What You're Getting Wrong When Ordering At Subway

There are so many Subway restaurants out there. Ordering a meal at one seems pretty straightforward. People do it every day. You've probably done it many times. Enter, ask for what you want, pay, and enjoy your sub. How could anyone possibly mess that up? Well, you could be getting some things wrong that may negatively impact a few things during your visit.

You might not be getting the maximum flavor out of your meal, or you may choose a sub that will be messy and hard to eat. Your overall experience could be unnecessarily unpleasant, and your actions could even affect other customers and Subway employees.

Fortunately, these issues are easily corrected. Though you might not be aware of what you may be getting wrong when placing orders at Subway, we have compiled this list to help ease the process. Take a look and be better prepared for your next visit. You may maximize every aspect of your experience, and might find new enjoyment at the popular fast food chain. 

Although people continue to debate this, Subway is considered fast food. The "fast" is as important as the "food". To keep things moving, it's important to be prepared to place your order. There is more to this than you may think. Knowing what sandwich you want is only the first part.

You'll need to be ready to order that sandwich the way you want it. This includes which bread, your choice of cheese or no cheese, as well as the veggies you would like. Then there are the condiments and sauces. Do you want your sub toasted? It helps to know the order in which Subway employees build sandwiches — generally, after stating which sub you want, you choose your bread and then the cheese. This is the point at which you ask for toasting. You then move on to veggies and then finally to sauces, condiments, and salt and pepper. Familiarization with this order lets you know when to request customizations for each part of your sub at a time that won't slow things down. It's a smooth process that keeps the line moving.

If you aren't familiar with Subway's menu, you can check it out online before you head to the store, or look at the menu board at the restaurant before stepping up to place your order. By being ready when it's your turn, you will avoid stressing out other customers, the employees, and yourself.

If you are choosing to go to Subway rather than another fast food chain, seeking a healthier option may be one of the reasons. The sandwich chain has a reputation of being a healthier destination than the typical burger and taco joints ... but that impression is not completely true. How healthy a Subway sandwich is depends heavily on which type you pick, as well as how you choose to build it.

For example, Subway's grilled chicken contains small amounts of caramelized sugar, dextrose, and sodium phosphate, all of which can be harmful if you consume too much of them. Other Subway items that should be eaten in moderation include bacon, cookies, and soda.

For a healthier sandwich, try the rotiserrie chicken, which contains less additives than the grilled chicken. You can further increase the nutritional content of your sub by adding tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, red onions, and spinach. Avocado is one of the healthiest sandwich add-ons available at Subway. The tasty fruit contains healthy monounsaturated fat and potassium, and avocado can boost heart health. In place of the cookie, try a side of applesauce. This Subway treat has no added sugar, and applesauce contains antioxidants that help prevent diseases like cancer and diabetes. With a little research and planning, your Subway meal can be as healthy as it is tasty. 

When building your Subway sandwich, it's good to take advantage of the tastiest ingredients. The fillings are certainly important, but don't overlook how a delicious bread can enhance them. Subway has a variety of bread options, and each has its own flavor attributes and can pair well with different sandwiches. However, there is one that tends to top them all. Subway employees on Reddit state that the Italian Herbs & Cheese Bread is so popular that they sometimes run out before the end of the day. And what's not to like?

This incredible bread is made with garlic, Parmesan, sea salt, and Monterey Jack cheese. This combination can boost the flavor of pretty much any sandwich on the menu. The Italian Herbs & Cheese Bread pairs especially well with a meatball sub. The flavor profile of the bread is a perfect match for the fillings. If you've never tried this tasty loaf, you owe it to yourself to order it next time out and see for yourself why it is so popular. 

Subway offers the option of toasting your bread. This can make for a nice warm sandwich by melting the cheese, heating the meat, and enhancing the flavor of vegetables. But this will also make the bread crispy. This is a plus if you like crunchy bread — however, not everyone does. 

If you prefer your bread soft and chewy but would like your sandwich to be warm, don't ask to have it toasted. You won't like the result. Instead, you can ask the sandwich artist to pop it in the microwave. A Subway employee on Reddit shared an anecdote about a woman who would occasionally visit and request her sub to be toasted, "but didn't want the bread crunchy, because then it would be too hard for her to eat it. Once I asked her if she'd like me to warm it up in the microwave so it would get warm and melty without toasting, and she loved it". This technique takes care of melting the cheese and heating other ingredients without making the bread crunchy. You end up with a nice warm sandwich with the bread just how you like it. 

