Subway

Is it just me,or does anyone else just loves the way a Subway smells when you walk inside one?

I do like the smell of our local Subway, but the one at our mall smells like feet.

I don't love it, but there are a bunch of folks around here that really find it offensive.

I've only been in a few Subway's here in our area. All had a similar, unappetizing stench. I would venture a guess that one component of the "subway smell" is most likely the proofing and baking of the bread in the convection ovens.

Our Subway isn't bad, smell-wise.

I just hate their bread.  Lifeless, textureless, all air.

I once looked at renting an apartment on West 72nd street in Manhattan.  The second I walked into the flat, I was sickened by the nauseating smell of the Subway that was located on the ground floor (if memory serves, the apartment was more than 10 stories above the steet).  Needless to say, I didn't rent that apartment.

Normally, I like the aroma of baking bread, especially when driving by a huge white bread manufacturing plant. The smell inside the Subway is definitely that of the bread baking operation on premises. It is my opinion that these ovens should be properly vented. Instead, what I see is that a lot of these Subways vent their ovens into the restaurant itself, the rest of the mall, or the tenant space above them if they are in a multi-story building. I, too, have noticed a range between wonderful smelling and the stench of a New York City subway station is the middle of summer. The stand alone stores in rural areas seem to have good ventilation, and are the best of the bunch.

My personal opinion is that the smell of the bread baking in a subway is nothing like a bakery that does bread.  I find it offensive and I can smell if right away.  It smells sour to me and not at all appetizing.  I can not define the smell but it does damage to my olafactory senses enough that I avoid the subway.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Evidentally it's just you!

I have never noticed any particular smell to Subway.  I would rather sit in a  Subway for a couple of hours than to have to sit in a McDonald's  or a Burger King or a Shoney's........................Now those places really have a bad smell to me.

I will have to clarify this a bit as I have not been to a Shoney's in 100 years  (thank god)  but  the buffet bar smelled dreadful to me and I decided that life was too short to have to endure that again.

My wife & I can't stand the way they all seem to smell.....yuck! It puts us off from going in there unless we really are hungry.

Try googling subway &  smell together.

Since everyone is putting in their 2 cents - and I'm sure no one cares about my opinion - I'm still going to chime in---


I really don't like Subway -  to me is the most over rated and over priced fast food place out there for what you get for your dollar. 

Personally, I can't understand how a company that got its start in Bridgeport, Connecticut with real sub sandwiches, could ever have sold a single one of the sandwiches it now makes in Connecticut where they know what a sub is supposed to be.

you're right about that, Michael

Last time I was ever in one----'bout ten years ago in Miami------------smell hit me as soon as I hit the door-----------------moldy cut rate coldcuts and rancid cheese and wilted and soggy looking produce combined with a dumpster diver looking sandwich maker-----------made me hit their door in the other direction never to grace the doorway of another since---------------pure dreck----------------------just as a thought -------is Quiznos nothing but a Subway with an over sized toaster?
Hey Hoffman------------in Ct aren't they called grinders?
 
Russ

russ2304


Hey Hoffman------------in Ct aren't they called grinders?
 
Russ

Where I grew up they were all called subs. In Bridgeport, where my wife grew up, cold ones were called subs and hot ones were called grinders. I undestand that in some areas of Connecticut they were, or are, called both.

Dang no one seems to like them but me.Last year I was eating there at least twice a week.Hadnt been in a few weeks til yesterday.I love that smell walking in.Call me crazy!

Crazy? Naw. You're just from South Carolina.

DawnT


Try googling subway &  smell together.

I did, damn that's funny!

badbyron722

Dang no one seems to like them but me.Last year I was eating there at least twice a week.Hadnt been in a few weeks til yesterday.I love that smell walking in.Call me crazy!

Smell is one of the senses that guide us in a lot of the things we do. Look at people's reaction to a defective freezer full of rotting meat. Also, different people react differently to the same exact smell. There are also some people who do not think there should be any smell in the dining area of a restaurant.
 
To my earlier post, I should add that Subway restaurants have such toppings and condiments as onions, oil and vinegar dressings, japapeno peppers and pickles that also contribute somewhat to the overall "smell" in a Subway.

badbyron722


Dang no one seems to like them but me.Last year I was eating there at least twice a week.Hadnt been in a few weeks til yesterday.I love that smell walking in.Call me crazy!

 
Can't resist and will take the bait------------------------You're Crazy----------------all in good fun!
 
Russ

David_NYC
 

 
To my earlier post, I should add that Subway restaurants have such toppings and condiments as onions, oil and vinegar dressings, japapeno peppers and pickles that also contribute somewhat to the overall "smell" in a Subway.

 
So do many other establishments David. It's rather common nowdays to see a sandwich/sub assembly stations in grocery stores...even gas station mini-marts with exposed dressings,condiments, and vegetables. Some also bake their bread like Quizno's and operate tractor ovens....without that rancid  body odor-like signature smell. I haven't been to Quizno's many times..think twice. They too have aromatic breads...but I didn't leave with an olfactory impression that would deter me from returning like Subway.

LOL, Dawn. Last night, I passed a combination Subway and Papa John pizza fast food place on 8th Avenue and 47th St. in Manhattan. (You can see photos of this restaurant and the building it is in if you search for online reviews of the New York Inn. It gets terrible reviews.)

With both a pizza franchise and a sandwich franchise, I wanted to see what it smelled like. It had the smell of the bread baking in a Subway! It is now clear to me there is a flavoring agent supplied from an external source. The only other baked item I can think of that does this is garlic bagels, made with commercially prepared rather then fresh garlic.

So, this is an interesting discussion. Some people love the smell. Others, like me, are ambivalent. Others still hate the smell.
 
ADDENDUM: About this flavoring agent, I don't think it is coming from an Air Wick-type contraption. I think it is being directly applied to the bread, either mixed in with the dough or sprayed on the exterior surface of the dough.

Hello All,
No offense to anyone, but I have never noticed a smell
of bread or anything at the local Subways. 
My wife loves Subways, but I ...prefer local family owned
sub shops, smells and tastes of the food.
Take Care,
Fieldthistle

The stench of Subway keeps me away ,,, even if I'd have only had a wrap.

The smell is without question to do with the bread.

every subway i've ever walked by smells like yeast, and it's somewhat off-putting.  no bread i've ever made smells like that, and no bakery i've ever been in smells like that.  it's intense.  they probably load up the dough with yeast so it rises quickly.

onions and vinegar do smell like so people's BO, but in the sandwich application i think it smells very good.

the bread is most certainly the overpowering smell.

It doesn't smell like yeast.

It smells like a yeast infection.

saps


It doesn't smell like yeast.

It smells like a yeast infection.

saps


It doesn't smell like yeast.

It smells like a yeast infection.

i tend to agree.  and with that nugget now in the back of my head I'll *really* not be able to walk by one.  jeez.