Izzy's

Chopped chicken liver, beef tongue, corned beef, latkes - for a little Jewish girl this is home cooking.  And better that they do it than me as I am a religious cook (everything I make is either a burnt offering or a sacrifice).

I would crawl if I had to for one of their chopped chicken liver sandwiches and I'm not sure, but I may have sold my soul during my pregnancy for beef tongue.

Be good to yourself, go now.  I'll wait.

I came here for lunch, and got a whole classic corned beef and Swiss.

The service: Not tons to say here. I got it to go and the cashier was generally friendly and helpful. The food came within 5 minutes, too.

The food: This is where this place falls down in my opinion. I like corned beef. Izzys corned beef was....meh. The Swiss was a nice addition, but the beef seemed to fall flat. The bread had good flavor, and I probably should have gotten it grilled, But it was plain otherwise. It was clumped in the middle of the sandwich, so as you ate you ended up with just bread.  It also comes with a huge pile of grease they call a potato pancake. I couldn't finish the pancake because of all the grease!  The flavor in the pancake was also lacking, and didn't seem quite right. Less potato, more mush.

Overall, I probably won't be back here anytime soon. It's a shame, too, because I like corned beef.

Izzy's is known for their corned beef, so I always order a Reuben when I go. Although, somehow I only discovered on my most recent visit that you can request it grilled or toasted (which was my only issue with it previously). It comes with their famous massive potato pancake--which is deep fried and very heavy, but when fresh and done right, can be quite tasty. I've had some variance in quality though--some times are definitely better than others.

On the theme of consistency, my sandwich last time was just a little lacking. The grilling was a definite improvement, but it seemed like there was less meat than usual (and it was all kind of clumped in the middle). If they need to cut costs, personally, I would prefer to pay a little more vs. get less.

If you're dining in there's table service or you can do carryout at the counter. Either way you pay up front. Also, if you're dining in, don't wait for the check, they don't bring one--just tell the lady at the register what you ordered.