After I learned that Sal, Kris & Charlie’s Deli in Astoria closed early, I decided to come prepared the next time I headed to Astoria. As a back up, I found Othello’s on Yelp, another highly rated deli, which was open much later hours. Although my visit to SKC was successful the second time, the next time I headed out to Astoria for dinner, we decided to hit up Othello’s.
Othello’s is on the same block as the Astoria Beer Gardens, which is great to know if you ever are looking for a sandwich on the subway home. Similar to SKC, it’s a bit of a convenience store with aisles of food, but has a wonderful selection of deli sandwiches, each named after a celebrity. We decided to split the Godfather, an italian combo with salami, pepperoni and sopresata. We also decided to add tomatoes for a couple cents more, bringing the grand total to $6.95. While the deli had a few tables and chairs, we headed home to enjoy our sub.
As we unwrapped the sub, we instantly knew it was definitely smaller than the sub from Sal, Kris & Charlie’s. As I bit into the sandwich, I noticed this time, the bread was much less messier than my first experience at the other deli, but all I could really get out of the sandwich was meat. I couldn’t really identify the cold cuts I was eating, they all tasted the same - much like an overwhelming taste of pepperoni. At one point, I even double checked to see if there were tomatoes on the sub - for the extra couple cents we paid, I didn’t see too many on there. The boyfriend started questioning if we even got the mozzarella on the sub. Because it was the deli kind of mozzarella and not the fresh kind, it too blended in with the cold cut flavor.
Overall, Othello’s was cheap, but for 5 cents more, I can get a much better sub in Astoria at Sal, Kris & Charlie’s. In fact, for 2 dollars less, I can get a delicious 5 dollar foot long at Subway - just order the Italian Combo and you’ll probably have the same experience as Othello’s.
The Basics Name: Othello’s Location: 27-05 24th Ave, Astoria Who to Take: Friends after the Beer Garden Price: Even a homeless man can afford it. $. Overall: They better have coupons (or I better have been at the Beer Gardens all day). 3 Stars.
