Subway Sandwiches and Cookies

Update Review, July 2022: Sandwiches

Oh Subway.  The brand, although crazy successful in terms of number of stores, has struggled in the past few years.  Tuna sandwiches that contain no tuna,  Etc.  Subway, also, not a place I frequent at all, but, when I was growing up, was a common destination for family dinner out (yes, really.  We got to go out to eat about once a week or every other week, and, we went to Subway 50% of the time.  The other picks were Del Taco or Papa Ginos. Never real restaurants ...).  Let's just say, I ate a lot of Subway as a kid, and, mostly haven't looked back at it (besides the few times I've reviewed before when they've had special promos).

But in July 2022 Subway bet big on a huge concept change and new launch.  They didn't just introduce one new menu item, or one new ingredient, but overhauled the main menu entirely, with a dozen new subs, all part of specialized "Series", all moving away from the customize built sandwich mold and rather, they came with all pre-set toppings/sauces/bread.  This was a big change for Subway.

So when I was visiting my family in July 2022, right around the launch, Subway it was for dinner.

New Subway Series Menu.

The Subway Series basically took over the menu.  While build-your-own options still exist, they are relegated to a small corner of the menu.

The Subway Series menu includes four categories with three different sandwiches in each section: Cheesesteaks, Italianos, Chicken, and Clubs.  All are assigned both a name, and a number, to make ordering easy (aka, "I'd like a #3 with chips and a drink", I think is the vibe they are aiming for.

The lineup:

• Cheesesteaks: #1 The Philly, #2 The Outlaw™, #3 The Monster™
• Italianos: #4 Supreme Meats, #5 Bella Mozza, #6 The Boss
• Chicken: #7 The MexiCali, #8 The Great Garlic™, #9 The Champ™
• Clubs: #10 All-American Club®, #11 Subway Club®, #12 Turkey Cali Club™

As you could expect, the cheesesteaks are all toasted subs with thinly sliced steak and cheese (and then different sauces and goodies added in), and the chicken line all involve their new (?) rotisserie chicken.  As for the "Italianos", those are a mixed bunch of one featuring all the Italian meats, another with fresh mozzarella, and finally, a meatball sub.  The clubs are turkey based, but aren't really all what I'd consider clubs.  The All-American is your classic ham/turkey/bacon, but the "Subway Club" has no bacon, just ham/turkey/roast beef, which doesn't seem like a club to me (I thought bacon was key?), and the Turkey Cali Club has turkey and bacon, but also avocado and fresh mozzarella.  

All come with fixed vegetable ingredients, sauces, and bread choice, and whether they are toasted or not, but you can modify as you please, as after all, they are still made to order.

My mother went for a chicken option, my dad an Italiano, and me, a Club.  I did try a tiny bite of my mom's #8, and admit that the rotisserie style pulled chicken was decent, seemingly mostly white meat, moist chicken.

Italiano: #5 Bella Mozza
on Hearty Multigrain. 6 Inch. $6.39. 

"Lotsa meat and lotsa mozzarella make this special. Thin-sliced Black Forest ham, our NEW capicola, and BelGioioso® Fresh Mozzarella on fresh-baked Artisan Italian bread. Topped with spinach, tomatoes, red onions, and banana peppers and drizzled with our tangy MVP Parmesan Vinaigrette®."

For my father, I picked up the Bella Mozza, the only one of the 12 new subs that had ingredients he kinda likes (he doesn't eat steak, turkey, or chicken, and doesn't like meatball subs, and only "tolerates" salami).  I went for the wheat bread (er, Hearty Multigrain) since that is what he uses for his mustard + cheese sandwiches at home, and I thought he'd like.

I tried a little corner of the bread out of curiosity, it seemed fresh, and was, uh, just basically wheat bread?

#5 Bella Mozza: Inside.

