Subway (Central Business District)

• 125 E. Michigan Avenue
• Kalamazoo, MI 49007
• (269) 443-2189
• Website

I’ve been writing this blog a long time.  If you include Mid-Michigan Dining (which I do), it’s been almost 15 years since I started blogging about our dining adventures after we moved to Michigan from Peoria, IL.

It was pretty common for me to write blog posts about the typical fast food place.  I still thought I was going to be a content creator and posting a blog every day or two with links back to my work was something I needed to do to drive up traffic.  I mentioned places like McDonalds and Arbys a lot in my blogs so I needed links back to them.  

I stopped doing that because you can only write so much about the same Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese or large Roast Beef sandwich so many times.  Also, I realized no one actually cared about my ramblings and this blog was more for my own entertainment.

Don’t worry.  I’m not going to start over with a city wide tour of McDonalds but occasionally, I may throw a fast food blog in the mix if I actually try something new or there is something unique about the particular store I went to.  

I can honestly say, I’m not really a Subway person.  I still have pretty vivid memories of my aunt being really excited to take us to this new sandwich place near where she worked.  You could customize the sandwich any way you wanted and they were the best sandwiches.  

That was a long time ago.  Probably close to 30 years ago.  But I remember being super excited about Subway because there was nothing else like it then.  

I will still occasionally grab a Subway sandwich for lunch.  I don’t love them but there are a couple of sandwiches I will admit to really liking.  

I was sitting in my office in downtown Kalamazoo last week and I was hungry.  My go to used to be Theo & Stacy’s on days like that.  They had online ordering and their food was still fairly cheap so when I was hungry and not wanting to go far, it was always Theo & Stacy’s.  

Theo & Stacy’s is gone now so I kind of wander aimlessly.  A lot of times I’ll walk over to City Centre Market to grab a Pepsi and end up with a bag of kettle chips too.  I like kettle chips but eating a whole bag for lunch isn’t great for me.  

I was considering just putting in an order at Jimmy John’s.  That would be easy enough.  I almost did but then decided I hadn’t had Subway in a while so why not.  

I drive by it all the time but never remember there is a Subway in downtown Kalamazoo.  It’s on Michigan Avenue just to the west of Portage Street.  The restaurant shares the ground floor of a multi story building with what used to be Market on Michigan Avenue.  

I picked Subway mostly because they have online ordering. I really don’t like talking to people so I tend to gravitate towards places where I don’t have to do that.

I put in my order for one of the new Subway Series subs. There was actually three or four of them that sounded good but I picked the #4 Supreme Meats. I added on a bottle of Coke to the sandwich and paid online. The bill was just over $16.

I had never been in this Subway before this order despite it being a short walk from my office. The restaurant is a lot bigger than I expected and probably a lot bigger than Subway actually needs now.

The setup to the restaurant is pretty typical. There’s the long counter where subs are customized taking up a large portion of the space. This isn’t something that really impresses me anymore but, man, do I remember as a kid looking at the bins and bins of “free” toppings and thinking how cool it was that you could get anything you wanted on your sandwich…except more meat.

There is seating along the opposite wall going all the way down the hallway. I will say I like the look of this place with the subway tile floors, exposed brick wall behind the order counter and the muted wallpaper tones on the wall near the seating area. It’s not the overly bright, sterile Subway that so common attached to gas stations and in strip malls.

I grabbed my sandwich from the shelf and headed back to the office to eat.

The Supreme Meats sandwich Black Forest ham, Genoa salami, pepperoni, and capicola, with Provolone cheese, red onions, tomatoes, banana peppers and MVP Vinagrette…whatever that is…on Italian herbs and cheese bread.

I actually left the onions and tomatoes off. The thing I really like about Subway is the vinaigrette’s. I always add banana peppers to my sandwich anyway because I love that vinegar dripping off the meats. The Subway Series sandwiches are supposed to be ordered as is without customization. The idea was just to order by number and size, but when you order online, it does give you the option for a little bit of customization. I would have dealt with the onions and tomatoes but since I could just unclick the button, I did.

The sandwich is everything I like about Subway. It’s simple, it’s tasty, and it’s filling. Is it the best sandwich out there, no. But it’s reliable.

Obviously, the lure of Subway wore off on me a long time ago. That doesn’t mean I don’t still enjoy their sandwiches from time to time. I really do. It’s just not usually a place I think of right away when my brain is saying, “I’m hungry.” I’m always happy with the outcome though when I do make the stop.