bay cities italian deli & bakery

after all the hype, we visited bay cities italiandeliat santa monica pier before leaving for the airport to catch our flight back to dubai.

since it was a sunday at lunch time, we expected long waiting lines to order and get a table which is exactly what happened.

my husband ordered the infamous godmother small sandwich while i got the veggie with pepperjack cheese and mustard. we also got a small side of pesto pasta salad.

both sandwiches were in their signaturedelibread and deliciously prepared. the only improvement would be if they had toasted the sandwich so the cheese would melt.

the pasta salad too was fresh and a perfect side to our sandwiches. a great last meal before leaving la!!

whenever i crave sandwiches there are only two places that immediately come to mind and bay citiesdelidefinitely is one. not only is there a variety of toppings but the quality of everything from the cheese, the protein and the bread is far from sub par. i do recommend ordering online for pickup as the lineups are usually as long as an hour wait. great selection ofdeliitems as well

italian goodness. this place was great! italian grocery store with an amazingly yummydeliinside. we went right in the middle of lunch time and it was packed. they aren't the quickest at getting orders out the door, but it was worth it. everything our party had was delicious. we are able to have a lovely lunch outside on the tables and we would definitely come back next time we're in the area.
*no restrooms, even for paying customers. and the grocery store across the street charges you to use theirs, so keep that in mind.*

heard about the godmother on an la eats site, so had to try it while i was out there. parking is small for how busy it was, and several hot heads surrounding the parking situation occurred while there. walking is probably best way to go. once inside, you see thedelicounter to one side. you can take a number for a custom sandwich which is what we did. after seeing half a dozen people walk up and grab already made godmothers from the counter, we did the same and pawned the number to another patron. the sandwich was well put together. bread was super chewy and a bit hard to bite through as others have said, so be aware. it was thin enough to be in perfect harmony with the fillings. meat and slaw were good, and all in all each component played their role perfectly. no complaints, but top 2 sandwich in la is pretty unbelievable. you can find sands like this across the country, so i'll only ride the hype train for a few stops. thanks.

need to start this off with a prologue. i am in love with agoura hill's italiadeliand bakery (yelp.com/biz/italia-deli…). it is without question in my top 3 food spots in la. that being the case, i have no choice but to compare this review with italia.

star 1: how was the service and atmosphere?

to be honest, there's so much going on in bay cities that it's almost overwhelming, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. abundant product, an unbelievable selection of beverages, and the gloriousdeliright off the side. on top of all that, the staff are friendly, and it's truly amazing how quickly they move customers through. star granted.

star 2: how were the portions relative to the cost?

my only gripe with italia is that you often walk out having dropped double digits on a sandwich (a huge one mind you). thus, it was a bit refreshing to walk out of bay cities having spent only $8.40. were the sandwiches as big as i've seen? no, but it was more than a filling meal for a reasonable price. have a look below.

star granted.

stars 3 and 4: how was the food?

good? yes. amazing? not quite. you can't go wrong with boar's head products, so i essentially judged my sandwich on the bread, the cut, and the peripherals. the bread was good, but while advertised as such, it didn't really seem as though this was fresh baked "hourly". from there, the peppers were a great touch and the blend of mayo and mustard solid, but it just didn't quite jump out at me like the sandwiches at italia. single star granted.

star 5: would you eat here every day if you could?

i don't like it as much as italia, but i could without question eat here every single day. from the atmosphere and the service to the selection, bay cities nails it. star granted.

a traditionaldeliwith great sandwiches. i had the godmother sandwich which is the most popular sandwich that is ordered. the bread was very fresh. the meat that is used is boars head so it's quality. great sandwich!

the real deal!. i'm from new york - and have been to italy a few times - and this place is the real deal! thedelicounter has all the standards, cheeses, cold cuts, etc., and an awesome hot bar with pastas, soups and meat dishes. personal fave: eggplant parm sub. it's also a little grocery jam-packed with all kinds of interesting imports on the shelves as well as refrigerator cases for fresh cheeses and desserts (yup, including tiramisu and cannoli)... as well as a liquor section.

they also have outdoor tables ringing two sides of their little stand-alone store! so you can either enjoy a reasonably-priced meal al fresco (tip: we get food to go then drive about 5 minutes and park overlooking the ocean along ocean blvd), or it's one-stop shopping for an authentic - an innovative if you want it to be - italian dinner at home. can't beat it.

only drawback: their parking lot holds about 20 cars, which is never enough for such a popular place, although they do have a guy (at least during busy hours) to help regulate traffic. but if you either go at an off-hour, or are at least forewarned that it gets really busy, should be fine.

