Firehouse Subs

Beginning of 2015 was the first time I had tried Firehouse and I was hooked. Best little chain sub shop around here and the best part is I can walk from my house! Besides the obvious deliciousness of the subs, I love that they support the local firefighters. Kids love it because they get little plastic firefighter hats too. I always try to aim to try something different each time I go there and have not been disappointed yet. The staff is always friendly and hustling to get the orders in. Another important detail: I’ve called in orders ahead of time and they haven’t ever gotten them wrong (knock on wood) but honestly, if they did, I would still be back. I am Happy to have discovered this place!

Been here 10 or 15 times now and got my sandwich in the fastest time yet. My previous post was about how really sliw it was, like 15 mins, for a sandwich. The owner is here this time. Might be the difference.

Okay, went to this establishment one evening for a sandwich with my family. We all ordered, made ourselves comfortable at a nearby dining table. One of the employees came by and implied that he wanted us to leave cause he already cleaned the tables in the dining area. We ate our sandwiches in 5mins flat and left. #RUDE!

I placed an order online and was excited to try firehouse for the first time bc my dad raves about it. I placed the order and ventured over. There was 2 people dining and 2 guys working the front with some other employees in the back area. I wasn’t greeted at all when I came in and right away I got a lame vibe. I told the dark haired kid that I was picking up an online order and I paid and had to wait like 8 mins! Really? I placed it online and there were literally 2 other people eating there– one of which had their food already. As I’m waiting, the dark haired kid hears something, looks over and says «ugh, is that another online order??» Um, it’s your job, guy! Get over it and do your job. The kid who brought my sandwich out was nice, I guess.
The sandwich was not good. Not tasty at all and I forgot to tell them to put the bbq on the side– which I know is my fault, but as a to go order, you’d think they would ask so the bread doesn’t get soggy.
Needless to say, probably won’t be returning to firehouse.

Not Impressed. I remember seeing the owners on TV commenting about how their subs differed from Subway because FH focused on satisfying the customer’s appetite and not their diet.
Sounded great to me so I wandered over to FH to see what the fuss was about. Maybe I ordered the wrong sub «Firehouse Club» but for $ 7.49 for just the sandwich alone is was a rip off. I can do way better for $ 5 at my local supermarket. Not to mention they use iceberg lettuce on my sandwich… NEVER EVER use Iceberg Lettuce in California… PLEASE. There is no need to be cheap when fresh vegetables are all over the place.
Subway/​Firehouse. Same ol same ol.

So I was here 2 weeks ago for lunch, and things were pretty good– despite some blonde worker coughing uncontrollably, service was pretty quick. This week, I went to grab a sandwich for lunch and ended up waiting 30 MINUTES for a sandwich… What the heck? That blonde lady coughed again not only taking my order, but also all over my sandwich… Talk about disgusting!
I won’t be returning.

Just returned from this fine sandwich shop. Dave, the hard working co-​owner, explained the menu and was extremely helpful. Had the tender and juicy pastrami and brisket sandwich. The amazing variety drink dispenser was fun. Try the cherry with fresh cut lime squeezed into it. Good assortment of chips. The sandwich was just the right size. If you want more, you can pay a little extra for more meat. NO complaints here.

5 stars! This place is great! My dad is a fireman and I came into this sub shop for the first time today and thought it was absolutely adorable. The food is delicious, just like all food made by firemen, and the service was great. The décor is spot on, and the ambiance is fun and festive. Definite a place to try out if you love good meaty subs!
They have a dog water bowl out too on the patio seating!

GREAT customer service. VERY clean and Friendly. OUTSTANDING and very Military Friendly.

