Not at all like the original Max's diner in SF. This is a nice, sit down restaurant. Easy parking and in and out from 80. Food is delicious however portions are not as large as they used to be and they don't serve pickles on the side anymore. So, pricing is a little on the high side for what you get, hence 4 stars instead of 5. read more

Sevice was slow and food took way too long. When food came finally it was the wrong dish. It was one of our parties birthday and the whole expereince ruined the dinner and his birthday. Very rude staff down to the manager when the issue was brought to his attention. read more

Worst restaurant service ever. EVER. Went for breakfast and most of the tables were empty, the service took so long and was so sparse that we literally had to go into the kitchen and ask if our server had gone home sick. She came back once or twice to take (and TOTALLY screw up) our orders. Poured us some absolutely cold coffee, and then called in a reinforcement, who tried her best. We saw the reinforcement a time or two, mostly when she tried to reorder ALL of our breakfasts. Honestly - how can you mess up a continental breakfast??? It happened. It was like we had Ebola virus or something . . . nobody even wanted to be in our air space! I think the busser had to finally bring us our bill. I don't know if our server had had a rough night, or what, but I have never had such poor service. (don't think it was because we were a terrible group, we went OUT OF OUR WAY to be courteous.) This experience was so bad that I was actually looking for the hidden camera to see if we were being "pranked". read more

Bit skeptical at first as adjacent to Holiday Inn but I was so pleasantly surprised! Nice cottage style setting with full sit down bar and lounge area. Service and food great. Had the gnocchi and mushrooms, Best I have had this side of the Atlantic! Dessert choices are excellent plus local draft beer choices. Will be back again. read more

Horribly disappointed! Max's was the first place we ate on our first visit to Auburn almost 5 years ago - and we were thrilled to have found a fabulous authentic Deli style menu with equally great food - most especially, the "real" corned beef on rye sandwich that was pictured on the billboard aside I-80. But sadly, last night (Aug, '17) was the last time we'll ever eat there! Over the few years we've been coming here the previous amazing menu has been replaced with something small and snobby - including the Deli knowledge of what that sandwich is! OMG! After discarding (against numerous protests) the original true Deli rye for whatever kind of bread the new replacement is (can't identify it - something in the wrong shape, without seeds and totally devoid of any flavor!) the corned beef (and pastrami now appearing in far more skimpy sandwiches) both "look" the same - but the make-believe "chef" has somehow found the right black magic to extract 100% of all flavor - so again - maybe it's not authentic - but at least it tastes like a thick piece of soft old printer paper. (Even the tiny slice of Kosher dill seemed to have fallen out of a K-mart jar from the 1970's!) Alas, the good-ole-days are indeed gone - and that includes the "service" which is almost as big a misnomer as calling Trump President! Only thing that's not changed is the old billboard photo aside the Freeway which is the same since before our arrival. (Maybe as it began to shed pieces and fall apart, that's where they got the "fake bread" for our sandwiches!?) #Sad - VERY Sad!! read more

Extremely bad and clueless service. Food was average. We were there for breakfast on a Sunday at 9:30am. Granted we were a large party of 12, but we were pretty much the only people there, and there were at least 3 servers participating to help us. It took more than 10 minutes for all our food to arrive, and we had to remind them which people hadn't been served yet. They weren't very attentive as we ate. Then they asked how we would like to divide up the checks and we told them, and it took them another 10 minutes to provide those back to us, and several of them were wrong. When we pointed out the errors they took another 10 minutes to figure that out then delivered us back overcharged checks again. One of our people got super stressed out as she had to leave to catch a plane and all this delay was so unnecessary. And gallingly they went ahead and charged us the 18% automatic gratuity. Plus before we sat down we went to the empty bar to get a couple of drinks. The 2 women behind the bar were both entirely focused on the computer and trying to figure out someone else's check confusion. After about 5 minutes of us standing there talking and laughing so they should have heard us, one of them turned to look at us and without any acknowledgment toward us she turned back around and continued to work on the computer screen. Another 5 minutes and they finally finished, then the other woman turned to finally look at us and asked what we would like. It then took about 15 minutes for her to make our bloody mary and irish coffee. It seems like these people have no sense of timing. Something's really wrong with the service. We love Max's in other locations but this one was pretty lame. read more

