Go back to Jersey ya moron!
Written: Dec 23 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Price point, clean restaurant, err that's it...
Cons: Low quality ingredients = bad sandwiches
The Bottom Line: -
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| carnut2k4's Full Review: Jersey Mike's Subs |
"Go back to Jersey ya moron!"
If I had a nickel for every time I heard a cabbie in Manhattan screaming that out the window at someone. Of course that statement does date me somewhat - it's a throwback to the days of English speaking cabbies driving Marathon Checkers. Anywho…
I've been hearing a lot about another sandwich shop in town for quite some time now. Jersey Mike's Subs has been building quite the reputation for themselves locally and here on Epinions. After hearing some glowing reviews I was eager to try them out. Sadly folks, this is yet another disappointment sprung from the loins of the Garden State. I am adding my two cents into the Jersey Mike's love fest - but this is the voice of dissention.
A little history - very little
To paraphrase the company's own website a bit…Jersey Mike's was born down on the Joisey Shore, Point Pleasant to be exact, in 1956. Whether or not 'Mike' was a real person is left to the imagination. What is clear is that these folks learned to say 'Franchise' before they learned how to make a decent sandwich. A good deal of the website is dedicated to enticing legions of 'Mikes' to come forth and defile the art of sandwich making across suburbia.
A good idea gone awry
I admire their ambition. A sandwich shop that slices the meats and cheeses as you order your sandwich and bakes its bread fresh daily. Unfortunately they fell victim to greed and quality takes a back seat here. Hell, quality is tied to the back bumper and being dragged down a gravel road.
I ordered three sandwiches here and this is what it boils down to. Yes, the bread is obviously baked fresh and by fresh I mean the same thing that 'fresh bread' means when speaking about Subway or Blimpie. The pre-made and portioned dough is shipped in and baked on premises. Subway and Blimpie always do impress me with their breads - very tasty stuff. Mike's seems to have a cardboard like quality to it. No flavor is discernible save for a slight 'ode to Wonder Bread'. This isn't good bread - fresh or not.
The meats are another issue. I ordered Roast Beef, which in my opinion is always a good test sandwich for a new deli or sandwich shop. Roast Beef is always advertised as rare and fresh and if it really is, you can usually expect the rest of the menu to be pretty good. There's a simple trick to guaranteeing good Roast Beef - it's called Boar's Head. Mike doesn't know about that though. I'm guessing the beef is a major cost cutting opportunity for the boys back at corporate. They did indeed slice it when I ordered it and I knew I wouldn't be happy when I saw it but I said nothing. The meat looked over cooked and dry. Sure enough, when I got home and tried it, it was beyond dry. Desiccated is more like it. The Swiss cheese that I had on it was also sliced fresh while I watched and in fairness I have no complaints about it. It was fine - in fact it was the best part of the sandwich. The lettuce, tomato, onion and other toppings are pre sliced / shredded and sitting in metal trays at the prep station. The lettuce was a little wilted but in general I have nothing bad to say about the veggies.
Sandwich number two was tuna. There's only one way to screw up tuna and yes, Mike found another place to save a few pennies. You know when tuna is really good? When it's the expensive stuff. Solid white albacore. When you get the cheap stuff and the tuna is a darkish, reddish, brownish hue with a very strong cat food aroma, well that's the bad stuff. Mike uses the bad stuff. The tuna sub was like cat food on bad Wonder Bread. The veggies were ok but it didn't matter at that point. Cheap tuna is cheap tuna no matter how much you try to dress it up. Good God it was awful!
Sandwich number three was the best of the lot. A chicken salad sandwich which most likely was all white meat. I got the impression that both the tuna and chicken salad were brought in, in five gallon tubs. A good, fresh chicken salad at a really good sandwich shop usually has large chunks of chicken the way it does when it's homemade. This was closer to the consistency of tuna which made me imagine it was made in mass quantity somewhere. Of the three sandwiches I had, the chicken salad is the only one I would recommend to someone but I'd also tell you that it would be at least as good, if not better, at Subway or if you live locally, at Jon Smith's Subs.
Some other stuff
They offer the standard cold and hot subs that you would expect to find at Subway and Blimpie. A couple of soups and salads are available too. Sandwiches can be had in Giant (14 inch), Half (7 inch) or Mini (3.5 inch) and pricing is directly comparable to the competition. Figure around seven bucks for a Giant sub. The soft drink station is located in the customer area which means free refills and the restaurant I visited was absolutely spotless - and vacant. Their price point is fair but with the competition serving sandwiches that are so much better it doesn't surprise me that the first time I heard of this fifty year old chain was just a few months ago. Quality wise I could only imagine this restaurant succeeding in a captive market. So it goes without saying that I'm not feeling the love for Mike that so many others seem to be.
I dissent.
www.jerseymikes.com
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
carnut2k4
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Jason
Location: in the wind
Reviews written: 99
Trusted by: 59 members
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Muscle Shoals has got The Swampers
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