Date of Review 2004-09-26, 5:32 p.m.
Sandwich name Hot Pastrami
Price Per Reuben (PPR) $7.50
Reuben Delivery Time (RDT) 14 minutes 
Reuben Dimensions 17x13x3 cm (663 cm3) 
Included side items Pickle spear, tomato section and two black olives
Bulk to cost ratio 88 cm3/dollar 

Reuben Ingredient Matrix (RIM) Rye bread Corned beef Swiss cheese Sauerkraut 1000 Island
Princess Food Court X X pastrami X X X

Description (taken from the menu):
Hot Pastrami: Hot pastrami on marbled rye or sourdough with sauerkraut, Thousand Island dressing and cheese

Sandwich presentation:
The Reuben was cut in half somewhat diagonally and presented on a black plastic plate next to a pickle spear, tomato section and two black olives. The sandwich was on marbled rye bread with Thousand Island dressing spread to both the top and bottom slices of bread. Atop the dressing was the sauerkraut, pastrami, and Swiss cheese.

Reuben Eater Rankings
Chris Rowland C B- B C C+ C+
Katherine Rowland D+ C C C- C D
Summary C- C+ B- C C+ C-

Reuben Ruminations:

: The marbled rye pretty much "un-marbled" while trying to eat the sandwich: the dark part separated from the light part. The Thousand Island was applied too lightly for my taste. The sandwich was served with the contents so hot that the bread became way too soggy. The pastrami was strongly seasoned, and the cheese flavor didn't come through, so the sandwich didn't really have a Reuben taste at all. It really tasted like a Pastrami and Sauerkraut sandwich. The seating area wasn't too great--most of the restaurant was occupied by a service counter and display cases taking up an entire wall. The dining area opened toward Kalakaua Avenue and you could glimpse Waikiki beach if you looked the right direction. ()

: The "marbled rye" just wasn't marbled enough...it was more like rye made with swirls of opposing polarity, as their sole focus, once on my plate, was to segregate themselves. Between burning my mouth on too-hot too-spicy pastrami, trying to hold the bread together, and trying not to pucker my face at the too-sour sauerkraut, this was not a really pleasant Reuben experience for me. There was cheese on the sandwich--I moevd around the strips of bread several times just to check, because I kept hoping that the knowledge that it was there would make me able to magically taste it. No such luck. The peppery pastrami just stomped on any other flavors there might have been. The bits of bread were soggy, but not with 1,000 Island dressing, which was barely apparent. Sort of like 1 or maybe 2 Island dressing. The pickle was kinda nasty, too, though the black olives were a nice touch. It was sort of pathetic, though...like they were saying, "Okay, you know, we really have no idea how to make this attractive. I don't know, maybe...let's throuw a couple of olives on there or something." The only, and I mean only, saving grace was that we had ordered all-you-could-drink pineapple juice. The juice was good. If I had it to do over again, I would have ordered one of the all-beef-block-an-artery hot dogs and the pineapple juice and not wasted my time with the sandwich. ()