Located at 105 Main street in North Tonawanda, New York is Submasters. They seem to be well-known and beloved here in Western New York. Their website even says that they are an award-winning pizza restaurant. But, I have to say that I was not impressed enough to be handing out awards for any of it.
Online ordering
Due to the virus lockdown, we had to order our food for delivery through DoorDash. We have used this service several times and I can honestly say that it is easy to use the site and DoorDash has decent options to choose from. However, I am disappointed that there isn’t a ”pay with cash” option and I feel that some of the fees that are added on are unnecessary.
Delivery
The delivery driver obeyed the ”contact-less delivery” option that I selected and our food was carefully handled. However, Submasters shouldn’t offer delivery to Niagara Falls as they are more than 10 miles away in North Tonawanda. Our food arrived well packaged but cold and soggy. I do not hold the delivery driver accountable but rather the restaurant for offering their services over such a distance that it would compromise the quality of the food.
The menu
As their name suggests, Submasters offers a variety of submarine sandwiches.
- Steak subs
- Chicken subs
- Sausage subs
- Burger subs
- Classic house subs
They also offer:
- Quesadillas
- Burritos
- Chicken fingers
- Wings
- Pizza
- Specialty pizza
- Cauliflower dough pizza
- Salads
- Burgers
- Healthy menu options
- Family dinner options
- Beverages
- Sides including fries, deep-fried mushrooms, onion rings, and various forms of mac n cheese.
Their prices are mostly comparable to other pizzerias though the quality of the food didn’t justify the price. But, more on that later.
It seems to me that Submasters offers the same menu items as nearly every pizza restaurant in the area (and in the country) with the exception of a few possibly unique items including:
- Tuna burrito
- Dill pickle pizza
- Baked apple pizza
The food
My husband and I saw that Submasters offers a few special deals. One of which was 2 full subs and 2 small orders of French fries for $22. That seemed reasonable to us so we decided to take advantage of it.
My husband ordered a chicken finger sub with hot sauce. His sub was minimally flavored, soggy, and cold. He was not happy about it at all. His small order of French fries came with a couple of packets of ketchup but he French fries themselves were soggy, cold, and not seasoned.
I ordered a steak and cheese sub with mayo and I added deep-fried mushrooms to it for an additional $.75 fee. It may sound like an odd addition but, I felt it would be just crazy enough to work and I must admit that even the sound of my arteries clogging didn’t stop me from being excited about it.
When my food arrived I was quickly disappointed. The French fries were soggy, cold, and not seasoned in the least. My French fries also came with a couple of packets of ketchup but even they couldn’t save the French fries. The steak and cheese sub was not toasted (or if it was you couldn’t tell because of how soggy the bread was).
There was a decent amount of chopped steak and melted cheese and there was a decent amount of mayo, however, the steak wasn’t seasoned and it was quite bland and grizzly.
The deep-fried mushrooms that I added on for an additional fee turned out to be floppy, slices of canned mushrooms (not fresh at all) that were likely pulled from the can and placed in the steak as it cooked on the griddle. The mushrooms were in no way breaded or deep-fried and while my arteries appreciated the slightly reduced amount of grease and fat, my taste buds and my mental excitement were vastly disappointed.
My final recommendation
I can honestly say that I do not understand how Submasters earned any award based on the experience that we had. Their menu items can be found at nearly any pizza restaurant and most of them would likely do a better job than Submasters. I will never again order from this pizza restaurant and I will actively try to steer others from them as well.
