Genova Delicatessen

Pros:
Lots of fresh made Italian ingredients
The gnocchi is great.
The hand made egg flour noodles are tasty and have a nice texture once cooked.
They have a truffle oil and artichoke heart that you can put on top of your garlic bread to add some great flavor.
Whenever I’m cooking Italian, I come here for my key ingredients and then walk to Safeway for the rest.
Cons:
Hidden location in the far corner of this shopping center.

Had lunch with moms and my sandwich was sooooo good. I couldn’t stop eating it, even tho i was so full. I didn’t pay so the price didn’t matter to me haha

Great place but could have better service… If you follow my reviews you will see I have VERY bad luck with orders, not just at this deli but everywhere. Almost every time something is missing or just wrong.
Today was the same. I ordered a sandwich, asked if they had sprouts, the young guy said yes. I said YAY! I’ll get sprouts. Extra sprouts :) because a lot of places don’t even have sprouts and I love them. I see he puts tomatoes on it which I didn’t ask for, so he opened up the order and took out the tomatoes. Great. Thanks. I go to the office and he completely forgot the sprouts.
So the food is good, atmosphere is good, the people working just need to pay more attention because forgetting the one thing the customer was really excited about can be really annoying.
Also, always busy but very slow service, no sense of urgency at all.

So I went to this location and the other S. California location and am reviewing both. After having a so so in store experience with an excellent sandwich I decided to give the other location a chance. I was pleasantly surprised with the experience. It was MUCH cleaner, the Italian music playing was enjoyable and the store was put together much better. My sandwich was just as good as the other location.
The only thing I was disappointed with was the salads, like the other location, looked like they had been in the case at least one day too long. Luckily this location is closer to home, I sent my daughter there for our family’s now 3^rd visit and she experienced the same. Good food, salads looked sketchy but overall a good experience. Will likely never return to the S. California location.

First place we visited when we moved to Walnut Creek. Nice little Italian market with a big deli to construct your sandwich of choice. You pick your bread and take it to the counter where the deli chef builds you a sandwich. I had the turkey, avocado and cheese today on a softer roll. It was about 7 – 8 inches and full of high quality turkey and fixings. This set me back almost 12.00. This is why they only get 4 stars and not 5. I normally get the Italian mix but craved the turkey today. The sandwiches are always flavorful but this kind of quality comes at a cost. The store sells traditional Italian groceries and also has hot food to go. Service is good with several chefs behind the counter. A neighborhood gem.

Ordered over $ 200 of pasta for a friend’s funeral reception. Requested it be hot and ready at noon. Arrived at noon and they had absolutely nothing ready!!! Said they missed order «it was at bottom of orders.» When asked how long to prepare they said“maybe it would be ready in 30 minutes.” No guarantee. Asked to speak to manager. They said not available he was making sandwiches for another customer. They had multiple people who could have made the sandwiches. Manager called me after about 30 minutes and said he could deliver within the hour. Told too late. I explained that I felt Genova’s should write an apology to the deceased’s son. He said he would have the owners call me. Hasn’t happened yet!!!

Good raviolis and the sandwiches are good on French bread
You can get the frozen ravs and meat sauce there that s great

Deli sandwiches, combo hot plate, sourdough bread, Italian sodas, and Italian dessert pies/​cakes. Prices are reasonable for a boutique independent and the quality matches the price. Sweet Affair Bakery, located just 5 minutes away may be able to match on a few offerings, but not on the total Italian style. Service can be slow, and slightly rushed. A-​OK.

The sandwiches here are pretty good! They are a pretty decent size and they have some good flavors. I enjoyed their philly cheese steak and some other selections. The philly cheese meat is a little bit too minced for my taste but the flavor is still good!

They need to do something to manage the wait time.
I waited 1 hour 20 minutes to order 2 sandwiches. There isn’t even a place to sit while you are waiting.
The staff didn’t seem to be making any real effort to hurry things up. The only time one of the girls looked energetic was when she ran to the door to lock it so no one else could get in.
The sad thing is I watched tons of people just walk out because they were fed up with the wait. So much revenue lost!
Sandwiches are good, but I was so miserable by the time I finally got them that it wasn’t worth it.

Don’t come in starving as I’ve always been met with a wait. Is it worth it? Yep! We’ve always stuck to the sandwiches and there isn’t a bad one in the bunch. My husband loves the basics (turkey, ham) while I’m all about the muffuletta. There is nothing that remotely resembles an Italian deli in my sleepy little town of Brentwood so this is always a treat. Next time? Liver wurst.

The rule of thumb is that you should never eat anything bigger than your head. That having been said, the sandwiches served up here are HUGE. You even get to pick your own sandwich roll from a bin. I always pick up a medium salami, cheese, mushroom and artichoke heart antipasta for later. Plenty of parking, outdoor/​indoor seating and a friendly staff. Check it out.

Genova is a great place for sandwiches, not just sandwiches, but also high quailty Italian food. Plenty of room to sit down inside if you want, or always can take a sandwich or food to go. This location is better then the one in downtown WC.