My husband decided to give me a real treat, so we went to Max's. We hadn't been there for awhile...now I remember why!!! Even though the food looks good, customer beware!! If you want to spend a lot of time in the restroom after you go home, and moan like a crazy person, then you should find another place to eat. Max's needs to make SURE all their employees wash their hands after their trip to the restroom!!! The food may look great, even taste great (sometimes), but the after effects are horrifying to say the least!!! WASH YOUR HANDS PEOPLE...YOU ARE DEALING WITH PEOPLE'S LIVES HERE!!! read more

Attended a surprise party on May 19. Our party had 20 adults and 10 children between the ages of 5 1/2 and 12. Our server, Carmen D., was amazing. She was very friendly and managed to remember who was who when it came to ordering and serving food and drinks (separate tabs for each family). The prices are reasonable, the menu extensive and the Rueben sandwich was delicious. read more

went to have dinner tonight and found they had changed their menu, the one thing that made them stand out from all the other restauraunts in Auburn, their menu was so diverse and everything was great. But both the items my husband and I love were gone and the menu was very minimul. Very dissapointed. We walked out. Won't ever go back read more

I've eaten here before. Food is above average, service is always on the slow side. I decided to write this as I was with a group of friends and service was poor. It was so slow, things were forgotten, we had to ask for things because it was not brought out. Not a good experience. read more

This used to be our go to place. So when we went by for dinner, we found a few things had changed. The menu itself was basically the same with minor changes to the orders. Wish I could say that the changes were for the better. Aside from the the food being somewhat bland, the portion size is smaller as well. And don t even get me started on the service. They brought us our bill before they served our desert. Which was still partially frozen to boot. I'd have to say we won't be returning anytime soon!! read more

I am unsure if there is a rating system created yet to accurately describe Max's of Auburn. Instinctively I would give the restaurant one star, I hope the owner's of this establishment frequent Yelp and not just the rag-tag crew of management. I have positives and negatives about this San Fransisco based delicatessen, and have been unfortunate enough to learn them all by personal experience. Max's is much like a roller coaster, except I ALWAYS enjoy roller coasters. Lets begin with the food, one word? Inconsistent. Some days it's brilliant, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. However, recently it has been especially poor. I remember 5 months ago a burger worth singing for, this past 2 times i've tried the same burger it was dreadful! How does this happen? Aren't all the cooks taught the same recipe? I guess not. Sometimes my girlfriend orders and enjoys the amazing spinach salad, sometimes my girlfriend receives a completely separate salad, it should be the same ingredients every time right? Not at Maxs. My last complaint about the food at Maxs is the quality. I'm not an expert, but I know not to serve a brown avacado or a steak I wanted medium burnt black. The quality of Maxs has been at a rapid decline the last 4 months. I feel more more like I'm eating at a Sizzlers every time I go in for a bite at one of my favorite places. MY biggest problem with Maxs is not the inconsistent food, every place epically in Auburn has that same problem. I am most put off my the group of people I have found to be running the place. Only once, in my professional opinion, have I had a problem properly handled by management. The manager had bright pink in her hair but she was the most professional, warm and charismatic problem solver I have come across not only at Maxs. I almost felt like I had hit a wall with Maxs until, Raylyn came to my table. She truly understands how a restaurant and customer needs to be handled. My worst experience with the management at maxs? I have two. One she was once my server before, I couldn't remember her name if I tried, I put that bad experience far far back in my head. Her lack of knowledge of the menu was astonishing! She even bragged how she was a manager, shouldn't a MANAGER know better than everyone how to treat people? She was snide, rude and forceful. Even the quick, cheery, good-looking young man cleaning the table next to us was friendlier and more help full. I can not tell you how many times he got something for us right away, when we had already asked her repeatedly. And shouldn't a MANAGER know how to handle her mistake? I could actually hear her yelling at the chef from my table, then she lied to me when she got back. Professionalism is not in her vocabulary, I had not seen her around Maxs before so maybe she is new to the idea of customer service. Poor server, even worse manager. The other manager I have frequently ran in to is an older man with a short temper. Once, when our lovely young server was chatting with us about our day, he stormed out of the kitchen and rudely interrupted me as I was talking to her. He had a piece of paper in his hand, i assume the problem he had was with food, but we had our food, couldn't the problem wait until she left our table? He cut me off and pulled her away by her arm, with a very unconvincing apology. All the rest of lunch I could hear him yelling and slamming things in the kitchen. When he went to apologize to a table about a mistake with their food, I heard him say to another employee how stupid those people were and made rude jokes, am I the only one that's heard him talk like that?? It is sickening how awful some, ONLY SOME, of the people at Maxs are. It's even worse for the poor employees who have to work for them, our poor beautiful server looked like she might cry every time she left the kitchen. I can only hope to not deter people from Maxs, some of the most incredible servers, bartenders and 1 colorful manager are definitely worth the bad apples they have there. I hope the owners take heed of my words, I don't want free cake or a free meal I just want to enjoy Maxs EVERY TIME as much as I do with Raylyn and a properly prepared burger. I gave Maxs 10 for Raylyn, 5 for the buss boy, and 5 for that amazing burger I had, I subtracted 7 for that woman server/manager with cat hair on her apron and subtracted 10 for the male manager because not only was his joke unprofessional, but it wasn't even clever or funny! So Maxs you get 3 stars, but there is room for improvement you just need trim some of that fat!!! read more

