Here are my detailed thoughts about/experiences with Earl of Sandwich in DTD (overall, I give it a ringing endorsement but with some qualifications and exceptions). I'll put this out there for the OP and for anyone else who is new to Earl of Sandwich:
1. My EOS experience: I got food from EoS on
3 separate occasions during my annual holiday trip this past December 2012 - one of the times my friends and I ate at the restaurant (outdoor tables) and the other two times I took my sandwiches with me to my room. (The "Cannonballs!" part of my "
Candlelight & Cannonballs!" Trip Report title is a direct tip of the hat/nod to Earl of Sandwich's meatball creation.)
2. EOS' seating It can be tricky to nab seats on a night when it is busy. Most of the outdoor benches were full at first glance when my friends and I were table-hunting,and I felt like we had to lurk around ominously, waiting for someone to leave so we could sit down. Most of the indoor seating was full when we looked, as well.
3. EOS' convenience, portability, etc.: I found EoS to be really convenient for me, personally, because I wanted to take something back to my hotel room (I stayed at the PPH) instead of eating at the actual restaurant itself on two of my nights. The sandwiches are tightly wrapped in foil (keeping them warm) and they come in a handy takeout bag with handles, so they are very portable and would be a great meal option for other folks in the same situation I was in - where you feel like you want to eat in your hotel room but you need to be sure the food will transport well, and without making a mess.
4. EOS' value: This is where I will add a qualification - I think that the EoS sandwiches are a very good value...FOR
DISNEYLAND RESORT. My 'thing' is that a lot of times I want to eat something substantial or hearty at DLR, but I don't want a full meal with side dishes and all of that. Sometimes I just want
a single sandwich, or a single burger and nothing else. Even though I like Taste Pilot's Grill in DCA, I don't always want to pay $15+ for a burger, onion rings and a drink or shake. I feel like if I went to TPG and just asked for a single (kind of flimsy) burger, I would be grossly overpaying for the value and quality of that single burger. And if I wanted a turkey sandwich at, say, River Belle Terrace, the sandwich might be good but the price would be higher than I want to pay because it comes with sides.
So, in that context, for the quality you get and for the value relative to other eating establishments on Disneyland Resort property, Earl of Sandwich is a great "bargain." I can go in and get my single sandwich, which will probably be of a higher quality and better-tasting than a lot of food I would get inside either Disney park - and for just under $7.00, with an AP discount!
However, just for comparison's sake because it's worth noting....if you are someone who eats at Subway a lot - and there are people who do - but have visited EoS, you will know that you actually pay
less money for a Subway footlong sandwich than you will pay for a sandwich of a smaller size at Earl of Sandwich. Of course, there are no Subways in Downtown Disney so EoS wins that race in that location. But, outside of Disney, if I were trying to get the most bang for my buck and stretch the value, and if EoS and Subway were side by side, I
might go to Subway instead. Possibly. That's not to say that I think Subway's meatball sandwiches necessarily taste better than the Cannonballs! at EoS because I don't think they do. But my dollar would go farther and I would actually pay less money at Subway than I would at EoS - for a bigger sandwich.
So, again, it largely boils down to the value relative to location and context. And by those standards, Earl of Sandwich is a great value for a place located on Disneyland Resort property, compared to the inflated costs of the food at the Disney-owned establishments.
5. EOS' wait time & menu viewing: On one of the nights I visited EoS (a Monday night in the second week of December) there was no line at all and I basically just walked right up to the counter to order. (Mondays in early December seem to be less crowded than other days of the week in December, I've observed!) However, on Sunday night there was quite a long line outside. Tuesday night was pretty busy too.
Someone comes up to 'take your order' as you stand there if the line stretches outside, but it doesn't really save any time because your order is not being prepared at all. It is not prepared until you actually go up to the counter and tell them what you want. So the point of the person coming out to jot down the order on a ticket was kind of lost on me because it didn't expedite the order process at all.
If there is a line outside, it will probably move fairly quickly but still, it can be a wait.
Also, if you are stuck in a line outside of EoS, you may not be able to get a clear view of the menu. There is a sample menu board stationed outside, but it doesn't list the ingredients in the sandwiches. In order to see what is in the sandwiches, you have to look at the menus on the wall
inside the restaurant. The menu board outside basically just gives you the names of the sandwiches and (I think) the prices. My friend couldn't figure out what she wanted at first because she couldn't see what was actually in the sandwiches until we got to the indoor queue. So when the person came up to "take our order" outside, my friend wasn't sure what to tell her.
6. EOS' selection/variety: Again, if you eat at places like Subway or Quizno's, you are used to a pretty wide variety of sandwiches. EoS does
not have a really wide variety of sandwiches, but what they do have is a decent enough selection for both the meat-loving sandwich fans and the vegetarian sandwich fans.' They offer quite a lot of desserts, chips, drinks and accompaniments of you want them, but I found that anything I would have wanted (like a peppermint brownie or strawberry shortcake) was always sold out. And once it's sold out, it's gone. They don't make those desserts fresh to order so if they are gone then you're out of luck until whenever they get more of them in stock.
