Firehouse Subs French Dip Review

Today, we are reviewing Firehouse Subs’ French Dip sandwich, a limited-edition offering that debuted in late 2024. A traditional French Dip sandwich typically consists of hot roast beef served with au jus, which is beef broth. You dip the sandwich into the au jus while enjoying it.

Founded in 1994 by former firefighters Chris and Robin Sorensen, Firehouse Subs has expanded to over 1,210 restaurants in 46 states. Today, it is a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International, which also owns the chains Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons.

The Construction

As I strive to do for reviews, I ordered the Firehouse French dip with default options. In addition to hot roast beef, Firehouse’s take on the French Dip sandwich includes caramelized onions, a combination of melted Swiss and provolone, and Italian seasonings served on a toasted garlic roll. The au jus is served on the side.

The large size is a big and hefty sandwich. It comes in with a weight of 1 5/16 lbs.

Roast Beef (Default)
Caramelized Onions (Default)
Melted Swiss and Provolone (Default)
Toasted Garlic Roll (Default)
Italian Seasonings
Au Jus (Default – Served on Side)
Size: Large
Length: 11 3/4″
Weight: 1 5/16 lbs
Sandwiches Eaten: 2
Location: Indian Trail, NC
Price: $15.49

The Experience

For this assessment, we used a similar scoring method to what we do for most sandwiches:

Meat and Cheese 4 points
Bread: 2 points
Condiments: 2 points
Intangibles: 2 points

Meat and Cheese

The Roast Beef is definitely the star of the show here. It’s a medium-well roast beef with some char trim. This flavorful and savory meat would stand quite well on its own. The meat was tender and not dry, and it wasn’t overly fatty, either. I found it quite impressive.

As mentioned, the cheese is a combination of melted Swiss and provolone. It rests on top of the meat. I found the melted combination worked quite well. I was concerned the provolone would overpower the Swiss, but it did not do so. A good Swiss cheese has a slight sweetness. The provolone was milder and more of a flavor enhancer.

Score: 3.00 out of 4.00 points

Bread

Regarding Firehouse Subs, I tend to be critical of the bread. It tends to be light and airy, which was the case here. The bread has a slight crust from the toasting. In the case of the French Dip, using a toasted roll with garlic butter spread helped. It gave the bread a little extra flavor.

Score: 0.75 out of 2 points

Condiments

The caramelized onions have a nice amount of natural sweetness. Combined with the natural sweetness from the Swiss, they will add more sweetness to the sandwich than one may like. The onions are tasty, but combined with the Swiss, they push the sweetness slightly higher than I prefer.

The au jus adds more richness and savoriness. I tended to dunk the meat portion of the sandwich into the au jus more than the bread (I typically don’t like my bread too wet). You will want to take advantage of the au jus.

The Italian seasonings are added to the cheese, giving it just the right amount of “zip” to enhance its savoriness and sweetness.

Score: 1.50 out of 2 points

Intangibles

Roast beef remains the cornerstone of a French dip sandwich, as is the case with the Firehouse French Dip. This roast beef is so flavorful that it could easily be enjoyed on its own with just a roll. However, when you add caramelized onions, Italian seasonings, and a garlic-toasted roll, along with au jus, the flavor reaches new heights.

All of the components taste good together. The garlic toast roll combines nicely with the Italian seasonings. Most importantly, everything melded with the roast beef. The only negatives were: 1) the light/airy roll; 2) The sweetness from the Swiss and caramelized onions was more than I liked. Still, the positives outweighed the minuses here.

Usually, the light bread on Firehouse Subs can lead to a messy sandwich experience. However, this was not the case with the Firehouse French dip. It held together well, and even when I dunked the bread, it still held together well.

The amount of meat, cheese, and condiments here is generous, and Firehouse nails down the proportions. Plenty of meat in this sandwich is a major plus. There is also plenty of au jus, and I found myself slurping what was left each time.

One final note: the large sandwich is quite filling. Most likely, you can easily be filled by the medium size (7 to 8 inches)

Score: 1.50 out of 2 points

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

The French Dip was one of the better Firehouse Subs offerings I’ve had. Given that it was a $15.49 sandwich, I felt like I got my money’s worth in terms of quantity and quality. The roast beef was definitely one of the better meats I’ve had from Firehouse. This sandwich is better than the sum of its parts. While not a perfect sandwich, I would definitely eat the Firehouse French Dip sandwich again. I hope Firehouse brings this back on a recurring or regular basis.