Miller's East Coast Delicatessen

Old-school ruebens, New York bagels, kosher options and fast, friendly staff make this East Coast style spot welcome on the West side of Polk St.. With its simple tables, white walls and long counter, the spare decor re-creates an authentic East Coast deli, minus the patina of age, and is popular with a mixture of homesick New Yorkers, young hipsters and other deli lovers. To-go requests are taken at the counter, but for-here orders get table service (although food arrives just as quickly as at the counter) from friendly staff who actually seem to love their jobs and go out of their way to honor special requests. Ruebens are the specialty, but non-traditonal sandwiches like the Rufus w/ Maryland crab cakes, or the Buddha w/ chicken liver and pastrami, are available, as well as an array of kosher options and Jewish deli favorites like lox, sturgeon and whitefish to put on bagels flown in from NY.
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Never been to a NY deli, so if this is an example..... The matzo ball chiclen noodle soup was pretty good with shreds of real chicken, carrots, a nice broth and THREE light round matzos for a large container at $5, but didn't see ANY noodles! Took out all our food and it took >20 mins for them to prepare. I think the prepared all the food for the dine-in crowd before us, even 'tho we arrived ahead of some of the folks who were seated after our order was placed. While waiting, you could see the all male staff were so into themselves. Overhead one telling a customer that 25% of their orders yesterday were takeout b/c of Passover. We orderd the Philly Cheese Steak, The Ruca (fried chicken tenders on a toasted hoagie) and The Dee (hot pastrami). Didn't care for the sweet mustard on the roll but the pastrami was lean and not overly salty as well as the pickle. The sm. serving of macaroni salad was pretty good too. Would pass on the beer battered fried onion rings, too oily (but crispy), it wasn't that good. There are so many items on the menu to select from and it's clearly a popular place with lots of regulars. They don't take reservations so if you plan to dine in, you'll have to wait a bit on weekends. As for takeout, better to call ahead to place your order, it still takes them a while to prepare, uness it's soup you want. They serve breakfast too. The place has changed it's name to "Miller's East Coast Deli".…

Very Disappointed !. Being a Pastrami aficionado, after reading all the great reviews, I could hardly wait to try East Coast West Deli. Boy what a disappointment !! When I arrived, I stood at the counter for 5 minutes while 3 employees talked amongst themselves without acknowledging me. Finally when they decided to take my order, I asked the difference between the two pastrami sandwiches. One was $7.00 and the other was $10.00. I chose the later since they were the same except it had 3 more ounces of meat. I was then asked if it was for take out and I said no. I was then told I had to sit at a table and have a server wait on me. So I went to a table and waited again for a server to come and take my sandwich order.

When my sandwich arrived, I was very dismayed to see that the Pastrami was very, very fatty. Now don't get me wrong, I like some fat for the flavor, but this was like 50% fat. And it had a lot of the connective tissue that was the white inedible kind that can't be bitten through or pulled apart. I was ready to send it back, but couldn't get the waiter's attention. After awhile of waiting to no avail, I decided I was too hungry and picked through it and ate what I could. The waiter never checked back.

After I finished with a big pile of fat and connective tissue left on the plate, the waiter didn't ask how it was nor did he seem care.

Although I would not say this is the worst Pastrami I have had, If they had just trimmed it properly, it would have been pretty good. Also the portion seemed rather small considering I got the large size. Lastly, I have never had a waiter in a deli before, but I guess this is more effective at getting gratuities from people than a big jar at the cash register that says TIPS on it. But if I am going to be pressured into giving a gratuity, at least give me some service.…

When you can't have your Mom's Matzo Ball Soup. This place isn't NYC but it's the closest thing you're going to get in SF. The matzo ball soup is delicious -- definitely recommended if you are under the weather or need some comfort food. The bagels are decent, great brisket sandwiches, and if you have a sweet tooth, the black and white cookies and rugellah are pretty good, too. It's not an NYC deli but we need to remember that this is the land of nine-grain bread and avocados.…