My husband and I ate at Max's in December and we both enjoyed our meals. We are both Jewish from big cities and like to eat at the local Jewish Deli so we were excited to see Max's come to Auburn. I ordered the half corned beef sandwich with a cup of matzah ball soup and my husband had the pastrami sandwich. Everything was delicious. The sandwiches were not as big as we are used to at a real deli but the Matzah ball soup was very tasty. Because it was Hanukkah, we also ordered potato pancakes and thought they were good as well. We were disappointed that pickles were not included with our sandwiches...what kind of deli would not have a pickle on your plate but we still liked our meal. We are glad that we can eat in Auburn and get a good pastrami sandwich. read more

I love this place. The Russian Cabbage soup is to Die for. I also have tried the Ceasar and Kale salads and they are really good. We also get good service form the staff and have always had a pleasant time. If you are on a diet do not get the dessert 'cuz they are usually huge portions and so good you will have to eat it all...lol read more

I received a call today from Brianna Jones, Ass't Manager at Max's to apologize for my difficulties and to assure me that she had checked with the kitchen to be sure there was no inherant problem. She was told that the sausage was cooked to order and that the kitchen didn't believe that that was the problem. Whatever, I still got sick on something that I believe I ate their as my wife hed previously eaten exactly the same as I had eaten but had a different breakfast selection and she didn't get sick. I was encouraged to come back and try it again, which I will consider as my wife and I have eaten their several times in the past with no previous problems. read more

The Max's chain used to be worth a special trip -- huge and varied menu, large portions, great service . . . the works. Not any longer, at least in Auburn. On our visit this evening, the menu had shrunken down to two pages, portions were likewise diminished in size, food quality was mediocre, and service was terrible. Crab cakes were totally devoid of any flavor whatsoever, pastrami sandwich with Swiss cheese was dry and contained only one slice of cheese. We never received a basket of bread, there were no water refills offered by our server (the water glasses were thimble-sized to begin with), and we had to try and pay at the bakery counter out front in order to get our bill settled up. Sadly, Max's has decided to become no more interesting or beckoning than any other bland American chain diner. read more

