Padow's Hams and Deli 1009 East Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219

"This place sells meat first and sandwiches second-- you can taste the quality of the meat no matter what sandwich you get. I got the Sailor (pastrami and knockwurst on rye), and it was one of the better sandwiches I've had in the city. The wait was a bit long even with no line (about 10 minutes), and for $8 I would hope for maybe a bag of chips, but the sandwich itself was excellent and a good lunch portion. If you're looking to pay a little extra for quality over quantity, this is the deli to do it."

"Really good deli. I went early so I was served super quick and the food took a only few minutes. The Rueben here was really solid. Great pastrami and beef. Not super huge but a little more meat would be nice. Wanted to have some country ham but they were out. Didn’t have any of the issues with some other reviews. Will be back to try some other of their specials. Good spot for a light fresh sandwich."

"Generally I like the Rueben. This visit was a little skimpy on the corned beef once I got the sandwich. They completely forgot to make it. after seeing all the other customers served their food, and this was close to closing time, I had to go back up to the counter. The same person who waited on me didn't recognize me at first. Finally got the sandwich and it was delicious although kind of small. Great rye bread."

"Depending on the time and day you can have a really pleasing experience here, other times not so much. They make great sandwiches but the size can vary depending on when you go, one day you can get a New Yorker that is piled high, as you would expect for the price, other days it seems to be the size of one of their a regular sandwiches. The taste is always good but the size is my only concern."

"How the mighty have fallen. Once a Richmond institution, Padow’s downtown location on Main Street is now substandard and the service is terrible. To wit, I went on President’s Day with very few customers since many businesses downtown were closed. A quick and easy lunch, right? Nope. My wife had a chicken salad sandwich on a croissant that was so hard it was more suited for masonry than human consumption. If I had thrown it against a wall it would have taken a chunk out of the brick. She could only eat half of it. What a waste. As for me, I waited, count ‘em, a half hour for the Padow’s Special. 30 long minutes to make a sandwich listed on their menu as: “Country Ham, Turkey Breast, American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato & Mayo”. How hard is that? OK, so maybe they made a mistake. Forgot perhaps? Too many customers show up? No, no and no. We had to go up to the counter 5 TIMES to ask for the sandwich!!! I stood waiting at the counter for 15 minutes at one point while other customers came and went. Came and went. I was about to just have them wrap it up to go, when they finally brought it to the counter. No apologies. No offer of a discount. Just a half-hearted “I’m sorry”, as if to say “Who cares about you? We’ll be in business whether you get service or not”. This is very disheartening. I used to love this place. Close to work and great sandwiches. Now, I sincerely doubt I will ever go back. Maybe you will have better luck there, or maybe they’re better off sticking to catering, but if they aren’t careful, they will wind up like Rudino’s or Coppola’s: closed and replaced. NOTE: The only reason this is 2 stars and not one is because my sandwich was actually good. But absolutely, positively not a half hour’s wait good."