What is with the smell at Subway??

[ziggylu]

I forgot my lunch today. Needed something cheap, quick and healthy. The closest option to my office that fits these three things is Subway so I ran down there.

And remembered why I never want to go there.

The smell. THE SMELL!!

When I tell other people I won't eat there because of the smell they look at me like I'm nuts. I can't be the only one though...EVERY Subway I've ever been to - in whatever state - has smelled the same.

Why?? For a place that focuses on "fresh" ingredients, what is making that smell?? I don't even know how to describe it other than: ick!

[artemis]

Blog post on Subway's ingredients in its ingredients:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012...

[Rilke]

Good find!

[Samalicious]

I don't exactly consider that investigative journalism. Is anyone shocked that the bread contains stabilizers and the deli meat contains nitrates? Subway lists all the ingredients they use in plain sight on their website.

[Rilke]

I don't believe it claimed to be investigative journalism. I appreciate the straightforwardness of the tables she created. Plain and easy.

[Boston_Otter]

I've gone to dozens of Subways and visit the one near me one a month or so, and I'm always baffled when people mention the "Subway stench". I have no idea what they're talking about. I smell bread being baked, vegetables, the smell of recently-toasted subs, and occasionally cleaning products... is that what folks are smelling? I'd much rather smell those things than the stench of old hot oil inside McDonald's.

[Rilke]

Have you ever been in a bakery where bread is actually freshly made and freshly baked -- rather than par-baked, frozen, and shipped to the store, where it is merely finished, as Subway does? The difference in the smells is huge.

[Boston_Otter]

Haha, yes, surprisingly I've visited a bakery before. There's a huge difference between the smell of a scratch bakery and Subway, indeed -- by no means do I think that the "sandwich artists" are proofing loaves of bread in the back. I'm just saying the smell of 'finishing' bread and the other scents are totally innocuous to me.

[Rilke]

Just checking! The smell of baking bread is a wonderful thing and should not be associated with the smell of Subway (at least for those to whom it's offensive) ;)

[monkeyrotica]

When I worked at Dominos, we'd get shipments of dough delivered in proofing bins that we had to put near the ovens to get back up to room temperature. The stuff didn't smell like dough fresh made in the kitchen. Nor did it smell like dough that had been proofed. It just smelled "unnatural." It's like you're looking at dough and expecting a dough smell but getting something else, something not right. Anyway, that's the closest to the Subway "stench" as I've gotten and I can die a happy person never encountering it again.

[Boston_Otter]

Huh! That actually gives a really good clue as to what people are smelling. I'm guessing that the "SubSmell" is actually the proofing/half-cooked bread dough, since there's a ton of it at any Subway. I'd be really interested to know what's in the loaves of dough that keeps them ready to cook. Ammonia?

[MonMauler]

That's a similar process to what we did when I worked at Subway a decade and a half ago. The dough was frozen logs that came in cardboard boxes. When it was getting about time for more bread, we'd go back in to the walk-in, break a few logs off the frozen mass in the cardboard box, dust the rubber baking forms with cooking spray, and allow them to come to room temperature before baking them.

Don't get me wrong: I like Subway and still end up there once every month or so for a reasonably tasty and, more importantly, healthy lunch, but there is definitely a distinct "Subway Smell." I burned all of my work clothes the day I quit to eradicate the smell. No method or amount of cleaning could get that smell out -- destruction was the only option.

[Chowrin]

indeed. i hasten to add that I've left dough in the fridge for half a week, and it hasn't smelled as bad as subway.

[GraydonCarter]

I worked in a biopharmaceutical facility that did research into Human Tissue Growth and Repair and the whole lab smelled like pizza. It was great!

[GraydonCarter]

This week on the Daily Show: "You don't normally see it on camera, but it smells like a loaf of bread took a s**t." - Jon Stewart on the Subway restaurant inside the studio http://on.cc.com/n6i4Oj

[roadfix]

The Subways located in Lucy's Lavanderias smell more like detergent and bounce.

[tmniebauer]

I completely agree with this... I've been telling my girlfriend for years that Subways smell awful. Normally, my rule of thumb is to walk out of any restaurant that smells bad... but Subway is the only exception because the food tastes fine and it is healthier than other lunch options. I am so happy to find this forum because I finally know that my nose is NOT alone. I totally agree with the BOUNCE and DETERGENT smell... I am tempted to order my next Subway with a clothes pin on my nose.

