Arby's Grand Turkey Club Sandwich Review

When I was about 10 years old I spent a week at my sister’s house with her husband and 3 children.  I remember watching her make a sack lunch for her husband.  She made him a sandwich with mayo on one side and mustard on the other.  She spread these condiments evenly without any spilling on the side of the crust.  She then opened a package of wafer-sliced ham and not only put the entire package on the sandwich, she folded and layered it so that it too was spread evenly across all of the bread with none over-hanging and it wasn’t just chunked on their like a giant meat patty.  Two thin slices of cheese were placed on top of the meat. She then sliced a tomato and put the two slices from the center of the tomato that had the widest diameter, onto the sandwich.  A few pieces of green lettuce were then carefully placed on top of that.  She wrapped the sandwich and placed it gently into the brown paper bag with a baggy of chips, a folded napkin and then a small note she had written.  It simply said, “I love you - thanks for being my best friend”.

As sappy as that memory may be this is what every God-fearing American wants for their lunch.  Men and women.  It isn’t the meat or bread .  It isn’t the veggies or condiments.  It certainly isn’t the note.  It’s the copious amounts of “give a damn” that went into the making of the lunch.  It’s the invisible warm-fuzzy that comes over you when you eat a meal that someone prepared because they actually gave a damn about you.  You do not get this when you eat out anywhere.  We’ve all seen it.  How the actual sandwich never looks like the picture.  All the ingredients are there (normally), so what’s missing?  The care in which the sandwich was prepared is what is missing.  How many times has subway put a cup of mayo and/or mustard on one side of your sandwich and none on the other?  How many times has Taco Bell / Time rolled your burrito the wrong way so  that instead of all the ingredients being in each bite, you get rice in the 1^st two bites, beans in the next two, tomatoes and onions in the next and cheese and salsa on the next?  How many Burgers from Wendys, McD’s, BK, Carl’s Jr and Jack in the Box had Ketchup or special sauces smeared all over the bun?  It’s because they don’t care about you.  They have their money, they’re making minimum wage and you can go suck it for all they care.

Keep this in mind as I review Arby’s new Grand Turkey Club Sandwich.  I’ve recently rediscovered Arby’s, as was evident with my review a while back.  In that review I had claimed that the only good thing about Arby’s was they sell Pepsi products.  Their new sauces can also be added to what is good about Arby’s.  Recently I came into possession of a $10 gift card to Arby’s and so I returned.  Having previously decided that their beef and chicken selection weren’t as good as they once where I decided to try their new Grand Turkey Club Sandwich. 

As I mentioned in my previous Arby’s review, the staff was surprisingly friendly.  I placed my order and handed her my gift card.  This was the only part of this trip that annoyed me.  The worker was competent but I swear to hell we can launch a Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with less effort than it took to run my gift card.  There were only maybe 10 numbers on the card but she had to punch 525 numbers on her keypad to get it to process.  But that was just a minor annoyance.

My sandwich came, with the potato cakes and large cup for soda I had ordered.  I filled the cup with that nectar of the Gods known by us mere mortals as Pepsi, grabbed a few napkins, went to the condiment dispensers and again had to choke back my desire to go on a tri-state killing spree because they still only have a 3-condiment dispenser and not the 5-condiment one with their new sauces, but settled for Horsey Sauce and Arby’s sauce, ketchup for the potato cakes.  I sat down and opened up my little box containing the sandwich and took a good hard look at it.  To be honest I was extremely impressed with the look of the sandwich.  A fair sized Harvest Wheat Bun with no spillage of mayo on the sides of it anywhere is what you first see.  Knowing I was going to review it, I lifted the top bun off to examine it closer.  Layer upon layer of sliced roast turkey, topped with perfectly melted Swiss cheese, and by perfectly I mean it covered most of the top of the meat and was melted, not still in the original shape of sliced cheese and there was just the right amount of it.  A good amount of bacon came next and I took a bite of it and it was very savory and delicious.  Two large slices of ripe tomato that had been sliced not too thick but not too thin either and of course fresh green lettuce on top of that. 

At this point, I paused and took a gander towards the kitchen to see if my sister or my wife or someone else that loves me was working back there.  Nope, just the friendly faces of Arby’s employees could be seen.  I typically like to shove my food into my gaping maw as quickly as I can and then spend the rest of my lunch break dabbing out the stains on my shirt.  However, in this case, I took my time.  I put the bun back on and took my first bite, then a second.  I declare before all of you that this is a model of how all sandwiches everywhere should be prepared.  Delicious food prepared with the greatest ingredient of all…a dash of “give a damn”.

I tried Arby’s Sauce and Horsey Sauce on different bites of it but none really complimented it. I bet the Honey Mustard sauce they have at limited locations would compliment it perfectly, but you know what?  It doesn’t need anything else.  It’s delicious with the mayo they carefully and evenly spread on it.  OK, it’s not a very filling sandwich, at least for me and most construction workers may want to order two, but with fries and a drink it made a great meal.  I returned the next day just to see if it was an anomaly and it was made with the same care as the previous one.  I think if Arby’s can successfully continue to put a pinch of extra care into every sandwich they make, they may actually pull themselves out of this funk and make a real name for themselves above the other fast food chains.  I’d even suggest they start putting a little business card sized note inside your bag or on your tray saying “We appreciate you – Have a great day”.  I’ve upgraded my stars for Arby’s itself from zero to three and the Grand Turkey Club gets 4 stars!!