After years of eyeing this place, I finally tried it out. Since everyone else has already written ad nauseum about how great the smoked meat/bread/pickles/etc. are (delicious, btw!) my contribution is to simply tell you when you go in order to beat the lineup.
Plan your visit around the following three variables, and you may just get a counter seat with no wait:
- Worst weather possible (middle of rainstorm, windstorm, hailstorm or snowstorm)
- Later in the evening (after dark)
- On a lame weeknight (Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday)
(I.e. I went on a Monday, in the middle of a rainstorm, at 8pm, and I was at the counter in 30 seconds flat and sinking my teeth into smoked meat goodness in under five minutes.)