East Coast Grinders

I thought this was a pretty good sub sandwich. It's definitely not a traditional Reuben, but then they don't really advertise one. We asked whether they made Reubens, and they said they had a Casino sandwich that they could prepare Reuben-style and hot, so you have to cut them a little slack for that. I thought the corned beef was pretty good--it was both chunked and sliced. They had a refrigerated unit behind the counter with a big side of corned beef ready to slice. There was a lot of melted cheese on the sandwich, which I found rather tasty with the doughy white bread. Of course, I'm a sucker for doughy white bread. I thought the sauerkraut was good. The staff was pretty friendly, especially the girl taking the orders, but it was difficult figuring out how to pick up your order. When we saw our orders were ready we went to the "pick up orders here" just to have the lady ignore us, and walk past to where we had been sitting. We then had to run faster than her and return to our seats so that she could give us our sandwiches. Somewhat comical, but also confusing. The restaurant was crowded and as other reviewers have said it was laid out poorly. For just under $5, you won't go away hungry with this Reuben. However, it should just be considered a "Reuben-style" sub instead of a true Reuben sandwich.

East Coast Grinders has an unusual sign confluence behind the order counter: "Welcome Everyone" and "We have the right to refuse service to anyone." Given the shortage of space in the establishment, they may have to refuse service to more people than they would like. The sandwich preparation area takes up most of the front of the store. In front of it is a small area with a few four-person tables, and there's a narrow strip of two-person tables along the east wall. A half-wall separates those tables from an aisle from the order counter to the pickup counter. This aisle seems like wasted space they can ill afford, since no one ever used the pickup counter: the sandwiches were brought out to us. The menu board doesn't include a Reuben, or list thousand island amongst the available salad dressings, or mention sauerkraut anywhere, but they took orders for Reubens anyway: I guess they based it on their "Casino" sub, which is listed as corned beef and swiss. I had a half-sandwich combo, which included a choice of chips or potato salad as well as a drink. The potato salad was decent, and in good quantity. The only low-calorie fountain beverage is Diet Pepsi, and I discovered that the recent can of the stuff that I had thought wasn't completely awful must have been an anomaly. The sandwich was brought out with an excellent pickle spear. The bread was soft and tasty, but I had to agree with Matthew: for some reason it just didn't taste right with the other ingredients, much more noticeably than other Reuben subs I've had previously. The dressing was strange and overly sweet. The kraut was pretty good, even though I had several bites from one end before I found it. The meat was bland, but there was no shortage of it; likewise with the cheese. On the whole it was a disappointing experience.

The sandwich was pretty decent, but not great. However, I'm pretty impressed that they were able to come up with so many Reubens despite the fact that they don't have them on the menu. I'm not sure why they would have that much sauerkraut on hand, since they don't have any sandwiches that require it. The main problem I had was that the place was way too narrow and they made very poor use of what little width they had.

This was a tasty sandwich put together on a deli roll which held up very well for easy eating. I ordered the "whole" sized sandwich, which turned out to be about twice as big as the half sandwich. Plenty of tasty corned beef smothered in a 1000 Island type sauce and some Swiss and American cheese and tangy sauerkraut made this a sandwich hard to put down. PS: As leaving East Coast Grinders I noticed their cooler. There was an entire raw corn beef brisket in there. No wonder the meat tasted so good. No lunch meat here.

Ok so "Reuben" is not listed on the menu, but they do make them. But the really strange part is that krout and thousand island are not used in any of the items that are on the menu. I find that very odd. What type of establishment stocks ingredents for items that they do not place on the menu? Do other resturants do this as well? Can I go to a Chick Fillet and order a ham sandwich? They have nothing with ham on the menu but maybe that doesn't matter. This may open a whole new world of possibilitys for me. Perhaps this reuben was more than a reuben. It may very well be the fruit of a modern tree of knowlege. Can you imagine? I am sure to be cast out of our civilization for having partaken of this sandwich of knowlege. Menus no longer matter! I can order what I wish! Does this work at home as well? When my wife asks if I want green beans or corn with dinner can I say broccoli? I will see. However the sandwich of knowlege was not as tasty as it was enlightening. Sourdough bread is not good for a reuben. The krout was bland and the dressing too sweet. But I would say forcing down one bad sandwich to have the knowlege of the universe opened to you is a fair trade.

Strange. More of a Grinder then a Reuben. Where's the rye??

My "Reuben" came off the grinder assembly line with regular white bread and Swiss cheese that was a big off. At least the pickle was good.

My first look at the Reuben here reminded me of the Reuben I had at Blimpie's. This was a bigger version of it, though. And much better in taste and price than the Blimpie's one. Also looked little long for a half size sandwich. However what surprised me was the bread. Not used to eating on white bread in all these outings before. But then, when you're hungry, everything tastes good. And so did my Reuben. Yet, I wouldn't rate it an A. Good tasty beef and spreaded cheese but not exactly a Reuben that was hovering over in my mind since that Tuesday morning. I would rate B/B+. Also, I heard Tim say, next time if he came this far, he would rather go to Reggie's (block away). I don't think I agree with him. I would prefer here!

Reubens are not on the menu at East Coast Grinders, but if you order one they do deliver. I was exceedingly hungry and the Reuben tasted exceedingly good. Nice distribution of ingredients made for a well balanced, non-soggy Reuben. The pasta salad was excellent and didn't suffer from the dripping in dressing syndrome. In addition, the chocolate chip cookie was distinctively tasty!