Potbelly

Potbelly really is great,
Of that there is no mistake
The sandwiches are delish!
But my one dying wish,
Would be one of their peanut butter chocolate milkshakes!

You can’t polish a Subway. Potbelly is misleading in every direction. The name seeds images of gut-​busting pork sandwiches, generously filled and full of flavour. Whilst I fully appreciate the fact that the menu is actually free of pork, the sandwiches are a little disappointing. I went for the A Wreck sandwich on white bread and found the bread/​filling ratio was disappointing. The coffee too, was cold.
It’s great that they have malt shakes, and I’ll be back to try one. But the next time I get the urge for a limp sandwich and a DIY restaurant concept, I’ll just hit up subway. It really is exactly the same, but twice the price.

This isn’t a full review.
This is a review of their addictive cookies.
As I write this I’m in cookie rehab.
OMG, the brownie cookies are to die for! I literally keep going back there with the intention of trying the sandwiches but every time I go I leave with a bag full of cookies and no bread!
I literally don’t understand how it keeps happening.
Please! Go and try the cookies!

Beautiful cappuccino (and my mum said her hot chocolate was lovely too)!!! After a pretty rough day it cheered me up. We both ate the Mediterranean sandwich with chicken which was great too, and on lovely multigrain bread. The staff were also very friendly. Would definitely go back for a coffee and a bite next time I’m in the area!

Ah Potbelly, so pleased you’ve come to London, but sad you’re so far away. You will be my shopping treat going forward however.
The staff at this location is great — really friendly and helpful, and the music was fun as well.
I made an error as it’s been too long and forgot how spicy the peppers are — my bad. Made my Wreck a bit of a challenge for me, but totally my own fault (and I didn’t ask them to do anything about it, so no idea how they would have responded). Will need to go back and order the sandwich without the extra fire in the near future.

Goddam I love this sandwich.
I honestly do not understand how people can hate this sandwich when the sandwich game in London can be weak. Not everywhere mind you, but I want a giant meat packed full of sauce and fresh veggies on delicious bread and then I get tun and sweetcorn on white bread. Blarg.
But Potbelly does it and I love it. I get the Italian and it’s just full of meat and is so tasty. One half is enough for any person but dammit, I eat a whole because I can’t stop.
It’s a taste of home and I miss it and I am happy this place is here.

Unfortunately it did not meet expectation. I would say it’s very similar to a subway, the sandwiches, the service and décor may be slightly better, but you pay the slightly higher price for it. If I rated this on the basis of fast food /​cheap eats, then yeah probably… But then again, it still lacks the umph, it just didn’t have the enthusiasm, the «man vs food» energy. If I however rate this on the basis of a premium, trendy sandwich shop, which the marketing and logo suggests, then I am more confused, because like I mentioned earlier it’s feels similar to a subway.
Ordered the roast beef at just under 7 quid, and the wreck (salami and turkey) under £6, and a vanilla milkshake. The sandwiches just didn’t excite me, the extra toppings are similar to subway, the meat and cheese was OK, flavours did blend but so does a 6inch subway.
Enough with comparing, to summarised I like the restaurant, its spacious and bright, trendy and modern, the food is OK, not the best I have tasted, and its London prices.

OK, I concede… I will definitely have to give it a few more goes, I really don’t like to review based on a a limited number of experiences, but after two visits here I’m going to say I’m wholeheartedly sold and can already say this will be my sandwich place of choice.
Ladies and gentlemen, the buffalo chicken sandwich… hooray! I sorely miss this from the U.S. and the closest I’ve gotten to it here in a «fast» setting is a faked version at Subway. Here I had this treasure with lots of Frank’s hot sauce, blue cheese and ranch, hot chillies, lettuce, pickles, and onions on white bread… absolutely glorious! To be honest given the chillies and type of pickles (chilli mix and thin sweet pickles) I wasn’t sure it was going to come out as good as I had hoped, but I think the blue cheese crumbles elevated it as it was absolutely packed with flavour. I really want to try other sandwiches here, but it’s going to be tough to stray from this one once in the mood.
As mentioned the fountain drinks are a bit expensive at £2.50, but it’s crushed rice and free refills and if that isn’t your thing then they do have bottles at the standard takeaway price.
On my second visit I forced myself to get the chocolate peanut butter shake, and yup, it’s as good as they say… I didn’t intend to finish it, but it was devoured in due course despite my best efforts to resist.
Granted this really is just an upscale sandwich shop, but it still feels like a good value… I walked away stuffed for under £11 having had a sandwich, shake, and bottles Diet Coke… not bad in my book.
The service has really been friendly when in as well, I’m not sure if it’s because they’re new or have a great manager/​work force and good work philosophy, but I love a cheery place… makes all the difference.
Two things of note… one, no pork, so if that’s you’re thing you’ll need to keep that in mind before your visit, and two, no beer, so be prepared to tackle a shake and get your adult beverage fix elsewhere. All in all I’m thrilled this place is open in the area though and can’t wait to try a few more of their offerings.

