Dave’s Cosmic Subs

You know those days that you just CANNOT with your life? Those mornings that you struggle to get out of bed, fight downtown Cleveland traffic and drag yourself into the office, only to sit next to a cubicle mate that insists on clipping his fingernails before you’ve had your first cup of Joe? Rejoice! You have something to look forward to! You now have reason to exist! Dave’s Cosmic Subs, located conveniently downtown will bring purpose to your lunch and life. I’ve tried several sandwiches and my favorite is the Far Out Chicken Sub with extra peppers and cosmic sauce (because why wouldn’t you get extra?) It is the most delicious sandwich that I’ve had in Cleveland. The only thing I would not recommend on their menu is the coleslaw, which is rather bland. I would also recommend calling ahead because during the lunch rush the wait can get rather long.

Best subs in Cleveland. Love the Grateful Dave and also the owner, Dan is pretty groovy.

Tons of options! Can’t wait to try the meatball and some other famous subs! I had the southwestern steak and the bread, and spicy mayo were perfection. Beef was a tiny bit dry, but the seasoning and ingredients were all great. Nice and fast service too! I hope to update this review with 5 stars after trying some more sandwiches.

I’m powerless against Dave’s Original Sub! It is the yummiest and freshest-​tasting sub on the block (I’m lookin’ at you, Potbelly’s!).

Ambiance: 4. Dave’s is a 60s-​themed sub-​shop and a nice change from plain-​vanilla peers like Subway, Penn Station, etc. Appreciated vintage posters, murals, etc.
Cost: 3. Pretty standard versus other premium-​sub shop locations. Won’t be quite as cheap as a Subway, but you get what you pay for.
Food Quality: 3. A lot of solid menu choices, bread is fresh, and the signature Italian dressing sauce is smothered over practically all of them unless you say otherwise. Only gripes with Dave’s — 1) the bread is stuffed so quickly/​full sometimes that cheese etc falls out almost immediately, 2) what you’d expect when you see a «pickle» included in your meal is really a «cucumber», nowhere near the brine you’d expect. I therefore recommend hot subs over cold as to keep ingredients together.
Service: 5. Have had friendly and fast experiences 100% of the time I’ve visited this location.
When to return: Lunch, solid sandwich option. When you can’t handle Subway anymore. To get your daily dose of classic rock.
Pro tip: If you’re all about the Italian dressing it’s now sold at local Cleveland grocery stores.

Good bread complimented with a great dressing on my «original» was music to my taste buds. Dropped in for lunch the other day and I can’t wait to go back.

Dave’s Veg-​Out is one of my favorite sandwiches ever! The Haight is also good. I love the bread, all the cheese, the artichokes, the peppers, and the cosmic sauce. Now, I know it’s just Italian dressing, but it is the perfect recipe. The pickles are really good also.
As much as I like Dave’s I have one complaint about this location. It closes at 3:00 pm!!! Really? Some nights before a game or concert there is not enough time to sit down at a restaurant so I opt for takeout. I do love J. Gumbo’s but sometimes I want a cosmic sub! Please Dave, if you can, stay open a little later.

The #1 was too heavy on the sauce and white onion, but overall not a bad cold cut sandwich!

Great find in the Cleveland area if you are looking for a great sub that has it’s own style. Good atmosphere with deep music history roots. Support local forget subway you will be impressed.

After reading reviews and hearing good things from friends, I decided to give Dave’s a try. I went to the downtown location on E 6^th during mad lunch rush and boy was it busy, which made me think it may really be great! The people behind the counter, weren’t rude which was a plus, but you could tell it was just a systematic «get orders and get them out» process — which was fine due to the rush, but I hope they’re friendlier when it’s slow…
I ordered the Veg-​out and got it cold. The bread was good, but I was NOT impressed by the rest. It was pretty much a shredded cheese sandwich with «special sauce» on it. Don’t get me wrong, I think of cheese as its own food group, but when I want a sandwich, I want more than cheese. And, the special sauce was pretty much italian dressing in my opinion. Maybe my friends and those who wrote good reviews are basing them off of meaty sandwiches and those may be great, but as far as the veg out goes, not impressed.
If I go back, I may try the garden burger or pizza sandwich. Neither have the special sauce and hopefully neither come ¾ full with shredded cheese.

