Subway in West Saint Paul

“Compared to other Subway locations, this one seems pretty optimal - Employees usually go out of their way to accommodate requests at no concrete benefit to themselves. I have noted deals with very fair prices that aren't available at other stores (presumably due to good management) and customer service seems to be a top priority for almost every employee.

Can't dispute the fact that in general, prices have gone up (that's why I gave four out of five for "food"), but employees are frank; no upselling, no caginess. Only honesty in stating what the best values are, what things they can or cannot do, and recommending the Subway "MVP" loyalty program (which just builds up points that do not expire which result mostly in simple dollar amount discounts in two dollar increments that also don't expire - one of the simplest and most useful programs of its type, in my experience). And since food prices have gone up ALL places, so it's simply not a Subway issue, more a Capitalism Endgame problem.

I don't love that theres an opaque barrier between customers and the prep area where the meat is, but an employee explained that when the chain began slicing their own meats, the far lower amount of preservatives require a lower temperature. Additionally, it keeps flying insects away from what they are most attracted to (meats) when closed, so I can forgive half of the makeline being not observable (especially since the second half with veggies IS observable, so if something had been incorrect there's an immediate chance to see that and request a correction).
I've seen other complaints... fruit flies around the soda, but it has been clear to me that it was an overflow from WalMart's produce section on the days I have noticed - and that the employees put covers over the normally uncovered veggies (at one point lowering the glass barrier between customers and the food completely so that it could cover the vegetable half of the prep area entirely with an airtight yet still clear (glass is like that!) covering, other times with more simple covers over each vulnerable item.)

Further complaints about things like cross contamination between customers due to not switching gloves or about poor customer service strike me as almost humorous - they WOULD be humorous if they weren't clearly intended to maliciously jeopardize employees' jobs. This location has many Halal customers, and I have seen employees change their gloves up to three times during a single order just to maximally prevent cross contamination. Even every knife used to cut foot-long sandwiches in half or quarters is immediately put into a bin with soapy water, even between multiple sandwiches for a single customer. Now, may have employees made a mistake or forgotten once or twice? Almost definitely, as they are human, BUT! -... on a customer's request, I have ALWAYS witnessed employees bending over backwards to fulfill the dietary needs of customers. I have been told by at least two employees that since the work is food prep, they hold themselves to a higher standard than they would be required in simple retail; as it will be eaten (and the effort is no skin off the employees' back), it only makes sense to provide a safe and high standards product.

At least two or three employees are fluent in Spanish, extremely useful for serving customers in the community (particularly at WalMart) , given that a large percentage is not comfortable with English speaking. Even the ones who lack fluency understand enough to be able to use basic yes/no questions to get their customers' food out accurately. Simply the willingness to learn even that small amount demonstrates the staff's dedication to good customer service.

I don't give five out of five to fast food very often, but seeing a skeleton crew operate so well with limited resources, taking care of unique customers so effectively, has convinced me “

“We had a silly online order mixup and had walked to this subway with the dogs only to find out we'd ordered to the Wal-Mart location! The owner of both locations was here and drove there to get our subs! Nice guy and we sure appreciated it!“