We had a lovely Unilocal Elite Meet-​Up at Potbelly today. I’ve enjoyed their sandwiches in the U.S. And wasn’t even aware that they had opened up here in London.
I had the buffalo wings sandwich — the chicken was roast sliced chicken with hot sauce and blue cheese — but what great quality tender juicy chicken slices!
The multigrain bread was soft and tender and even after toasting, there were no overly crispy or overly chewy bits.
They have a huge variety of packaged crisps /​pretzels /​popcorn as sides and a huge fridge full of drinks — from regular and diet coke to juicy water, ice tea and even root beer.
The root beer was good, but if you want a drink, definitely don’t miss their shakes. I’m normally not a fan of peanuts and chocolate combinations. No snickers or peanut m&m’s for me. But their peanut butter + chocolate shake is amazing!
The freshly baked cookies were really good too. Chewy in the centre and crispy on the sides. These may just replace «Marks & Spencer’s All Butter Belgian Chocolate Cookies» as my favourite chocolate cookies…
Since it was a Unilocal meet, we got to interact with Mr Khan the manager /​franchise owner too and he was a wealth of information. He said that they normally had live music playing in the afternoons which is an integral part of the American potbelly’s. Their meat and vegetable suppliers are the best in the business and they are held to much higher quality standards than even the UK version of FDA requires.
The staff was friendly and it had more of the vibe of a familiar neighbourhood deli, rather than a soulless chain of sandwich shops (I’m not naming any names here)
I loved the peanut butter chocolate shake so much, I wanted to take one away, after shopping at the mall, but they had closed down by then (9pm)

Disappointing. A subway by any other name. The food is a charismatic as damp tea towel. This is in no way a comparison to the great New York deli or sandwich shops. Avoid.

This US sandwich chain has recently opened its first UK restaurant. The new location in Stratfords Westfields is a huge space with big windows and nicely decorated but I am just not sure how well it fits with the food it is serving. I am also not sure on the location for it? I can’t imagine many people during the week will be popping their to get their sandwiches and it is also not the place you would go for dinner but maybe I am wrong! They also have live music which is nice but again the I don’t think the vibe goes with the food.
The food wasn’t bad — nice bread, good quality ingredients — but I wasn’t wowed by the choice of fillings, there wasn’t anything on the menu that I would particularly look forward to as a sandwich filling. The cookies were really good and the peanut butter and chocolate shake was delicious. Definitely better than a sub way but it isn’t really my thing so won’t be returning.

Tully fantastic American sandwiches! What are thoooseee.
I love the rich and authentic taste. This sandwiches have nothing in common with Subway ones. They taste better that home-​made and the bread is just so crunchy and warm.
They have a wide variety of sandwiches to choose from and legends like Pizza Sandwich. The smothies are the best and I say this as a smothie specialist. The mixed berry one is my fave. They also have cookies, so yes, this is like the beta version of Subway, but better.
The food is much better and it looks fancy on the inside.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening of Potbelly Stratford but was in the US for a work trip and could not attend. I was there in heart though, celebrating by eating at multiple Potbelly locations in Texas during my two-​week stay. In my four years of existence on this tiny island, I’ve not been able to find a suitable sandwich shop. Oh, how I miss a good sandwich.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Potbelly and like many others, I only order one sandwich: The Smoked Ham, thin cut on regular.
Translation: Smoked ham and swiss cheese on white bread with the core of the bread roll scraped out to reduce carbs and calories.
Note: Though not on the Potbelly UK menu, you can order any sandwich «thin cut.» Just say, «I’ll take the chicken and cheddar, thin cut on white.» (The Potbelly UK team uses «white» instead of «regular» to denote white bread versus multi-​grain.)
In anticipation to our visit to Potbelly Stratford, my husband and I browsed the menu online. Hmm, something was not right but we couldn’t quite put our finger on it. My beloved ham & swiss was missing from the line-​up, «Odd,» I thought, «considering the UK is a pig-​loving country.» And without the website listing sandwich ingredients, we decided that we would head on over to Stratford and dine regardless if our favs were available or not and we’d figure out what was wrong when we got there.
As I stood in the queue scanning the menu, one word kept jumping out at me: Beef. Beef pepperoni, beef salami, beef, beef, beef. I then turned my attention back to The Wreck’s ingredients, sure as shit that the Wreck in the US includes ham. Ham was not listed. I turned to my husband and said, «This menu is the Potbelly Dubai menu. No pork.»
Ding! Ding! Ding!
As a replacement to my Smoked Ham, I ordered the Grilled Chicken and Cheddar which was OK. I’m not a mayo or mustard type of girl, so it was actually a bit dry for me. Next time I’ll order the buffalo chicken sandwich complete with Frank’s Red Hot and a side of ranch dressing.
Though this no-​pork Potbelly missed the mark for me in a couple places — particularly by not offering pork products — I still award a solid five stars. No other sandwich shop in the UK comes close to the quality and quantity of ingredients. Hooray for a sandwich that has more than one slice of protein!
A couple additional things to note:
–Bottomless self-​serve fountain drinks (Sprite, Fanta, Coke, and Diet Coke) are available but the price is outrageous — £2.50!
–No option to make your sandwich a «big» but note that the standard sandwich size at Potbelly UK falls somewhere between US regular and big sizes.
–Dessert selection is not the same as in the US; missing the «dream bar».
–Sandwich topping selection is not the same as in the US; missing avocado.
–A sandwich is going to run you around £6 which is about the equivalent of US pricing.
–Live music available daily, however, no stage or designated area for the musicians.
–Seating is plentiful, however, likely overcrowded at peak times.