If you watch a sandwich artist cut your bread, you'll see that they slice it down the middle, lengthwise. It's called the hinge cut. This was not always the method utilized by Subway employees. Once upon a time, there was a distinctive way Subway used to cut its subs. A V-shape was cut into the top of the bread, and the resulting wedge was pulled out. This created a channel that they could stuff with ingredients before replacing the wedge on top of the sandwich. By pressing down, the fillings were securely nestled within the bread. This made the sandwich easy to pick up and eat. Everything tended to stay in place, making dining neater and more pleasant.

Subway reportedly switched to the current method in the late '90s. The hinge cut is easier to make, but doesn't provide the channel that helped keep sandwiches together. Fillings sometimes slide out from the sides, which can be frustrating for the diner. If you remember the V-Cut and miss it, there's good news. You can still request the bread to be cut that way. Many Subway locations have at least one employee who knows how to do it, and will give your bread the V-Cut if you ask. 

Containing only 140 calories and just 4% of the recommended daily fat intake per serving, Subway's flatbread is a fairly healthy option. It also tastes good, has a nice texture, and wraps well around most sandwich fillings. Most, that is — not all. 

Ordering a meatball sub on Subway's flatbread is not recommended. The bread is too soft and flimsy. Tomato sauce soaks into bread and can make it soggy and weak. Flatbread is pretty flimsy to start with, and it is not well-suited to holding a meatball sub together. The bread tends to fall apart, spilling your meatballs and sauce everywhere. This is not a pleasant experience for you or the employees. 

Subway employees generally do not like making meatball subs on flatbread. It's difficult to wrap the bread around the fillings, and it makes a mess before they even finish. Adding veggies to the sub puts more stress on the bread, and can create a sloppy scene. Do yourself and the sandwich artists a favor, and choose a heartier bread for your meatball sub. 

Tuna is a popular choice for a sandwich, and it can be the base for a good sub. Subway offers tuna on its menu — but there have been multiple versions of the Subway tuna lawsuit filed by people who claim that the chain's tuna isn't made with real fish. 

These rumors were false. Subway uses real tuna. This is a solid menu item for the chain to have — in addition to providing delicious taste, tuna has the benefit of being high in protein and low in calories. This would make it a very healthy choice if the fish was simply placed on your bread. However, tuna subs are generally made with tuna salad, which is made with mayonnaise. That's where the problem lies. In fact, the tuna sub is one of the menu items Subway workers warn everyone to avoid. 

Mayo does have some health benefits, but only when used moderately. According to Subway employees on Reddit, multiple stores use a 50/50 blend of tuna and mayonnaise. That proportion of mayo is high, and can be unhealthy, especially for people with cholesterol problems. Another problem with too much mayonnaise is that it tends to mask the flavor of the tuna and the other fillings on your sub. Unless you love mayo on its own, your sandwich probably won't taste as good as you hope. If you like tuna, forget mayo and make your own tuna salad with a creamy dip instead. 

When you choose the meat for your sandwich, a single serving may not look like enough, and it may be tempting to order double. If you're really hungry, that extra meat can be comforting and fill you up nicely. But keep in mind that this will bloat your sandwich — and this is especially true of Subway's meatballs. 

Large round clumps of meat take up a lot of space. The sauce that covers them softens the bread and can make it weaker. Add double meatballs, and the dam can break, flooding the table and floor with meatballs and sauce. You will not likely enjoy whatever you can salvage of your sandwich.

Employee feedback has lamented the pitfalls of double-meatball sandwiches, as well. They are more difficult to make, close, and wrap. One sandwich artist on Reddit made this statement about the most annoying sandwich to make: "When I worked there, it was double meat meatball subs. It always turned out to be a mess, and it was hard to close". You can make yourself and your sandwich artist happy by sticking with single meatballs. 

People tend to like dessert, and Subway offers it. Subway's cookies are good, and if you need something sweet to finish your meal, get one. But keep in mind, adding this menu item means adding extra calories, so make sure to maximize the experience by enhancing your cookie order. 

