RESTAURANT REVIEW : A Largess of Largeness at Roxy’s Deli : For patrons hungry enough, there are mounds of delightful fare--piles of pastrami, colossal coleslaw. All in all, it is not small.

The first thing that hits you when you walk into Roxy’s Famous Deli is the tangy, pleasant smell of pickles. The second thing you notice is that you’ve now entered Paul Bunyan food country. Those cakes twirling around in the dessert cases are at least two feet tall. That pastrami sandwich over on the table is piled as high as a blue ox. And the side of coleslaw next to it resembles a small green haystack.

It could be that this place is courting fame for the size of its portions. It could even become famous for the quantity of its selections--a whopping 400 items on the menu, not counting drinks. But, just in case, they’ve also plastered the walls with a cheerful, nostalgic mosaic of theatrical posters and head shots of famous actors.

I went back again and again; I ate and ate, and still I feel that I’ve barely discovered the strengths and weaknesses of this restaurant. I do believe that any time you try to make a virtue out of quantity, you’ll pay a price in consistency, and that was the case here.

On the other hand, the clientele gives the generally happy impression that they’ve come here first and foremost to eat--and eat and eat.

This is the kind of place you can bring a passel of kids, plunk the baby on the table in his infant seat and feel right at home. For sports enthusiasts, TV screens are positioned strategically around the place but, thankfully, the sound isn’t turned on.

We had the surreal experience of seeing an ad come on the TV for the restaurant, which is pleasantly decorated in red “leather” and green “marble,” just as we were ordering. My husband had to ask the waitress to please step aside in case they were showing food choices he’d overlooked on the menu.

That classic deli standby, matzo ball soup ($3.95), came with a matzo as big as a softball, perched on a bed of noodles and chicken chunks. We took home the matzo ball we couldn’t finish, kept adding broth to it and ate it for days.

Cabbage soup, as sweet as ice cream, had nuggets of good meat and plenty of cabbage. The barley soup was hearty and homey with slippery barley in a thick, flavorful broth.

The lox appetizer ($7.95) was OK, although not superb. Chopped chicken liver ($5.25) was better, with a lively, almost lemony flavor, and it went very well with the half-sour pickles set out on every table.

Our friend said his roast chicken ($7.95) reminded him of Sunday afternoon dinners at Aunt Sadie’s. As he put it: “Savory, well-cooked, moist and all those good chicken things.” The asparagus that came with it was crisp and delicious, but mistakenly camouflaged by a mustard sauce laced with chopped pimientos.

With breakfast served all day here, we tried a corned beef hash that was definitely homemade, but that didn’t mean it was any better than the canned.

Orange roughy ($8.95) was plain fare indeed, although plenty big in size. The roast turkey dinner ($8.95) with mashed potatoes was strictly for the white gravy crowd. Although the stuffing was miserable, the turkey itself was decent. The meatloaf ($7.95)--three generous pieces--was wonderful, and its baked potato was also good.

At one of our dinners, the vegetable of the day consisted of a stockpile of what seemed to be frozen carrots, which were neon orange and quite dreadful. They could be spotted uneaten on plates all over the dining room. However, on another night, the carrots were fresh, well cooked and very good.

Branching away from deli fare one day, we tried the chicken fajita pita, which was yummy and juicy, with big morsels of chicken, sweet peppers, onions and fresh tomatoes. The salsa was nice and spicy, although the guacamole was so tangy it seemed carbonated. On the side was a fresh, appealing fruit cup.

Salad nicoise ($7.95) was terribly large, about as big as an igloo. I merely touched it with my fork and it tumbled all over the table. The nicoise ingredients--tuna chunks, onions, potatoes, tomatoes and olives--were all right, but the bland iceberg lettuce was bottomless. You could pour cups of dressing on it and wonder where it went.

I liked the Caesar salad ($7.95) much better. It came with a wedge of lemon and whole anchovies, just the way I like it. A fine hamburger, as big as the moon, came with giant French fries, mushy and crispy in all the right places.

When I saw it at a nearby table, I lusted after a sinfully decadent grilled pastrami melt. Returning another day for one of my own, I found it as glisteningly good as it looked.

After meals this size, even contemplating dessert seemed suicidal. But we tried. Although the cheesecake was somewhat ordinary, a humongous piece of carrot cake ($3.95) was astoundingly delicious, with light, superb frosting and moist layer upon layer of cake--enough to sink a small rowboat.

Details

* WHAT: Roxy’s Famous Deli.

* WHERE: 1345 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

* WHEN: Open every day 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

* COST: Dinner for two, food only, $16 to $50.

* CALL: 379-6767.