Today, we are reviewing the Jimmy John’s Turkey Tom sub. This is the second of a five-part series called Turkey Sub Quest. The concept is simple: I visit five chain sandwich shops and review five similar Turkey Sub sandwiches. The goal is to rank how the subs stack up.

The Construction

All five 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. 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.

Here is the tale of the tape with the Jimmy John’s Turkey Tom Sandwich keeping as close to specifications as possible.

• Sliced Turkey Breast
• Provolone Cheese (Paid Extra)
• Lettuce (Default)
• Tomato (Default)
• Onion (by request)
• Oil (by request)
• Vinegar (by request)
• Oregano-Basil (by request)
• No Mayonnaise (by request)
• White Bread (by default) – 8-inch option
• Sandwiches Eaten: 2 (Two separate purchases)
• Location: Mint Hill, NC
• Price: $8.96

The Experience

Meat and Cheese

No problems with the turkey breast. It was moist and flavorful. While it looked smoky, there wasn’t much of a smokiness to the turkey breast. I usually prefer a little more smokiness.

The cheese was more on the mild side of provolone than sharp. I was okay with the end product of the meat and cheese but not the quantity. We will discuss this further as we continue this assessment.

Score:  1.75 out of 4 points

Bread

Jimmy John’s scored very nicely with the bread. While my personal preference is usually a hard sub roll, the majority of chain restaurants do not use a hard roll. In this case, Jimmy John’s had a really nice crust, and the inner bread component was also quite tasty.

Jimmy John’s also scoops out a portion of the inner bread. The idea is to give more room in the sandwich to house the ingredients. There is also an “LBI” (Leave Bread In) option, where they do not scoop out the bread. This option was not used in this scenario.

Score:  1.50 out of 2 points

Condiments

The tomato and onion proportions are pleasing with the Turkey Tom, but there was way too much lettuce. Multiple sandwiches were eaten, and quite a bit of lettuce, which was on the crisper side, was present on each.

The oil and vinegar added to the sandwich were the perfect amount. They did not overwhelm the sandwich or make the bread soggy. The oregano/basil option is a nice one as well.

The default condiments are lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise.  Mayonnaise is not an option for me, but if you are a mayonnaise fan they do tout using Hellman’s Mayonnaise. The onion, oil, vinegar, and basil/oregano are optional components added for consistency.

Score: 1.25 out of 2 points

Intangibles

Appearance is not covered in this assessment, but unfortunately, the Jimmy John’s Turkey Tom is not impressive. The way the bread was scooped out did hide some of the condiments, and I had to look inside the sandwich to validate that it was correct.

Jimmy John’s falls short on proportions. There is way too much lettuce and not enough meat and cheese. You can request more meat and cheese, but we assess on defaults. Even with the bread scooped out, the taste of lettuce and bread is a bit overpowering. The side view of this sandwich really shows the bread in the photo below, but most of the lettuce is in the scooped-out portion of the bread.

Score: 0.25 out of 2 points

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

There are some excellent ingredients in the Turkey Tom, but the problem is it tastes more like a lettuce sandwich, and the turkey component is the most critical part. The turkey felt like the secondary ingredient here. I want my turkey sub to be turkey-forward. Yes, there are options for more meat, which could make a difference, but the goal of this exercise is to get somewhat close to the default. Overall, there was so much more potential here, but the way it came to get nets was a slightly below-average rating.

Summary

Meat and Cheese	1.75
Bread	1.50
Condiments	1.25
Intangibles	0.25
Total	4.75

Score: 4.75 (out of 10 points)
Value: Slightly Below Average

The Turkey Quest Standings (Through two Subs)

	Sub	Meat/ Cheese (4)	Bread (2)	Condiments (2)	Intangibles (2)	Score (10)
1	Subway Oven Roasted Turkey	2.50	1.00	1.25	1.00	5.75
2	Jimmy John’s Turkey Tom	1.75	1.50	1.25	0.25	4.75

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop