Alotta’s Delicatessen serves ‘alotta’ tasty, quality sandwiches

Most students probably do not share the same delicious tastes and sandwiches as their parents or grandparents, but Alotta’s Deli is proof that some great food always remains popular. Located at 2249 Grant Road, Alotta’s Delicatessen is a cozy deli with a lot of history. The deli has been open in Los Altos since 1945, and the current owner has owned it for the last 25 years, making it one of the oldest sandwich shops in Los Altos.

Alotta’s Deli offers an assortment of salads, soups and hot and cold sandwiches. There is also a huge rack of assorted potato chips to add to an order.

Unlike that of Subway and Togo’s, the bread is freshly baked, which explains why the sandwiches take longer to make. The most popular sandwich, Alotta’s Los Altos Sub, is $7.45 worth of pure turkey, bacon and avocado heaven. There is an entire half of an avocado in the sandwich, which makes the slightly pricier cost worth it. The crispy bacon, tender turkey and scrumptious avocado make this sandwich a must-have for any sandwich lover. No mayonnaise or mustard makes the sandwich healthy as well.

Each sandwich is a bit shorter, but a little thicker than a foot-long sub from Subway.

The deli offers the usual salads, such as chicken Caesar and garden options, but the cobb salad is unique due to the tangy dressing that is personally blended with each order. The tortilla chips on the cobb salad are also arranged very artfully, so that it is not only delicious to eat, but beautiful to look at as well.

The only problem with Alotta’s Deli is the soup. The restaurant lists a special soup of the day, and while it may sound like a good deal, $4.95 only gets a customer a measly little bowl of clam chowder. And while the relatively high price of Alotta’s Deli is mostly worth it, its soup is the one case where it is not. The clam chowder is runny and tasteless, definitely not worth $4.95.

The restaurant has a very homey vibe, and the staff is quite amiable and friendly. Mike, the owner, is particularly outgoing. If customers visit the deli frequently, Mike recognizes them and approaches them to converse while they are dining. There is not a lot of room to sit down and eat—there are only about 20 seats in the dining area, but luckily most customers get their sandwiches to-go, so seating is not a problem. The wait is considerably longer than that of Subway or Togo’s, but there are flat-screen TVs in the waiting room and a dining room to entertain customers while they wait.

A salad costs around $7 and a sandwich costs around $6 to $8. Students should avoid coming to Alotta’s Deli for lunch, however, since it is too far to get to during school. Alotta’s Deli is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

Overall, Alotta’s Deli is a great sandwich shop that offers traditional sandwiches made with care and presented with quality. Residents should stop by not only for its food, but also to enjoy a small piece of Los Altos history.