I like this location better than the other one in Walnut Creek. I’ve never been to the one in Oakland.
This location seems larger to me with more variety both in the deli section and in the store itself. The deli selection is really impressive. We saw at least 4 – 5 salads we wanted to try and that didn’t count the selection of olives and marinated vegetables. Yum!
So much eye candy but we were pretty good and toned it down to three sandwiches, a bowl of soup, and some panforte (we’ve been wanting to try this forever but always balked at the price). Sandwiches were the crab salad (imitation), roasted eggplant and meatball (for my son). A bit on the expensive side ($ 9) but they were a good size. The meatball one ended up being both lunch and dinner for my son. My husband liked the ability of choosing his own bread from the bins. I did too although I can understand why some people might be a little discomfited by this. The bins were open air and I would have preferred them to be enclosed. But a little bit of dust on bread hurts nobody. Bread was clearly fresh too.
The sandwiches were excellent. Crab salad was the best. Roasted eggplant could have been more flavorful, but they certainly had plenty of ingredients on it so I’m not sure what it was missing. I wish I had chosen the spinach torte instead. Next time. If I was more of a meat eater, I would have been thrilled by the meatball sandwich. I did cheat and have a bite of meatball. They were really good. My son loved it. The minestrone soup was excellent as well.
Great sandwiches. A little pricey but they are large and made with good quality ingredients. My husband and I could have easily shared one. As it was we felt a bit overstuffed and I still saved about a third of a sandwich.

Penso che mi sono innamorato!
lo sono un grande fan di…
Sorry, this place is so Italian I guess it just kind of rubbed off on me. As I was saying, I am a very big fan of deli’s and when I walked into Genova for the first time, it was like I walked into Deli heaven.
The very first thing I noticed was the music. It really set the mood and transports you halfway across the world to Italy. The second thing I noticed was the vast selection of imported items. A multitude of cooking oils, wine and fresh pasta. Finally, because it’s in the back, I noticed the gorgeous deli counter. Fresh meats and cheeses on display. Neighboring them is a display of about 30 to 40 different antipasti salads.
Me being the sandwich fiend that I am, I of course had to have a sandwich. And after seeing that beautiful antipasti display, I had to try at least one of them as well. The sandwich I ordered was número uno on the menu. The Mama Mia comes stuffed with Prosciutto, fresh Mozzarella, roasted red bell peppers, arugula, and spread with pesto sauce, then served on Focaccia. When you watch the woman behind the counter slice fresh Prosciutto, you know you’re going to be in for a treat. The sandwich was fat, tasty and everything tasted incredibly fresh.
Out of all the different antipasti to choose from I went for the Salmami and Cheese antipasto. Thick chunks of salami and cheese, accompanied by pickled artichokes and mushrooms. Delizioso!
The staff were extremely friendly. Even the ones I didn’t talk to managed to shoot me a smile, which of course made me feel more welcome. The deli counter was not only packed with great look food, but everything was presented very neatly and properly labled.
Cercando di trovare una grande deli? Non cercate oltre!

This is THE place to come if you want a good sandwich, or an awesome dessert!
The lines can get long during the lunch rush, but everyone handles the crowd with no problems! Just make sure you already decide what bread, meat, cheese & veggies you want BEFORE it’s your turn, because when it’s busy & there’s a confused person figuring out what to order. You can tell it irritates the staff. And if you’re on your phone & trying to order. thats also frowned upon as well!
The sandwiches & bread are always super fresh, and they’ve never messed up on my order yet!
I also love the other Italian products they carry, like pastas and raviolis. Everything here tastes good!

Have to start with the fact that they completely screwed up our order. My dad ended up getting my sprouts and mayo on his sandwich and I ended up getting a sandwich I didn’t even order. Besides, they let you pick your own roll out of a bin, where anyone can just reach in and touch or cough on them, seems highly unsanitary to me. Just disappointed with the place.

Had a fantastic zucchini torte veggie sandwich with a side of sauteed spinach and mushrooms at Genova. Wonderful and very flavorful. No issues with the staff. Genova is pretty pricey. Order the lunch instead of a la carte, this will save you money. Parking is a snap. You get a number, order, pay and your’re outta there!

I was in the area for work and of course had to Unilocal places for lunch. This place did not disappoint. Finding a quality authentic Italian deli is tough. I got the hot coppa and it was spot on. It was perfection on a sandwich! The coppa was the perfect texture and cut fresh when you order your sandwich. The place is packed around lunch time so I recommend calling in your order if you can. The staff is friendly and makes great recommendations based upon your likes. It’s pretty pricy though. For a sandwich, drink and chips it was $ 18 however they do not skimp on the meat. The only bummer was the pickles they use for sandwiches. They need to use the authentic dill pickles for sandwiches not the butter pickles, at least on a coppa sandwich. This sandwich was packed with coppa. I will definitely make this my go to Italian deli whenever I’m in town for work!

THIS IS WHERE I GET MY FAVORITE DELI SANDWICH
Every sandwich I have ever eaten from Genova has been made perfectly and has been delicious.
First is a huge thumbs up is the torpedo rolls they use, which they get fresh from Boudin.
Second is their always fresh ingredients that you can tell hasn’t been sitting around for days like some other deli’s I have ventured inside.
Third is their customer service which is always top notch. I might not always be able to understand them but they are always friendly and they have yet to mess up any order I have ever placed.
The only downside is the sandwiches are priced a little high but you get what you pay for and it is definitely worth it.
This review is obviously just for their Deli and Sandwiches but I have tried some of their ravioli’s that they have given away as samples and they were also good.
If you like a good cold cut sandwich give this place a try and I guarantee they will not let you down.