The breakfast at Subway was a hair better than we expected. That’s not saying much as we didn’t expect quality at all. The only element that wasn’t typical of breakfast was the fact that it came as a sandwich on their usual selection of bread. The elements are all there, but they’re presented differently.

I arrived early and had the opportunity to sit and observe the early morning coffee crew. Old persons in baseball caps sitting around, grumbling about the snow. I stared out the window and felt disoriented by the waviness. I’m convinced it’s the tint because it made me feel hung over, when I wasn’t (really). I also got to listen to a heavy dose of Subway radio, their proprietary station. That means that inoffensive, vanilla songs played in-between the commercials. I pity the people working there that have to listen to it all day. Really, it was music so inoffensive it was offensive.

The coffee came self-served through a complicated machine that incorrectly had an option for size when there was only one size available in cup and space in the machine. The coffee itself might not pass The Campsie Test. We could see the stir stick going into the cup for a good inch before it got too dark, but we had no convenient glass and light source to do the real comparison to Campsie. It barely had any flavour, though it was strong. How does that work? It also had a greasy film on the top, before we took our first sips.

This Subway does things a bit differently. The one on Broadway and Carlton has an actual skillet where they cook the eggs in front of you. At the River Ave one they pulled pre-made, identical omelettes from the fridge and microwaved them. Same with the bacon. Same with the hashbrowns. I got cheese, tomatoes and a small line of mayo on my sandwich, and the end result smelled sorta gross. It was probably the smell of warmed mayo and fridge-omelettes. All I could taste was the mayo, really. The bacon was nowhere to be seen, flavour-wise.

I’ve actually had worse hashbrowns. They gave us exactly four hashbrown buttons each, and they were kinda tasty. Again, they are just reheated but you can see some element of spice in their composition.

In the end, people who like Subway will like their breakfast. I’m only a moderate fan of the place, so I expect more from my food. Leif describes Subway as a default restaurant – one you go to just because it’s right there and fast, but you rarely set out to eat there.

Andrew finds the coffee machine baffling.

November 12 2008

Subway Sandwiches

445-B River Avenue

Hours of operation:

Mon - Wed     7 AM - 1 AM

Thurs - Fri      7 AM - 3 AM

Sat                      8 AM - 3 AM

Sun                     8 AM - 1 PM

(Hours as listed on their door.)

Omelette Sandwich  $3.49

(served until 11:00am)

$0.99 hashbrowns 

$1.29 coffee.

Breakfast most inglorious.

I didn’t really want to do a fast food place like Subway (less noxious than McDonald’s though it may be). When I saw the large reader board out front proudly proclaiming hashbrowns with their breakfast sandwich, I knew it was inevitable. Yes, that means McDonald’s and A&W are on our list, too. We’ll keep them for a throwaway review. This is throwaway review, as we didn’t do one on the weekend so we pulled one out of our ass we could knock off really quickly during the week. We didn’t even invite anybody else to come, such was our shame.