bay cities italian deli & bakery

after all the hype, we visited bay cities italian deli at 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 smallsandwichwhile i got the veggie with pepperjack cheese and mustard. we also got a small side of pesto pasta salad.

both sandwiches were in their signature deli bread and deliciously prepared. the only improvement would be if they had toasted thesandwichso the cheese would melt.

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

ordered the godmother and yes, it was fantastic.
the bread was a little hard to bite into but i like bread like that and really enjoyed thesandwichi got from here and the wonderful service i received.

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 the deli counter to one side. you can take a number for a customsandwichwhich 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. thesandwichwas 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 2sandwichin 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 italia deli and 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 glorious deli right 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 asandwich(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 mysandwichon 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.

the place to go if you're looking for simply a kickass sandwich. the godmother is a must-try. after hearing about this place on entourage i was pretty excited to try it out. you can even get a freshly made customsandwichat the counter.

mamma mia, we have a championsandwichmaker. not only do they make awesome sandwiches !, they do it the traditional italian way

these sandwiches were gems to eat down to the very last bite, i will return once i've lost the kilos i put on

the godmothersandwichhere is amazing. the bread is kind of hard to chew through, but it's delicious. really sloppy too so ask for extra napkins!

a traditional deli with great sandwiches. i had the godmothersandwichwhich is the most popularsandwichthat is ordered. the bread was very fresh. the meat that is used is boars head so it's quality. great sandwich!

classic, sm spot. it's where all the locals go for a good sandwich. bread is perfect - crisp & fresh. can't go wrong just be sure you have time or buy the pre made ones if you don't mind. line can be long for a customsandwichbut worth it..

i will have to echo what thousands have said before me…hot, delicious and oh so tasty! but is it just me or is the bread extremely hard? all you (or i) want to do is inhale this sandwich…but since the bread is so hard… you are literally playing a game of tug-of-war. once you bite down, the inside of yoursandwichspews out the other side.

nice deli, decent sandwich.. the store and deli is quite nice...lots of selection of italian and french products and prepared items. as for the sandwiches, if people think the godmother is the bestsandwichthen poor poor undiscerning folk. travel and discover more. the bread is super crusty which is personal preference (i like it). the deli meats 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 thissandwichtruly stand apart!



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

enter bay cities deli in 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 of deli potato 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 godmothersandwichwas just so-so and not worth the experience.

didn't know that santa monica had a little piece of manhattan in it's grips. was down at santa monica on the promenade today and as a working tourist was looking for a non tourist meal
jumped on urban spoon and read the reviews for place and i said this is me and it didn't disappoint
grabed a meat ballsandwichand tried the eggplant parma but couldn't get close to finishing either
great flavor
great value
felt as if i was in nyc
i will go back

the godmothersandwichwas reasonably priced ($6 to $8.40 depending on size and if you add "the works"). "the works" includes mayo, mustard (yellow, honey or dijon), onions, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, italian dressing, mild or hot pepper salad.