Polish Deli Pyza

Critic's Review

It looks like this place has closed and an Italian restaurant it opening at this location.

Review 6/12/12

My grandmother passed away when I was 6 years old, but one thing I remember about her was that when she came for a visit, she brought Crullers and Pierogies, and there's nothing better to a 5 year old than that stuff. Hers were the best; carefully made and always made fresh the morning of her visit. I can't say that I've had a cruller since, but I've had both frozen Pierogies and fresh ones many times. I heard about an authentic Polish Deli in Pompano and I headed over to try to catch some old memories.

They're repaving the parking lot so there is no parking except for a few spots on the side roads. Entering the place, it looks more like a grocery store than a deli. I happen to get there as the Poland - Russia soccer game was on, so it was blasting on a TV in the back.

I ordered stuffed cabbage and 6 pierogies from the board; these are listed at hot plate specials. She said it would take 5 minutes, so to took a look around. The place is jam packed with stuff from Poland; polish everything. Polish beer, polish mustards; even the polish version of magazines. Something else they have is meats; they have every kind of polish meat that you can think of here.

The 5 minutes soon became 15 minutes. It took a long time to make this stuff. The woman behind the counter made several trips to the microwave, which is never a good sign. She came out and asked if I wanted sour cream or bacon on the pierogies; I didn't really want either so I asked for the sour cream on the side. She said "I put it on top" and didn't seem to want to give it to me on the side. "I'm not going to eat them now", I said "Can I get it on the side'". She agreed grudgingly, and went back into the kitchen. Finally she gave me a bag and headed over to watch some soccer.

It wasn't unti I got home and I looked at their menu that I realized that I was supposed to get a drink with each of these. That's 2 drinks I didn't get. I guess if you don't ask for a drink or know that it's included you don't get it.

When I opened the pierogies I immediately understood why she wanted to cover these with something; to cover the freezer burn. So whats the point of going to a Polish Deli to get frozen pierogies when you can just buy Mrs Smiths? I usually like to pan fry pierogies in butter, but I tasted one of these (I had gotten the potato/cheese), and it wasn't very good. Not very cheesy and the dough was, well, previously frozen. I tried pan frying a couple later and they weren't much better. Wholly disappointing.

When I opened the cabbage I was equally surprised, these certainly didn't look like anything you couldn't get in your local freezer section.

They smelled awful; I didn't like the sauce at all. I mixed a couple of spoonfuls with a good marinara to make a better sauce. The stuffed cabbage was ok, but not very special. Frankly I like the Stouffer's version better. Once you freeze cabbage it ceases to be relevant. I understand why it took so long to make; this stuff had to be defrosted. The potato dumplings were awful. One bite and in the garbage. I'm not sure if they were supposed to be swimming in the bad sauce or not.

I suppose if you're looking for something Polish this place may be your best bet, but it's not the place to go for Polish Home cooking. When you combine that I didn't get everything I paid for, there's nothing I can recommend here.