A restaurant that scares us to death.

After two visits one month apart, Sam and I still can’t figure out what’s what at Zinsky’s, an upscale New York-style deli located in a large strip mall at one of Dallas’ busiest commercial intersections (Preston Road and Royal Lane). We’ve been there twice on Saturdays, once for lunch and once for dinner, and both times there were no other customers in the restaurant. Nada. Zero. ZILCH. This is mighty weird, because Zinsky’s, although a little overpriced, has excellent deli food for a city like Dallas. (Note: If you’re originally from New York, Chicago or L.A., a more accurate adjective here would be “average” instead of  “excellent,” because nothing EVER measures up to an authentic Jewish deli from back home.)

So what we have, then, is a cute restaurant with upscale decor, a jam-packed deli menu, decent food and NO CUSTOMERS. We’re trying to understand why. It’s not the prices, because even though most sandwiches are $12 to $14, Zinsky’s ingredients are first-rate and the Flintstone-sized portions are HUGE.

One issue might be the waitstaff. We had the same server both times, and he was cheerful, energetic, helpful, attentive and COMPLETELY UNNERVING. When we walked in the door yesterday (four weeks since our last visit) he not only remembered the beverages we ordered but also where he seated us last time. Frankly, it really creeped us out.

Another issue might be inconsistency. I ordered the same sandwich on both visits (pastrami and chopped liver on rye with Russian dressing) and they were completely different. The first time I got thick-cut pastrami and almost no chopped liver; yesterday the pastrami was shaved (it was perfect) and the chopped liver was nearly two inches thick. Sam, however, wasn’t too thrilled with yesterday’s lunch. He ordered a sandwich on challah layered with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. The turkey was fine but the stuffing was almost nonexistent and you couldn’t taste (or find) the cranberries, which made the whole thing so dry a person could choke to death. For $14 you’d expect a little more attention to accurate sandwich assembly ... especially when you’re the only customers in the house and there’s nothing else going on in the kitchen. Also, they seem to run out of key items like roast beef. And they forgot to serve pickles. NO PICKLES.

Although I like Zinsky’s and would probably go back for an occasional pastrami fix, I’m not sure Sam is too interested in a repeat visit. I’ll have to work on him a little. RATING: B-.