Jersey Mike's Vs Firehouse: Who Makes The Better Tuna Sandwich?

Tuna is often a touchy subject in the fast food realm — it's one of those things you either love or hate, with not much middle ground in between. And, if you do like tuna, you know that not every tuna sandwich is created equal. There's a delicate balance when it comes to the amount of mayo used, the bread, toppings, the texture of the tuna, and the type of tuna itself.

Jersey Mike's and Firehouse Subs are two of the biggest names in the sub sandwich game (Jersey Mike's took home the gold medal in our own readers' choice awards for best sandwich chain), and, accordingly, both have their own spin on a cold tuna sub. We've already ranked chain tuna subs from worst to best, but the debate surrounding the quality of these two deserves a closer look. The two subs are more different than you'd think, and while the debate wasn't one-hundred-percent clear-cut, one sandwich certainly came out on top as the big tuna.

Both sandwiches were ordered from Chapel Hill, North Carolina locations, each in a medium or regular size on white bread, with no modifications beyond what comes standard. The "standard" is a bit different at each chain, which is worth noting. Jersey Mike's automatically makes its sandwiches "Mike's Way," meaning with shredded lettuce, tomato, white onion, oil, red wine vinegar, and oregano. Jersey Mike's tuna includes diced celery. Firehouse Subs, by default, comes untoasted with slices of provolone cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato, white onion, relish, and deli mustard. In comparison, a basic tuna sandwich has considerably less ingredients — here's a simple Tuna sandwich recipe to check out.

Price-wise, Firehouse comes in a bit cheaper at $8.99 compared to $9.95 for Jersey Mike's, both at North Carolina locations — and Firehouse's earns bonus points for coming with a pickle spear on the side, while Jersey Mike's doesn't. Nutritionally, the two aren't far apart, though Jersey Mike's is a bit heavier across the board. A Firehouse tuna sub carries 910 calories, 62 grams of carbs, 39 grams of protein, and 1,870 milligrams of sodium, per the Firehouse website. Jersey Mike's comes in at 1,060 calories, 67 grams of carbs, 33 grams of protein, and 1,348 milligrams of sodium, per its nutrition page. So Firehouse packs in more protein for fewer calories, while Jersey Mike's has less sodium despite its higher calorie count. 

Size-wise, these sandwiches are similar. Technically, Jersey Mike's regular sub should be about 7 inches in length, though it can vary as they're baked fresh in-store. A Firehouse medium sub is often reported as 8 inches in length. For these two sandwiches, however, neither seemed noticeably bigger than the other — Jersey Mike's bread may have been a bit lengthier, but Firehouse's had it beat in sandwich  height.

Jersey Mike's tuna sandwich is, in a word, wet. In appearance, and in actual texture. The standard "Mike's Way" toppings means it arrives loaded with lettuce, tomato, onion, oil, vinegar, and oregano, and that combination makes for a sandwich that's more moist and flavorful than I expected, though it comes at a cost: the bread turns soggy fast, and that was unfortunately hard to ignore. The lettuce is damp with just the faintest bit of crispness left. The tomato is soggy enough that I barely noticed it was there at first, though once I did catch a bite of it, it added a nice bit of refreshing flavor and texture against what was otherwise somewhat mushy.

The tuna itself, though, is really what you want from a deli tuna salad. It's more finely shredded than dry or clumpy, and small bits of celery add a refreshing dimension. It's got noticeably more pepper and flavor than the Firehouse version, and the salty tang from the red wine vinegar works super well with it, as does the flavor of oregano. The bread is soft, maybe too soft given how wet the whole thing gets, but the tuna salad underneath is certainly the strongest part of the sandwich. Perhaps that's why the sandwich was voted the worst thing Jersey Mike's serves.

The first word that came to mind when we saw Jersey Mike's tuna sub was "wet," and, even before that, the first word that came to mind looking at Firehouse's tuna sub was "dry." The bread looked stale at first glance, and the tuna salad itself was very out-of-the-can-looking, and we could tell there wasn't a ton of mayo — which is surprising, since one of the things people don't know about Firehouse Subs is they don't skimp on mayo.

The tuna had a sort of canned tuna flavor that leaned fishy in a way we didn't love. Slices of (unmelted) provolone were actually a great touch on here, adding a sharp, cheesy flavor that we thought elevated each bite considerably. The vegetables are slightly better here than at Jersey Mike's, too, with a thick tomato slice and lettuce that was more crisp than waterlogged. The onion, on the other hand, was cut into thick, long slices that could become sharp and overpowering. The bread was a big letdown, with a stale, almost plasticky quality, and a crustier bite that we did not prefer. When ranking Firehouse's menu items, the bread was never really notable anyway.

The deli mustard and relish that's supposed to come standard was essentially undetectable; whatever spice or tang it was meant to add just didn't come through at all. And there was no real peppery flavor either, which stood out after tasting Jersey Mike's more seasoned version right before it. 

Though neither sandwich was perfect, Jersey Mike's was very much the winner in this competition. If half the sandwich didn't have wet-to-the-touch bread, it would have been pretty close to perfect, as far as a fast food tuna sandwich can be. The tuna had the texture you want, enough mayo without it being too much, and an appropriate amount of veggies were loaded onto the sandwich – though we wish they were less soggy all-around. 

The addition of red wine vinegar was very much welcome here, adding a tangy layer of flavor. While the bread could have been more elevated (we bet Jersey Mike's rosemary parmesan would have been phenomenal with this), it had a nice soft, fresh texture that mostly held up. Best of all, we could enjoy the tuna flavor without the word "fishy" ever coming to mind.

Firehouse's tuna really needed some work. It simply needed more mayo, and while the website lists sweet relish and deli mustard as ingredients, we really didn't taste them, whether that was because the tuna was extra fishy and overpowering, or because there wasn't enough of it on the sandwich. We did appreciate the pickle spear on the side, especially for a lower cost sandwich. Overall, we might not order either of these again, but if we did, we'd go with Jersey Mike's undoubtedly — next time, Mike's Way, but with less olive oil, and maybe a slice of cheese on top.