Harold's in Lyndhurst

[bartl]

The Harold's in Lyndhurst has taken a triple nose-dive; the quality of the food, customer service, and even their business ethics have hit bottom.

In mid-February (2009), we ordered a double meat (26 ounce) pastrami sandwich and a knish. When the sandwich came, we were unpleasantly surprised. As the waitress then confirmed, they had changed the pastrami recipe. Instead of the richly flavored, smoky, superior meat we had been served there in the past, the meat was more akin to cheap supermarket corned beef with some black pepper on the outside, in both flavor and texture, without any detectable smoke flavor. Also, the sandwich appeared to be a bit on the small side. We asked the waitress if she was sure this was the 26 ounce and not the 19 ounce pastrami sandwich, and she assured us that it was. The bill specified that we did order the 26 ounce sandwich. The potato knish did not have the usual traditional Jewish fried-onion in shmaltz flavoring; instead it was bland whipped potatoes in a pastry crust.

We brought half the sandwich home with us. Still doubting the waitress' claim, I weighed the meat on a scale, and, sure enough, there was only 9 ounces left; they had given us the 19 ounce sandwich and charged us for the 26 ounce sandwich. We called the restaurant the next day about the overcharge and the missing half pound of meat, and were told to speak to Carlos, the general manager. We called Carlos twice over the next few days; both times he promised to get back to us to resolve the problem. No response. The fourth time we called, we spoke to the bartender, who promised us that Carlos would get back to us. They never returned any of our calls.

We have realized that the restaurant management has no intention of even talking to us, much less trying to make it right. The only conclusion we can come to is that Harold's in Lyndhurst no longer cares about quality or customer service.

[markk]

Well, I think the first thing you should do is find out if Harold Jaffe still owns the place. I've had some problems in the past, discovering errors in my take-out orders when I got them home (I live too far to drive right back), and he's been very gracious about remedying them. If he is still the owner, you should ask for him. If he's not still the owner, it sounds like you're out of luck, and that the new owner(s) have changed the place, and don't care.

Well, after I wrote that paragraph, I called them to ask if Harold Jaffe was still the owner, and the answer was "yes". So you might want to call him and tell him your entire story, and post to let us know what he said and how he handled your complaint.

I'd be very curious to hear the outcome, and what he had to say about the pastrami.

Edited to say that after I posted this reply, I read your message again carefully - you're talking about the Lyndhurst "Harold's", which is not owned by Harold Jaffe, and which never even got their pastrami from the Edison "Harolds", which is the only location that he owns. (I always found it very strange that when he sold the name to the other locations, he didn't require them to buy the meats from him.)

In my opinion, the Lyndhurst location really can't have gone downhill from the last time I tried it, because there wasn't any room to go before reaching rock bottom. Their pastrami has always been horrendous. The manager had told me once when I sent a sandwich back and left, where they got it from, but I can't remember. But it was terrible, and it's hard for me to imagine that they found a worse one to buy. (It really doesn't have anything to do with a "recipe", it has to do with a "supplier".)

So disregard everything that I wrote above.

I'm surprised that you could ever have like this location's pastrami.

Edited February 28, 2009 by markk (log)

[bartl]

In my opinion, the Lyndhurst location really can't have gone downhill from the last time I tried it, because there wasn't any room to go before reaching rock bottom.  Their pastrami has always been horrendous.  The manager had told me once when I sent a sandwich back and left, where they got it from, but I can't remember.  But it was terrible, and it's hard for me to imagine that they found a worse one to buy.  (It really doesn't have anything to do with a "recipe", it has to do with a "supplier".)

The waitress claims they changed the recipe about 6 months ago. My wife and I had been there about a year or so ago, and found the pastrami close to the quality in the Edison location, and the Lyndhurst location was much closer. From now on, it's Edison for us, or to New York for Katz's, Sarge's, or Carnegie (we haven't been to 2nd Avenue since the reopening).

Near where we live, in the Foster Village center in Bergenfield, there's a kosher deli which serves "will do in a pinch" pastrami at a very reasonable price.

[John]

Irving's in Livingston has the absolute best pastrami I've ever tasted, and that includes Katz's.

[Shmily]

I think it is so sad that fewer and fewer owners seem to care about their restaurant...and seem to take patrons for granted. I have found also as some of the "important" chefs grow their empires, each place deteriorates...We recently have had a bad experience with Mario Batali...and Babbo...We wrote a polite, friendly letter to him and were not even accorded the courtesy of a reply...and his "no reply response" has been supported by many others. I think one needs to then speak to this by not returning..if I am not important enough to the owner to merit even a simple reply, then my money will do me better elsewhere...so sad...especially in these tough times...