Penn Station East Coast Subs — Restaurant in Charlotte

So if you were given the choice as where to go for food, and it was between a family-owned establishment and a franchise, what would you pick? Yeah, I get it, I would have said the same thing. And for good reason - if those families don't serve great food and back it up with great service, their entire financial future could collapse.

For those reasons, I tend to stick with family restaurants. But my experience at this "Penn Station East Coast Subs" earlier today just shattered that whole notion.

After entering this spotless restaurant, I was immediately and politely greeted by Mike behind the counter, ready to answer any of my questions on the menu. I didn't have any, I knew I was getting the Classic Italian sub before I pulled into the lot. And it only got better from there!

Taylor, their sandwich maker, assembled a masterpiece. Food presentation is important, and when Mike brought it to me, it was open-faced and all I saw were perfectly sliced half-dollar size tomatoes lined up on one side with the shredded lettuce on the other side with all these spices sprinkled across them as they concealed the sizzling hot deli meats and melted cheese below. All this goes by the wayside if the bread falls short, and make no mistake - the bun had that northern, hard roll crunch to it along with a flavor that perfectly blended with the remainder of the sandwich.

The management at this place must be treating their employees well, because there was definitely none of that 'take-it-or-leave-it' attitude here, these folks CARE!

I can't recommend this place highly enough. And keep in mind, I was your Meteorologist at WBTV for 33 years, which is to say, I'm not some sort of 'hired-gun' planted here to pop a good review for them. This review is real, and it's authentic... just like the experience I had...

We live in the apts next door & have ordered from here a handful of times. The food is pretty good (hence two stars instead of one), but the overall operations of this place are terrible. Employees are all too happy to snap at customers and/or seem totally unbothered about mess ups on their end. One recurring example is receiving a notification that our online order is ready - we arrive & ask for the order - the employee grunts “ok” then walks off doing who knows what - food finally shows up 15-20 mins later. What is the point of having an online ordering feature (for the customer to waste time on & for the company to pay for)? I understand that things get crazy & the unexpected happens. That being said - this 2 star review could've easily been 5 stars if there was some self-awareness from the employees instead of making customers feel like they were the inconvenience. So basically three points: 1) food is pretty good 2) staff is rude & lacks personality/self awareness and 3) you’ll receive quicker service ordering at the restaurant than ordering...

The only reason I put two stars because at least they made my sandwich over and my fiancé said his Philly steak was decent.. But on the other hand my sub was still horrible and flavorless!

I use to work at this location and know how the quality of food suppose to be and today I received a poorly prepared Grilled Club sandwich! I’m 4 1/2 months pregnant & my sub was missing my Lettuce, tomato’s, bacon, and mayo! My meat with finely chopped which I’ve never had it that way before! I’m very disappointed that the quality of the food and customer service has changed! The man with blue wig was slightly rude, and act like I was adding too many toppings! The lady adding my toppings didn’t do a good job at ALL! She act as if she never made a sub before!

This was not worth a 35 min drive + $28.00! I probably will not visit this location again until they get new staff and properly train them to make the food taste & look...