Larry’s Giant Subs is a decent place for a sandwich. Their menu might not offer a $5 foot long, but their subs are meatier, and better tasting.

They are located a little of the beaten path of downtown Orlando, just west of Orange Ave. on Washington St., so you might not have visited them yet, but it is worth the extra few minutes of walking. They have a wide selection of smoothies, wraps, sandwiches, salads, and flat breads. The food keeps with the tropical motif, and is very refreshing and perfect for the Florida heat. The smoothies are made with mostly fresh fruit, while some of the more exotic fruits are frozen or from concentrate. They also have excellent breakfast options that taste much better than fast food alternatives, and are competitively priced.

One of the things that Michael and his family do to differentiate from other Tropical Smoothie Cafe, is customer appreciation day. Generally, about once a month, they have a day for a particular business downtown (Regions Bank, Channel 13 News, etc.) where employees can get $1 low fat smoothies. You may say, “eww low fat”, but they are naturally low fat because of their fruit base, not because they are modified versions of regular smoothies. They also offer 50% off their low fat smoothies on Monday through Thursday from 4pm to 6pm. Lastly, they have a breakfast club, which entitles the bearer of one of those key chain tags to 20% off their breakfast order before 10am, Monday through Friday.

One of the great things served to me during my visit was the Royale cookie, colloquially known as “Fat Kid’s Heaven”. It is an amazing mix of oatmeal, chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, and cocoa nut. This definitely isn’t the healthiest item on the menu, but it is one of the most delicious.

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• Quality: 8/10
• Quantity: 9/10
• Cleanliness: 8/10
• Atmosphere: 8/10
• Service: 8/10
• Price: $5 – $10

I definitely recommend Amazonas Latin Grill. Everything is delicious, even their black beans and rice which is often an ignored and bland side item. Their portions fit perfectly with their prices. I wouldn’t expect to pay any less for the amount of food you get, especially considering how good it is.

Quizno’s offers a variety of subs, sandwiches, soups, and wraps. I’ve never had a sub that was particularly bad, but a really good Quizno’s sub is hard to find. If I had to choose between Quizno’s or Subway, I’d go with Quizno’s, unless I know a particular location is bad. It really is a gamble going to Quizno’s though, because, unless you’ve been to that location before, you don’t know if you will have a good or bad experience. Quizno’s, as a company, really needs to wrangle in their franchises, have all locations honor coupons, and provide more uniform service and food quality.

They have a variety of excellent food on their menu. They have Chicago style hot dogs, tamales, a unique style of pizza, and a couple different styles of subs. Their specialty is the Italian beef sub. Italian beef, for those that don’t and I was one of them, is a slow cooked roast beef specially seasoned. They wouldn’t tell me their secret ingredients, but I do know that it has chopped carrots and celery. It is a very juicy sandwich. It has just the right amount of spice to it, giving a little hot sensation, but not sticking with you for too long. They have sausages with peppers and onions, and a combo sub with Italian beef and sausage.

Their meatball sub has homemade meatballs, which are plump and juicy. The sub has plenty of sauce as well, so it isn’t dry at all. The tamales are a platter covered with chili and cheese. They are flavorful with just a little bit of a kick to them. The pizza is only available on Fridays right now. It is made from scratch, and topped with peppers, Italian beef, and sausage. They have spicy and sweet varieties.

The prices are reasonable. Expect to pay between $6-7 for a sandwich and drink. They are very filling though, and the ingredients are tasty and fresh. I definitely recommend them, as they are an excellent and unique taste to the area.

The two things that Jax has going for it are, it’s vast beer selection, and the fact that they put a jar of dill pickles on your table. The pickles are kosher dill, and nice and crispy. The beer selection is excellent, and will have something for everyone.

Overall, I would only recommend this place for the beer. Sit at the bar and have a few, and snack on the free pickles. The sandwiches are alright, but you can get a bigger, better, and cheaper sandwich from Publix. The service has also been poor for my coworkers and I, often having to repeatedly ask for drinks, and felt like we were inconveniencing them in the process.