7. EOS' taste/flavor: The Cannonballs! meatball sandwich was flavorful, and it even had a bit of a bite to it - I don't know if "tangy" is the right word to use, but I think the sauce seemed extra salty or something. It was zingy, with a kick!
My friends said that their sandwiches were very good (they ate the Caprese sandwich and the Mediterranean chicken wrap). I also got a Holiday sandwich and thought it would be good to eat cold for some crazy reason, so I saved it for the next morning. It was okay, but not great. Cold stuffing is not that tasty, and yet, the stuffing's flavor seemed to overpower everything else in the sandwich. Next time I will try the Holiday sandwich when it's warm!
8. EOS makes mistakes!! Always be sure to check your order before you get too far away from the restaurant (like if you are taking your food back to a hotel, as I did). Out of the 3 occasions on which I got food from EoS, there were mistakes made on
2 of those occasions. (Those are not great stats!)
On visit #1, my friend actually ordered the
Chinese Chicken wrap...but EoS gave her the Mediterranean wrap, which is very different! She realized it after she began eating it, and the flavor profile didn't exactly match up with what she expected from a Chinese Chicken wrap. She quickly established that she was given the completely wrong sandwich, BUT she didn't complain because she actually enjoyed the sandwich - even though it was a mistake!
However, that is a BIG mistake to make which could have gone terribly wrong, and it shows that someone was being careless (somewhere between the ordering and preparation points) in that restaurant.
Also, on visit #2, the cheese was totally left off of my Cannonballs! meatball sandwich. I made the mistake of not checking it before I started marching back to the Paradise Pier Hotel and I didn't realize the cheese was missing until I got settled in the room and sat down to eat. At that point I was tired and I didn't feel like trotting all the way back to EoS to complain, so I just ate it.
So be sure to check your orders because EoS makes more mistakes than they should be making - at least they did in December! I don't know about now.
9. But...EOS has good customer service in the corporate office! On visit #3 (my last night at DLR), I went back for one final Cannonballs! sandwich. I told the girl at the counter that they had been making mistakes over the previous 2 nights, and she kind of offered up an insincere "I'm sorry," but that was the extent of it. She was very nice and all, but just didn't seem to care that much that they had been goofing up the orders!
So, quite a while after my trip ended and I was back at home, I wrote to EoS via their website. I told them that I really like their restaurant and that I think they are a
great addition to Downtown Disney. I told them that I had been looking for a place to open up on Disneyland Resort property where I could get portable, tasty sandwiches (without unnecessary sides) that didn't cost a 'Disney fortune,' and that Earl of Sandwich fits the bill nicely! I also told them about the mistakes that were made on my visits - both with my friend's Mediterranean wrap and my cheeseless meatball sandwich.
I told the EoS corporate folks that we ate the sandwiches anyway, mistakes and all, but I just wanted to let them know that their brand new Disneyland Resort location was being a little careless and that they might want to keep an eye on things a bit better since they
are so new at DLR. I did not ask for a refund or anything - again, this was long after my trip ended and I very clearly told them that we ate the sandwiches anyway, even after realizing the mistakes.
Someone from the EoS corporate/customer service office wrote me back with an apology - and a thank you for letting them know about the errors at the DTD location - and asked for my address to send me a coupon for a free sandwich! So that's what I thought I was getting -
a single coupon for a free sandwich, which would have been more than fair since I neither asked for nor expected anything.
Imagine my surprise when I opened up the EoS envelope in my mail a week or so later, only to find
4 coupons (they're like business cards, almost) for
free sandwiches!!!! These are not "buy one, get one free" coupons. These are coupons/cards for totally free sandwiches, as an apology for the mistakes that were made on food that we ate anyway, a couple of weeks prior!
That is excellent customer service, indeed, and they scored big points in my book for doing that! I was already an EoS fan to begin with, but with some exceptions, as I've explained here. This gesture only enhanced my opinion of EoS.
You can be sure that I will be using up those free Earl of Sandwich sandwich cards/coupons on my next trip!
So, overall, I give Earl of Sandwich a
, but with the advice to
check your order before you leave the restaurant...and if there IS a problem that somehow can't be fixed while you are there, it can't hurt to drop a line to the corporate office via the website after the fact!
No problem at all. I wanted to post a couple of days ago but didn't have the chance. I could have easily just popped in and said something quick but I wanted to give actual specific details and information because I think that the points are worth mentioning (like the fact that the menu board propped up outside next to the line doesn't show you the ingredients in the sandwiches, so you still have to look at the menu on the wall inside to figure out what to get -- unless you already know what you're getting before you arrive, that is!).
