It had been over forty (Yes, 40) years since I had my one Sammy’s Romanian Steakhouse e
xperience in the basement restaurant on the Lower East Side.
This noisy, Jewish eatery with way-too-loud entertainment by Dani Luv is a crazy memorable experience — like being at a bar mitzvah. One you pay $4.95 a person for on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Seltzer lovers will love squirting their bubbly from the old-fashioned bottles. House wines and frozen vodka available.
The waiter plops a basket of sliced rye bread and a bowl of pickled cucumbers and tomatoes onto the table plus a container of schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) in a pourable container (see photo). He 
uses that schmaltz to complete Sammy’s style chopped chicken livers ($12.95) with the works; that’s the addition of grated radish, chopped onion and gribenes (crisp chicken skin cracklings).
Skip the dry kishka (stuffed derma, $9.95) and over fried kreplach (ravioli) that were not at all the delicate morsels my grandmother made (four $12.95). But do try the tender, meat-stuffed cabbage in a vinegary tomato sauce (appetizer portion $9.95). To say their meat portions are humongeous 
is a vast understatement. Five of us shared a portion of double Romanian tenderloin (AKA skirt steak) with lots leftover ($49.95).
We didn’t plan to order any dessert, but our waiter offered up some soft rugelach on the house. (If buying they’re $9.95 for four).
To really appreciate Sammy’s and to be able to finish part of the gigantic portions, I highly recommend heading there with a big group.
– bonnie
BonnieBOTB
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Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse
Lower East Side
157 Chrystie Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 673-0330
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