Sandwich Emporium

The Cali Melt W/ Avocado is the best sandwich in the world and I don’t doubt other feel the same about their go to sandwitch orders from here!!! 10/10.

Paid ~$17 for this French Dip, extra $3 for GF bread, and it was just pathetically small. Should not have made it out of the kitchen. The last couple trips have been the same, extremely skimpy sandwiches for what they charge. I like this place, so I will update my review at the next visit, but lately have been very disappointed. I go here weekly but headed towards the final straw of just moving on.

Delicious spot for all things sandwich and wraps. Expect to pay $10-20 per person for your meal. The tuna melt was fantastic. Hot and fresh. Coke products for soda, inside and outside seating. Quick service for dine in. Whole visit was about 30 minutes.

Ohhh wow , this place was good! I had the grilled cheese with tomato pesto and I added avocado. It was on this perfect sourdough bread and I ate the whole thing! Couldn't help myself. It was perfect and so delicious. Got it with a bag of chips and a drink. Now I'm going to enjoy my food, thank you! I'll be back!

Great spot for a high quality and affordable sandwich. They give a rubber band which is actually very nice 😊

This is a great sandwich spot! They have a wide variety of really good sandwiches. I recommend the Calimelt, the BLAT, the Pho'wich, and the Country Ranch Chicken. They also serve coffee, beer, tea, and homemade cookies. Oh, and salads too! The parking lot has a lot of spots but is kind of awkwardly designed. You can call ahead here and order takeout. Highly recommended!

Tasted sufficient. Though the chicken looked / little slimy as you can see from the photos. I mean it tasted fine but the texture didn’t feel like grilled chicken. I’m curious to how it is prepared.. Also the person that was taking my order didn’t seem like they wanted to be there, and seemed like they were rushing me. It’s cool though, and not everyday is a sunny day.

I’ve been watching The Bear on Hulu, and I’ve been craving a good sandwich from a local place. I googled “best sandwich in my area” and Sandwich Emporium came up. I got the Spicy Julio which was so good! The meat was delicious, the lettuce crisp, the avocado and tomatoes fresh, and they packed on the jalapeños!! I’ll be going back here for sure!

amazing sandwiches and sides! mac salad was A+ and customer service was amazing ! went on a saturday right before closing and everything was available and had plenty of places to sit.

Food was good. Service was good. Not the best tuna melt I've ever had, but it was still good. I'll be back to try something else.

Stopped in for a quick lunch and pleasantly surprised to see some vegetarian options on the menu. Prices are reasonable and service was friendly. I ordered a grilled cheese, which was average. There is indoor and outdoor seating, and it looked like the outdoor seating is dog-friendly.

Got the new yorker and it had really good flavor. The bread was delicious and I loved how it didn't skimp on the meat but not overly stuffed with it either. The potato salad tasted fresh and it was good. Service was fast and friendly. Had some outdoor and Indoor seating.

This place is super busy mid-day Saturday! The wait for 5 sandwiches was not bad. I got the Cali Sandwich and it was really good! The sandwich was untoasted and was able to be customized.

Since when does a Ruben or French Dip sandwich come with mustard and mayo? These are classic stand alone sandwiches that are ruined by these additions. Also the French Dip had so little meat, you had to hunt to find it on the bread. This was my 1st time trying them again after 10 years, and a reminder on why it'll be another 10 before I try them again.

Sandwiches were delicious, service was fast, ambiance was chill and parking is limited.

Quick service! Delicious ingredients! Was close to my air BNB so we could walk to it. All the samdwiches were fantastic!

What an unassuming hole in the wall sandwich shop! I've heard a lot of great things about this place and finally had the opportunity to try it. I don't say this often, but this one lived up to the hype. The sandwiches are nothing flashy, yet all of the ingredients come together (taste wise and structurally) in a perfect but humble way. Humble is probably the best way to describe the whole dining experience here as a matter of fact, although they certainly deserve to be a bit more arrogant. The prices were reasonable, and the service was very fast, but quality did not suffer one bit. Overall, going to make Sandwich Emporium part of my regular rotation 9/10

I love a good sandwich place and Sandwich emporium is definitely one of them! I've tried a few sandwich shops around San Diego and they were pretty standard to be honest. Sandwich emporium was the only one that really stood above the ones I've tried. They have a wide range of sandwiches to choose from on their menu. I typically get their breakfast sandwich because I stop by on my way to work in the mornings. Service is usually quick and easy with no problems. The prices are pretty decent as well even with a lot of other restaurants and fast foods drastically raising their prices over the past year or so. I definitely recommend this place

Wow, this is a great old school sandwich. There's lots of sandwich places in San Diego but this one is different. I love the BLTA and the jersey reuben. So much flavor, great sauce ratio and the bread is outstanding.

I returned to Sandwich Emporium today hoping for a re-run of the fantastic pastrami Reuben sandwich that I raved about in my previous review. I was disappointed. The ingredients still seemed to be of very good quality, but the sandwich wasn't built well. The sauerkraut, cheese, and 1000 island spread were distributed unevenly over the pastrami and the amounts of kraut and spread weren't as in-balance as last time. But by far the biggest problem was with the bread. The rye had been toasted, like before, but somehow it got soggy in the short time before the sandwich was brought to my table. It was mushy from the start and so the sandwich fell apart as I tried to eat, with much of the pastrami and sauerkraut falling to the plate. It's not clear how the bread got that way in such a short time, but it did - both the top and bottom slices were affected. (Liquid from the kraut? Something on the grill?) Consistency counts a lot at a place like this, and it would have to be consistent to keep the five star rating that I gave before. It may have been an off day, but I'm not likely to order the pastrami Reuben again, and I'm less than anxious to return at all.

