Nothing presumptuous about this hole in the wall deli located in a clean, small space, with hardly any decorations at all. Just a brochure menu with this saying on the cover: "Generous portions, made fresh, specifically for you." After being awarded the NC Triad Yelp Squad Yelper of the Year 2024 Award at the Yelpies Award Ceremony last year, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, celebrating their contributions and accomplishments throughout the year, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and businesses, and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Joe's Deli, in Salem, Virginia, is a perfect example. Located right next to the City of Salem Farmer's Market and its parking lot, where you can conveniently park for up to two hours, enough time to park and walk across the street to Joe's Deli to have something to eat.While I was walking, I noticed a mural with a rendition of people eating at Joe's Deli painted on the side of the building, which I found very interesting. Once inside, during around lunch time, the restaurant was modern and clean with a minimalist decor. The dining area had both regular size and high tables and chairs, and also a small bar counter with a large screen TV and a framed American Flag under it. On the wall leading to the ordering counter there was a poster with a QR code to be able to skip the line by ordering online on their website. Next to this there was another poster with the Roanoke College Wrestling schedule for the season. The atmosphere here was incredibly warm and inviting, making for a really comfortable experience. On top of that, this was by far one of the cleanest delis I've ever visited; it's clear they take take great take great pride in their space. I waited in line as a lady in front of me was making her order at the ordering counter and a gentleman was waiting standing up for his take-out order. While I waited I took a menu brochure from the counter and planned what to order. When it was my turn to order, a friendly lady greated me at the ordering counter and answered some questions that I had about what I was planning to order. I ordered a Reuben Pastrami that came on a white rye bread, and included a bag of chips. To drink I ordered a Pepsi since they carried Pepsi products. When my order was ready they called my name and I went to pick it up. The sandwich came wrapped in a nice, heavyweight waxed sandwich paper. When I opened it at my table, the sandwich was humongous, filled with a generous amount of quality Pastrami, Swiss cheese, Sauerkraut, and Thousand Island on a white rye bread, and was toasted. It was amazingly delicious! So much so that I went back and complimented the owner and chef of the restaurant, in person through the window that led to the kitchen. I highly recommend this deli for breakfast or lunch. For they have the qualities of a great Delicatessen, focusing on quality ingredients, generous portions, and excellent service. read more

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The pastrami was amazing. Everything you want in a deli. The staff was friendly and very helpful. Food was amazing.

If I could give 10 stars I would. The staff is extremely friendly and patient if my wife is not sure what she wants that day. Accommodates any allergens we have as well. Joe is a family man that takes pride in his sandwiches and experience to his customers. The NY style pastrami is to die for. Can't go wrong with making a stop at Joe's! read more

Joe's Delicatessen - Rueben and NY style pastrami sandwiches- couldn't wait to dive into them as they are half eaten - Delis Near Me - Salem, Virginia

They have great food, and good service. But the problem is we can no longer afford it the prices have gone up so much. I am sure its due to their prices going up too. Its a shame because sometimes I think our family dreams about their pastrami sandwiches!! But, like a lot of things such as steak, we probably will not be able to afford that again either. But if you have the money there is no finer deli in Roanoke and the surrounding areas. read more

This deli is a hidden gem. It's a small deli serving mainly lunch/catering.I have been here several times when I come to Salem to visit family. The subs are STUFFED which you don't get with the main stream sub shops. Everything is freshly made so you might want to call your order in if close to lunchtime. There's also a small seating area. This is the way a deli should serve food. read more

Never disappointing always wonderful portions are outrageous price for what you get is fabulous not to mention the personalities you can't beat read more

This place is delicious and the service is WOW!! Joe was so kind and welcoming- above and beyond. Sandwich was yuuuge and tasty with good quality ingredients and very generous helpings. read more

Joe's Delicatessen - Turkey and Cheddar - Delis Near Me - Salem, Virginia

Very friendly, courteous welcoming. And a hefty excellent Italian hoagie. Nearby park to eat in read more

