Vegetarian Options — Two Good Ones and a Lot of Compromise
The vegetarian offering is thinner than it should be at a chain this size, but it is not empty, and one of the two dedicated options is genuinely one of the better sandwiches on the board rather than a consolation.
Here is what exists, what each one actually costs in calories, and the honest position on vegan ordering.
The Veggie — cheapest sub on the board, not the lightest
Swiss and provolone with green bell peppers and the standard vegetables, at $8.99. It is the cheapest sub available, which is a real point in its favour if budget is the constraint.
What surprises people is the calorie figure: around 880 for a regular, which puts it above both the ham and provolone and the turkey and provolone at 800. Two cheeses carry more than one slice of deli meat. If you chose the Veggie assuming it was the diet option, it is not, and that is worth knowing before rather than after.
Ordered as a tub it drops to roughly 590, which is where most people expected it to be in the first place. That single change converts it from a cheap sub into a genuinely light meal, at the same price.
Portabella and Swiss — the one people underrate
Grilled portabella mushroom, peppers, onions and Swiss, from the hot board. At around 620 calories it is the lightest sub on the entire menu — below every cold option, below every chicken build, below the plain ham.
More importantly it is the only item where the vegetable is the point rather than the omission. It is not a sub with the meat taken out; it is a sub that was designed around grilled mushroom, and it eats like one. Grilling drives moisture out and concentrates flavour in a way that raw peppers on a cold sub never will.
If you are vegetarian and have been ordering the Veggie by default, order this instead once. It is a better sandwich and a lighter one at the same time, which is not a trade-off you usually get to make.
Building your own
Any sub can be ordered without its meat. You will pay full price for cheese and vegetables, which makes it poor value against the two dedicated options, but it is a routine request and nobody will find it odd.
The one build where this genuinely works is a cheese steak ordered with the mushrooms, peppers and onions and no steak — effectively a grilled vegetable sub with the cheese steak treatment. It is not on the menu and it is not priced as a vegetarian item, but it is the best-tasting meatless thing you can construct that is not already on the board.
The vegan position, stated plainly
There is no vegan build. Both dedicated vegetarian options lead with cheese, and removing the cheese from either leaves you with a vegetable sandwich rather than a meal — lettuce, tomato, onion, peppers, oil and vinegar on a roll.
That is a perfectly edible thing and it costs $8.99, which is a lot for bread and salad. If you are vegan, the honest recommendation is that this is not a chain built for you, and there is no ordering trick in this article that changes that. The bread itself is generally free of animal products, so the option exists; it is the value proposition that does not.
Sides that work
The pickle spear is vegetarian, inexpensive and close to calorie-free. Chips vary by flavour — several common ones are not vegetarian, so read the bag rather than assuming.
Extra vegetables on any sub are free. Onions, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers cost nothing, and asking for extra is the cheapest way to make a meatless sub feel like a full one.
Frequently asked
What is the lowest-calorie vegetarian option?
The Portabella and Swiss at around 620 calories, which is also the lowest-calorie sub on the entire menu. Ordered as a tub it drops into the 300s.
Is the Veggie sub healthy?
It is the cheapest sub but not the lightest — around 880 calories for a regular, above the ham and turkey subs, because it carries two cheeses. As a tub it is roughly 590.
Are there vegan options?
Not really. Both vegetarian builds lead with cheese, and removing it leaves a vegetable sandwich at full sub price.