Larry’s Giant Subs

Subs are awesome but you have to get the 12 inch. The pickles are perfect. Good clean location. Excellent place for a sub and people watching

It’s fine in a pinch, but there are better places to get a sandwich. I tried their Chicago Italian beef sandwich, and there wasn’t a lot of meat, and the flavors were forgettable. The fries were crispy but nothing special. For a much lower price, I could have gone to Chicago Paulies and had a much better (and bigger) meal.
Props for the cherry lime drink. It was too sweet for me, but diluted with a little water or soda and a squeeze of fresh lime juice, it was pretty okay.

I had a Cuban from here the other day. It was the first time I’d had one in a year and a half, when I found out I have celiac disease. I was ecstatic to find out that Larry’s has a gluten-​free roll. The sandwich was PERFECT! It was delicious, hot, crispy, and didn’t give me stomach cramps.
The staff are also very friendly.

Not impressed with Chicago Italion beef. The bread was not traditional, not crunchy on outside, juicy on the inside. They served sauce on the side. I’m from Chicago and rate this a 3 out of 10. Long wait, which had to be for the fries which were good, not great. Pictured is a real Chicago Italian beef.

I love this place! Friendly staff and the best tuna sub ever. If they ask if you want your bread toasted, say YES. It brings out the flavor of the bread. I have been many times but have only gotten the tuna and the turkey subs. They are both equally good.
***This place is now closed***

So it’s my first time coming here. Dad likes the Cubans here sometimes.
I was not impressed to say the least. The service was okay, but the food really needs some quality.
I had the turkey salad — I’m not trying to be mean but turkey had no taste, and it seemed a bit old. I picked out the olives, since the menu didn’t specify the veggies. I just had the onions taken out before hand.
Dad liked his cuban.
I don’t usually go to sub shops, but I don’t think I’ll be coming here again.
The soda was freshly changed though, which I could taste.

I don’t know where the Giant Subs are in this place. The 12 inch suns are more like 6 inch especially when it comes to the meat and toppings.
I ordered a 12 inch Cheesesteak to share with different toppings on each half. The staff was fine about it and quite helpful.
Well, we couldn’t figure out which half was whose because there was such little toppings. The worst thing though was the lack of flavor. Even the bread was awful.
The only reason for the two stars is because of the happy, helpful staff.

Giant relative to a hot dog, maybe, but definitely not a giant sub. I pulled into this place late at night since it was the only sub shop open in the area and I had a craving. A disappointing sub experience by any standard. Will not be going back to this shop again.

Drove by this sandwich shop a couple of days ago, on the way to another place for lunch. Saw their sign proclaiming they have the #1 Cuban. #1 in what way? Most sold? Most expensive? I live in an area that has pretty much ZERO Cuban sandwiches (the best I’ve found is 100 miles away, in Indianapolis, but made by a Cuban ex-​pat and it is the real deal. Miami style.) I know plenty of places in Tampa to get an authentic Tampa-​style Cuban (there is a difference!), and I usually hit several every time I’m in the area. Needless to say I was skeptical.
We had been to a baseball game so we were close, so why not check out Larry’s? Giant subs made using quality ingredients — nothing wrong with that. We ordered 12″ subs, one Cuban and one cheesesteak, and we split them so each had a sample of the other. Cheesesteak was decent — tasty enough but definitely light on the meat. Might give it three stars alone.
The Cuban was made properly for a Tampa-​style sandwich. The bread was from a local Cuban bakery. I think they toasted it dry so it wasn’t quite as good as I’m used to, but it was OK. The problem was the amount of ingredients. I think there was one slice of everything, except maybe the salami, which was in one layer only. I am used to these sandwiches being well-​stuffed, so I was definitely disappointed. (There is another Cuban shop literally not one block away that would blow this place away, plus they have great black bean soup. We should have gone there. Within a half mile, I can think of two or three other places that are all way better.) The damage: over $ 20 for two sandwiches and two medium fountain drinks.
So, #1 Cuban? I think not.
Some additional comments added 27 April:
After re-​reading my review, as well as several other accurate ones, I think I may see the problem. Larry’s claims «Just voted #1 Cuban Sub in Tampa». Is there really any place in Tampa that refers to their Cuban Sandwich as a CUBAN SUB? I can’t think of any, not even Publix! So, they could very well have been voted #1 as they claim. By whom? Their employees?
One of the local newspapers has done a bracket-​type pizza competition in the past. Perhaps they could do one for Cuban «subs». My guess is Larry’s doesn’t even get out of the first round.