great place!. i love everything in the menu!! you might have to wait for a while when the place is full of people but you can even pick up some items from their store anddeliwhich is really amazing!

amazing deli!. thisdelihas a real buzz to it. primarily came here to try their famed godmother sandwich, whilst it was a good hefty sandwich, there's nothing that particularly wowed me about it. the bread definitely was unlike most breads i've had, with slightly crunchy but mostly chewy texture, it definitely gives your jaw a workout. what amazed me more, is the choice on display from cold salads to pasta dishes, italian salumi and hot foods. thats just the food to takeaway, not to mention the grocery section that had plenty of interesting italian finds.

nice deli, decent sandwich.. the store anddeliis quite nice...lots of selection of italian and french products and prepared items. as for the sandwiches, if people think the godmother is the best sandwich then poor poor undiscerning folk. travel and discover more. the bread is super crusty which is personal preference (i like it). thedelimeats were nice but who would slather a nasty harsh prepared mustard on such a thing. it just has no balance. there's no way it compares to great pastrami in new york, smoked meat in montreal, a po'boy in lousiana, etc, etc, etc. i can name 10 places at any time off the top of my head that have better sandwiches.

what, because there's a line it's automatically great and you convince yourself of that? you can line up at mcdonalds too and its chemically engineered garbage. so bay cities deli, sandiwches are good but just good.

clearly it seems there's lot of room for competition.

...the "godmother" is served on fresh baked italian bread, and comes with
genoa salami, mortadella, coppacola, ham, prosciutto, & provolone.

of course there is a whole selection of sandwiches,
served as is or with "the works".

mayo, mustard (yellow, honey, or dijon), onions, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, italian dressing & mild or hot pepper salad.

i recommend the works w/ mild pepper salad. that's what makes this sandwich truly stand apart!



and so went my love of sandwiches... or so i thought.

enter bay citiesdeliin santa monica, ca.
home to the famous "godmother" sandwich.

be careful what you touch!. worst customer service and employees i've experienced in a market. when a small container ofdelipotato salad accidentally fell from a shelf, i was blamed and berated by an employee who proceeded to tell me that i was responible for buying it. the store employees proceeded to give me a hard time as i was checking out even though i was spending almost $20 on 2 sandwiches. they told me they went back to review a video and the container dropped as i was pulling out the one next to it...come on, it was a $1.75 container of potato salad, not a $100 bottle of wine. it was embarrassing and i will never go back again. the godmother sandwich was just so-so and not worth the experience.

take a number. it's easy to dismiss the hype, to scoff at the ridiculous line of cars waiting to get into the tiny parking lot, and to roll your eyes at the crowd of people clutching their precious paper number around thedelicounter of this grim little market. but as you bite into the godmother that you snagged as they dropped the basket down on the counter, abandoning your plans of ordering something custom, it's also easy to understand why rational people might put themselves through such a torturous ordeal. that is one damn fine sandwich. so don't be a fool, grab two for good measure.

there comes a time in a man's life where sliced bread and meat and cheese won't work. regular baloney and american cheese, microwave lasagna, lays potato chips, soup from a can - all of this won't work. one would need more. bay cities italiandeliis what los angeles needs more of - a gourmetdelimarket with a sense of knowing what they are doing. it needs to be a little messy and chaotic in there, but the food has to be on point. bay cities italiandeliis what every salted cured meat enthusiast wants. santa monica, you are one lucky city. so here is the short story of why we decided not to eat there, and make this into a little beach picnic. waiting in line, i busted out my camera. i took one shot, and the guy behind the counter says, "no photography". he continues to explain that since there are a bunch of paparazzi and celebrity activity there, they have a no camera policy. see that guy in black, looking at the camera? that was him. i quietly put my camera away in embarrassment, a

ever since i moved to los angeles, every conversation about sandwiches has always taken a turn towards bay cities . the gourmet market has been serving santa monica since 1925, and its sandwiches, with an extensive array of italian meats and cheeses, may very well be the closest thing to a bustling new yorkdeliyou'll find in la. after much procrastination, we finally made it into bay cities on a recent weekend to grab some pre-hike sandwiches. yet, we discovered, there are two different ways to approach bay cities with dramatically differing outcomes. the experience of ordering online can be a pleasant one, whereas a spontaneous visit can prove a stressful free-for-all, and it wouldn't be fair to consider thedeliwithout taking both experiences into account. let's file our first bay cities experience into the lesson learned category - a harrowing, nightmarish adventure filled with folly. consider this a cautionary tale. our first mistake was going around lunchtime on