Omg if ur a true northerner this is the place to get ur grinder and hoagie. Joe not only has the best sandwiches in town he also has the meats. Arby's has nothing in this guy. You can grab urself a grinder and get a pound of bologna for the kids at the same time. Or get a great ipa on tap while u wait for ur order to be completed. Joe's is everything about home ur missing and everything a southerner needs to know about home. read more

Joe's Deli at it again! Wonderful service and food!! Even suggested things to try and spiced up our lunch. Thanks all!! read more

Joe's Delicatessen - Delis Near Me - Salem, Virginia

Incredible deli. This place is a true New York deli with amazing huge sandwiches. I was shocked how good the food was! My new favorite sandwich place in the whole western part of the state. read more

Hands-down has the best chicken salad I have had in the Roanoke Valley!! Soooooo amazing!

Amazing sandwich! The wait was a little long but absolutely worth it. I could tell from just standing in there that all the locals know the guys and appreciate them. And for good reason! Food was 5 stars read more

I love the food here!! Joe and the staff are GREAT!! We love to go and chat with Joe while we eat! The portions are amazing! We get the roast beef sandwich and add pastrami with spicy mustard , cheese and slaw-YUMMM! Love the dining area being that you can interact with staff. Ambiance is friendly here! read more

Lisa Moen. First time here and I was not disappointed. I live in Selma Va. so I'm not familiar with Salem Va. I was in Salem for a Dr appointment and was hungry after. I checked the reviews before coming. The picture of the Ruben is what the actual Ruben that I got looked like and it was delicious. Was pretty big so it was two meals for me. Staff is very polite and Joe himself works in the kitchen preparing your food. Joe thank you for a great experience. read more

Sandwiches are okay, turkey was pretty basic with minimal veg, Reuben was better. The Macaroni salad had chunks of cheddar, tomatoes, cucumber with a strong onion flavor. read more

Dine-in room is again open as the pandemic restrictions loosen up. Nice design, clean, a couple of large TVs up on the wall. Nice view of the Salem Farmer's Market. Restroom is large and accessible. Plenty of parking on the street or behind the Farmer's Market. Great friendly service. (I think there is potential second larger dining room off Main Street, maybe being held in reserve?) Now for the food. Warning: every sandwich I have ever ordered here is HUGE. Taste is great! For some of the sandwiches that have cole slaw in the ingredient list, we prefer to have it "on the side" if doing takeout so that it doesn't make the sandwich soggy on the way home. But if you're eating there, not an issue! If you're craving a large sub/hoagie/grinder, this is the place in Salem (if not all of Roanoke) to get one! Great variety and salads are available, too! read more

Excellent sandwiches! Good quality, outstanding quanity, and at a reasonable price. Joe, the owner, is a very personable host and visited with us during the meal. I had been referred to try Joe's by a friend's son who is also in the restaurant business. Great suggestion! Next time I'm anywhere in the area, I'll be at Joe's! read more

This is the best sandwich place in this area. The chicken salad and the pastrami are sooo good. I'm a New Yorker and I love pastrami, they make their sandwiches like they were in NY. Yes there is a difference. A lot of places have no idea how to prepare a REAL pastrami sandwich, BUT Joe makes it perfectly. The chicken salad makes you wanna slap somebody... LOL I always use them for my corporate meetings, which are international. They always request Joe's when they visit. Trust me the sandwiches will fill you and make you happy. read more

I LOVE Joe's Deli Chicken Salad! It is the best ever!! I vote Best Chicken Salad in Roanoke/Salem Valley!! Camille R. read more

Joe's Deli was the Best sandwich I've had all year! Joe took care of us and the service was great! We're currently on a roadtrip and decided to swing into Salem to see if the hype was true, and it exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend this sandwich shop to anyone remotely in the area (it was that good!). The Italian Sub Sandwich, Super Hoagie, Deli Club, pasta salad, potato salad and Chicken Salad were incredible! We'll be back, thanks Joe! read more