The only reason I still go here is bc they offer gluten free bread. ¾ times the bread is stale and mealy. The lettuce and onions taste day or 2 old. Only one measly slice of each piece of meat or cheese. Once in a while everything will be fresh and the sandwich will taste good, but overall this place sucks

DO NOT MAKE A SPECIAL TRIP FOR LARRY’S. This place has gone downhill since it opened. Sandwiches are tasteless and staff is not great. Go elsewhere for a sub unless you are desperate and in the area.

Listen, I love cheesesteaks, and they are hard to mess up, but this place took the cake as worst of all time. Granted, I was stoned so I devoured it anyways, but rest assured it was not suitable for human consumption. Steak-​ums from the grocery store freezer would have been better. ⁰⁄₁₀ would not go/​order again.

WHOOSH! That’s this place going over my head. I don’t have any nostalgic attachments to this place from J-​ville, so I can just say that with a name that includes the word Giant, these subs should be Giant! Not so. I had a bite of a few sammiches here and nothing stuck out. Had an Otis Spunkmeyer sugar cookie and that was as expected. Liked that they used local La Segunda bread, and that they think they have the best Cuban sammich-​how cute, but I didn’t see one thing that would lure me back. Um, it’s clean and service is attentive but in a virtual sea of restaurants, I’m not biting.

So here is a place that I’ve been wanting to try for a minute, and I finally got my chance. Rarely am I both near Kennedy and DM and hungry.
Upon walking up, I was impressed to see a huge sign out front advertising that they use La Segunda Cuban bread. I was thinking, «Wow, not bad considering they’re a chain from Jax.» Well, when I got inside, I was warmly greeted by the staff and my order was quickly taken. However, after placing my order, I saw a sign claiming they were voted «Best Cuban.» I’m just not buying it. First off, I want to know who the hell voted a chain «best Cuban» in a city, not only where the damn sandwich was invented, but that is also chock-​full of places that serve up amazing versions of the sandwich. Seriously folks, let’s get a damn grip here. It was laughable.
So I sit down and out comes our sammiches, and they look great. I got the Kong turkey deal, and my son got a 12″ turkey and cheese. The sandwich was good, and I love the fact that they use all of these less damaging cold cuts. No anti-​biotics and all that good stuff, but my son looked over at me after dusting off his sammich and said, «It was good, but I don’t see what’s so „giant“ about these sandwiches and it’s definitely not the best I’ve had. I like Firehouse better.» He’s only 15, but the boy knows sandwiches, and I sadly couldn’t help but to agree with him. In the Jax chain sandwich war, I think Firehouse wins.
After eating, I sat there digesting for a moment, and I saw one of those table top rolodex style advertisement things, so I started flipping thru them, and what I saw shocked, amazed and offended me as a Tampanian (see pic). It was an ad for their Cuban sandwich, or should type, their «Cuban sandwich.» First off, the picture is laughable because it’s not even on Cuban bread. Second, at the bottom, it reads «straight out of Miami.» Whoa! Hold the fugg up, mofos! Are you serious with that? You’re going to be a CHAIN restaurant, claiming to have been voted best Cuban by someone somewhere and then have the stones to put an add of one on a table in Tampa depicting a sandwich not even on Cuban bread and then top it off with the words «straight out of Miami»??? I can clearly see that some corporate education is needed up in Jacksonville where they wouldn’t know a Cuban sandwich if it slapped them in the face, I’ve been there on multiple occasions, trust me.
Anywho, the sandwich was good, but not better than Lenny’s across the street, nor Jimmy John’s a few miles to the east, so I can’t ever see going back.