Inside was the pre-selected veggies, plus jalapeños that I asked to have added for him.  The fresh mozzarella was a generous portion and did look decent, and I liked it last year when I had it in the new (at the time) "Cali Fresh" menu.  I didn't try it this time though.

I did steal a piece of baby spinach with the MVP Parmesan Vinaigrette on it to try it, and the dressing was, exactly as advertised, "tangy".  It had good herb flavor and a bit of zing.  It tasted, for lack of better word, Italian.

This seemed like a reasonable Italian-eque sandwich, and dad said it was fine, although he'd prefer just a veggie sub.

Clubs: #10 All-American Club®
on Artisan Italian. 6 inch. Not toasted. $6.49.

"The American classic. Oven-roasted turkey, Black Forest ham, crisp bacon, and American cheese with lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and mayo. Served toasted on Artisan Italian bread."

My pick was fairly easy.  While a cheesesteak or meatball parm are slightly interesting, I know I actually like Subway bacon, so I wanted something with bacon, and I didn't want chicken, so, the All American Club was it.  I'd consider the Turkey Cali Club as well (but, no avocado since I'm allergic) or the Supreme Meats sometime too.

I kept their bread suggestion, which I always thought was just "white", but is actually dubbed "Artisan Italian", and asked to have it not toasted since I wouldn't be eating it right away.  I also had them add pickles and black olives, my old favorites from Subway, along with jalapeños for a bit of kick.

I thought I had a memory of liking Subway white bread, but ... this really wasn't what I remembered.  It was soft and fresh enough, but tasted just like a generic hamburger bun, which I didn't care for.  Hmm.

The sub was loaded up with meat - I was surprised to see 6 round slices of just the turkey, along with several larger slices of ham, and two strips of bacon.  The turkey was fairly standard generic lunch meat turkey, no better, nor worse than anything you'd get out of a package at the grocery store.  The ham was much the same, no particularly smoky flavor, and had some streaky fat lines, but, standard, good enough, ham.

So ** bread and **+ basic sandwich deli meats.  But those weren't the elements I was most interested in anyway.

#10 All-American Club®: Inside.

The bacon, only two strips, certainly didn't look good.  I knew to expect this.  It is not crisp bacon. It is super thin. It is flabby.  But somehow, this strange bacon works for me.  It sorta reminds me of prosciutto.  I really liked it.  My favorite part of the sandwich.

The regularly included veggies were your standard, basic, chain sandwich shop items and quality: shredded lettuce, rather pale and uninteresting tomatoes, sliced red onion.  I would probably opt to leave out the tomatoes in the future, although they did add a juicy component and classic club sandwich feel.  I appreciated the harshness from the red onion for a touch a of acidity.  My additions of pickles and olives were exactly what I remembered from childhood, and I still really liked, in their special Subway way, but, the black olives in particular are really just sliced canned olives, there is nothing interesting about these at all.  I liked having the jalapeños as well, not something I'd added before, as I appreciated a bit of heat. 

And then, of course, mayo.  Yup, its just standard mayo, but, I like it, and it goes very well with everything else in this sandwich.  Veggies: ***, bacon: ****, mayo: ***+.

So overall, I was let down by the bread, but otherwise, I quite enjoyed the contents of my sandwich.  Yes, it is just Subway, and no, I won't go out of my way for another, but, it did the trick.  ***+.

Update Review, July 2021: Sandwich

On July 13, 2021, Subway did something revolutionary.  They … introduced new menu items, their first big menu change in several years.  To celebrate the launch of the new menu, they offered up free 6 inch sandwiches to the first 50 people at each store, the caveat being that the freebie was only good for the new "Cali Fresh" Turkey.

Of course I sought this out, fond memories of Subway from my childhood guiding me.

My experience was … mixed.  My “Sandwich Artist” barely acknowledged my existence, and he also didn’t seem to know the new menu … at least, what I got did NOT match the menu description.  Still, it was satisfying, and I kinda enjoyed my Subway ...