There's nothing quite like a cookie fresh from the oven. You can't get that at Subway, but according to comments posted on Reddit, you can ask to have your cookies heated. Warming the cookie slightly melts the chocolate chips, giving them a gooey texture that boosts the flavor. This also softens the rest of the cookie, making it nice and chewy. Just picking up a warm cookie and bringing it to your mouth can feel good. A warm cookie can be as soothing to the soul as to the taste buds. If you haven't tried this, do it the next time you go to Subway. You will probably never forget to ask for a heated cookie again. 

Subway has a standardized order for preparing sandwiches. Usually, after you've chosen your bread, the meat and your choice of cheese are placed on the bread, and you are given the option of having your sub toasted before the vegetables go on. This sequence is effective, but by following this protocol, you could be missing out on an even tastier sandwich.

Toasting brings out the sweetness in many vegetables. The flavor is enhanced, and more delicious veggies contribute to a more delicious sandwich. Unlike other methods of cooking, toasting vegetables allows them to retain their nutrition. You get more flavor while still getting all of the health benefits. Better taste and better nutrition? That's a win-win, and something you should consider trying. The best vegetables for toasting are onions, green peppers, banana peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes. However, have lettuce and spinach put on the sandwich only after toasting. These leafy greens are delicate, and won't hold up well to the heat. 

Hot bread fresh from the oven is comforting and delicious. You may be tempted to ask your sandwich artist for a newly baked loaf. For several reasons, this is a bad idea. First, you may end up with bread that is underbaked if it hasn't been in the oven long enough when you ask. Doughy bread that's not fully baked can ruin the overall texture and taste of your sub.

Another problem is that hot bread tends to be soft and difficult to cut. Rather than ending up with a cleanly sliced loaf, the bread may be torn apart, making your sandwich messy and difficult to eat. The employee may even have to make multiple attempts at making your sandwich, wasting food by throwing away a loaf or two in the process. 

Furthermore, when bread first comes out of the oven, the pans are very hot. Typically, employees let them cool before removing the bread. If you ask for bread fresh from the oven, an employee could be burned by accidentally touching a hot pan. This is not a risk any worker wants to take. In fact, one Subway employee on Reddit emphatically stated, "No, I will not be touching the burning hot pan that you watched me just remove from the oven, just so you can have fresh herb and cheese bread." Don't ask an employee to risk an injury for the sake of your sandwich — let the bread cool. 

Sometimes, you may have an exceptionally large order for Subway. Maybe you're buying lunch for your whole office or family, or providing food for a party. Popping into your local Subway unannounced and placing a huge order is bad form, and just plain inconsiderate. It takes a lot of time to make that many subs. If the store is crowded and short-staffed, that makes the situation even worse. It could be a nightmare for employees to fill the order, and you will probably be frustrated by the amount of time it takes. Additionally, the likelihood for mistakes will be significantly increased.

Be considerate. Subway requests that customers provide 24-hour notice for giant subs and catering orders. This gives employees a chance to have the order written down before fulfilling it, helping to ensure they get it right. They will also have plenty of time to work on the order while dealing with the regular flow of customers. Giving your local Subway employees a heads-up for your big orders will ease their workday, and please you and your guests. 

Sauces can add to the flavor of many kinds of sandwiches. Subway offers several tasty sauce options. There are sweet or spicy sauces, and some that feature nice flavor combinations — such as honey mustard — along with the tried-and-true condiment mainstay of mayonnaise. Many people enjoy a nice sauce on their sandwich — but be careful when ordering sauce on your sub, especially if asking for more than the standard amount. Drenching a sandwich causes the sauce to overflow and soak into the bread, and wet bread becomes soggy.

A soggy sandwich can be difficult for an employee to wrap, and will be very hard to pick up and eat. It may fall apart before you even get it to your mouth. You could miss out on your meal, as well as make a big mess that you will have to clean up. This is certainly not the experience you are hoping for when you go to Subway. Stick to a moderate portion of sauce. 

It pays to go straight to the horse's mouth when you're looking for answers. When it comes to the dos and don'ts of Subway, nobody knows more than the employees who have a front-row seat during every shift. 

We looked for comments made by Subway employees on social media sites such as Quora, Reddit, Facebook, and TikTok. Many sandwich artists share stories of problems created by customers as they order, as well as their opinions on the ingredients available and what can make a Subway meal better. We particularly honed in on the mistakes that were more frequently mentioned. 

Comments made by other employees on the posts were also helpful in determining how many Subway employees have experienced these issues. The more frequent the complaint or suggestion, the more important it was to include. We want you to be prepared based on this feedback the next time you make tracks for Subway.