{"id":239481,"date":"2026-05-21T17:14:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T17:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239481\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T17:14:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T17:14:42","slug":"inside-datz-deli-the-family-run-queens-spot-bringing-guyanese-flavor-to-the-masses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239481\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Datz Deli, the family-run Queens spot bringing Guyanese flavor to the masses"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a line out the door at Datz Deli, and somebody\u2019s waiting three hours for an oxtail macpatty.\n<\/p>\n

For most New Yorkers, that sounds insane. For Hollis, Queens, it\u2019s just another day at Datz Deli.\n<\/p>\n

The family-run Guyanese-American deli has become one of New York City\u2019s most viral food spots, known for overstuffed mac patties, Caribbean flavors packed into deli-style creations, and social media videos that regularly pull millions of views. But behind the internet fame, Datz Deli is really a story about family, Queens, and building something bigger than food.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to say we\u2019re bridging the gap,\u201d the owner, Josh Dat, said. \u201cWe\u2019re making people try curries and oxtails for the first time because I put it in a sandwich. I Americanized it a little bit, so it makes people more comfortable trying those flavors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside the deli, Caribbean music bounces off the walls while customers crowd around the counter waiting for jerk chicken mac patties, curry chicken specials and chopped cheeses layered with Guyanese flavors. Some visitors come from across the boroughs. Others fly in from across the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe literally have people coming from all over the world,\u201d Dat said. \u201cSpain, the United Kingdom, Japan\u2026 everywhere.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The deli first opened because of his father, a lifelong chef who spent years cooking for other people.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI just knew he was a great cook,\u201d Dat said. \u201cAnd I was like, you know what? You need your own.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

That decision eventually became a full family operation. His mother, siblings and relatives now help run locations, with expansion plans already reaching beyond New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy little sister runs this store,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s the boss.\u201d
\n\"The<\/a>The Dat family.Photo courtesy of Datz Deli\n<\/p>\n

For Dat, representing Guyanese culture has always been central to the business. Growing up, he often found himself explaining where Guyana was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted people to know that we\u2019re Guyanese,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to be one of the reasons why people know Guyana and don\u2019t confuse it one day.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

That pride is woven into everything at Datz Deli, from the flavors to the atmosphere to the way the business speaks directly to its community.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cQueens is me,\u201d he said. \u201cQueens is everything. Queens is life.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The deli\u2019s biggest breakthrough came by accident.\n<\/p>\n

Late one night, while making food for himself, Dat realized the cheese for his beef patty had already been used for macaroni and cheese. So he improvised.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at the mac and cheese and said, you know what? I\u2019m putting it in there,\u201d he recalled. \u201cWhen I cut it open, it looked so good before I even bit it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, the video exploded online.
\n\"The<\/a>The grand opening of Datz Deli.Photo courtesy of Datz Deli\n<\/p>\n

Soon, customers were lining up outside before sunrise asking for the now-famous oxtail mac patty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember coming to the store the next morning, and I had four people in front of the store at 6 o\u2019clock in the morning,\u201d he said. \u201cBy the time the three hours was done, the line was literally all the way past the yellow sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

That viral moment transformed Datz Deli from a neighborhood spot into a citywide destination. But even with millions of views and celebrity attention, the deli still operates with the energy of a local corner store.<\/p>\n

\u201cA deli is like a home away from home,\u201d Dat said. \u201cSometimes people just come to check in on us.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

That sense of closeness is what keeps customers returning long after the TikTok videos stop trending.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you come here, you\u2019re walking into my house, literally,\u201d he said. \u201cWe put our heart and all the love in the world into this food.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Now, Datz Deli is continuing to grow, with locations expanding beyond Queens and a future Orlando opening already in the works. But no matter how far the business reaches, the mission remains deeply personal: building stability for the family that built the deli together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future is just to make sure all my brothers and sisters have one of their own,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

And in a city where delis are woven into daily life, Datz Deli has managed to become something rare: a neighborhood institution with global reach, powered by family, flavor and a Queens hustle that refuses to slow down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a line out the door at Datz Deli, and somebody\u2019s waiting three hours for an oxtail macpatty.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[72300,1070,93599,93600,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-239481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-datz-deli","tag-food","tag-guyana","tag-guyanese-food","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}