"Cali Fresh" Turkey. $7.89.

"West coast, east coast, it doesn’t matter to us. We make our Cali Turkey for anyone, on freshly baked Hearty Multigrain bread loaded with oven roasted turkey, hickory smoked bacon, smashed avocado, BelGioioso® Fresh Mozzarella, mayo, and baby spinach."

I had no choice in my sandwich, the freebie was for the "Cali Fresh" turkey sandwich only.  A similar "Cali Fresh" steak sandwich was also added to the menu, but was not an option for the free offering. 

The Cali Fresh is a toasted sub, still a novel concept to me, as Subway of my youth never had toasting as an option, and, besides for other freebies, I haven't sought out Subway as an adult.

It was supposed to come on multigrain bread.  Instead, it sure looked like the regular white Italian bread to me? 

My sandwich artist started by adding turkey, bacon, and the new mozzarella slices, before it was popped into the toaster oven.  After a timer beeped, it was loaded up with TONS of mayo, baby spinach, red onion, and sliced tomato.  Somehow avocado never entered the picture, a kinda key feature of a “Cali” inspired dish, but I was glad, as I’m allergic and was going to ask to have it left off anyway.

I asked for pickles and olives (always my favs and what I used to double up on!), and my sandwich artist very grumpily added them, informing me that this sandwich was NOT supposed to have them.  Interestingly, the Cali Fresh steak version does not come with specified veggies like this, rather, you get to pick them. Why is turkey more opinionated?

Anyway, no salt nor pepper were added, no offer of any either.

I did kinda enjoy this sandwich.  The bread, yes, just white bread and not the hearty multigrain, was soft and fluffy, and did taste quite fresh, likely out of the oven less than an hour before, as I was there right near opening.  It wasn’t toasted really, the time in the oven wasn’t enough to toast it, but it was warm.  I liked the bread.

Then, the proteins: three thin styles of turkey breast, deli style.  Eh to turkey breast, but it was fine, quite generic.  Then the bacon, which looked fairly awful, flabby, etc but was fairly satisfying.  Maybe I was just in a bacon mood?  (Side note: Mendocino Farms has fabulous bacon, and I had it just a few days prior, so I think I had that on my mind).  The fresh mozzarella was melted mostly, from the oven toasting, which was nice.  The slices were fairly thick, highlighting the fresh motz style rather than deli cheese slice.

Due to all the premium ingredients (bacon, avocado, fancy cheese), this 6" sub is normally $7.89, more than the basic turkey, or other standard sandwiches.

"Cali Fresh" Turkey + pickles + olives: inside.

Inside was plenty of veggies.

The baby spinach was fine, although I prefer classic iceberg in a sando like this.  Red onions, also fine.  The tomato wasn’t bad, not mealy, but still fast food tomato, not juicy fresh heirloom tomatoes (again, compared to Mendocino Farms which is featuring some amazing heirlooms right now!).  These veggies were all just fine, they didn’t detract from, nor add to, the sandwich.

My addition of pickles and olives I quite liked, mostly for nostalgia sake, but also, I really do like their pickles!  I wished I had asked for hot peppers too, but, the sandwich maker clearly didn’t want to modify in the first place, so, I didn’t bother.  

None of these elements, not the proteins, not the veggies, not the bread, dominated the sandwich however.  No, this sandwich was dominated by something else.  The mayo.  So. Much. Mayo.  It was good mayo, and I liked the creamy quality it added, but, wow.  So. Much. Mayo.

So, overall, I did like it, strangely satisfying, nice for the memories, and my bacon inspired mood.  But I wouldn’t get turkey again.

***.

Update Review, May 2021: Cookie

I know, I know, I've never really quite cared for Subway in my adult years, not the subs, not the cookies, nothing.  But it was such a foundation of my childhood, a regular place on my family's rotation when we ate out (alongside Del Taco and Papa Ginos!), a place of fond memories (6" cold cut combo, all the veggies, extra pickles, extra black olives, mayo and making my own mixed fountain drink of orange-root beer-sprite!), that I finally returned.