This place is surprisingly big for a sandwich place, but it was also dead empty. I feel like with their TVs playing sports games, it would be great if they made it a pub or just sold some refreshing beer … but they don’t.
For my first time here, my family and I got specialty sandwiches: Steak & Cheese, Turkey Bacon Ranch & Firehouse Hero — all of which were just okay, but not amazing. It was okay in that they serviced it warm (not hot mind you), and just okay in that they only had white or wheat bread. I suppose it would be a small step above Subway sandwiches in that their flavors were not too over or underwhelming. Overall, the fire subs were not incredible or fantastic — they were just okay.

I grew up with Firehouse Subs on the east coast. It was a neighborhood favorite then and it still is now. The décor is classic Firehouse Subs with some added local Encinitas firehouse flair. I love it and it’s fun for my two small children. They have TVs to watch if you’re a professional who is taking a lunch break and want to get a mental break and zone out to sports. It’s great for kids, too. I would even recommend a cartoon one for kids, while I’m at it. ha-​ha.
Anyway, this location is extremely clean — VERY clean. I really like this and appreciate their ardent effort to maintaining excellent hygienic standards.
The food is classic Firehouse and it’s delicious. I also like that they offer sweet tea! Absolutely no complaints and nothing but praise for their team. Their shift leader is so nice and the lady who seems to run the place is really friendly. She brings over food and talks to the children and is just genuinely happy. The staff is what makes it for me and I specifically made a review to point this out because it’s rare to find this in the workplace!
I also like that if you go to the Padres games there is a Firehouse subs stand and if you buy a sub, they give you a voucher for a buy one get one free coupon. I loved that and made a point to drive from Oceanside to this location to enjoy a sub and the ambiance.
Thanks for all you do, guys. You’re amazing and keep up the great work.

Great food. If you haven’t tried FireHouse Sub you don’t know what you’re missing. The Hook and Ladder is a favorite of mine!!!

I love this place! I always get the Club on a Sub and it’s phenomenal. Their house sauce is delicious, but check out the hot sauce bar if you like novelty. The employees are very friendly and happy to accomodate you if you’re picky (the boyrfiend hates tomatoes and when we get a split basket they’ll put tomatoes on my half only). We drive well out of our way for these sandwiches and are eagerly awaiting the day a franchise opens in our part of town.

The sandwiches here were not bad but it was a little disappointing how the customer can’t customize their sandwich like how Subway works. Also was a little disappointed how you could only choose either white or wheat as the bun. With those limitations aside the quality of the sandwich was pretty good. I don’t usually like ham but the ham here was seasoned well and sweetened well and not overly salty. This place is a little more pricier than Subway and it makes it a little hard to justify the extra cost especially when it offers fewer choices and customization abilities. If there is one nearby the area, I would consider going again but this is not a place worth driving out for. I tried the Engineer Sub (for the mushrooms) and the Firehouse Hero Sub.

