34 Midtown Deli

They delivered to me with an expired drink. The last time I ordered a breakfast sandwich from them they didn’t even give me a roll and when they did bring it, the roll was cold. They always mess up the orders. If there was another deli I would order from another deli.

The lady at the register is wild and rude. Once I had to return a pack of sour cream that I’ve purchased in that location a day before. That arrogant one screamed at me claiming that the spoiled product is not from her store. When she realized that I won’t leave empty handed, she literally threw at the counter my money and turned away from me.
Similar stories happened to couple of my girlfriends at that location: spoiled food, rude customer service.

The grocery store just downstairs with is convenient for me to buy small things. I do every day, even fruits and vegetables obviously not fresh the same as a milk products and flowers. Few times I return yogurt with mustiness over the product, but still back because of convenience and all employee very nice and friendly, except owner. This women was extremely rude and disrespectful today when I tried to buy pack of cigaret on my credit card. Continuing to do something and didn’t even took a look at me she abruptly and rudely said i can by cigarettes only by cash. For my question, why? she turned out and like i’m not exist started to talk to someone else. All my attempts to find out the reason were ignored. I was like talking to myself upfront of other customers. Very nice treatment, i’ll never come back, the same as my friends who visiting me. And i there any restrictions about selling cigarettes, why do i buy it every day from them without a problem? Or it was her personal treatment to me?

I tend to come to this clean, well stocked deli on Sundays when I’m headed to the ‘burbs to visit my folks. I like to bring my mom flowers and this deli always has them. They also have appropriate hang over aids, such as bottled beverages and breakfast sandwiches.
During the week, but not on weekends, this deli has a salad bar for your per-​pound-​pleasure.

the place is called 34 midtown deli, but people who work around the area refer to it simply as «Helen’s.» Helen is the severe looking, rail-​thin korean looking auntie who rules her deli with an iron fist. there are a lot of things she does well – they have groceries in case you need them. an excellent selection of ice creams. an astonishing variety of korean instant ramens. but what we of the murray hill community go to helens for is the hot food.
of course there is a grill, but what makes the grill magical is frederico aka Freddy, who man’s the grill with unruffled aplomb and ease. There have been several times when freddy disappeared, most recently for months at a time during which period he was discovered to be working at another nearby deli, only to return without any explanation. i believe freddy and helen have an antagonistic yet symbiotic relationship where her deli falls apart without him. no one else manages the INSANE barrage of orders that come through the phone, in person, and the weird, bizarre orders that really exist in NYC because anywhere else in this country that customer would just be turned away.
Freddy makes a mean breakfast sandwich. if you go enough, he’ll remember you order. if you show up at lunch, you have the option of the hot food bar (which is good – they almost always have a whole roasted turkey which is delicious, but they also have other scrumptious things such as oxtail, plus a wide variety of vegetables and vaguely asian starches like fried rice, noodles, etc), OR you could have freddy make you a sandwich. there has been many a time when the fancy for a quesadilla has struck me out of the blue and while it isn’t on the menu, freddy will make it for me whilst apologizing that he «don’t have no pico de gallo.»
one day i will marry freddy the short order cook. one day.
as for helen, i appreciate that she runs a tight ship. i don’t appreciate that she occasionally will – unsolicited – tell me that i should watch my weight, but i firmly believe that this is because she thinks we are friends because asian people only say that to other asian people that they think are close enough to say such things to.
a few insider tips:
–the line, esp at the breakfast and lunch rush hour can be chaotic. it’s best to wait in the line along the grill. it’s your best bet.
–credit card minimum $ 5 and she does not take american express
–groceries are not unexpectedly overmarked.
–double check your caffeine beverage – sometimes helen’s right hand cashier will screw it up and give you tea instead of coffee. this is always bad, and yet i always return.

Dependable, clean, quality produce and great selection of staples and things you need to grab in between larger grocery orders. Haven’t tried their buffet, but always smells and looks great.
Always see someone in this store cleaning something. A great sign of pride in ownership. Prices typical for a deli in this area.

I eat here at least once a day for the past 2 years. It has yet to give me diarrhea. And that’s good. LEGIT!

Very good midtown Korean deli. The hot and cold salad bar is extensive. The salads and hot entrees are well prepared and are served on a rotating basis, minimizing salad bar fatigue. The sandwiches are not quite as good as the salad bar. There is the usual assortment of drinks, chips and over the counter pharmaceuticals. Helen, the proprietress, is a lovely lady. This is a great place to grab lunch.

The buffet style chinese food (korean owned) is just awesome. I really meant 3.5 stars. They have various kinds of chicken with different sauces that are better than some chinese take out. Large section (pool table size) dedicated to just salads/​fruits, and another same section dedicated to hot foods. There are some lasagana which was decent, but the chicken was the best.

Good for a quick stop, especially after the gym. I’ve bought snacks here and drinks. I had a sandwich once and it was decent — very big. They seem to have a nice selection of flowers outside but I can’t speak to the quality because I’ve never purchased.

I used to order from this place every weekend and some late nights. They’re open 24 hours and deliver 24 hours as well. They fucked up my order a couple of times but no ones perfect. They’re a good deli overall.

If someone just put my weigh-​by-​the-​lb buffet style Chinese food in front of me and said it was from a Chinese restaurant, I would have sure as hell believed them. The look, the taste, and the presentation would have me completely fooled, but honestly I wouldn’t give a flying elephant because it was tasty and delicious.
I know my Chinese food because I am Asian trapped in my Italian body; that doesn’t sound too bad right? ;) oh but yeah the review…
It IS possible to get Chinese food at this deli and many other choices too! I was well warned by my co-​worker that this buffet does by weight and whatever I put in my take-​out box is going in my tummy box. I guess it’s well understood that my eyes are bigger than my stomach: shrug:
From salads to three different kinds of rice, to fried calamari to the Chinese food — this place is unpredictable but the satisfaction is expected!
I wonder what tasty trays they’ll change to the next time I go?!
I’m one happy weighing take-​out food girl today!