Official Review

Written by RuinMyTrip Editorial from published research and official sources, not from a personal trip. It is not a traveler review and is never counted in the community rating. How we research.

restaurant · New York City

Open Eight Until Eleven, and Straight Through the Weekend

Review of Katz's Delicatessen

★★★★★ 5/5
by RuinMyTrip Editorial · Aug 16, 2026

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Katz's Delicatessen opens Monday to Thursday from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm, and runs continuously from 8:00 am Friday to 11:00 pm Sunday. It has been on the corner of Houston and Ludlow since 1888. The system is the thing people get wrong. You are handed a ticket at the door, you take it to a carver at the counter, you tip the carver, and you keep the ticket until you leave. Losing it is expensive. The tables at the back have waiter service and a longer wait. Order the pastrami on rye. Everything else on that enormous menu exists, and none of it is why anyone has been queueing here for a hundred and thirty-seven years.

What was great

Pastrami cured on the premises for weeks and cut by hand in front of you. Open continuously from Friday morning to Sunday night, which almost nothing else does. A room that has not been redesigned into something else.

What nearly ruined the trip

Expensive for a sandwich, and it has become a destination as much as a deli. The ticket system baffles first-timers and losing the ticket carries a penalty. Queues run down the block at weekend lunchtimes.

Value for money

★★★☆☆ Fair

Safety

★★★★☆ Mostly fine
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