Publix Vs Wegmans: Which Grocery Store Makes The Better Italian Sub?

The beauty of a sub is that you can make it whatever you want. The freedom to craft your own perfectly curated sandwich is what draws us to deli counters across the country, but then there are the pre-selected classics, like the club or the BLT. None might be as popular, however, as the Italian sub. 

Regardless of your version of what should go on an Italian sub, you'd be surprised at how much they vary. Most include a selection of Italian meats and a cheese like provolone, but the bread, toppings, and condiments are more varied than you'd think. There are plenty of great Italian subs across the U.S. worth seeking out, but two grocery chains with famously devoted sandwich fans, Publix and Wegmans, have their own versions that are frequently compared to one another — and they're not the only grocery stores that serve up the best Italian subs in every state. So, I ordered the standard Italian sub from each joint and ate them side by side to see which one is actually worth the trip.

Publix, which has only grown more popular over the years, bakes its sub rolls fresh in-store every day. Its Italian comes on Italian five-grain bread by default, stacked with Genoa salami, tavern ham, capicola, provolone, lettuce, and tomato. Notably, the sandwich does not come with any condiments, as standard. The bread made the biggest first impression: It had very crusty outside, complex flavor, and was fresh-tasting, though I wished it were a bit softer and more pillowy. More than a few bites of the sandwich actually kind of left the roof of my mouth hurting.

At first glance, this is the higher-quality, more elevated sandwich, and the lettuce and tomato were crisp and fresh. But the meat, which is arguably the core aspect of an Italian sub, was underwhelming. The ham flavor overpowered pretty much everything, and there was far more ham than salami or capicola, with a mild — if any — spiciness, in each bite. The provolone was also lost under the veggies and ham. Ultimately, nothing about the sandwich tasted particularly ... Italian. I wished the so-called Italian bread had more herbs or some parmesan to enhance the whole sandwich with more Italian flair. A few bites in, I added my own mayo and mustard, which helped a lot. If you like soft bread, I'd swap it out, as Publix offers several other options.

Wegmans' Italian sub is actually called Danny's Favorite. Of course, I wondered who in the world Danny was — turns out, the sandwich was named after Danny Wegman himself, so my hopes were quite high.

The sub comes on a white roll with thinly sliced salami, capicola, and spicy ham, plus provolone, lettuce, and tomato. Unlike Publix, it also comes with mayo and yellow mustard by default. It's available at the deli, where you can have it made fresh, or it's also part of Wegmans slew of great (and not-so-great) prepared foods. I ordered ahead online, and when I first saw the sandwich I assumed that it wouldn't be great, since the Publix one looked a little nicer. But upon first bite, I got some of the classic Italian flavor I was looking for: Salty, savory capicola was the main event here.

I'd expected every bite to feel overly bready, but that wasn't the case. The roll was soft and pillowy, and turned out to be a perfect complement to what was inside. The provolone was folded into a thick layer, so every bite had a good, cheesy flavor. The lettuce and tomato were nothing to write home about — crisper shredded lettuce drizzled in some olive oil would've really helped this sandwich shine. But still, this was the sub I kept going back for. The meat was super flavorful, with a layered spice that Publix's lacked, and the condiments tied everything together.

Judging by price alone, I assumed these subs would be pretty close in size. At Chapel Hill, North Carolina locations, Publix's Italian sub came to $9.99 before tax (I chose the whole over the half option), while Wegmans' was $8.99. After picking up the Wegmans sub, dubbed the Danny's Favorite, though, I realized there's an even bigger version for $14.99, which makes the one I ordered the Medium size (Wegmans lists it at 12 ounces). Side by side, the Publix sub was the larger of the two, with a bit more meat, so the extra dollar made sense. 

Wegmans' website says its sub is 700 calories, 41 grams of protein, and 2,460 milligrams of sodium. Publix's whole sub, in comparison, contains about 1,115 calories, 3,050 grams of sodium, and 63 grams of protein — and this is without any condiments.

But, of course, bigger doesn't always mean better. I enjoyed the cheaper Wegmans sub more, which makes it the better value to me, especially considering it wasn't super significantly smaller. The pricier, large-sized Wegmans version looked a bit bigger than Publix's whole sub, but not enough for such a high price difference.

Even after adding my own condiments to Publix Italian sub, Wegmans was still the sandwich I kept wanting to go back to for more. Though the fancier bread and heftier portion made me think that the Publix sub would be the better sandwich, Wegmans' pillowy bread and more robust flavors won me over.

And, to be honest, a pre-determined sub, especially an Italian sub, should absolutely come with basic condiments by default. While the mayo and mustard were a welcome accompaniment on the Wegmans sandwich, I was surprised that neither sub came with olive oil and vinegar — those are necessary Italian sub ingredients in my mind (and, they're actually some of the healthier sandwich toppings to choose from). Nonetheless, Wegmans meats simply tasted higher quality and had a much spicier, more complex flavor, in addition to a more noticeable (and enjoyable) amount of cheese. In comparison, every bite of Publix's sandwich was overwhelmed by the crustiness of the bread and the flavor of deli ham. Cheese was hard to detect, and the meat had more of an American feel than Italian — I was missing that savory punch of gabagool!

Order the Wegmans sub as is, or preferably with oil and vinegar. At Publix, swap the bread if you like it softer, add condiments, and ask for more salami or capicola.

I ordered fresh-made Italian subs at each store, ordering ahead online at both stores, and made no modifications to the pre-selected ingredients. Rather than customizing them to be identical (which was an option, as both had a robust online ordering system), I figured this was a more accurate comparison, since most people probably order a pre-selected sandwich without thinking to tweak them. 

This made for two pretty different subs, with different breads, different meats, and different condiments, but that's exactly what a shopper would walk away with when ordering an Italian sub. Both subs were ordered from Chapel Hill, North Carolina locations, and both were eaten immediately after ordering. I judged each on bread, meat, toppings, flavor, size, and value, and I only added condiments to the Publix sub after tasting it as-ordered. Prices are before tax, and nutrition information comes from each grocery store's own website.