Meatballs may conjure images ofItalian spaghetti with red sauce, but there’s something distinctly American aboutmeatball subs.
Yet, for something so simple, there’s a vast chasm between great and meh.
Indeed, the simplest sandwiches, like meatball subs, are often the best indicators of craft and quality.
Photo: Shutterstock. Design: Eat This, Not That!
Without a melange of ingredients to potentially mask imperfections, meatball subs show their qualityor lack thereofin plain sight.
This sandwich cost me $6.29.
The taste:No offense to Mama, but her meatballs aren’t anything special.
Photo: Matt Kirouac, Eat This, Not That!
The sauce was indeed lacking, though what remnants of it were present at least tasted seasoned and fresh.
In fact, Subway’s frills-free meatball sub was downright good!
The six-inch sub cost me $5.39.
Photo: Matt Kirouac, Eat This, Not That!
The taste:The taste isn’t quite as surprisingly successful as the look, but it still over-delivered.
And speaking of the bread, it was a bit overpowering and rubbery, which wasn’t ideal.
Aside from that, though, the marinara and cheese were home runs.
Photo: Matt Kirouac, Eat This, Not That!
In fact, the cheese on this sub was probably my favorite cheese of any of them.
If this was a cheese sub taste test, it would probably win.
Everything looks perfectly balanced, layered, and delicious, if a bit unruly.
Photo: Matt Kirouac, Eat This, Not That!
The seasoning sprinkled on top looks, unlike Subway, fresh and fragrant.
This is quite appetizing, to say the least.
The taste:Biting into this thing is a tricky endeavor that requires some dexterous jaw work.
But the efforts are rewarded with a sub that’s super well-balanced and flavorful, albeit quite messy.
I loved the ample sauce, at once slightly sweet, tangy, and rich with Italian seasonings.
The same is true of the meatballsplump, tender, and frankly, gigantic.
Points were only docked for the cheese and the general chaos of the sandwich.
This was, surprisingly, the best meatball sub of the tastingand, perhaps expectedly, the most expensive.
A 5-inch sub cost me $11.79.
The look:Admittedly, the not-as-melted-as-I’d-like cheese left a bit to be desired.
But beyond the top surface layer, everything looks pretty fantastic.
And this one clearly doesn’t skimp on meat, marinara, nor cheese.
The bread, too, looks perfectly fluffy and ample enough to hold up to the filling.
Everything about this, from the pleasantly chewy texture to the sauce-slathered meatballs, was pretty perfect.
