Darwin

I’ve had a few different sandwiches. Each one was better than the last. I’ve never had a bad sandwich from Darwin’s. My husband absolutely loves the Buffalo Mac and cheese.
The service is always quick and very friendly. Someone is always cleaning something. The restaurant itself is very small but I’ve always had take away. They do sell out quickly as well.
I found that although the price may seem high for a sandwich, I have never felt that I have overpaid. I got exactly what I paid for.

Hands down the best lunch spot in the Cuse! Don’t be afraid of the line, the service is great and they get you in and out very fast.
The place is very small, so it is definitely a take out place. In the summer time they have a few tables outside or you can walk over to Clinton Square to enjoy your lunch.
Check their website before you head over, their menu changes weekly. Always a unique selection of offerings and great vegetarian options.
Today ordered The Bamboozled — black bean and corn cake folded into a whole wheat wrap, shredded cheese, salsa, lettuce, with a hit of cilantro-​spiked ranch. Great wrap, nice flavors.
Try this place out you won’t be disappointed.

This place is amazing! If I could rate it 10 stars it still wouldn’t be enough. Their sandwich is so juicy and delicious. The owner is such a sweet person and his staff is just as kind.
Strongly recommend. Can’t go wrong here!

I accidentally came here for lunch after I had been eyeing it earlier in the week but a colleague suggested we head to their «go-​to spot».
It was awesome. I had a «Everything’s Touchin» sandwich, which, uh, has an amazing name. Essentially it was a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich, with cornbread stuffing, perfectly-​cooked turkey, gravy, green beans, and some cranberry stuff, between two pieces of bread that somehow didn’t get overly soggy.
Colleague got a hot/​spicy chicken sandwich. Looked equally good, and may be my lunch tomorrow. Apparently the lineup changes pretty frequently, so if you don’t see something you like on their short menu, give it a try next week.
It was SWAMPED when we went to go pick up, but they had our order ready for pick up about 2 minutes after we arrived. A well-​oiled machine of an establishment. Oh, and my colleague forgot to put a coke on the order but we had already paid. The gentleman at the cashier just said not to worry about it and to pay next time they were in. Small gesture, but went a long way and kept the line moving.
Awesome sandwiches, great service, all in a reasonable amount of time. Wish they had a better pickup parking situation, but their location is inconvenient to do anything but wrestle for a parking spot out front. 4.7 out of 5. Kings of lunch.

Small restaurant with limited seating but that shouldn’t deter you. Darwin’s has some of the best sandwiches in Syracuse and the shifting menu is a great way to force yourself into trying something new. Solid service and reasonable prices.

I love, love, love this place!!! My favorite has to be the crabcake sandwich– there is only 1 crabcake in there but it is the size of at least 2 from any other restaurant! However, their menu changes based on seasonal selections– but you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. They use unique combinations of fresh ingredients, use a variety of local breads, and the co-​owner, Daryl, attends to all his customers and doesn’t forget a face. I do wish this place was open on Saturdays for lunch, but my days-​off are even more special when I am able to fit in a trip here for lunch. Highly recommended!

More along the lines of 3.5 stars. Don’t mean to be so critical but sandwiches/​subs happen to be my ultimate favorite food and I’ve had some of the best in the country, so my gauge is a little tough. The menu is fun and inventive, and honestly quite unique. High marks for creativity, but a few negatives on exactions. Had the The birds in pear a dise. Although overall tasty, the bread was a little on the stale side and the pears were hardly sweet enough. All in all, still worth the stop

Descent sandwich but I do not think it is as great as other people are saying. Now I would much rather come here than Subway, however, with a Dino sandwich not far away I can not see me coming back to Darwin.

You like sandwiches?
These guys probably have the best sandwiches in Syracuse.
You just think sandwiches are okay? You’re like «whatever, it’s just a sandwich, it’s just lunch.»
F**K YOU. GO TO SUBWAY. YOU DESERVE SUBWAY.
Do you like Subway?
Then die. Just die.

