30 Burgers & Mike's Subs — Restaurant in Dunellen

When I first moved to Dunellen, this place made great sandwiches, true to that New Jersey style. It was nice being able to get the classic "Ham, Salami, and Provolone with Lettuce, Tomato, Onions, Peppers, and Vineger". I"m listing it out because chain restaurants like Subway have changed what even New Jersey people think of the old Italian Hero, and other states add additional things, like olive salad, misc other meats, swapped out vinegarette dressive, tons of mayo. These guys did it right with the right quality cold cuts. It's not so common to see Thumann's meats these days, and everyone seeks to adulterate or standardize on a newer brand like Boar's Head, but you can get that classic taste here.

A few years went by and management changed hands, but the owner stayed the same, so I would come back for the same ingredients even if I didn't really like the staff, once in a while, but then it changed management again and now the owner seems to be running it and serving "30 Burgers" as well. I went in on a whim and found out they are serving the exact same hotdogs from the famous "Hiram's" hotdog restaurant in Edgewater, NJ, so if you miss that Hiram's / Callahan's hotdog culture of Bergen and Hudson county's past, this is a convenient place to get it. He even has the Yoo-Hoo that is customarily eaten with that...

I've always kinda ignored this place but I have to say the food is really good after I finally gave it a try yesterday and today (8/25/21). My sister tried the bacon cheeseburger (twice), and I tried grilled tilapia burger and the turkey bacon cheeseburger, along with curly fries (me and her), regular fries (mostly her) and bacon and cheese fries (her).

We both found the bacon cheeseburgers (the bacon in particular) to be a bit too salty but the lettuce and tomato help balance it out. I was skeptical about ordering the tilapia burger but it was really good, and the cheese on top was a nice touch. The fries are really good, I recommend curly over regular, but both are really crispy and crunchy, even after they've been sitting for a bit. My sister wasn't a fan of the bacon and cheese fries -- too soggy, apparently, and she said it didn't take like the other fries we'd gotten.

Everything was well-seasoned and put together well, and the packaging for delivery apps (UberEats and Doordash) left nothing to be desired, and they follow customization requests as well so if you hate mayo or tarter sauce (like me) and you ask for it to be omitted, they'll do it for you. Well done, and I can't wait to try the bacon...

Been going to Mike's for decades when it was just Mike's subs. I remember the MS packman and defender arcade uprights while waiting for the order. 2 years ago I went, the order was incorrect, and I got attitude about it. Basically everything that could go wrong did go wrong. It got 1 star. These days I am trying my best to support local, so I tried them again. I placed the order online, paid with my CC, order was processed, and was told ready in 10-20 minutes. I arrive 15-20 minutes later, no food. Order couldn't be found. The staff asked me to just place the order again, bit I didn't want to pay twice I explained. I went back out to the truck, got my phone, returned inside to show the order that was placed. (2 plain cheeseburgers and 1 orders of fry). They said ok, just give us about 10 min. I told them I would wait outside. 7 or so minutes later, they brought the food out, and I took it home. Food was good. Service (this time) was great. They took a wrong and made it right. Thank you. This simple act made a world of difference. I do hope you get your online ordering kinks worked out. The staff apologized for it, but that wasn't their fault. Thank you to all the...