[jd160251]

I have joined this dodgy website - no automatic return to this thread; couldn't even direct me to this thread when I specified "smell in Subway" - so I can tell you OMG I agree. Except that I have never been tempted to step into a Subway, because healthy it ain't - healthy food does not smell like decaying bodies. Also because it might as well have a big sign up in every outlet saying: "The animals who went into this food had a really, really terrible life, and we don't care."

[microtube]

This post seems to be about a year too late but... We love Subway but the smell has been horrible. It used to smell good like fresh bread. I believe it all started when they began toasting the sandwhiches, or it could be one of their newer specialty breads. Anyways, they need to fix it. We do not eat in the stores anymore!

[Ralphie_in_Boston]

I haven't even considered eating at a Subway since I moved to Boston (where Mom & Pop pizza/sub shops are on almost every corner of many residential neighborhoods).

I don't remember them smelling bad. I do remember them tasting bad.

It must be something they've done more recently. Hey, maybe they want it to really smell like....A SUBWAY (in Boston, Park Street Station...in New York, Times Square....eeewwww)..

[CatalinaCupcake]

SMELL is the strongest of the senses, strong in that it is the sense most likely to trigger memory, and to be remembered. This is SO true about subway--- I used to go there all the time during my Freshman year of college---there was one right next door, and being a college student, it was one of many depressing options. I usually stuck to a turkey sandwich, but on "special occasions" would treat myself to a meatball sub. I dont even want to think what was in any of that meat!

Recently I was sick and lost my appetite, which would lead me to pretty much satisfy any random craving i'd have, because at least it would indicate that I was hungry. All of a sudden, i WANTED subway, a turkey sandwich with that honey mustard. Upon entering, it was amazing, i was TRANSPORTED by that smell back to freshman year of college. It was actually a pleasant experience remembering all the fun, unhealthy times I had had. But I was shocked at how quickly it brought me back, it truly is a powerful aroma!

[mattesq]

It's the smell of mediocrity.

[widehomehi]

hah

[randyjl]

Hysterical thread! Guess it must be a money printing machine. I live in a town of <10,000 and we have 3 of the places! But we have a Quiznos opening very soon. Bye bye Subway!

[clim212]

Hmm ...I guess it depends if I'm really hungry or not because sometimes I think it smells kinda yummy. However on hot humid days when NYC already stinks, walking by a Subway can be overwhelming.

[SarahOM]

Ziggylu, I am so happy to read your post cause a lot of ppl never understand what I mean on "I do not want to go cause ill have the smell stuck to my clotsh and hair all day". The only times I actually go into a subway is on the weekends when I can change my cloths or stay outside for a long time! My hsuband loves it and dont get me wrong I like their sandwiches. But geeeeeez the smell that you get from walking into the establishment is something extremely annoying.

[fdb]

I used to own a Subway. I can tell you it's the smell of the dough rising in the proofer....plus the evaporated olive oil and vinegar used on the sandwiches. Although it was a money-printing machine, glad those days were over.

[mojoeater]

I worked in a bakery for three years, and good, fresh bread does not smell like that in the proofer. What the heck is in that Subway bread?

[fdb]

bread doughs at Subway came frozen....could that be the reason?

[Chowrin]

absolutely not! costco bread comes from the factory... it don't smell like that! not at all!
(course, costco bread is sourdough)

[dothepuyallup]

There's alot I'm embarrassed about here, but anyway, on the morning on the Fourth of July, my BF and I were shopping at Walmart and from the time we walked in we were enveloped in this quasi yummy smell of pizza, you know, the yeast, tomatoey sauce, cheese. Even though we had just finished brekkie at Mitzel's (The Chain That Doesn't Suck, Usually), after our shopping we followed our noses to the Subway outlet in the WM. They had big signs advertising their new pizzas. Having heard about them on CH, I told my BF we needed to take one for the team. After all, if it was disgusting after one bite, we didn't need to finish it. We never even got that far. After being ignored by the two employees, we gained their attention by asking if we could order a cheese pizza. I kid you not, she reached into a freezer and pulled out a cellophane entombed frozen pie. We cancelled and left.

[don giovanni]

I went into a cell phone store today and the whole room smelled exactly like Subway. I went back in a few hours later and the smell was still there, so I finally asked, and sure enough, one of the employees had a sandwich for lunch earlier. I can't believe it. One sandwich made the entire room smell for hours!

