Nick's Italian Deli

Weak attempt today: Good Luck Nick!. 12/19/08 1:50 pm. Dark, so I'm not sure if it was clean or dirty. no greeting. Ordered a slice, No Cheese Pizza???? Sign said closed @ 3pm. Settled on the "small" $6.00 "Nicks Special"Itailian sub, the guy asked if I wanted mustard or mayo. Does Nick really put mustard or Mayo on his Itaian Sub, not likely. Meat was sitting out alreay pre-sliced, I'm not sure it was a well or even refrigerated area.

Sorry Nick, You better get your tail back to work. That place will die soon. Sincerely, CharlieO…

Best Italian food in Nashville, period.. This is BY FAR the best Italian food in Nashville. This is Italian food made by a real Italian (why is that so rare?). If you want to go to an over-priced chain and pay $15 for egg noodles and ketchup, then go right ahead, but this is the place where you should be eating when you've got a pasta Jones. I highly recommend the eggplant. It is absolutely divine. His pasta salad is also the best I've ever had. You really can't go wrong with anything on the menu quite frankly. Take it from me (an Italian) that this is hands down, bar none, the BEST Italian food in the city. It just doesn't get any better.…

I dunno. Like the introduction to this restaurant says - the line begins to from at 11:00 to 11:30 am. Yet, there seems to be one of the problems with this joint. Today. my second visit to Nicks, they had a new server behind the counter. He was clearly having functional *and* language problems on this day. My order had to be placed twice, since he did not know what I was ordering. (sausage sub and 3 slices...) This dynamic slowed things down. Also, at 11:30 they only had one slice of pizza left!? I waited 10 minutes for my slices today. Is pizza a novelty for them? It was presentable as far as pizza goes. It had tell tale bumps on the bottom from cooking on a grid, yet there was no cornmeal on it - a dead giveaway of factory made pizza. Yet I cannot say for certain that it is even made there since you cannot see into the kitchen prep area, or see the pizza oven - it is in the back room.

On both of my visits I also ordered a hero (sub, grinder, hoagie, whatever..): The first time a chicken parm, second time a sausage and pepper. When you order a hot hero at Nicks that has melted cheese, they microwave it. Gah! Where is that pizza oven! My sausage hero even when it was prepared on the spot was clearly at the bare minimum temperature to pass metro food inspection. By time it arrived at my office it too required a full minute of 'nuking' to get it to be palatable. The ckicken parm was mediocre. The sausage was quite surprising: good fat, fennel, and spices. The onion and peppers was quite good too - it's been a long time.

Of course, looking around the room at the other diners while waiting for the slices, showed me to be the minority with respect to the food selection. Everyone else was having roast beef and turkey sandwiches. Others, baked pasta.

I'm going back soon, but I just get this sinking feeling. I suppose that happens when you go from a place where there is a pizza joint on every corner (NY / NJ) to this, the only show in town.…

New York-style Italian deli draws an eclectic downtown lunch crowd.. In Short
By 11am even on rainy days, a steady stream of regulars are queued up at this Italian deli located just off Broadway. Behind the cafeteria-style line, servers slap together super-sized subs and dish up pastas and New York-style pizza. Here, it's all about a quick, high-quality meal at a bargain price. Pastas and baked dishes come with a fresh deli roll and an iceberg lettuce salad tossed with tangy vinaigrette.…