If Subway is the standard set for subs (set the standard for substandard subs?), then like Jersey Mike’s before it, Firehouse Subs is better, but only just slightly. But, at least they almost reach what really should be the average for sandwiches, close enough to be 3-​Stars, at any rate.
Came here for lunch a while back, having wanted to try them ever since they opened in this Encinitas plaza. The décor is a bit cloying, impressive for a presumably ‘macho’ motif, but the help behind the counter makes up for it by, oddly enough, matching that happy sentiment with what felt like genuine enjoyment in their craft. We ordered, I nodded at their impressive selection of hot sauces, and we sat down.
I had the Hook and Ladder Light, a choice off their calorie conscious menu. I wasn’t expecting much from it, but was still disappointed in the dry blandness of the bread and the lack of flavor from the mustard. The meat was good, the turkey lightly salty and the ham bringing a bit of sweet, but neither made up for the rest of the sandwich. One thing that makes Subway edible is their choices of dressings; if you get one of their ‘lighter’ choices, it can be made rather tasty with their honey mustard or vinaigrette squirted across the whole of it. Here, it was a higher calorie sandwich with less going on and less going for it.
The woman who brought joy into my life had the Steak & Cheese, the Firehouse Sub version of a Philly Cheesesteak. Again, the bread suffered from a stale blandness that most places suffer from, a difficult problem franchises can’t seem to escape. The meat was sufficiently warm, the peppers soft, with good flavor, but the whole of it never rose much passed average for her. I mentioned a while ago that I have no real basis for what a Philly Cheesesteak should taste like, but after going to Gaglione’s, I do know that this can be much better elsewhere.
Our lunch was topped off with the kid’s meal Hot Meatball. He didn’t touch it, refusing to even try the bread. I don’t blame Firehouse for this, though, he’s kind of picky and at that stage where anything beyond the 10 things he’s used are suspect. A bite of my own got a shrug, the flavors adequate for a marinara. The cheese across the top was a nice touch and the sauce was thick enough where it didn’t run and make an easily made toddler mess.
All of this makes a high 3-​Star review, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the unholy abomination sitting in the back that is known as the Coca-​Cola Freestyle machine that drags it down to the low end of the 3-​Star pool. This piece of utter shit vomits out ‘126 different flavors of coke products’ … all of them through the same nozzle that seems to accumulate every slick syrup that spurts through it, ready to blend the noxious flavoring into every drink it belches out thereafter.
Remember when your kid first went to the drink dispenser at Jack in the Box by himself? Remember how he just squirted a little bit of everything into his cup before smiling up at you proudly with his ‘creation’? Remember how you wanted rip out your own tongue just so you could boil it in industrial strength bleach to escape the rancid taste after he asked you to try it? You may not remember because your brain blotted out such a horrific, war-​crime-​esque memory to spare you the soul-​crippling torment … but it happened.
And that same experience waits for you again at the Coca-​Cola Freestyle machine. God, I hate these damned things. Thankfully, they have outside sections to almost make up for it. Still, it’s not enough to really make us want to go back.

Great sandwiches. Definitely steps above what you will get from subway, etc. The service was excellent and it seems like everyone was friendly.
The place has a firehouse motif which I found kinda hokey but I guess it’s for the kids.
I would definitely stop and eat here the next time I’m in the neighborhood.

The food here is REALLY good. I got a large Italian sandwich and it was just as delicious when I ate it for dinner as I did for lunch. Speaking of which the portion sizes are huge, and I love it. The atmosphere is fun and relaxing overall.
My only gripe is that it’s too expensive for me, I know in general for sub places this is a good deal but I never quite feel comfortable spending around $ 10 for just a sandwich.

could eat the hook and ladder everyday.
Pros: consistent food, clean, ultimate drink machines.
Cons: new staff pretty lost, 15+ min for a sandwhich.
Hope the staff catches on so it’s consistent with the other 1,500 restaurants.

Babe alert! While this has nothing to do with the food at Firehouse, it certainly doesn’t hurt that a dreamy guy (worthy of boy band membership!) is manning the cash register. Just sayin’.
Anyways, the Italian sandwich is delicious! You can choose from an 8″ or 12″ sandwich. I thought the 8″ sounded HUGE, but I was actually still hungry after eating it. They’re not like Subway sandwich sizes… I would say the Firehouse Sub sandwiches are just a little bit more narrow, which is why 8″ actually isn’t that gigantic.
If you’re hungry, go with the 12″ sandwich for sure!

Oh Firehouse, how much have I waited for thee — in Encinitas. We met in Oceanside on Vista Way. You so gingerly steamed my sandwich meats and cheese before dropping the lot on soft fresh bread, and then you sold me with that amazing bbq sauce. We flirted, we danced, you made me sandwiches. But while I still do visit you there, you were geographically undesirable. I am so sorry I didn’t come more often, but now that you’re in Encinitas, all that has changed. You’re not like the other sandwich shops, especially the other nationals. You really get me.
I am a big fan of Firehouse — relative to the other big chains — and I think they are going to do really well as they roll out in California, San Diego included. Great concept, delicious sandwiches.
This is my 2^nd local Firehouse review — I previously rated the Oceanside location.