Pricey due to the huge serving sizes. The bread to start, was strange. One white roll and another raisin roll. Who serves a raisin roll at dinner? I ordered a starter salad that was actually really good. It was the one with blue cheese and fruit. It was enough for a light meal. My dinner was a chicken sandwich. It's served DRY. Luckily the waitress informed me and brought mayo along with it. But, honestly, I pay for my sandwich to come ready to eat, not dry. Even with mayo and added mustard, it was horribly bland and dry. The fries were fine, but the crispy onions mixed in with them were horrible. It would have given 2 stars if the starter salad weren't so tasty. Decor is not bad. read more

I stopped in on my lunch break on Wednesday and had the BEST rubin sandwich! I sat in the bar area. The restaurant was nice and clean and the service was great! (Mel the hostes called her was awesome) Everyone was very friendly and helpful! I will definitely return for lunch again! read more

I took my wife and daughter to Max's for a little 'date night' dinner before I was to leave town for a few days. David was our server and he was absolutely FANTASTIC! My wife is 8 months pregnant and sometimes likes to make special requests and choices that aren't on the normal selection...David was so incredibly helpful and patient in helping her select items that were best for her. He didn't make her feel like it was an inconvenience at all which she appreciated so very much. He was also great in interacting with my little girl. The food was awesome as usual of course. I definitely recommend Max's for anyone coming thru or living in the Auburn area. read more

Love Max's!! Food is great! Dave always has a great attitude and is very service oriented. The manager Teena is quick to make any mistake right. Have been coming here regularly since moving to Auburn a year ago. read more

I got horrible food poisoning to time and they deep-fry their brussel sprouts for the Farro Salad and the Russian soup is horrible but they have good service and a really good atmosphere there deserts are yummy and the food is very rich read more

Have patronized Max's for many years in Bay Area and Auburn. Auburn yesterday. All locations always a favorite. No more. The main reason for our visits was to get the mile high pastrami and Reuben sandwiches. Very much like all the great "Jewish" style delis in NY. Max's has changed for the worse in terms of type of meat being used. Not sure when this change took place. The meat it seems to me is nothing more than ordinary supermarket deli style meat sliced very thin and piled high. Not at all like the traditional navel or plate cut of meat as used previous. In a word, terrible.hoping the matzo ball soup and great patty melts haven't suffered changes or shortcuts as well. Guess it's back to Togo's for one of the last places to serve great pastrami. Bummer. Kudos for great service read more

My girlfriend and I stopped there on the way up to Reno on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. We placed our order, we each ordered the Pastrami sandwich.... How long could it take to prepare. After 20 minutes or so we haven't even seen our waiter I waived over another waiter and asked what happened to our waiter he's vanished. Very shortly after that our waiter comes out and apologizes that he forgot to put our order in, he was working on a huge party in another room, if that's the case you shouldn't be trying to help other customers . I told him we're on our way to Reno and really don't have a lot of time to be wasting please bring us our bill when you bring us our food, he gladly put the bill in our table and goes to get our sandwiches.. The manager immediately came and said I can't believe that he even put a bill on our table and she took the bill with her.. After 10 minutes or so our sandwiches finally arrived . By far the worst pastrami sandwich I have ever had. It was greasy and tasteless, there was more fat than meat and what meat there was you could hardly chew. Even if they hadnt messed up the order I wouldn't have paid for something unbeatable, it wasn't even worth eating. This was my first and last visit there. We debated between In and Out and Max's Next time we'll go to the place that never goes wrong and they have great tasting hamburgers .. All the time.. Your seeing a one star rating that's because you can't post a review without selecting at least one star. read more

Been to Max's a number of times over the years. The food is still good but the service is really slipping. The two us were seated after a 20 minute wait. Another 20 minutes went by when I grabbed our server as he was going by. I had to ask him for some bread. 15 minutes later, he dropped off two rolls without stopping. We finally placed our orders and he said he hoped we weren't in a hurry. The food finally arrived after another long wait.My salad had so little dressing I had to ask for more. The rest of our order was very good. It is clear to me Max's needs to have more staff on shift. Out of the last three times I've dined there in the last year, twice there has been serious delays in service. read more

