Eisenberg's is an Eisen-don't

When I met up with the ever-gregarious SYB at the origami class he was holding for LB's coworkers, I learned that several days earlier he had befriended two visiting Frenchwomen and appointed himself their official tour guide. So once class was over, we went to meet up with them at Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop for dinner.

Eisenberg's, which recently added "The Spitzer" (hot tongue on rye) to their menu, has always been located across the street from my office, but I'd only eaten there once before. This second time, the four of us ordered a selection of classic sandwiches: a Reuben, an egg salad, a tuna salad, and a grilled cheese. We also got a chocolate egg cream, a vanilla egg cream, and two lime rickeys.

Both MB and JA seemed to enjoy their egg salad and tuna salad sandwiches, but they wrinkled up their noses at the lime rickeys and vanilla egg cream, saying that they tasted like medicine. I didn't try either one so I can't comment, but I did think my chocolate egg cream was pretty decent.

My grilled cheese with tomato, however, was disappointing. It was nothing more than several mealy, tasteless tomato slices and two slices of American cheese between toasted white bread. I'm down with non-fancy grilled cheese (vs. figs and Gruyère and whatnot, though I love that too) but here the bread wasn't buttery or crisp enough and the tomatoes just really killed it. It wasn't terrible, but it was utterly boring and I couldn't help thinking about how I could have thrown together a much better one at home.

The Reuben was better, although still not anything to get excited about.

Eisenberg's has long been lauded as a quintessential New York institution, but I wasn't impressed when I went before, and it was the same this time. Even ignoring the disturbing fly problem (they were everywhere), their offerings are simply not that awesome. The narrow, old-school coffee shop is an experience to be sure, but if you're in it for the food, the place is certainly more "miss" than "can't."

Especially when Shake Shack is just a block away.