find ever, seriously. Collegetown sports bars are not supposed to have obscenely good mako-​and-​scallop fra diavolo, served in bowls so large they’d feed two, with leftovers. They shouldn’t have glorious pork shank osso bucco that melts in your mouth, or the tenderest fried calamari in town. And yet. Nothing is ever short of delicious, nor will anyone ever go home hungry. Dietary restrictions are met with cheerful smiles and true care from the staff [we had an onion allergy they took –very– seriously], and the atmosphere is incredibly relaxed and comfortable.
And they have the best carrot cake I have ever tasted, which I feel compelled to note, is not a statement I make easily. I have had some truly splendid carrot cake. I MAKE pretty excellent carrot cake… and it’s just better.

If it was based upon service, this place would get a zero. The staff taking your order was beyond rude and surly to all three of us who went to eat there. Asking for anything extra like god forbid a condiment, was also met with snide derision. However, the food was excellent so if you don’t mind dealing with 3 soup nazis, enjoy!

My daughter (4) and I had our Daddy Daughter Date Night here tonight. It was GREAT. We had a large sausage pizza, basic fair right? Wrong! This pizza rocked. Crust was thick at the edge but it was light, airy, and just crisp on the outside. Not a hint of greasy. Wisconsin did call during our meal to ask for some their cheese back, a mark of a great pie. The sausage was likewise plentiful and consisted of nice firm, not over done chunks. The William and Mary swag all over the walls prompted endless discussion with my daughter. An added treat was the live broadcast of the Jimmy Laycock Show (WM football coach and local institution). The crowd was noisy but the atmosphere was still relaxing. There were college kids there as well as grandparents. Paul’s will give you local flavor and tastebud flavor all at once. The server was stellar and had the foresight to bring a Styrofoam cup for little Miss. At the end of the day this is the best pizza in town. I can’t wait to take my wife. Paul’s is now on our list of local restaurants. Only caveat is if you use AMEX extensively make sure you also have a visa or cash.

We came here because my husband wanted to try it. We ordered two beers off tap, and they were both warm, and in a hot (freshly washed, I’m assuming) glass.
My husband got a sandwich and it was decent. The warm beer ruined it for us, though.

We stopped by here for a late night bite, there aren’t a lot of joints open in the Williamsburg area around midnight. Most places switch to serving drinks only around that time. This place had an expansive menu, which was affordable. I had the eggplant parmesan sandwich, which turned out VERY soggy, unenjoyable, and took forever to make. My boyfriend had the chicken parmesan sandwich, which he enjoyed.
As far as nonalcoholic drinks go, they have a selection of bottled sodas. Or if you want they’ll give you Sprite or Coke from the sprayers in the bar area.
The atmosphere is LOUD. This is clearly a college kids drinking spot. Its dark and looks somewhat dirty/​dingy. I wouldn’t recommend going here, although most of what we had in Williamsburg was lackluster.

Avoid! Horrible from start to finish. I order the daily specials: steak blt was mostly gristle on stale bread and the lamb gyro was awkward chunks of more inedible meat and the fries tasted like they were fried in rancid oil. So gross. One bite and we were done and left.
Bonus: rude employees and flies all around the table. We both were nauseous for 20 minutes after.

I did not dine in, so I cannot comment on the atmosphere. But my office ordered a few pizzas from there and it’s one of the best pizza I have ever had. Nice pan crust. Not like ny/​nj style pizza. Plenty of cheese. Very very good pizza!!!

I had the Gyro sandwich which was AMAZING! My son had the Souvlaki sandwich. In his words, this sandwich is BEAST! Lol! Paul’s Deli has been around forever. First time I’ve been back since school in the 90s.

Good food and service. Also inexpensive but still use quality products and make their own dressings. We had two specials which were a mako blt and a blackened tuna Caesar. For those of you who say the food isn’t that great well it is a deli not a 5 star New York restaurant. Chiillllll.

HORRIBLE! I used to frequent Paul’s deli and was in Williamsburg for a sports tournament. I recommended Paul’s for the team lunch. Big mistake!!!
Chicken Parm sub — chicken was raw. Shrimp bisque was cold and bread served with the salad had mold on it. I will never return. I am only giving one star because I have to.

Was not too impressed with this place. $ 5 beers in plastic cups. It’s suppose to be a dive bar, but i expected the prices to be lower. Filled with college students on the weekends. Of the bars in the area, this was my least favorite.

I’ve been here a few times. They serve standard bar food, and of the three bars near W&M’s campus, this one definitely has the best food. The portions are generous, and I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed by a meal I’ve gotten. I’m not 21 so I can’t comment on the alcohol, but this is a very popular destination so I assume it’s at least decent. Overall, definitely recommended if you’re looking for some greasy bar food.