[vinogirl212]

Actually, that "baking bread" smell from Subway might actually be coming from am electronic scent box (I kid you not!) If you've ever seen an aromatherapy diffuser, these things operate in a similar manner, but on a larger scale.
I used to work at a restaurant and one day a marketing company came in to pitch these things. They are actually commonly used in many retail stores and the scent is customized for the store (aka Subway's baking bread). They can also used like aromatherapy. For example, some stores pipe in the subtle scent of peppermint to energize, other use lavender to make the shopper feel calm.
This company thought that since we were a restaurant, using one that had an enticing food smell and having it released to people walking by on the street would entice them to come in.

I really wish I was making this up but I'm serious. So, everyone is right on the mark when they complain about all the artificial ingredients and preservatives at Subway - even the smell is fake!

[monkeyrotica]

So you're saying there's actually a company that sells a machine that will make a store smell like butt? And people pay for this? I'm in the wrong business.

[embee]

While I don't know whether Subway uses them, the "smell machines" really do exist.

[jd160251]

Love it. Some of your fellow Americans seem to have no nose. jd from UK.

[Suzy Q]

How else do you think that Cinnabon makes the entire mall smell like cinnamon?

Evil bastards.

[Ralphie_in_Boston]

Disney has been doing this for years too. People walk down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom and are enticed into the 'bakery' by the scent of fresh baked cookies. Only the cookies are baked in a food processing facility away from the park.

[dinnerbell]

Yeah, I've always wondered about that smell . . .

[don giovanni]

Thinking about this, I feel very sorry for the poor folks who work there. They could easily end up like the man in that dmb song Big Eyed Fish (if you know the song, you know what I'm talking about).

[PrincessBakesALot]

I thought it was just me too! Re-visiting a childhood memory of that great tourist-trap, the Shell Factory in Ft Myers Fl a few years ago was completely destroyed by THAT smell! Why oh why they put a Subway in there, I'll never understand. To me it smelled like they were heating frozen pizzas with the plastic wrap still on them. Icky, bread, plastic & cheese. I was so nauseous from THAT SMELL I had to wait outside!

[HomeCookKirsten]

OMG, this might be one of the funniest threads ever...I was CRYING I was laughing so hard.

No one understands why I cannot stand subway...I actually have almost shunned all sandwiches because of some bad experiences at subway. I also heard a TERRIBLE story about what a kid in my high school did to the tuna salad one day in the walk-in, and I have never felt the same about subway since.

I do recall some broke/vegetarian-ish years where the (at the time) $1.99 veggie sub got me through some tough times.

I think people who care little about food and taste/quality but just are hungry and are really trying to be healthy eat there because it's a no-brainer. But I can't see actively seeking it out!

[widehomehi]

I heard that at all Subways there is a time capsule with Jareds first burp from the first sub he ate on a commercial concealed in an airtight container within the capsule with a few drops of the meat preservative there was a reaction and the burp gas was released and has permeated the walls and perimeter of Subways all over the world for an area of 1 city block.Now come on people get real!!!!!!!!!!!

[aurora50]

Has anyone tried Blimpie's? Are Blimpie's subs better?

[John Manzo]

erm... no.

[monkeyrotica]

I suppose it's all relative, but the Blimpie Best Italian sub beats anything Subway peddles. And there's no yeasty/butt smell at Blimpie.

Then again, saying Blimpie is better than Subway is like saying colon cancer is better than lymphatic cancer.

[John Manzo]

It's the bread baking. Nothing more.

I mean "bread" and "baking," of course.

[pikawicca]

Bread baking smells wonderful. There's something else going on at Subway.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Bread baking? Since when does bread baking smell like a warm fermentation of a blend of 65% food waste, 10% used cooking oil, 15% floor mop rinse, and 10% water from the pot scubbing station?

[Veggo]

Actually, Sam, Subway uses no cooking oil or pots, so you are down to 80%. Your 15% floor mop rinse implies that floors are really being mopped, so dissection of your math reveals that you are giving credit for roach-free hygiene at Subway. The remainging 65% -food waste - sounds like we need a will Rogers Quotation. "I never met a turd I didn't like?"