With a focus on fresh local ingredients and an ever changing menu, Darwin Café is fastly becoming a favorite among locals in Syracuse.
Located in the heart of Downtown on Clinton St, right around the corner from Dinosaur, Darwin is a small café owned by the same people as Rileys Restaurant. Open from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, Darwin caters to the downtown lunch crowd.
I’ve wanted to try Darwin since I first heard about them, but their hours and my aversion to having to find parking downtown has kept me from making the trip. Today, I figured I’d give it a try and see what the parking situation was. Surprisingly, I found close parking pretty easily right around the corner on W Genesee.
Darwin is a VERY small café. I knew they were small, but I thought they had a table or two inside, but I was wrong. There is a small counter in the front with about 5 stools, and that’s all the seating they have, so don’t come here with the intention of staying for your meal.
I looked over the menu, which changes every day, and went for PJ’S Optimus Prime Sandwich, and a side of buffalo mac and cheese. If you read any of my reviews, you know I love anything buffalo, so I had to try it.
Everything was delicious. The mac and cheese was cheesy and flavorful, with a spicy kick from the buffalo. The sandwich, which has roast beef, fried green tomato, onion frizzles and a chimichurri mayo on it was packed with different flavors.
They can be a tad pricy. My sandwich alone was $ 10, and while it was a decent size, it was not a huge sandwich. A sandwich, side of buffalo mac and cheese, and a can of soda (which all come with a bag of chips), came to $ 15. Not crazy expensive, but a bit much for one person. Service was friendly and fast.
Despite being a bit pricy, I’ll definitely be back to try their other concoctions. A great find in downtown!

The sandwiches are huge and tasty (split with someone else). I’ve only ever tried their Buffalo Mac & Cheese as a side. It was so good I can’t get myself to try anything different. You must try it! As a side, that alone can be your lunch. No where to sit, so every order is TO GO! Fast service! This is a must stop when in Syracuse or when you can have lunch out! Only open weekdays.

Incredible, delicious, and fun. They always offer a special that includes a drink and chips, and the menu changes weekly. The staff is ALWAYS friendly. I highly recommend coming in for lunch anytime you can. They are only open for lunch during the week, so it might be hard to frequent. Take off work or something, 100% worth it :)

This is now my favorite sandwich shop in Syracuse. A division of Riley’s (an incredible Syracuse gem), this sandwich shop prides itself on an ever changing menu. It’s a tight space that packs a lot of people in to place their take out orders. There is minimal seating, including two 2-​tops near the back and approximately a four person window bar. On nice days there may be 2 – 3 tables outside.
The menu is limited to a few sandwiches that are creative, tasty, and wonderfully executed. Prices are average for a downtown eatery and the atmosphere is charming. Employees are friendly and the food is amazing.
I highly recommend this place and I can anticipate it being a regular haunt from now on.

Darwin’s sandwiches are knock-​your-​socks-​off good.
Today, I had the Bikini Bottom Krabby Patty and buffalo bleu chips, and my girlfriend had the D’s Three Little Pigs.
The Krabby Patty is something that I believe SpongeBob SquarePants would be proud to serve at the Krusty Krab. The sauce, golden brown crab cake and greens really work well together in this sandwich to bring flavor and texture together for a mouth orgasm. Luckily, I know I would end up like Squidward if I had too many sandwiches.
The Three Little Pigs has ham, pork and bacon on it. It is very good, and is served hot! Definitely not a sandwich for a kid. The flavor level is out of this world. The bacon alone adds a great demons ion of texture to the moist and sweet ham.
The chips are alright, but I don’t think they are made in house. You can get a sandwich, chips and drink for $ 10.50. A little pricy for a sandwich, but it is totally worth it!

What a yummy sandwich shop! I got my order to go and was not disappointed– their menu changes often and always has a great selection. I can’t wait to try more!

I’m not exactly sure why I haven’t reviewed this place yet as it’s one of our favorite sandwich shops around. It is amazing people. I have to warn you though. Their menu changes every week so you may not see your favorite sammy for days or even weeks. Fortunately I have 2 favorites that I have seen on the days I go quite a lot. The Beef martini and the Eddie muenster (yes they have unique names to match the unique ingredients). What I really love is they get their bread from local bakeries They use the stretch bread from Pastabilities for a lot of their sammys. Couple quick points though. 1– they are only open mon-​fri. 2– they close wicked early…230pm 3– show up towards the end of the day and they may be running out of stuff. Go here and I promise you happiness.

WOW! This place just gave me an excellent sandwich while I was Syracuse today!
I was overwhelmed at first by how small it was inside, and it was fairly busy. Somehow, my sandwich was done within a minute or two of ordering it, and it looked small. This made me skeptical.
I ordered Mojo Rising, which was roasted turkey with smoked Gouda, bacon, fried egg, and hot pepper mayo. One bite, and I was sold! Whatever bread they are using was perfect for the sandwich — soft, yet it held everything together while soaking up all the flavors. It was also very filling. Definitely one of the better sandwiches I’ve had in my life.
Next time I’m in ‘Cuse, I will be back!