Not for a sub though, but to get my birthday freebie cookie, during spring 2021 when I suddenly decided I loved cookies of all kinds.  Yes me, I started loving cookies.  I blame covid, because, really, I've never been a cookie lover before!

Anyway, Subway always has a selection of cookies in a display at the register, looking quasi-fresh baked. I don't recall ever, ever getting one as a kid, even when we were Subway regulars.

Strawberry Cheesecake. $0.79.

For my prized free cookie, I opted for ... strawberry cheesecake.

Strawberry cheesecake is a pretty non-standard cookie variety, and it struck me as interesting, particularly alongside the more run-of-the-mill offerings otherwise on display (choc chip, oatmeal raisin, sugar, etc).  I had to try it.

The cookie looked softer than it was, certainly a harder style cookie then I prefer.  I kinda assumed Subway baked the cookies off fresh daily, but it didn't strike me as particularly fresh tasting either.  Hmm.  Pedigree wise, it was an "eh".

The flavors were good though - intense bursts of fruit ("strawberry") and decent cream cheese/cheesecake flavor.  It wasn't too sweet.  I was fairly impressed with how it tasted.

But, the harder style, and lack of freshness turned a fun flavor into just an "ok" cookie.  I wouldn't get another, but was glad to try it.

**+.

Original Reviews

When I was growing up, my family went out to eat once a week, on Sunday night.  This may sound fancy, but, really what we did was go to "the driver's choice" of restaurant, aka, my dad's choice, which alternated between Del Taco, Papa Ginos, and Subway.  When the previous two closed, Subway became the family standard.  I kinda hated it, as I've never been a huge lover of sandwiches, but I got to mix my own drink at the soda fountain, and perfected a mix of orange soda, root beer, and I don't remember what else, which is really all I remember.  Oh, and the pickles.  I always liked the pickles.

Anyway, I didn't visit for years.  Likely ... 20?  I had no reason to ever return to a Subway restaurant.  Until ... T-Mobile did a promo where T-mobile customers got a free 6 inch sub of the day on Tuesday.  You know I can't resist freebies.  A few weeks later, they did it again, offering up free cookies.  What can I say, I went back.

Visit #1, September 2016: Sandwich

So, to Subway I went.  Unfortunately, the sub of the day was chicken, and I don't like chicken.  My favorite Subway sub was always just the Veggie Delight anyway, so I figured this wasn't a big deal, I'd still get the veggies, and I could just ask to have the chicken left off.  It seemed like a simple request.

"Then it would be a veggie delight, which is not the sub of the day, and your promo is not valid for that", was the response. I tried again, saying, you can pretend to put the chicken on, just, don't.  It wouldn't fly.  Well then, ok.  So I asked to have the chicken on the side.  The first person making my sub did indeed leave it on the side, but, as my sub progressed down the assembly line, each and every person decided to add it back in.  I eventually gave up.  There was no getting away from the chicken breast.  I didn't bother try it, since I don't like chicken, and this was surely not going to change my mind.  It was a thin strip of chicken with fake looking grill marks on it.

I can't say my trip to Subway was a success, but, mostly it was really just poor management at that particular Subway.

My visit was at 12:30pm, and they were out of almost all types of bread.  Isn't that prime sandwich time?  The line was ridiculously long, but the bottleneck was not the ordering section.  It was long to checkout, which made the line backed up all the way through the ordering stations.  There were at least 10-15 people in front of me in line, I was no where near the counter, couldn't see the options or anything, and had a worker asking me what I wanted.  From way back in line I tried to call out my bread choice and protein.  It was ridiculous shouting past all the people, but, the staff were insisting that people keep ordering, even though we were so far away.  It got more ridiculous as our subs progressed down the line, moving to the next station to have more toppings added, as we got progressively further and further away.  The staff really didn't seem to care though, just slapping things on and looking very bored.  When I asked for "extra pickles and black olives", I got an eye roll.  I don't think anyone took their "sandwich artist" titles very seriously.