[fara]

God, these replies are hilarious! especially since I thought I suffered alone. As someone else mentioned, I'm never eating there again after this thread. They somehow become popular in student unions, somehow wormed their way onto many campuses. One year of my life I ate many buffalo "chicken" wraps. There was nothing else, so it became a habit. I don't remember the smell there, but I used to cross the street to avoid the one near where I worked in Manhattan.
What I wonder is, how can they stay in business with such a gross smell emanating from the place? Is not everyone aware of it? Perhaps subway has the market cornered on heavy smokers who have lost their sense of smell? but then there is still the mouth feel of cheap meat -
There are actually subways overseas. this i could not believe. i was in amman recently, and I can understand the perception of McD's as fun for kids, but why in a city with the best schwarma and falafel sandwiches for $.30 a piece would anyone go near a subway? my conclusion was that they must be different, every time we drove past (multiple locations!). there's no way people would eat there otherwise. though I don't understand why people would eat there here, barring lack of any other food source.
- it smells like vomit, let's go inside and eat whatever is giving off that smell!!!!

[Robert R]

I'll never forget the first time I went to a Subway, approximately 1989. I was traveling and the rest of the occupants of the vehicle I was in suggested Subway. I protested but was overruled. I went for a simple type of sub, like an "Italian". The saltiness and overprocessed taste of the meats astounded me. There wasn't much meat on the sub, either. And that smell... I am pretty sure it is the yeast in their "fresh baked bread". Yeah, the bread might have been baked today but how old is the dough and what is it made out of? This was in Buffalo, NY. Buffalo is a town with pizza joints every few blocks that have subs that blow these out of the water.
Eight years later, my finace (now wife) who I had recently met dragged me to another Subway, this one in Gainesville, FL. That same smell... My strategy that day was to go as simple as possible, a turkey sub. Thin, chemically, salty, and not much turkey on that bread. It would be hard to get that down without mayo on it, much to Jared's chagrin.
Fast forward to last year. There was some new spicy chicken or Buffalo Chicken sub that they were promoting in TV commercials and it actually looked enticing - and I love spicy food. I was driving down the road and there was a Subway up ahead. I actually pulled in on my own accord - I was alone, and suddenly found myself in a Subway, this one in Seminole, FL. This was a pretty new Subway and surprisingly that smell wasn't so strong. It was lunchtime and I was about the fifth person in line. I stood in the line anxiously awaiting my spicy chicken sub for about one minute when the voice inside me remarked, "Rob, do you realize you are actually standing in line at Subway???!!!". I immediately left. It is good to listen to that little voice inside you...

[vorpal]

> Yeah, the bread might have been baked today but how old is the dough and what is it made out of?

Grab yourself a pot of tea, get comfortable, and load up their website. They have an ingredient list for their "bread", but a warning: there are far better novellas out there than that one and they don't require a degree in chemistry to understand.

> This was a pretty new Subway and surprisingly that smell wasn't so strong.

*grins* It's like a fine wine that seems only to improve with age!

[Sam Fujisaka]

Fool, that was, "Ya caint shine a turd".

[Veggo]

Por favor, keep watchin' out for me, Sam, especially when I next make my Oaxacan chicken with the velvety, chocalatey, chili-laden sauce replete with small rodents.

[don giovanni]

Sam, I think the idea is that it's not the actual baking that smells bad. It's the raw, *cheapy*, yeasty dough sitting around. Really, if you ate there, you wouldn't believe how bad their bread is. But I think lebelage is right, that it has at least something to do with the cheap meat, as well. Grease, waste, sterilizers and dishwater are all present in the smell at, say, McDonalds, but the subway smell is unique.

If you pay attention (and for your sanity, don't!) you can taste that smell in your sandwich. I know because I took one to go about a month ago, when some friends wanted to eat there, thinking it would be okay outside the store, but the sandwich carries the smell/flavor with it.

I need a drink.

[Veggo]

I guess Fred DeLuca the Subway founder would call it the smell of money - it made him a billionaire!

[vorpal]

I also think that it's the bread. If you read the ingredient lists for their breads on their websites, they're unlike any self-respecting bakery that you'll ever come across; I wouldn't stoop to call the end result "bread". Some of them even have high MSG ingredients like autolyzed yeast extract and hydrolyzed proteins in them. Who uses those in simple baked goods unless they contain meat? Abysmal.

[Withnail42]

I too know what you mean. Figured that it was something to to with the bread.

meandmyfork.blogspot.com

[macca]

Oh my goodness-Have never eatern at a subway, and this thread has me convinces not to!! But- a small part of me wants to find a local subway and pop my head just to understand!

[Sam Fujisaka]

Ive never eaten at one either; and in my experience, you don't need to pop in--the rancid smell is clearly present outside!

[don giovanni]

Exactly. The creature survives several meters outside the door. I'm seriously never eating there again, now that so many people have validated this.