I've only eaten here once, but I'll back! Joe's Deli easily has the best sandwiches in the mid Atlantic and southeast regions. I travel 4 hours just to eat lunch here! read more

Thanks to Yelp for the photo of the building front. Street parking out front, and small lot in the rear ( with big public lot across street. ) Grab a paper menu off the counter so you can peruse it while waiting in line. Ordered the corned beef Reuben. I wanted to get a side, but did not see any on the menu. It was a good thing I did not get one as the sandwich was huge. Meat was 1.5 inches thick all the way through, with an equally generous helping of sauerkraut. Grilled bread was not too greasy, and the Russian dressing had been applied with an expert hand, so the sandwich did not turn into a gooey mess as I gnawed my way through it. I finished the first half, and was unsure how I was going to finish the 2nd. If it had been winter, I would have wrapped it up and kept it in the car until later. But the sun was warm that day so I sucked it up and completed the mission. Very solid deli sandwich. I will try the pastrami Rueben next time. Hours indicate that this is a lunch place, but there is a small bar with 4 beers on tap. A flyer indicated live music Friday night from 6-9PM, but restaurant signage showed they close at 8PM on Friday. Sorry I won't be here to check it out. read more

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100% hands down best deli sandwich in the Roanoke Valley. Fast service, great staff, and best value for your buck!!! Check it out!!!!

Went for the first time today for lunch. I thought parking was going to be an issue but parking is around back. I went for lunch. I had the turkey shoot. Very good sandwich. They had sandwiches and salads. There is a lot of meat on the sandwiches. They have inside seating only and a bar area. Four beers were on draft. One was a local beer the others were Miller lite, blue moon and maybe coors light. Definitely a place to return to. The only negative was it gets really crowded at the counter with people ordering and waiting..it is a small area. But not a big issue overall. The staff seemed to know a lot of the customers so that is a good sign of return customers. Their sign also said that cater. A nice find! read more

Easily to miss from front, but be sure to not! Parking in back and open early. Fantastic service and deeeeeeelicious Italian Sub. read more

Joe's Delicatessen - Italian Sub - Delis Near Me - Salem, Virginia

You will not be shorted on protein, the servings are filled with deli meat! The salad dressing is delicious and adds to the chicken. read more

Joe's Delicatessen - Chicken Caesar salad, with incredible dressing - Delis Near Me - Salem, Virginia

This is the best place to eat at in Salem! High quality food all around freshly made every morning! Between the salads and subs I've become a 10 yr veteran customer and consumer of this place! After reading the reviews I'd say these people are right but this place gives you options just gotta tell them what you like. Joe is an awesome person willing to make sure everyone is happy with their order. It might be toasted it might sometimes even be lukewarm but hey it all compensates to make a great sub! No one around can beat what Joe's deli offers in quality and quantity! read more

I got the Tuna Salad pita and it was delicious! I never leave here hungry. Both times I had leftovers. Joe and the staff are very nice as well. I will definitely be back. read more

We were in town for my son's college lacrosse game and ordered subs from Joes for the after game meal for the team! The food was outstanding and the service was exceptional. Joe is friendly and hardworking and oh so generous! He personally delivered our order and also included a couple treats for my husband and I! He was so very gracious and thrilled we had ordered from him. The subs were filled to the brim, so much so, many of the boys couldn't eat their sub in one sitting! We ordered a variety of subs and every review was mouth watering! Joe's is definitely our "go to" place when we are visiting that area! read more

Joe's is the best place in town for this kind of food. Joe shows the ultimate customer services skills when dealing with myself and the public. He's friendly, relatable, hands on and just an overall great person. I was pregnant the times I've come in there and he's just been amazing to accommodating my order. God bless this business and his family. read more

The sandwiches are so stuffed with meat that you can save some and make another sandwich the next day and I LOVE IT

Great food and very clean place. Always busy and good for Salem. Would advise to call in order. read more

