The Reason We Think Jersey Mike's Has The Absolute Worst Fast Food Sandwich Bread

Few foods are as ubiquitous and universally enjoyed as the sandwich. Plus, the versatility of this food has virtually no end. From cold cuts to hot proteins, veggies to cheeses — a sandwich is the perfect blank slate for some culinary creativity. Plus, let's not forget what could arguably be the most important aspect of a sandwich: the bread.

If you've ever had a sandwich with stale, chewy, or just bad-tasting bread, you know it can ruin the whole thing — no matter how good the fillings are. With this in mind, Chowhound decided to taste and rank breads from 11 fast food sandwich chains. 

Our ideal bread can hold toppings without collapsing, has a soft interior with just enough crunch on the outside, and adds a mild flavor to the mix. Plus, it must taste fresh. This last point is tricky because, at fast food chains, fresh bread is not always readily available. Show up late in the day, and you might end up with something that's dry and stale from just sitting around. Some chains that bake their bread in-house manage to deliver despite this challenge (like Panera, for example). Others don't, and when we stacked them all up, Jersey Mike's ended up taking the crown for the worst fast food sandwich bread on our list.

We really wanted great bread, but we were even willing to settle for something that could simply stand up to the rest of the sandwich. Jersey Mike's white bread had none of these qualities. Instead, it was dry, crumbly, and unable to hold up to the toppings. (It was certainly not sturdy enough to support a sub ordered Mike's Way). A good sub shouldn't collapse halfway through eating, but that's exactly what happened with this one.

Now Jersey Mike's does offer other options, including choices like whole wheat and rosemary parmesan. The rosemary parmesan bread gets tons of praise online, and could probably be considered a crowd favorite. But that's not what our ranking was based on. Other customers claim to love Jersey Mike's white bread, so there is a chance we happened to get a less-fresh, end-of-day loaf. Still, if a chain's default bread option isn't consistent, that is just as problematic. 

Jersey Mike's white bread feels like an afterthought that is nothing more than a vehicle for the fillings. The chain does offer salad bowl-style meals that completely skip the bread altogether — that might be a better idea than a sub served on the chain's default bread.