If you visit one Subway in the world, make it this one. OK, so my Subway experience isn't…read moreworldwide, but I'm extrapolating that this one is special... Also, I'm biased, because I've been going to Subways run by these owners since before their now-grown children were born! Read a bit more in "Background," below.
First, what makes it special? Well, first, vegetarians, delight! Go visit this store. (I'm often keyed in to vegetarian options.) Not only can you get a traditional 'Veggie delight' sandwich, you might also inquire about any other veggie options, possibly off menu. Owner T. told me during a recent visit that he feels that Subway (corporate) should provide for 'local considerations' (I think that's the phrasing that he used). To put it another way, if a sandwich is popular with the locals, such as a vegetarian variation in a college town, then corporate should allow a current store to continue offering it! (Also, corporate should recognize the broader cultural trend/fad recently of 'plant-based' 'healthy' offerings-- an alternative to processed meats, etc.) I'm reluctant even to allude to this in my review, as I don't want corporate to pressure them anymore to conform with exact menu as found in Everywhere, U.S.A. Instead, corporate should congratulate them and thank them, long-term hard-working responsible successful owners.
Why five stars? Partly, I'm considering this store as exemplary among other Subways that I've encountered. Some may criticize Subways in general, for instance, for accepting lower grade (lower cost and quality) tomatoes-- I'm guessing-- than, say, Publix Deli. Also, as a restaurant chain, remember the 'shoe ingredient' bread scandal years ago; what else does Subway skimp on? And tomato and cheese at Subway may be sliced cost-savingly thin. Also I wonder at some stores, is hygiene sufficient? So Subway as a chain would not get 5 Stars, I'm afraid, even though I've often enjoyed it in my life. While no store is 100% perfect, I think that T. and staff do a great job here.
By the way, the Newberry Rd. Subway across from the Oaks Mall has featured a vegetarian add-on, but involves a microwave, so it doesn't taste as good.
Background / history: (Let me call the owners "T." More about them, below.) This University Avenue location is now their only restaurant, but they once ran the first Subway on the UF campus -- located in the Reitz Union food court built first in the 1990's. That classic location on the west side of the main/1st floor featured at least two separate and complete food lines, if not three. I heard that in the 1990's that that Subway location was considered the busiest Subway in the world (!?). You can imagine the lunchtime rush, at full capacity with multiple lines in use. Since then, the Reitz Union Subway moved down to the basement, perhaps befitting the restaurant's name, and T., the original owners/managers, of that franchise location sold that on-campus location, after years of long days and hard work.
(For a business management class, I once interviewed a couple UF Subway employees for a paper, which I would have loved to share with T. and those employees, except that the professor never could find my paper; the professor had a 'bless this mess' sort of office [and 'where's my desk?'].)
Before UF, T. started in a ground floor location near campus underneath an _Eckerd's (kids, think Walgreens) on 13th Street, at approximately the location of the new mini-Target. That's where I first met them, and early on, I once saw their young son in a baby carrier, possibly behind the counter. {I had one negative left on a roll that I was about take to take to Eckerd's for developing, so I got a picture of them that time. That son and his little sister are now adults who have both joined in working at the family store, along with going to college, I think. I gave the owners the print(s).} Also at the old location, a guy once on a high-school wrestling team with me (no, I can't wrestle, but that's another story) worked at Subway, before he went on to become an Alachua Co. Sheriff! (His first name started with L.) It was neat to see him and others, now lost to time... That old property was razed around the year 2000, roughly, then fallow for years! Meanwhile, T. continued to run the on-campus location. They also found the current location, just a few blocks from their original location. So University Avenue is their remaining store.
