O'Brien's Deli

Located at 4001 Country Club Road in Winston-Salem, O’Brien’s Deli offers sandwiches and salads. It is open from 11-7 Monday-Saturday. Catering is available.

O’Brien’s is the kind of classic deli every city should have. It’s a small space – a few tables inside and a few tables out – but don’t let that or the line you are likely to encounter deter you. They crank out sandwiches quickly here.

Said sandwiches include about two dozen hot and cold offerings as well as the ability to build your own. The meats are Boar’s Head, but the desserts and soups are made fresh in-house. Check out the display case for salads and sides that might catch your eye.

O’Brien’s prides itself on its Reuben, and so I went with the “mini” version (a quarter rather than a half pound of meat) with a pickle for my first visit here. Ordering at the register was a breeze, and I was fortunate enough to snag one of the tables for dine-in.

Though I was a bit skeptical that the Reuben would match the hype, it delivered. I don’t know that it is without a doubt the best version I’ve had, but it is definitely up there. The grilled rye was nice and crisp, and I appreciated that they used both mustard and Russian dressing. That, plus the meat, kraut, and melty cheese, made for a very satisfying bite. At $10, the sandwich proved a good value, too.

Unpretentious and nostalgically comforting (for Northern transplants, at least), O’Brien’s is a well-oiled sandwich-slinging machine. Though that Reuben will be hard to top, I look forward to giving one of their other offerings (maybe a Cuban, maybe a Spicy Italian) a try.