Review: Subway Parmesan Garlic Roast Beef Sandwich (New/Limited Time Only)

It takes quite a bit to get us to eat at Subway these days. There isn’t much to get excited about, after all. Instead of making sandwiches that don’t suck, Subway has been focusing on chasing trends lately. Antibiotic-free meats, “carved” turkey, and bullcrap like that. Meh.

Every time we think we have given up on Subway, they do something that actually sounds remotely interesting.

And here we are. Again. Yay!

We saw a commercial for the new, limited time only Parmesan Garlic Roast Beef sandwich. Then, we heard commercials on the radio. Swell. So, we go to look it up. And we can’t find anything on Subway’s site. At all.

Well, now we were confused. And we’re not even drunk. This is a combination that is never good.

We did some further digging. The only thing that we can find is a Facebook post from Quick Pick 4 Convenience Store in Greensburg, Kansas…

Note that in this Facebook post, the thing is called a “melt.” Close enough. The pic of the food is the same as the signs in our local Wichita stores.

Based on our investigation, we suspect the sandwich is being tested in the south central Kansas market. We’re detectives! So, if this thing goes national, we brought it to you first. We’re reporters!

So, off to Subway we went. Seems like we’ve been down this road before!

Our Subway was jam packed with people. The line was long, we were hungry, and our beer was getting warm. Not good. To the Subway employees’ credit, they moved all the sweaty bastards through the line fast! Good work, Subway people.

We were hoping to find a serving suggestion in the store. We want our test sandwich to be like what is in the picture of the sandwich in the store. Sometimes, Subway now suggests what to put on the sandwich on the store signage. Unfortunately, there was no sign with a suggestion for us today. You mean, we have to think now?? Not cool.

The sign in the store says, “Our MADE-TO-ORDER toasted cheesy Parmesan Garlic Bread gives roast beef a decadent new taste. TRY IT ON ANY SUB!” Plus, the sign shows orange sauce sitting next to the sandwich in a dish.

OK, then. Again, we were confused. Is there a Parmesan Garlic Bread? What does “try it on any sub” mean? What’s with the sauce?? Need more beer!

We asked questions, and found out that Subway puts the sauce on any bread that you choose. It is then toasted. Basically, the sauce makes the bread in to garlic bread. Fascinating! We chose Italian bread for our test sammich.

We tried to order the thing like it looks in the picture in the store. The only veggies we could see in the pic were spinach and tomatoes. We were instructed that cheddar cheese comes with the sub. Subway also sprinkles grated Parmesan on the sandwich. So, we got all of that. And we had them toast it.

And here is what we got…

Doesn’t exactly dazzle, does it? Did we just say “dazzle?” Wow.

No fast food ever looks like the promo pictures, so whatever. We can live with that.

Well, it doesn’t wow ‘ya from that angle either. It’s been a rough day…

This view gives you a good idea of the sauce. The cheese melted all over the beef in the toasting process. It is better than it looks, people.

Subway doesn’t exactly pile on the meat, but that is the standard.

After all that information (and we’re not even drunk yet!), finally we can get on to the review!

The roast beef is the meat of this thing (that was a REALLY bad one, eh?!), so we’ll start there. Some time ago, Subway changed its roast beef to “slow roasted roast beef.” It is seasoned differently than the old roast beef was. Check it out here. We are guessing that is what is on this sandwich, but we can’t say for sure. Why? Because there’s nothing about it anywhere!  AHHHH!

The roast beef has a very good flavor. There are hints of garlic and other seasonings. The flavor is strong and good, unlike the roast beef they used to use (which tasted the same as the turkey!). It is tender and juicy (pretty sure we’re supposed to say “HO HO!” here!). This is surely accentuated by the toasting of the sandwich. Warming the beef helps bring out the juices and flavors. This is like a high-quality roast beef you would get at a deli. We did not expect this at Subway. We don’t know how they cook the beef, but this is good stuff. Yes, we’re shocked!

The bread is standard. But the key is the sauce that Subway puts on it. The sauce was slathered all over the one side of the bread.

You can see the orange color, and you can see what looks like some kind of seasoning in the sauce. We don’t know what is in there, and we can’t look it up. But after the sandwich was toasted, the sauce truly does give the bread a garlic bread flavor. It is not oily or greasy. Our sandwich artist put just the right amount on the bread to give the effect, but not sog it out or overwhelm the sandwich. Good stuff.

The tomatoes and spinach go well with the overall flavor. Again, this is all the veggies we could see in the picture. Good call, Subway. The combination is good.

The grated Parmesan cheese was pretty plentiful on our test sandwich. It had a nice flavor without taking over the whole thing. It mixed well with the other flavors. The cheddar cheese was pretty tasteless, and might as well have not been there. But if that’s the biggest problem, we’ll take it.

This is a really good sandwich, people. The beef is excellent. The sauce and garlic bread flavor mix perfectly with the beef and Parmesan to provide a unique taste that differs from regular roast beef sandwiches.

Here’s the bottom line…we WOULD get this sandwich again. Most specialty stuff like this we wouldn’t bother to go back for. This one we would.

There is only one problem. The price. We got a six inch, and it ran us $5.99 plus tax. The footlong version goes for $8.99. For just the sandwiches. Add chips and a drink, and you’re talking some coin here, people.

Yes, yes, we know. Specialty sandwiches cost more. But damn. You’d be looking at almost 13 bucks for a footlong, small bag of chips, and a 22 ounce drink.

Is it a good value? Only you can decide. We are poor writers, so this sandwich is out of our price range. Which sucks. Because we want another one. Right now.

We gotta give it to Subway on this one, though. This sandwich isn’t chasing trends, which is cool for a change. It is just a good, unique spin on a classic. We are fans. You win this time, Subway. Big time.