I was lucky enough to be at the opening of this new American sandwich shop and boy am I glad I was! I haven’t had a sandwich this good in a long time.
I went to the opening with a friend who hails from France, I myself am German, so here we have two nations known for their intense love of good bread. We were curious to see if this new sandwich shop would live up to our standards, generics like Subway and even most local sandwich shops never do! But then again, neither do most bakery isles in the shops; we’re really rather picky with our breads.
However, when we got to try the Potbelly’s sandwiches, we were immediately convinced and hooked and excited and spent the next half hour talking entirely about breads and how amazing this toasted sandwich bread was. We tried both the white and whole grain variety, which were both packed with flavour, soft and delicious on the inside and most importantly with a proper crunchy crust on the outside! A good crust is so important for a good bread, it’s baffling how people just don’t seem to appreciate crusts as much around here; this sandwich bread came with the perfect crust, not too thick, not too thin, not too crunchy, not too soggy, it was juuuuuust right!
Having already spent so much time talking about the vehicle for the toppings (did I mention how amazing the bread was?), let’s brieflt move on to the stuff they squeeze into the delicious bread.
We got to try several different sandwiches and each one was better than the last! So much flavour, well balanced amounts and all the customization you could hope for. You really can’t go wrong with any of them, everything tastes fresh and juicy.
Lastly, let’s talk shakes! Oh my, the shakes! We tried the banana chocolate shake, which was very good, as well as the peanut butter chocolate shake… which was absolutely HEAVENLY! Packed with flavour, so rich you feel like actually eating peanut butter! Irresistible.
So, in closing, if you like good bread, delicious sandwiches and rich shakes, you don’t want to miss out on Potbelly’s! I’ll definitely be back, a lot!

Finally! American sandwiches make it to London (no Subway, you don’t count).
A couple American co-​workers and I made the trek to Stratford on a long lunch break the week it opened since we were tired of cold, pre-​made sandwiches from every-​single-​other-​lunch-​place-​in-​London.
The Italian sandwich and oatmeal chocolate chip cookie definitely brought back memories of living in Chicago. My sandwich even dripped oil and giardiniera all over the wax paper. Perfect.
Two things would make Potbelly even more perfect: 1) the option to American-​size your sandwich and offer «bigs», since currently you can only get regular and skinny, and 2) removing the tuna and sweetcorn option from the menu. While I understand the need for localization, tuna and sweetcorn makes me cry.

Potbelly’s is what you’d get if Subway and Pizza Hut made sweet, disgusting love and gave birth to a toasted, flavour filled, hunger-​quenching illegitimate child, on a toasted bread roll.
The menu board boasts a decent selection, though the vegetarian options are typically underrepresented. The menu isn’t heavy with choice, but your basic food groups are covered.
Likewise with the salads; lettuce is a choice, not an obligation. (But you MUST have the pickle).
The minimal choices make lunch or dinner a much easier affair. And the drink choices are just out of the ordinary enough that you feel like you’re actually dining out.
With a few American staff behind the counter you could be forgiven for thinking that you’d fallen through space and time, and were genuinely in the US of A.
Potbelly’s is an easy 5 out of 5. It’s everything your sad Tesco sandwich wants to be when it grows up.

Not quite ‘the most amazing sandwich ever’ but Potbelly certainly has its merits. Distinctly American in its setup and yet not overly so, Potbelly looks fresh, unique in its design and has a good atmosphere. The staff are friendly yet efficient, achieving an aura of pride and hospitality. The variety of bread (white or multigrain) may be restrictive but the bread itself is definitely ‘toasty warm’ and for me was the highlight of the sandwich — reminds me of the good ol’ days when you could get crispy fresh rolls from your local bakery. I tried The Wreck sandwich and the meats were tasty, the salad decent and the mayonnaise a pleasant addition.
In short, Potbelly is like Subway but with fewer bread choices, better quality bread, filling and salad and a wider variety of drinks including fresh smoothies, teas, shakes and malts. Sandwiches are so common that they rarely leave an impression on me but the calibre of sandwich from Potbelly is such that it makes a sandwich taste like a treat.

Ow what a place, and what a sandwich, great flavours and choices, definitely American. The chocolate and peanut butter shake is the best, really really really nice and fast production line setup.
Very modern, live music and good seating space and staff are happy and friendly.
Being in the Westfield centre in Stratford it’s literally above the station, no excuses not to stop here for a bite to eat whilst shopping.

Amazing! Just like back in the states. I got a wreck (like I always do). The bread was great and crusty, meats were delicious, and the signature pickles, mustard, and of course hot peppers were spot on.
They even have bottomless fountain drinks. The interiors look just like every Potbellys (which is a good thing).
So excited to return and to have a proper American sandwich shop in town.