Today, we are reviewing the Homemade Turkey Sandwich from Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop. This is the fourth installment of a six-part series (we expanded it from five) called Turkey Sub Quest. The concept is simple: I visit six chain sandwich shops and review a similar turkey sub from each. The goal is to rank how the subs stack up.
Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop is a growing chain in the U.S. It was founded in 1976 in Wilmington, Delaware and today has approximately 112 locations.
The Construction
All six of the Turkey Sub Quest reviews will use a similar format. All sandwiches will have turkey meat as the foundation. Provolone cheese will be part of the sub. Lettuce, tomato, and onions will be toppings. Oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and oregano will also be used if available. No mayonnaise will be used on any of the sandwiches. White bread will be the default, getting as close to a foot-long option as possible. In this case, Capriotti’s had a ten-inch option known as “Medium.”
Capriotti’s is quite different than most of the sandwich chains we have been assessing under the Turkey Quest campaign. Rather than using cold cuts, Capriotti’s actually roasts a Butterball turkey and shaves the turkey for sandwiches.
- Shaved Butterball Turkey
- Provolone Cheese (Default)
- Lettuce (Default)
- Tomato (Default)
- Onion (Default)
- Oil (Request)
- Vinegar (By Request)
- Salt (Default)
- Pepper (Default)
- Oregano (Default)
- No Mayonnaise (By Request)
- White Bread
- Size: Regular (7-inch option)
- Sandwiches Eaten: Three (Three separate purchases)
- Location: Charlotte, NC (Steele Creek)
- Price: $13.79
Capriotti’s is known for The Bobbie sandwich (which is available hot and cold). The Bobbie is a turkey sandwich that includes cranberry sauce and stuffing on it. Before you tell me that is a better option, it did not fall into the parameters of the Turkey Quest campaign which tries to normalize the contents of the sandwiches across different shops.
The Experience
Meat and Cheese
One can argue the use of shaved turkey as opposed to cold cuts doesn’t fall into the parameters of Turkey Quest, but I think it’s close enough and it was interesting to compare. For this review, I got three sandwiches, and in each of the cases, the shaved turkey was mostly dark meat. It was quite flavorful – not too dry and not too moist.
Par for the course with the chain shop sandwiches, the cheese was more on the mild side of provolone than sharp. It was a thin-sliced provolone that I appreciated.
The quantity of the meat and cheese was satisfactory. With a little more white meat mixed in the sub might have scored even higher.
Score: 3.50 out of 4.00 points
Bread
This was my least favorite part of the Capriotti’s Homemade Turkey sandwich. The bread was too soft, and it didn’t have much of a crust. It had a slightly doughy texture.
Score: 0.50 out of 2 points
Condiments
Overall, the tomatoes used on the Homemade Turkey were on the ripe side and had a nice sweetness. I was also quite pleased with the onions as they were not pungent. The lettuce was slightly wilted and wasn’t shredded thin.
The right quantity of oil and vinegar was used – not too much to saturate the sandwich and enough to give the sandwich some enhanced flavor. The salt and pepper ratio seemed perfect. As far as the oregano goes, it was a little excessive for each of the sandwiches I had.
Score: 1.25 out of 2 points
Intangibles
Proportion-wise, I thought Capriotti’s did an excellent job with the meat/cheese to condiments ratio. While the Homemade Turkey is a nice looking sandwich, it was a hard one to keep together even when on the plate. The outer condiments (tomato and onion) fell out of each of the sandwiches I had.
The sandwich’s components all tasted good, aside from the bread. The good news is the turkey, cheese, and condiments performed well enough that the shortcomings of the bread were mitigated.
There is no doubt that the shaved turkey gave this sandwich a different dimension. It definitely was an X-factor here.
Score: 1.25 out of 2 points
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
This sub scored really well for the meat and didn’t score great for the bread. In this case, the positive outweighed the minus as the turkey meat was consistently good. When considering the condiments and cheese, the shortcomings of the bread were mitigated. Coming in at 6.50 points, this is the leader in the clubhouse for the Turkey Sub Quest competition. Priced at $13.79, this is also the most expensive sub in the competition.
Here’s how to improve the sandwich: 1) Better bread, 2) More white meat, 3) better lettuce. This sub could have really scored high if it had done better in those areas.
Summary
| Meat and Cheese | 3.50 |
| Bread | 0.50 |
| Condiments | 1.25 |
| Intangibles | 1.25 |
| Total | 6.50 |
6
Score: 6.50 (out of 10 points)
Value: Slightly Above Average
The Turkey Quest Standings (Through 4 Subs)
Note: There will now be six subs from six different chains as a part of the Turkey Quest competition
| Sub | Meat/ Cheese (4) | Bread (2) | Condiments (2) | Intangibles (2) | Score (10) | |
| 1 | Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop Homemade Turkey | 3.50 | 0.50 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 6.50 |
| 2 | Jersey Mike’s #7 Turkey and Provolone | 3.00 | 1.00 | 0.75 | 1.25 | 6.00 |
| 3 | Subway Oven Roasted Turkey | 2.50 | 1.00 | 1.25 | 1.00 | 5.75 |
| 4 | Jimmy John’s Turkey Tom | 1.75 | 1.50 | 1.25 | 0.25 | 4.75 |
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