Oven Roasted Chicken, Italian Herbs & Cheese Bread, 6 inch.

"The Oven Roasted Chicken you love is piled high atop freshly baked bread with your favorite toppings from spicy jalapeños to crisp green peppers."

I added cheese (Swiss), most of the veggies (leaving off spinach and cucumbers, but including lettuce, tomato, green pepper, red onion, banana peppers, 

, pickles, black olives), plus extra pickles and black olives, and Creamy Sriracha sauce.

When I visited my family over the summer, my little sister ordered a sub at Subway and asked to have it toasted, something I hadn't ever done before (did Subway toast sandwiches back when I used to go?)  But not only did she have it toasted, she had her onions and peppers toasted with the cheese.  I thought this was genius.  So I tried to replicate that here, asking for my onions and all the different types of peppers to be added with the cheese before toasting.

After it came out of the toaster, I had them add the rest of the veggie toppings and the dressing as usual.

When my sister did this, it looked great.  I think she had a steak and cheese, and it really did almost look like a Philly cheesesteak.  Her peppers and onions got soft, her cheese perfectly melted.  The same did not apply to mine.  It was toasted for only a second.  The bread didn't really get toasty, the veggies weren't softened at all, and the cheese wasn't melted.  What was the point of toasting?

For bread, I went with Italian Herb & Cheese after my other choices were not available.  It was stale tasting.  I thought Subway was all about fresh bread?

The lettuce (shredded iceberg), green peppers, onions, banana peppers, and jalapeños were all pretty standard.  Not particularly great, but not bad.  The tomatoes however were not good.  Thin, anemic looking slices, mealy.  It was summer, so, no excuse for bad tomatoes.

The pickles and sliced black olives I did love though, and they were pretty much what I remembered from childhood, hence the ordering extra.

It was my first time trying the creamy srirracha, a bit random, but, I wanted some flavor and I wanted to try something different.  In the past, I always went for mayo or the sweet onion sauce.  I sorta wish I had stuck to my old standbys, but, the creamy srirracha was ok, creamy, a bit spicy.

Overall, this sandwich really could have been ok.  It had potential.  But the staff just really not caring as they threw it all together, and the stale bread, really just made for a sub-par experience.

The guy behind me clearly knew what he was doing.  He also got the oven roasted chicken sub of the day, but turned it into a chicken parm!  He had them add marinara sauce (usually for the meatball sub) and had provolone melted on.  Totally different than what I'd expect from that sandwich, and, assuming he got it remotely hot after making his way all the way to checkout, I'm sure more exciting.

Visit #2, November 2016: Cookies

Near the register, at every Subway, is a display of cookies.  The standard lineup is chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, M&M, raspberry cheesecake, oatmeal raisin, sugar, and peanut butter, but they also introduce seasonal varieties from time to time, like Pumpkin Spice or Apple Pie.

Since I'm not a cookie girl, even back when I used to frequent Subway, I don't think I ever got these cookies.  But, two free cookies, who can resist that?

Chocolate Chip.

For my first cookie, I went with the classic chocolate chip, mostly intending to bring it to Ojan.

It was a totally boring, hard, crispy cookie that looked like it should have been softer.  Perhaps it would be good warmed up?

It had a decent amount of chocolate chips at least.

White Chocolate Macadamia.

For the second choice, I went for one I wanted: white chocolate macadamia.

It was, sadly, the same hard style as the chocolate chip.  Like the chocolate chip, it had a good amount of white chocolate chips, and a decent number of macadamias.

But, it was just too crispy to be the type of cookie I'd ever like.  Soft and gooey is the only way I ever enjoy a cookie.