We frequent Max's because it is a good location between Tahoe and our home, a half way point. But, the meals have become mediocre and last nights chicken in the Chinese Chicken Salad tasted like a undercooked processed excuse for a fried chicken breast. I will give it one more try because I like the atmosphere and the staff has been wonderful but Max you better remember what Max's started out to be and get it back read more

After seeing the sign on the freeway for their Rueben Sandwich we just had to satisfy our curious taste buds! It was super yummy food. Prices were decent and service was great! The kids meal was such a good deal and even came with ice cream at the end! Nice to have a good quality restaurant in town! read more

I went in after a long work day, was getting an order to go. Service was good, beer selection good; the reason for the 2 star was the waitress suggestion of "great" crab cakes. Okay, they were neither. Not crab, not cakes. They were deep fried balls of bread crumbs, with no discernible crab. They tried to make the "crab cakes" edible by giving a large portion of cocktail sauce. Ate a 1/2 of one of the three on the plate. Threw the rest away. So if you want to pay $18 for mashed potatoes that ended up being my dinner, feel free. read more

We have eaten here many times and really enjoyed it. We visited on1/3/15 and were hugely disappointed! We had to wait about 5 minutes for the hostess to even appear at the check-in. The menu has shrunk to just a few items from many pages of choices. The clam chowder arrived barely lukewarm. At $12.95, the French Dip had VERY little meat - we used to get lots of meat in the sandwiches. The fries were also lukewarm. The service was very slow but that was probably because the poor server had to handle all of the tables in the back room PLUS 2 very large groups - why weren't additional servers there to help her when they knew these 2 groups had reservations? All in all, we won't be back for a long time unless we hear that the restaurant has new management (since management is ultimately responsible for the changes in this previously great place to eat!) read more

Came to Max's to celebrate Valentine's Day with my fiancé. Everything was perfect from the service to the food. Hands down one of the best steaks I've ever had! Everyone we encountered was gracious and welcoming from the hostess to the manager who personally came by to just say hello and ensure we were having a wonderful meal. The service makes this place! Worth the drive from Roseville. We will definitely be back! read more

My neighbor and I ate dinner there one night. Heard it was good. Discovered it was not. Ordered pork chops and mashed potatoes with veggies. The meat was dry and tough, the mashed potatoes were a gob of starch and they should have just forgotten the veggies all together. My neighbor bought a key lime pie to take home. She tasted it and said it was the worst thing ever. They offered a coupon for another meal, but no thank you. Won't ever go back. Sorry guys! read more

Terrible service!!! Was seated and did not get service for a good 10 minutes. The people that got seated after me got offered bread and had there drink orders taken. I finally got my ice tea and was never offered bread. Food was ok. Just TERRIBLE service. Oh and don't ever order ice tea there. You get hot tea and a cup of ice to pour it in. never got a refill on my drink. I wont ever go back there. Waste money. read more

Ok, seriously, I don't know how this place is not completely slammed at all times, especially during happy hour. I came here after work a few days ago with my aunt to visit a friend that works here and arrived during happy hour. We sat in the bar and were originally planning on getting a beer and an app.... until we saw the happy hour menu. They have a basket of the most delicious fries topped with crispy onion straws for $2.00. To make things even better they have wings... boneless wings. My favorite. We ordered one basket of boneless buffalo wings and one basket of the Thai sweet/spicy boneless wings. The boneless buffalo wings were the perfect level of spicy and come served with chilled ranch. The Thai sweet/spicy boneless wings are served over a bed of crispy noodles and topped with more of the sweet/sticky/spicy sauce. Each basket of wings was $5.00, which for the flavor and tastiness, was a deal. We topped off the food order with a few ice-cold Sierra Nevadas that hit the spot. I will definitely come back again in the near future to enjoy another happy hour. read more

Got a beef! How is it that Friday and Saturday is prime rib special night an they are "out" at 6:15 PM? I ordered the M-R big cut and was asked several minutes later if I'd I'd accept the end cut. Knowing the spices, I said yes. Knowing it was the end, I knew there would be way too much meat. It was very tasty, a little salty but I had expected that, I just did not understand how they could be out of the special so early in the evening. I was offered an alternative if I didn't want the end cut. Cream spinach cold but I'm not much of a spinach guy anyway. Wife had the ground sirloin, it too was tasty, big portion. Waiter was over worked as someone didn't show up to work and he was working an extra two hours shift, but that did not slow him down. Efficient. Knowledgeable. Took half the meal to go. Took dessert and coffee to go too. Decent prices too. read more

