Lunch on Main

I have not been impressed with lunch on main. The first time i went, i did the half sandwich and soup (with drink came to $ 8). The tomato basil soup was a little too chunky for my taste, but the sandwich is where i had the biggest issue. The bread was rough and tasted stale. There also wasnt much flavor to the sandwich. Thinking it could have been a fluke, i tried lunch on main again a few weeks later, without better results. I tried the buffalo chicken mac and cheese, which was ok. A little spicy, and the chicken is lunch meat chicken, not pieces of chicken breast. I tried a different sandwich and the bread still was rough and tasted stale. Will stick with Fred and Garis for soup and sandwiches.

My god, do you have any idea how much I love a good sandwich? So damn much! Sandwiches may be the most perfect creation in all of the world through all of time. Bread, meats, vegetables: the perfect harmony of all things that are good.
One of my favorite things to do is wander into a random, unknown sandwich shop and buy a sandwich. I was off to a Unilocal event and I needed to bring food, and there was Lunch on Main — so off I went.
This place is homey right from the start. It’s actually hard to see in, which makes you a little nervous (or maybe it just makes me a little nervous), but it’s well lit once you walk through the doors. The shop is one long rectangular room with chairs and tables leading up to the sandwich counter.
Lunch on Main does both sandwiches and gourmet hot dogs. They have all their items written on chalk boards on the wall or you can grab a menu when you get to the front.
I love the choices they have here — tons of different meat and topping combinations. Seriously, their sandwiches feel original and all look delicious. I actually had a hard time choosing and had to ask the staff for their recommendation.
The staff, by the way, consisted of the owner and one worker (at least when I was there). Both were incredibly friendly and were easy to talk to, not just about the space but about Cincinnati too. I had a great conversation while waiting for my sandwich to be made (which, by the way, was a roast beef with spicy sauce. And it was awesome!)
Only two issues with the place: One, the price. My sandwich was about $ 7, which would have been fine but it came without chips and a soda — those were $ 2 extra. It just felt a little high to be paying $ 10 with tax for a sandwich, coke and sun chips. The other is that they’re only open until 3pm and sometimes I like a delicious sandwich for dinner! Call me crazy, but I do.
I will be back to try this place again. Those delicious sandwich combos are just too good not to!

As far as sandwich/​soups/​hot dogs for lunch in central business district goes, this place is the best. Yes, better than the ‘Glades, Servatii, Pot Belly, and even Wicked ‘Wich. I’ve never had a bad sandwich, I’ve never had a bad hot dog, honestly, I’ve never had a bad meal here. The price is pretty standard for lunch in downtown. In my book, the hot dogs and the Buckeye Brownie are definitely the things to get here. The quality of ingredients isn’t what makes this place great, it’s the way Adam puts them together is what makes this place great. He is always imaginative with his food and what he puts together is simply great. LOM is definitely one of my favorite gotos for lunch.

A few months back I flipped Lunch on Main’s sandwich competitor Wicked-​wich from four stars down to three. After further visits to and reconsideration of Lunch on Main, I think it deserves to be flopped from three up to four.
Even if, as the erstwhile Get in Mah Belly says, the shop uses «boring» Boar’s Head cold cuts, I’ve come to the conclusion that the owner of this unassuming place makes a better overall sandwich than any of his downtown deli competition, whether it’s the ‘Wich, Silverglades, Servatii, or Avril-​Bleh. Lunch on Main uses better bread, fresher veggies, and more creative and zestier sauces and marmalades. The owner simply seems to take more care in conceiving of and crafting his sandwiches than his competition does.
The Main, the Red Meat, and the Italian are all really nice, decent-​sized sandwiches at $ 6.50. It’s true that the sandwiches don’t come with a side or chips, which is kind of a drawback.
Lunch on Main also serves $ 5 salads that employ quality ingredients and are a bargain. In fact, I got one that seemed to have more blueberries in it than you could buy for five bucks at the grocery store.
Lunch on Main, alas, doesn’t seem to do very much business, for whatever reason. I figure this guy would be a bang-​up success if he moved his shop over to the Mt. Lookout/​Oakley/​Hyde Park area, which could really use a sandwich shop like this. (But what do I know?)
Droves of customers or not, it’s good stuff.

interesting sandwich combinations, but it’s overpriced for what it is. it’s like $ 6 – 7 for a sandwich, drink and chips not included. and the meats are just boring boar’s head. i feel like they need to step it up a little in order to make it downtown.

On my ongoing quest to try all the new lunch places downtown, I checked out Lunch on Main today with some coworkers. It’s a pretty standard deli: sandwiches, salads, hot dogs, and a soup of the day. The meats are all from Boar’s Head and they have some interesting special sandwich combinations. Prices seem a tad high for the sandwiches alone, but a combo meal isn’t a bad deal ($ 8.50 for sandwich, drink and chips).
The place was pretty empty when we arrived (noonish on a Wednesday), but despite that, it still took a good 10 – 15 minutes for our food to be brought out. The girl who took our orders warned us that it would, but that seems too long to wait for sandwiches and salads when there’s hardly anyone there.
I got the «choked turkey» sandwiches which was your basic turkey on wheat with the addition of spinach-​artichoke dip in lieu of mayo. Chips were standard bags of Sun Chips, Baked Lays, etc. and drink options were any bottle in the case (Cokes, waters, etc.)
The sandwich was good, but nothing special. Only thing I didn’t like about it was that I ordered it without tomato and there had clearly been tomato on it that was removed (traces of tomato slime/​seeds). That always makes me wonder about the freshness/​made-​to-​order quality of the food, plus what if I had a food allergy? (I don’t.)
I might try it again once – cutting them a break since they’re just recently opened, but I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it over any other downtown sandwich shop.