The Jersey Mike's Sub You Should Think Twice About Ordering

There are many reasons to be a fan Jersey Mike's, from its fresh-baked bread and high-quality ingredients to its hearty portions and must-try items from its secret menu. After all, there's a reason why Reddit named Jersey Mike's the absolute best sub chain around. However, as much as we enjoy sinking our teeth into an Original Italian sub, not all of their sandwiches are created equal. Food Republic taste-tested eight Jersey Mike's subs and ranked them, and found one particularly disappointing sandwich: the tuna fish. This sub earned the last-place spot in our taste test.

The tuna fish sub features a made-fresh tuna salad with mayonnaise, freshly chopped celery, and a dash of pepper. However, our taste tester noticed that the sandwich tasted overly fishy. This could be attributed to the fact that Jersey Mike's uses a combination of albacore and light tuna to make their tuna salad. Whereas albacore tends to have a milder flavor, light tuna tends to have a more pronounced taste. When combined, you'll end up with a fishier flavor than a tuna salad made with just albacore. Plus, the tuna salad contains only four ingredients, so the fish flavor is likely more noticeable than if you level up tuna salad with fun additions like Dijon mustard, chopped walnuts, or apples.

While there are ways to neutralize the taste of white tuna — for example, adding lemon juice, fresh herbs, or onions to create more umami – our taste tester ordered the sandwich Mike's Way with shredded lettuce, sliced onions, tomatoes, red wine vinegar, olive oil blend, and spices (oregano and salt), and this wasn't enough to tone down the fishiness. 

A great sub sandwich should contain a perfect balance of flavors and textures between the fillings, produce, and condiments. However, in the case of Jersey Mike's tuna sub, the fish-forward taste of the tuna salad seems to overwhelm everything else. If this doesn't sound good to you, another Jersey Mike's sub you might want to avoid is the Stickball Special, which our reviewer ranked as the second-worst thing on the menu. Featuring provolone, ham, and salami, this meat-centric sub suffers from similar issues to the tuna fish. The strong, salty flavor of the salami, along with the ham, overwhelms the rest of the sandwich, preventing the other flavors from shining through.

Instead, if you're looking for a sandwich that's packed with balanced flavor, get the Club Sub next time you go to Jersey Mike's. We ranked this sub as our number one pick –- and for good reason. It features Turkey, ham, provolone, plus sizzling applewood-smoked bacon and mayo. Whereas the subs above were dominated by one flavor, the bacon provides a delicious warmth and crunch to the sandwich. The fat and saltiness of the bacon also give some delicious depth and umami to the dish. Order it Mike's Way, and the fresh elements, paired with the red wine vinegar and olive oil mix, will round out the dish, hitting all the right notes we expect in a delicious sub.