Every made-​to-​order food shop need to take some serious notes from here (not even talking about just sandwich shops). When you have an awesome product and great business model the customers will come to you out of the woodwork. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an advertisement or coupon for Darwin because they don’t need them.
The sandwiches are more expensive than you’d pay at Subway, but the difference in taste and effort is immediate. I can’t quite describe it, but Darwin is the best sandwich shop I’ve been to in the entire area code.
I recommend going there on a nice clear 70° summer afternoon and eat your sandwich outside. This is the kind of meal that begs you not to take it back to work!

One of the best places in Syracuse for Lunch and is in the downtown area. The restaurant owner is well known in Syracuse for his other restaurant, Rileys. However this place is definitely a highlight in town.
Every day new sandwiches are made in the shop and their menu changes every week so theres little ability to guess whatll be there but all of their selection that Ive had was great.
1. Hot Chick — Fresh grilled chicken with buffalo sauce and creamy blue cheese dressing. The chicken was juicy and moist and the buffalo sauce was not too acidic but was enough to cut through the blue cheese. Would recommend trying it.
2. Louisana Perch — Great fried fish sandwich which wasnt too heavily breaded. you can still taste the fish. The taste came together with the mayo and pickles which kind of created a fresh tartar sauce. Would not recommend getting the tomatoes.
Outside of their sandwiches which fill the board there are also sides and soups. Ive never had the soup but the sides are alright.
1. The Buffalo Mac was good, I thought that it would be spicier and have more flavor but the consistency was great. The sauce was creamy and the pasta wasnt too overcooked.
2. the blue cheese potatoes were really good. I have never had this type of potato salad before but I thought that the potatoes complimented the blue cheese. The cheese wasnt overwhelming because the potates cut through the taste.
They have dessert in the form of cookies and I think Ive seen some kind of brownie there before, but theyre not the highlights. Get a sandwich!
Other things to know:
1. There is very little seating available
2. The store itself is really small and it gets really packed during lunch becuase people are waiting on line for their sandwiches
3. THEY CLOSE AT 2:30 PM — TAKE NOTE of this, it will close and you will not have a sandwich.

Most impressive, unique sandwich shop in Syracuse.
It was the coldest, windiest day of the year, but my boyfriend and I decided to try ice skating anyhow. What fools we were. Twenty minutes later, barely able to feel our toes, we walked from Clinton Square over to Darwin’s. Limping in we decided to split a sandwich to save money and stick to our New Year’s resolution: dieting. We should know better at this point, we can’t resist good food!
We ordered the Hot Chick which consisted of chicken breast, hot sauce, creamy blue cheese, lettuce, and frizzled onions (tasted more like delicious fried batter than onions) on amazing stretch bread. Well, it was out of this world. It was hot, flavorful and mildly spicy. I would have liked to have more hot sauce, but that’s a personal preference of mine. It wasn’t very spicy but it was more about the flavor than eating something to make your mouth burn. I loved the crunch of the onions. My boyfriend is not an onion person, so he was worried, but it turned out they didn’t have a strong flavor. They really enhanced the sandwich. The best part: their bread. It’s from Pastabilities’ bakery, called Pasta’s, and it is so damn good. It sops up all the flavors and just blends perfectly with everything else. It’s soft but a stable support for the sandwich and has amazing flavor. I could eat the bread just by itself (which you can if you run over to Pasta’s bakery). Before we knew it, our little half of heaven was eaten and we felt saddened that it was over.
«…Want to try the Once in a Blue Moon?», my boyfriend asks guiltily. «Um, of course!», I respond eagerly. There goes our diets… We were so impressed by the first one, we decided to split a different one. The Once in a Blue Moon had beef, melted bleu, balsamic red onions, mushrooms and ranch. While it wasn’t as much of a wow as the first one, it was still very good. I like bleu cheese a lot, but at points the taste was almost overpowering. Otherwise, it was quite satisfying. The beef was of good quality, I didn’t really taste the onions too much, and I thought the mushrooms made the sandwich. The ranch, I presume, mixed with the bleu gave the sandwich a nice, creamy, oozing sauce that was sopped up by the same amazing Pasta’s stretch bread. All of the flavors melded into a delicious sandwich.
Overall, this place is quite amazing. The workers are very pleasant and I like that their menu changes (an evolving menu at Darwin’s lol) but they eventually come back to the same sandwiches depending on the week. I have been here before and my other favorite is Ships in the Night. For the quality and taste of the sandwiches, I would say the prices are fair. With tax, each sandwich came to $ 9, which is decent for a lunch. I will definitely be coming back when I’m in the mood for a delicious sandwich.