Nano’s Deli, 2250 S. Archibald Ave. (at Philadelphia), Ontario; open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday
I rarely get down to South Archibald because from where I work, the airport is in the way. But two friends on two straight days (hi, David; hi, Nancy) told me about Nano’s Deli, which opened in May. So a few days later I invited a friend to meet me there.
Even though the Bulletin’s office is on Archibald, I had to head east to Haven, then head west on Philadelphia. At least that was the plan; by the time I got to Philadelphia, I forgot about heading west and hunted in vain for the restaurant. Realizing my error, I hopped on the 60 and got off at Archibald; the deli is in the first block above the freeway.
Nano’s turns out to be next to Alina’s, a Lebanese restaurant featured here in 2010. I liked it but haven’t been back just because of the logistics. Nice to see it’s still around.
It’s clean inside, if a little bare. Nano’s was doing good business with customers who probably work at nearby industrial and business parks.
You can build your own sandwich from a wide variety of meats, including eight types of turkey, six types of bread and nine kinds of cheese. They use Boar’s Head meats and cheese. There’s also some specialty sandwiches, hot and cold, and three salads. Basically, it’s virtually all sandwiches — plus an impressive variety of potato chips.
We got two of the cold specialty sandwiches: the submarine and the Nano’s 2 Meats, as combos with chips and drink ($12 each).
The sub had mortadella, hot cappicola,, pepperoni, salami and provolone; the two-meat had Cajun turkey (a little spicy), roast beef and American cheese, which, perhaps unpatriotically, we swapped out for Swiss.
They were generous with the fillings. (That’s the Italian in front, the two meat in the back.) While we thought our sandwiches were fine, we were not wowed. Even with Cajun turkey, they were a little bland or generic. I felt like I should like the food better than I did.
By the way, on our way out I noticed a separate rack of potato chips on the opposite wall. This is like a Mecca of chips.
The New Diner 2 blog praised Nano’s vegetarian sandwich ($7), noting the fresh veggies and two slices of cheese.
So, if you’re in the area or live or work around the 60, give them a try and see what you think. I’ll stick with my north of ONT sandwich shops — although I do want to go back to Alina’s.
