Firehouse Subs

Fine food but sllooowwww prep. Definitely some personal issues playing out behind the counter.

Awesome service. Finally a sub place where they give you awesome quality meat. Clean and really nice aura.

The positives: Infinite flavor option Coke machine. Cool Cyclone mural. Hot subs. Vintage Ames fire department photographs. Huge bottled sauce assortment. Free fire hats with kids meals. Drive thru. Good size dining room. 500 calorie and under menu. Dalmatian table tops.
The not so positive: Still working out the kinks. Service can be slow.
Firehouse Subs is new to Ames, but it’s not a new concept. There are 900 or so locations around the country. I’ve eaten at a few and the service is usually very quick. I’m sure this franchise will eventually get the hang of it as well. Ames is fortunate to have a location with a drive thru. Most locations I’ve seen don’t have one. Overall, a nice food option and a step up from the Subways of the world.

Not your traditional sub shop. Distinct flavor to their subs. Enjoyed my sandwich very much. And being a firefighter/​EMT I felt right at home with the décor Historical pictures of the Ames Fire Dept and the City of Ames.

Was put on hold in drive through then after a ten minute wait and starting half our order we were told there is a four limit sandwich order in the drive through! ! We have three kids and were told we needed to come in to place our order! Don’t go here! Unbelievable!

This is a chain of sub shops that just opened a branch in Ames a few days ago. It may be a little unfair of me to review it so soon after opening because any restaurant needs a little time to work out the bugs and it was also incredibly busy because of all the curious people wanting to try it out. The bottom line is that the food was quite good but (probably for these reasons) things were a bit disorganized.
I had a meatball sub, which was excellent, and far superior to the version you get at Subway’s. The meatballs were tasty, the bread was excellent, and the cheese was perfectly melted on top. At around 6 dollars for the sub alone, it was a bit pricey, but you can ameliorate this by signing up for the email newsletter before you go and getting an email in response giving you a free large drink. Then you can do an online survey using your receipt and get a free large drink for your next visit, and so on. So for six bucks you actually get a sub and drink, which isn’t too bad.
Speaking of drinks, they are served via one of those high-​tech coke machines that allow you to get about 500 different varieties of coke. Unfortunately there was a line to use it as well as to order a sub, but that was because there was some sort of malfunction and some guy had to come out and work on it for a minute or two.
The place was, as I said, quite crowded. When I arrived at 11:45 there wasn’t much of a wait but I grabbed a table even before I placed my order. When I left at 12:30 the crowd had gotten way worse and it looked like a 15-​minute wait to order. There was also a lot of ambient noise, so good luck trying to have a conversation with a friend.
The way things work is, you place you order, give your name, and then they deliver your sub to your table. At least that’s the way it is supposed to work. After fifteen minutes without getting my sub, I inquired about it, and a person behind the counter asked my name, checked my order, and said I would get it soon. Then he said «Wait a minute, did you say meatball sub?» I said I had and he said «We have you down for a brisket sub.» He immediately said he would do a meatball sub for me and a few minutes later called me over and said «Here you go, Mike.» I told him my name was Mark, and now I’m wondering if some poor guy named Mike didn’t get his brisket sub. Anyway, I hope these issues are just the result of «opening week bugs» and will be ironed out soon. I certainly intend to return; that meatball sub really was good.