Delis and Sandwich Counters in Richmond
Richmond, Virginia — updated August 21, 2026
A short, honest list: one downtown deli built for the weekday lunch hour, plus two neighborhood kitchens where subs share a menu with hand-tossed pizza.
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Richmond's deli count is smaller than its restaurant reputation suggests. Downtown holds one counter that runs strictly on the office lunch hour, and beyond that, much of the city's sandwich making happens inside pizzerias that keep a sub list next to the pies. The three below are ordered by how squarely they answer the question, with the actual deli first.
1. Charlotte's Southern Deli
The only place on this list that is a deli and nothing else. The 10th Street counter runs sandwiches, salads, soups, sides and a pick-two option, and the sandwiches lean specific rather than generic: the Prosciutto Di Ciabatta stacks prosciutto, salami, sharp cheddar, pickles and brown mustard. Hours are the thing to plan around. It opens late morning and closes at 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, which makes it a weekday lunch stop and not a dinner one. It holds a 4.6 rating across 109 reviews, a promising figure rather than a settled one, so treat the number as early evidence and the menu as the reason to go.
2. Zombie Pizza
A Semmes Avenue kitchen whose menu runs well past pizza: subs, burgers, calzones and strombolis, wings, salads and vegan pizza all appear on the same list. It earns second place here on strength of record more than category fit, with a 4.7 rating across 325 reviews, the highest average of anything in this guide and enough volume to take seriously. Hours are consistent, opening at 11 a.m. and closing at 9 p.m. early in the week, so it covers both the lunch window Charlotte's serves and the evening one it does not.
3. Pizza Express
A West End counter on Quioccasin Road that describes its own output as hand-tossed pizza, pasta and subs, which puts the sandwich side squarely on the menu rather than as an afterthought. It keeps the longest hours of the three, opening at 10:30 a.m. and closing at 10 p.m. every day of the week, including Sunday, so it is the fallback when the downtown deli has shut for the afternoon. The 4.4 rating comes from 274 reviews, a steady middle figure: reliable rather than remarkable, and backed by enough reviews to be more than a first impression.
What we left off
Jason's Deli at Willow Lawn is a national chain, so it is out despite the name and the review count. P.F. Chang's on Stony Point Parkway is both a chain and not a deli by any reading. Mary Angela's Pizzeria on West Cary Street and Pupatella on North Morris Street are pizzerias with strong records, more than 1,400 and more than 900 reviews respectively, but neither is documented here as a sandwich counter, so they belong in a pizza guide instead. Nuccio's Ristorante & Pizza in the Courthouse Road area lists sandwiches on one listing, but the evidence is thin and the rating rests on 159 reviews.