Subway

The frosty winter weather makes my hands shiver as I reach for the door. As I pull the door open I am instantly drawn in by the enticing aroma of baked bread. I quickly close the door and am greeted by a warm welcome full of energy and passion.

I started off by asking the employee for a ½ size Rotisserie-Style Chicken sandwich, expecting her to immediately start.

“I’m not sure what that is, could you please be more specific?”

The sandwich I requested was a staple at Subway showcased all over their website, and this exact sandwich was displayed proudly on the window banner. For her to not know this made me question her experience and skill.

I was mistaken. Right as I finished explaining the ingredients she immediately started working as she asked for what’s next. While I was explaining my four sandwiches, three wraps, and two salads, the employees assumed a harmonic assembly-line formation reminiscent of the car making process. One worked just on the bread, another just on the vegetables and finally one just on the sauces.

After paying for everything, I sit on an excuse for a table, somehow meant to seat four people, and unwrap the food. The soft, warm bread slightly sinks into my hand, a sharp contrast from the weather outside, as I reach in for a bite. The sliced rotisserie chicken easily fills up my mouth with every bite, with the juices of the cucumber supporting to its flavor. I also had ordered the Rotisserie-Style Chicken wrap, another staple of Subway. Not surprisingly, both the bread and wrap version tasted identical with the sole difference being whether it had a wrap or bread. Even though this wrap appears to be a lazy clone of it’s older sibling, it still tasted as good. This lack of differentiation between the bread and wrap versions was apparent in almost everything I had ordered, but regardless both had their elegant yet impactful kick to my tastebuds.

With the Subway brand almost everywhere, over twenty-three thousand stores in the United States and reaching far over to countries such as Australia and Japan, it is easy to imagine them submerged in franchising and move away from core ideals. However, even from their first days, arising from the hard work of a 17-year-old high school graduate, Subway has focused on Sandwiches. With half a century worth of experience, Subway perfected its sandwiches. This culmination of experiences is easily apparent in the sandwich in front of me.

All the ingredients encompassing the sandwich were fresh and didn’t taste too plastic - an occurrence too common in other sandwich restaurants. Every tomato and cucumber had a strong but not too daunting taste as I bit into them. The lettuce snapped smoothly yet firmly with every bite. The assortment of vegetables somehow always complimented the meat.

However, without that meat, a plain vegetable sandwich resembled an empty coffin of hope. Unlike every other order which primarily centered on the meat, the Veggie Delite wasn’t satisfying. The juices from the vegetables, instead of infusing with the meat, seeped into the bread, forcing the bread to take on a damp texture similar to a sponge with water.

But by simply replacing the bread with a wrap, the outcome instantly changed. The wrap lacked the ability to soak up the juices and thus didn’t become damp. The wrap alone made such a profound difference in taste, I had to try this with a different type of wrap to see which one would taste better.

The two types easily contrasted with each other. The Spinach wrap was much more flexible and easily ripped compared to the Tomato Basil Wrap which was much firmer and rather brittle. Both wraps worked well with the Veggie Delite, however, for me, the winner was the former. The sturdy, but still malleable texture of the wrap contrasted the flimsy feeling of the tomatoes while working together with the crunchiness of the lettuce.

Nonetheless, even with the wrap the Veggie Delite still wasn’t fulfilling. After eating the meat-based wraps, I always felt stuffed. However, plain vegetables alone can’t achieve that effect.

Regardless, the faults of the Veggie Delite don’t infect the other items, each holding a unique and withstanding taste.

Other than the sandwich based meals, Subway also offers an assortment of salads and soups. Similar to the wrap, the salads were just the younger sibling to their more popular, daunting siblings. They didn’t have any outstanding quirks, yet most can’t be classified as bad either.

The Tuna salad was a clear disgrace though. Just like the others, it composes of a layer of vegetables and topped with meat. Unlike them, though, there was only one spoon of Tuna on the top versus having the meat sprinkled generously. This measly helping of Tuna disappeared in almost a few bites, nowhere close to last the entire dish.

If you were ever to order this dish, make sure to specifically request more than just one serving of Tuna. If you were to do so, this salad would return to the glory of its other siblings.

Now with the soups. The sandwiches, wraps, and even the salads can all be classified as siblings. The soup, however, would be their distinct cousin. They fearlessly try to join the Subway family.

I’d be lying, though, if I said they were bad. There were only two soup dishes, both satisfyingly warm. Its heat warmed up the primary meat toppings - either Chicken or Beef - making each bite into them even more delightful.

But at the end of the day, soups don’t conform with the other bread-based dishes. Yet, they do something spectacular, they easily differentiate themselves - something no other dish does.

Subway lacks originality in their dishes, all with the sole exception of the soups. Surprisingly, this isn’t really a negative: no one comes to Subway and orders ten meals as with other restaurants. In addition, rarely do people blindly pick a premade dish. Subway offers the freedom of choice through its extensive menu: you can either get a sandwich, wrap, salad or soup. This goes further with the sandwich and wraps having different varieties of bread, and the salads having different assortments of vegetables. You can follow with any, as much meat you desire and top it off with any sauces.

You go to Subway for options - you get to choose exactly the components of your meal; you always get what you want.

Subway

25050 Riding Plaza.

South Riding, VA 20152