Why 4 stars? Because of the little things.
— — —
I’d wanted to try Larry’s for over a year and a half, and finally made the trip in last week. My roast beef sandwich wasn’t anything that’s going to make me want to slap my mother, but it was solid. There are 3 primary reasons I’m going with 4 stars here:
1) They carry Garden Salsa Sun Chips. These are some of my favorite chips, and I think chip selection is incredibly important at a sub shop. It’s a huge pet peeve when there aren’t many good ones to choose from.
2) They make their own Cherry Limeade. Auto-​win.
3) They carry SUGAR Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. These bring back awesome memories of my daily dessert for 4 years during high school. I looked forward to my hot, OS sugar cookies all day long. For whatever reason, OS cookies are hard to find, and finding plan olé’ sugar cookies are even more of a needle in a haystack. I’m a meat and sugar cookies kinda guy when it comes to sugar cookies… I don’t need peanut butter or chocolate. Plain is perfect, and I don’t even remember the last time I’ve seen these since 2002. Thank’s Larry, sir.

I. Love. This. Place.
My brother worked at Larry’s back in Gainesville when we were both going to UF, and we couldn’t get enough of the place. Once we graduated, it had been ages since we saw another Larry’s again in any of the cities we lived or traveled to.
As I was researching what places would be able to make a 6ft sub for my boyfriend (one of his requests for his birthday in April), I stumbled upon the location on Kennedy in Tampa. Next thing that happened = smile on my face.
Not only was the sub abso-​freakin-​lutely delicious, but they even delivered it to the house so I wouldn’t have to figure out how the heck I’d have to fit a 6ft sub in my car. One bite and I knew this was most definitely the Larry’s I fondly remember, and we’ve been going there for subs ever since.
The ingredients are super fresh, the choices, abundant (and creative!) and the service is awesome. Another crazy fact: a Larry’s sub will stay good for a remarkably long time (if you have a decent fridge of course). The onions they use are also some kind of special because we’ve never tasted such yummy freshly sliced onions on a sandwich, ever.
Our favs: The Ultimate (a hot sub with Black Angus roast beef, roasted turkey breast & ham) and the Italian Big One (a cold Italian hoagie with ham, cooked & genoa salami, beef bologna & pepperoni).
Don’t forget to get their special sub sauce either, you’ll thank me.

I had the New York Special Hot sub. I enjoyed it but wasn’t blown away. 10 something for a sub fries and a drink is okay, but a little more meat would have earned another star for sure.
The atmosphere was very laid back and they were pretty friendly. I’d recommend for a standard lunch but probably not the place ill crave and want to take out of town visitors.

I grew up in Jacksonville, the birth place of Larry’s. When I worked at Blockbuster Video in high school, I literally ate at the Larry’s next door every day. Every. Day.
Fast forward to college in Gainesville. This became one of my favorite spots to meet a friend near campus. It is reliable and sometimes that is exactly what you want.
I was so excited when I saw that Larry’s was opening in Tampa. It was just as I remembered it — consistently delicious! I highly recommend their hot subs. They are a real treat!

So you have some stiff competition when there is a Five Guys next door, but I’ve been intrigued by the Larry’s Giant Subs since I saw it opening on my way back from kickball.
So step in, and then take a step back when you look at the multiple flatscreens displaying the menu. Hot subs, cheesesteaks and gyros and hot dogs, grilled chicken subs, cold subs, Italian subs, salads. Whoa now, what did I get myself into?
So right away, no matter what I’m feeling sammich-​wise, I can head here. Good to know…
Going across the boards, I decided to go Italian, and get the Big One: Premium ham, cooked & genoa salami, beef bologna & pepperoni, with mayo and Italian dressing on wheat. My friendgirl got the Destroyer (which has capicola). She offered me a bite, but I told her that honestly I probably wouldn’t be able to taste the capicola.
The sammich was big, filling and yummy. Honestly I was probably most shocked by the wheat bread — incredibly flavorful (blows Publix wheat rolls out of the water, that good).
So I’ll be returning, because I need to work my way down the categories. Also that Cherry Limeade.

I found Larry’s Giant Sub while doing my morning run. I love finding new places while exercising.
I don’t feel guilty about pigging out because I can walk off the calories afterwards.
This place is about 2 miles from my hotel, so I jogged a total of 4 miles round trip just to eat at this place.
Now you are probably wondering why I’m giving them 4 stars.
Well first of all I’m a fan because they have free wifi.
Their subs are also pretty good, and they offer vegetarian options.
They are also environmentally conscious, and use napkins and other packaging that are made from recycled paper.
Now for those of you who eat meat, they claim they only use roast beef with no injection. That’s good to know for those who are concerned about healthy eating.
The restaurant size is pretty average, similar to a Subway. However, I would choose Larry’s Giant Sub. They have pretty good subwiches.