The dessert I got was obviously pre-made, I got the new york cheese cake. It was decent, nothing special. Where the real hit is in there bar. I got a Adios mother F#@$er and it was amazing and 2 gin and tonics on top of that and it made talking with all the sick employees all the better. read more

I had their famous pastrami on rye. Good meat but ice cold hence only three stars. Nice bread. Excellent service. They need to heat pastrami and corned beef sandwiches like in NYC. read more

We were the only people under 60 in this place! My wife ordered a cheeseburger for me and I was shocked to find out it was a $16 cheeseburger! On top of that the cheeseburger was dry and bland. By far one of the worst I have ever had at any price point! read more

My wife and I have been going to Max's since they opened in Auburn... We have been a true loyal customer...but no longer ....the menu selection has declined greatly... to the point that there are items in the past that were on the menu that is no longer on the dinner menu but is on the lunch menu...in the past few months there was never an issue to get those items at dinner time....we are now being told that the manager will no longer let hat take place... we feel sorry for the staff as there were other customers that had similar requests and were turned dow...the staff is great !!! BRING BACK THE OLD MAX's service... read more

I would do zero if I could. Terrible service and the food was bad too. Came in with a reservation for a large group in the room in the back, reserved about two weeks in advance; they only booked one server for about 40 people. We had no water for 30 min and didn't get refills after that. She never came to see if anyone wanted seconds on beverages either. She didn't have our orders taken for more than an hour. Once orders were taken it took another hour to get food. I ordered a chop steak cooked medium, it was burnt and the side beans that come with it were almost raw and hard to eat. No one was offered dessert or to look at the dessert menu, they took so long to get everything to us they were closing when we were finishing dinner. We had a 6:30 reservation and were not leaving until 9:20. When the bill came it was a mess. She had told us each person would have a separate tag, where instead there were about 5 bills with mixed up orders all over the place. It was a nightmare. I am never going back. read more

Absolutely fantastic service. We ate here last night and this morning, and had the same waiter, Marcie. She was extremely personable and checked up on us frequently even though the restaurant was moderately busy. She was very attentive, making sure we were completely happy with the meal, and even had small conversations with us (always nice), she was very sweet, and I would HIGHLY recommend her as a waiter. The food here was also amazing, I had the jambalaya fettucini for dinner, and my mom had the mojito skirt steak, they were both absolutely delectable, and very fairly priced for the portions given. The steak was cooked PERFECTLY, and the pasta was tender, the jambalaya sauce was sooooo good. This morning for breakfast my mom ordered the eggs Benedict (YUM!!), the eggs were poached just right, and the hollandaise sauce was mouth watering. I had the chocolate chip pancakes, and let me tell you, if you're looking for sweet, fluffy pancakes (8$ for 3 GIANT pancakes? Yes please.) this is the place to go! The entire experience was relaxing, and I would highly recommend this place to anyone in the area. 10/10. read more

This place used to be good (not as good as the "old" Max's, but close), but now it's just downright terrible. Service is still good, though that can't last for long as they all seem to know that things are going in the wrong direction. On the way out this weekend, noticed a notice of change of ownership on the window for the license to sell liquor. My wife ordered the 1/2 Pastrami sandwich and Matso Ball soup. The soup was so bad she sent it back. The meat in the sandwich was like something you'd get from Subway. I ordered the 1/2 BLT an Russian Cabbage soup. The soup was basically Chicken noodle, without the noodles, or the cabbage! I asked the waitress about it, and said that the order was right - that I got their "Russian Chicken (something else I couldn't understand as she mumbled it). And the BTL was dry (no mayo). Can't believe how bad thing can go downhill. We're not going back. read more