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The semester is winding down, and it has been harder and harder for me to find new, original places to eat.
I got to thinking, and then it hit me: Ray’s! I mean, my God, anyone who commutes here gets treated to at least two Ray’s Sub Shop menus in their wiper blades per semester, and here I am never having been there before.
After class this past week I was really hungry for lunch, and I stopped by the Ewing staple to get some food. Conveniently, it’s on my way back home from campus.
I decided that the best option for my review would be my favorite kind of sub — the Italian. I’ve eaten a lot of Italian subs in my day, so I consider myself pretty adept at weeding out the good, the bad and the ugly.
I went into the restaurant and was greeted by a pretty basic setup. There are about 10 tables to the right and then a counter on the left and a grill in the back behind a wall. I was pretty hungry and wanted some for later, so I decided to go with a whole Italian sub with lettuce, tomato, provolone cheese and mayo.
I was very impressed to see that they cut every piece of meat fresh for their sandwiches. Literally, they pull the giant blocks of meat out, slice you up some goodness and get it right on the roll. That’s good business practice in the sandwich industry as far as I’m concerned.
Overall it took them about five minutes to make my sandwich, and this was including a confrontation with an angry customer who claimed he had ordered something else (although listening to his argument, I’m pretty sure he was arguing over two items that cost a grand total of $.50 difference. Classy). I mean, it’s pretty hard to take more than five minutes to make a sandwich, but it’s still always nice to get food fast.
Paying was not nearly as easy as the rest. It was $9.10., $9.10! That’s a lot of money for a sandwich. I mean, their whole sub was maybe 14 inches. Maybe. I could’ve gone down the road to Shop Rite and gotten basically the same thing for $6.
Wallet hurting, I headed home to consume. I took my pretty picture of the food (they wrapped it in two pieces for some reason) and then dug in.
I’ve got to say, it was pretty expensive but it was a damn good sandwich. Everything tasted very, very fresh and they added a touch of pepper as well. To my palate, it tasted like the sandwich consisted of salami, ham and hot ham — a good lineup for an Italian. I was, however, a little disappointed by the bread; not because it was bad (it was also very fresh-tasting), but because the bread that was sitting on the counter when I went in had sesame seeds and looked significantly bigger. A little false advertising there.
I got through half of it and decided to save the second half for dinner. Since everything was so fresh, the leftovers tasted the same as when I got the sub (maybe a little colder from the fridge). The lettuce didn’t even get overly wilted. It was a definite testament to their freshness.
Overall, I was very impressed with the fare from Ray’s. The only thing that would keep me away in the future is the price, although maybe next time I’ll try one of the combo meals.