Visited here for the first time after a local 5K race, this was a great find!
Positives: Food was SUPERB. I saw the person next to me picking up a nice-​cheese loaded sub and told the cook «I’ll have one of those»! Turns out it was a vegi-​sub. Now I usually like meat on my subs, so thought I had made a mistake on my impromptu order, but when I got the sub, it was excellent! Tasted absolutely wonderful. If I am giving a vegi sub a 5-​star, man, I bet those meat subs are good.
Also, I ate a piece of the pizza the person next to me was eating. It was tasty also! And lots of other great, well prepared foods coming out to all my running buds eating around me. Outstanding cooks at this place.
Negative: Ordering process was confusing… Process is as follows: Go past the hostesses/​register to the grill area, choose from menu. Tell the cook. He writes you up a ticket. Take the ticket to the register at the front. Hostess rings up your ticket and then you sit down. Eventually, your order is announced over a speaker (not the most clear/​audible) and you pick up your item by the grill. — If you decide you want another beer? Go back to the front by the hostess, tell her you want a beer, she will then ring up your beer and put that small charge on the credit card. (I bought 2 beers at once so I would not have to go back and do this a third time… :-))
See, took me too long to write that negative. Ordering process should be more normal! Maybe the college crowd is cool with it. :-)
—-Overall: Food is 5-​star for a deli! Food is so good that even with the oddity of the ordering process, I will definitely be back.

So I would have given this place 3 stars if it wasn’t for my experience with customer service and spoiled food.
We went tonight which is Saturday at around 630ish and left after 8pm. When we walked in a waitress with food in her hand greeted us, and said to give her just a moment. Literally while she was walking away, another waitress greeted us and told us to sit where we like. I was confused. The other one walked back and said follow me. I was like someone please make up their mind!
We sat down and within a few moments, our waitress came to get our drink order. About 5 minutes later a different waitress comes over and said «did she get your drink orders?». We said yes and she asked what they were so she can get them to help our waitress out. We told her and she brought the drinks to us. We ordered our food moments later. We waited about 30 minutes before getting our appetizer, which was Calamari. We seen the cooks put our dish up on the holding shelf and our waitress walk by 4 times. *there is no warmer where they hold the food at either*. We got our Calamari and it was cold. Not surprised at all. She didn’t come back over until the food was being placed on the table. Again it sat for about 5 minutes before she started bring it over. She asked how the appetizer was and we told her it was cold. Her response was, «oh I’m sorry», and continued to bring food to the table.
We ordered a seafood platter, a sub and loaded fries. The fried seafood wasn’t drained so it was soaked in oil. The crab cake was filled with breading and only 2 pieces of lump crab meat. The fries had too much cheese, and were previously frozen. The sub however was really good. The only thing I didn’t like was the bread was toasted so hard that everytime I took a bite, the goodness came gushing out the bottom! I hate that. Toward the end I just started cutting it.
Now to the good part… My husband doesn’t like coleslaw and that came with his seafood platter. I was done with my meal and just wanted to taste his coleslaw because it looked really good. I had about a half fork full and put it in my mouth. Instantly I spit it out and had to go in the bathroom. IT WAS SPOILED!!! It was so sour I almost threw up. We immediately asked to speak with the manager and he came over. We told him how the slaw was sour and about our waitress service regarding the slowness and our cold food. His response made me even more upset. He goes on to say how that was a family establishment and they have been there for years. He said they have regular customers and that’s not the experience we should have had. He took the calamari off of our bill because it was cold, but just said he would check the slaw. He acted like that wasn’t even a big deal that he could be getting people sick. I was so over that place! I could care less if it’s been a family business for however many years! That’s no an excuse and shouldn’t be told to a customer who went through the service we did.
We will not return at all, and I would not recommend this establishment.

My fellow Williamsburg touristy Unilocalers, AVOID PAUL’S AT ALL COSTS!
What a wreck. All the good reviews must be from college kids at William & Mary and others with a sense of nostalgia. Because frankly, Paul’s sucks.
The atmosphere was dank and noisy, but I can excuse that for a college town dive. But the server was ditzy and had no idea what was on the menu and what wasn’t.
First, they were out of the drink I ordered. Huge pet peeve for me when places list things they don’t actually have to pad the menu. Then, I ordered the seafood gyro, which was on the specials menu for the night. But the server came back and told me they didn’t actually have that either. So I ordered a pizza.
Later, a manager type came out and said, «Hey, so the gyro’s coming, but there’s also a pizza in the oven. Which do you want?»
HUH?
So anyway, I went with my original order (they just left the pizza under the heat lamp the whole rest of the time I was there… guess that went to waste — heck, they could’ve boxed it up for me to go!). Should’ve picked the pizza. The gyro toppings were all clumped in little groups instead of spread evenly. The seafood hadn’t been properly drained and made the gyro all soggy. And the fries were the most boring, bland frozen fries I’ve had in quite some time.
I don’t know why they have a problem draining things or putting plates together properly. The chicken souvlaki also made the pita underneath very soggy and ruined it. Also, it wasn’t kabob-​style chargrilled chicken the way souvlaki especially must be – it was just pan seared chicken strips. It was also supposed to come with a side of spinach pie, but it didn’t. The rice pilaf side (which is what the menu said) was actually risotto! Not the same thing!!! And it was bad, canned-​tomato-​tasting risotto to boot.
My fellow Williamsburg touristy Unilocalers, AVOID PAUL’S AT ALL COSTS!

Last time I ate here they were playing Depeche Mode and Duran Duran. And MTV was really showing videos. It was nice to see all the nostalgic photos on the walls. I knew and roomed with many of them!
The food is still great. The beer is still cold. The main difference is it is now sit down wait service. The staff is great. Ronny is still there. My wife had the classic — Hot Holly. If you are a tourist, just go to the counter and order one and they will think you are a local. I had a gyro for the first time in decades and it was awesome. The onion rings had the right greasiness for it. My sons got a cheese pizza and it reminded me of the many I at here in the early 80’s. I have to say, that this is a classic college deli. I am sure if school was still in session it would have been a mad house to try to get in here.