[macca]

Oh- that is awful. In my area, I guess i can be grateful that there are not a lot of Subways near by. I think the closest one to me is abnout 12 miles away- but I do pass it on my way to work everyday, so I will try to make a point to go by!! This thread has really made me curious- a terrible compulsion , almost! Kind of like a car crash- awful, but hard to stop looking.

[RGC1982]

There are a number of smells common to Subway. Unfortunately, the kids on my daughter's softball team are often condemned to eat Subway versus the fast food of the greasy variety when we are on the road, so I get to try a new Subway every weekend (lucky me). First, there is the overpowering yeasty odor from the bread that is constantly proofing in the place prior to baking. I think that is one of the strongest odors. The meats are allegedly not held in preservatives, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt here. They just seem to taste like supermarket sale-quality deli meats to me. I think the most notorious smells are in the dressings -- it's the familiar "hoagie" smell of onions, vinegar and garlic that seems to permeate the restaurant at times and all those who eat the stuff dressed to the max. Anyone who has ever lived near Philly will recognize it. If you eat a fully dressed hoagie, you need to take a shower afterward because the smell ends up in your hair, on your face and on your clothes. I think that is the funky "BO" aroma everyone is complaining about, but it could be a combination of the hoagie dressing, onions and the yeast causing the bread to rise.

[lebelage]

"The meats are allegedly not held in preservatives, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt here"

I can't give them the benefit of the doubt on that. I worked there. Each "log" of processed meat came in a thick layer of preservative slime. Now maybe they've changed since then (although I doubt it) but I will always remember the year that I lived and worked with that terrible smell.

[janetofreno]

I don't think that its the bread. I think its the raw onions sitting around. I can't STAND the smell. And its not just Subway...its any sub shop. There is a Port of Subs (local chain) near my office...and sometimes its the only place for a quick bite. But I ALWAYS get it to go.

There is a local Pho place that shares quarters with a sub shop here in Reno (sort of a mini-food court. I wouldn't even THINK of eating there because of the smell....even though I like Pho.

And the worst is the Baskin Robbins near my house that shares quarters with a sub shop.

[ziggylu]

Well I'm glad to know I"m not the only one! My husband thinks I'm crazy...I made him read this to prove I'm not!

I wouldn't be surprised it were the preservatives. That would also explain why both the turkey and the roast beef sandwiches taste identical to me!

[GDub]

A friend of mine that worked at a Subway told me that if a customer came in just prior to closing time and requested all of the items on their sandwich they were treated to the "agregados" or what was left in the catch trays from all the other subs made earlier. That little nugget was enough for me!

[tatertotsrock]

I must confess, that's what I had for "dinner" tonight after working from 6am-8:30pm...thank goodness the one by my house dose NOT have the smell but I have smelled that stank in others and lost my appetite...there are two that do not have the funk-stank-one in Studio City, CA where the SAG/AFTRA Credit Union used to be and one in Glendale CA in a Ralphs parking lot on North Verdugo...these two also have very nice people working in them which is almost shocking like you're gonna be on some hidden camera show since most Subways usually have some sullen, bitter, greasy people working in them.

[widehomehi]

I went there today and smelled bread cooking smelled good just wish they could tell be which meats had pork in them cause I don't eat pork the lady there didn't know and started asking the customers.So I left and went home to cook a Michaelangelo's Lasagna.

[lebelage]

widehome;

Generally as far as cold cuts go if it isn't roast beef, turkey, chicken, or tuna it has pork.. although some do carry "turkey ham".

[Scott M]

I think its Jared on a treadmill sweating off the pounds in the back of the restaurant.

[Oh Robin]

LOL. My cousin used to work at a Subway when she was around 18 or 19 and I'd drive her crazy by walking in and yelling "I want to talk to Jared!". :)

[Sam Fujisaka]

Really weird. The Sub-Way that I have to pass coming and going from the office I work in when in Washington, DC, stinks and can't be avoided because the restaurant is on the ground floor of the building. I don't think its the bread--something worse.

[pikawicca]

I think it's the meat they keep warm, like the 'grilled chicken.' Smells really bad.

[lebelage]

As someone who worked in a Subway during my youth I think I can tell you.

I'm pretty sure it isn't the bread...
...it is all the chemical preservative liquid the meats come packed in.

The smell was overwhelming and VERY hard to get off after a shift.
The very thought of it makes my eye twicth.

[lisaf]

Ew. Thanks for solving the mystery though. Why doesn't Quiznos have this same *aroma*?