It was my first time here. Best horseradish sauce ever! Definitely opened the sinuses. Super friendly staff that has no problem helping you decide what you want.

I’ve been working downtown for months now and have only recently discovered Dave’s and my life has forever changed. They have, hands down, some of the best subs around. Their options are plentiful and have about every combination of different meats that you can imagine. The Turkey Dave is my favorite; I think the banana peppers and the special sauce that they put on it definitely make it. I’ve also had the Original Dave’s Sub, which is their signature sandwich. It has a heaping portion of salami, peperoni and prosciutto, among other things. The shop is small, but consistently packed at lunch on weekdays. There are only a few tables to sit at, so it’s best when taken to eat on the go.

Dave’s Subs have really grown on me. The more I have them and try different things on the menu, the more I understand the lure of this sub shop.
This location is great, if you ask me. The interior is like all others-​hippy, tie-​dye, music posters, signatures, murals. There’s never really a wait. This could be because they make the subs quickly or because I somehow keep missing the lunch rush, but I really don’t ever have to waste much of my lunch hour waiting on service or a sandwich here.
That said, I couldn’t tell you what I love more about this place: the service or the sandwiches. The sandwiches are delicious, but the service is just so… HAPPY. Everyone is always happy and curious about what they can do to help you. And every time I tip, I get a huge appreciate smile and thank you, which either tells me people don’t tip enough here and they’re surprised and need it (that’s a whole other rant that I could go into, but will save you) or they really are just geniunely thankful. Either way, after coming here for lunch my day is almost always happier and tastier.

I like this downtown outpost of our local sub chain. The Dave’s sauce that they put on almost everything (basically an herb oil) is good, but I always ask for it light. The variety of subs is nice, and I recommend toasting whenever possible. My only qualms with this place are the long wait times (call ahead if you can) and maybe slightly higher than perfect prices.

Tried the Veg-​out sub, hoping for a healthy meal. Good lord, there were about two raw mushrooms and a few banana peppers on it. Oh and a leaf of lettuce. But it was filled with about a half a pound of shredded (unmelted) cheese. It was a basically a shredded cheese sandwich. And to crank the calorie count up, it was slathered with «special sauce» (italian dressing).
Really dissapointed.

Meh. Second time I’ve used that in a review. Had the Crazy Dave, on the menu #1 sub in Cleveland, and was bored by it. Let it be known that I’ve eaten at the original way back when it first opened (97? 98?) and thought it just ok then.
Certainly better than the larger chains and a bit more creative, but subs seem to lack a real direction. Almost like they just toss together ingredients and see if they sell.
Give me an «Italian» sub that makes me crave it (capicola, salami, pesto, …) and I will be back and sing high praises.
Grateful Dead music is appreciated, but felt that it was forced. I went to 106 shows. How many have the staff been to?

I had Dave’s for delivery for the first time during a business/​working lunch. It was good, but coming from another city with notable subs, I was not completely awed. It was tasty and what you would want as a good deli sandwich, but is nothing especially unique.
The delivery also took an hour. The delivery boy came on a bike. That might have had something to do with it.

Not a fan — Why is the bread so hard? I would love to enjoy a sandwich without injury.
ouch.

I just visited Dave’s for the first time. I had the Height Ashbury. It was a great sandwich with fresh quality ingredients. Dave’s sauces rock and the special marinated tomatoes were hella good!
The good ol’ Grateful Dead music playing in the background along with the old Ameba Records shirt hanging on the wall made me miss San Francisco.
Thanks Dave!

Dave’s Cosmic Subs is trippy and yummy all wrapped up in a sub.
The flavors of Dave’s subs are good, but I don’t go here often because the bread is tough and they put banana peppers on almost all of their subs. It’s not like Subway where you tell the sandwich artist every single topping you want. Instead, you order the sub and they hand it to you their way.
Dave’s is good in that they’re unique, but the wait is usually twice as long as other sub shops in the area. You can call ahead or fax in your order and it should be ready by the time you pick it up, but who does that?
The atmosphere at Dave’s is cool, but really small. I recommend getting your sub to go unless you want people standing over you while they wait in line. The shop has a high ceiling and lots of Beatles pictures and 60’s art, etc. Definitely a cool, hippy sub shop!
The price of Dave’s subs are higher than other sub shops in the area. I really wish I could say more positive things about this place, but oh well.