Joe's Delicatessen - the front of the store - Delis Near Me - Salem, Virginia

Stopped in for breakfast yesterday. So good back for lunch today. BLT was loaded with bacon and cheddar cheese. Light mayo as ordered. Today's chicken salad was better than my own which is the highest compliment! Daughter had the pita was egg, sausage and cheese. Delightful. Hubby today has pastrami rueben. Juicy. Tangy perfection! read more

Amazing sandwiches in an unassuming building! Had the veggie pita which was enormous and included enough black peppers and olives with Italian dressing. Chips come with every sandwich and the deli has fresh meat sliced for sandwiches! Loved this stop and will definitely be back my next time down Route 81. The employees are also very sweet and treat you like they've known you forever even if they've just met you! I love this place and will be back! I hope you try it next time you are driving down Route 81 in need of a stop near Salem, VA for some good quality homemade sandwiches on a road trip! read more

Food is great and portions are big, but be aware the prices have significantly increased, out pacing inflation.

We live in Roanoke. Lots of peeps rave about this place and we are on a mission to try at least one new place each week. We had just had the most fabulous huge meat loaded delicious tasting Italian sub sandwich at a real Italian deli in Wilmington, NC so we thought it'd be a good time to go and compare the two. So we ordered Joe's Italian sub. If you want meat loaded, yup, it's meat loaded. But all we could taste was ham because this genoa salami, ham and provolone cheese sub was loaded with ham and very little genoa. Topped with plenty of chopped iceberg lettuce, some tomato with a pretty good dressing which seemed vinegarette/mayo based. It was definitely big and filling, a 12 inch is more than enough for 2 hungry peeps. Comes with a bag of chips (don't forget to take them out of bin bc they don't give them to you and didn't tell us to grab one either). You order and pay at counter. They yell your name and you go back to counter to get it. Subs are automatically toasted so if you don't want it warm and toasted, you need to tell them when u order (wish we knew this). There is plenty of indoor seating and 3 or 4 big round wrought iron tables for outside seating. We are glad we tried Joe's. Our sub was $12.50, but our bill after tax was a tad more so we assumed they charged us for 2 styrofoam cups of water. Joe's sub was no comparison to the Wilmington, NC Italian sub in taste, bread or price ($10.50) nor variety of meats. Bulk of meat and size of sub were comparable. Joe's was okay good but not to-die-for mouthwatering like the NC sub we had just had. We don't understand what all the rave is about. One of us is from NY and we don't think it compares to a NY sub either. Just our opinions. It's worth trying for sure. Your opinions may be different. read more

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We found this place through Yelp while driving up to DC....wow, what a surprise. In general I am lukewarm on Subs, but I had quite possibly the best sub I have ever had at Joe We got the turkey sub with bacon. First of all, it was actually a foot long sub (unlike Subway) and was loaded with turkey. The ingredients, including the sub roll, were phenomenal. Unfortunately, if you don't live in Salem, VA, it is not easy to find. We drove by it once before we even found it. (we were actively looking, too.) If you are looking for something besides gas station food, driving on I-81, I would suggest stopping off here for a good sub. For Subs, this is a 5 star place. read more

Passing thru and found this gem! The sandwiches are large and delicious. The Reuben is one of the best ever eaten. The hot fudge sundae cheesecake should not be missed. Creamy delight! Owner and Staff are super friendly. Wish we lived here we would be regulars. read more

Joe's Delicatessen - Hot Fudge Sundae Cheesecake - Delis Near Me - Salem, Virginia

Unlike any delicatessen I've been to. Easy enough to find with street parking and a dedicated small lot. I was a bit intimidated at first because I was a newbie and just passing through town. Once inside it's more like a lounge or old bar atmosphere but there is a separate seating section that looks pretty good for families. I was here on a Friday evening and there was live music that was freakn fantastic!! The food was delicious. I got the corned beef Reuben and it was really good and huge. Best part was it was $8 and some change. Looks like they do a banging carry-out business. I would absolutely stop here again. It's really 4.5 Stars. read more