[mojoeater]

Quizno's uses higher quality meats. I've always found Sunway's meats to be rather slimy, while Quizno's seems to be at least super market deli quality.

[widehomehi]

I agree Quiznos is better but there prices are a rip.I get there coupons from there site and the only time I eat there is when I get the 2$ off a footlong coupon.Even then it's expensive.But they got a pepper bar and a few hot peppers makes you forget the price.

[yehfromthebay]

I travel a lot for work to places that people never go to for vacation. I am always grateful to see Quizno's. I throw in about 25 jalepenos in my sandwich and the heat makes me forget that I'm in a podunk town.

[widehomehi]

lol

[susancinsf]

can't say about Quiznos, but the Togos near my office has the VERY SAME SMELL!!! No, I dont eat there but I can smell it even walking by!

[don giovanni]

yikes! why couldn't you just let me go on thinking it's the bread. i think i will never eat there again after hearing this! i feel light headed...

[aurora50]

I hate the smell too, and thought it was some kind of preservative for the vegetables they use. So it's the meat, huh? Or do they preserve the veggies, too???
YUM - NOT

[KaimukiMan]

so much for "eat fresh"... ugh...thanks for sharing - i knew I didn't like subway, now I know why!

[ciaobella]

ziggylu - it's marketing strategy, it's supposed to smell like a New York subway! Just kidding ~ hasn't bothered me before, but now it probably will!

I cannot stand the smell of 7-11's and other quickie marts- ugh, must they alway smell like expired hotdogs and vomit?!

[don giovanni]

That's funny. I was going to say it reminds me of the smell from field trip busses in high school.

[MsDiPesto]

The stench of 7-11s seems to be the same from store to store. To me it smells like a combination of milk gone bad and plastic, and it stays with you after you leave!

[don giovanni]

Oh my gosh, that smell!!! Don't remind me! I hate it. I think it probably does have to do with the bread. But I've never smelled anything like it from any other cheap bread. The smell gets on you too. I was in there for like 2 hr once (don't ask) and I could smell Subway on my clothes and skin for the rest of the day. It's so amazing. I used to live across the street from a really cheapy bakery and the smell was heavenly. I don't know how Subway does it.
And now I've lost my appetite.

[marti]

I avoid the whole area ( consists of five stores) surrounding Subway as the smell is so awful!! Can't imagine anyone really enjoying eating with that odor. Worse than the fishy smell of supermarket seafood counters!! I really have a problem with the odor in the commercial bread isles of markets also for some time now. Think it may be preservatives they put in the dough. Pretty well limiting my shopping to farmer markets and Artisan breads!!

[Bill on Capitol Hill]

Yep; I'm with you! Some sort of funky not-in-a-good-way yeast smell.

I'm developing a similar feeling about Cosi after standing in line at the drugstore behind a particularly disgusting Cosi-uniformed employee who was drenched with sweat and smelling faintly of the vinaigrette they put on my standard order, the tuna-cheddar sandwich ...

[cor]

My boyfriend refuses to eat there for that same reason.

I find it oddly comforting. [weird, i know]

[lisaf]

I think it's something in the bread. But not a good bakery smell which I normally enjoy. I totally know what you mean.

I can't eat at Subway ever since my honeymoon when we stopped for lunch there on the way to go reef fishing. Tiny town in the Florida Keys with few options. Nearly everyone on the boat got sea sick. I can't even think about their sandwiches without feeling queasy. No big loss.

[Oh Robin]

It's that horrible bread. I call it "air bread". And their soda tastes like bubble gum.

[ziggylu]

It's the bread?!? Really?? Lordy be as the saying go....never smelled anything like that at a bakery thank goodness!

[lissah]

Ugh...I worked in a shop next to a Subway for a while and every day I walked out of there smelling like Subway. I can't even think about eating it now.

[DCLindsey]

I totally agree! I can smell a Subway from far away. Is it the yeast or something in the bread that they bake? Its pretty distinctive and strong.

[Midlife]

In our neighborhood there is a Togo's/Baskin-Robbins combo. My wife refuses to go in there (except under dire need for a mint choclate chip fix) because the smell of the Togo's just ruins her taste for ice cream. The Togo's smell does remind me of Subway. Not sure it's the bread, but there IS a definite smell to all those sandwich places.

[widehomehi]

Oh no I wonder if they'll be spin off threads about the smells of restaurants.lol
Just tell me this does it smell like mediocrity,thats the only good answer i've heard for Subways smell.