Absolutely, hands down, the BEST sandwich I have ever had. If I'm ever back by this area I can promise you I will be back! My friend and I decided to stop by for a lunch break while exploring around the city and we couldn't have found a better shop. 10/10

FIRE Stopped in from the bay and grabbed a Turkey with bacon and avacados on toasted sourdough. Hella good and good service!

I didn't do my meal prep for the week and was starving and my coworker was in the area this shops is in and has recommended it. I tried to order online and was not successful so I called and placed the order over the phone and was able to pay for it too. My coworker picked it up and delivered to me. I got the spicy Julio which is "our recipe slow cooked house roast beef, pepper jack cheese, avocado, grilled onions. lettuce, tomato, our house recipe spicy sauce on a grilled roll." By the time I got the sandwich it wasn't super warm (not sure if it is supposed to be) and while it was messy to eat (slippery avocados) it was tasty. They have lots of other options of sandwiches I would be interested in trying and it isn't terribly far from where I live so I will be stopping in again.

Food came out pretty quick and sandwich was amazing. Couldnt stop eating til the whole thing was gone. Recommend the Spicy Julio

This was an amazing experience! The food was absolutely delicious, no doubt about it! The service was fast and employees were super nice! 100% will be going again in the future to try more of their sandwiches.

This sandwich was very fresh and well made! If you're getting the garden delight, I would recommend adding a sauce to jazz it up, but I would highly recommend this place. The staff is very nice and they have a huge variety of sandwiches! I would definitely go here again and try out their other sandwiches.

I will kindly leave a 3 star review for the taste but the cost for what we received was appalling. My husband and I wanted a late lunch and we were starving. Since it was 2pm and we didn't want to spoil our dinner we decided to share a sandwich but opted for the "thicker" size. We assumed that meant extra meat or anything of substance to make it larger than the "thick" size. However, we were mistaken. We just split our sandwich and are both still starving. And it tasted great, so we wanted more. It was the smallest $18.23 sandwich I've ever eaten in my life. Most of our sandwich had no meat, it was a small lump on one side of the bread. And it's about 8" long. Not to mention we drove 20 mins to get here bc we'd heard good things about this place. So sad.

Nothing much, I didn't have a chance to review the food cuz they were closing early.i don't like to waste my time and if it says open, that's what I expect or maybe it's just me, anyway...

I can't speak on the interior of the established or service but this sandwich was THE sandwich of my DREAMS. I cannot stress enough how delicious everything about this sandwich was. As a vegetarian sandwiches can often be lackluster for me but that was not the case at all. Stacked high with fresh veggies, this sandwich had me satiated and so happy. The crunch was there - without a single chip needed - and the softness of the bread was oh so perfect. The bread was also sourdough and so delicious, I could probably eat a whole loaf myself. I genuinely think about this sandwich once a day, if not more.

Albacore Tuna Sandwich & Cali Melt with Avocado Just decent sandwiches. Tuna sandwich probably deserves a slightly higher rating, but Cali Melt was pretty average at best.

This use to be my go to lunch break spot whenever I was craving a great sandwich. The spicy Julio is always my favorite although I have tried several others in their menu. It's just something about all the combined ingredients in the spicy Julio (it has sliced jalapeños inside) that just make my tastebuds happy. Their chocolate chip cookies are really good too. It's a whole in the wall and you can't really see it when your driving by but it's tucked inside an old (really old) shopping plaza which has limited parking. The parking spots are really narrow. The inside has tables and chairs but it's too dark and creepy for me to thoroughly enjoy my lunch so I much rather either eat outside on their patio tables or down at the bay. Staff is friendly every time I've been there.

Such a great small business that cares about customer service. We tried the Spicy Juan and the California sandwich. Freaking awesome! Super dialed back due to Covid, you order and then take the sandwich to go. It's a ton of sandwich for the price. Way more value than the big chain sandwich shops. I was shocked at the size and amount of ingredients! And the price is much lower than the big chains that want to charge extra for additional toppings. It's off the beaten path and in a dated strip mall but it is totally worth the visit! Lots of parking with normal size spots so being your vans and trucks while still being able ti park. Grab a sandwich and take the short trip to the bay to enjoy amazing food right on the sand

I had lunch with a friend at Sandwich Emporium. I was NOT prepared for that parking lot! I recommend parking on the street as there are many businesses sharing that lot and it's a zoo. Also be warned that there is no public restroom. Now that the cons are out of the way, I wanna say I definitely recommend this business. I arrived ahead of the friend I was meeting and it was a very hot day, so I waited inside and was given a cup for water before I had even ordered anything. The cashier was very welcoming and accommodating. I split a hummus wrap and ube soft serve with my friend, and both were delicious. The veggies in the wrap were so fresh! This place is very casual. There is some outdoor seating and cool decor. It was absolutely perfect for catching up.

This has been my go to sandwich spot for 15 years. You can't go wrong with their chicken bacon ranch or their Cali melt. Everyone is friendly and food is always consistent.

If you weren't looking for sandwich emporium you'd probably drive right past it. We ordered an Italian and the pastrami Reuben. The Italian was good and had a small kick to it with the pepperoncinis. The pastrami Reuben had great flavor. The pastrami is a bit thicker cut which some people don't like but I did not mind in this case. The bread was fresh on both sandwiches which is a must. We also had a side of macaroni salad which was delicious.

Rip off. Prices are expensive for these rinky dinky sandwiches. They are yummy but too expensive and too small.

The staff behind the counter are always pleasant, and the sandwiches used to be pretty decent, but the last time I visited I was very disappointed. There was canned chicken in my chicken sandwich, and while I paid for extra meat on my other sandwich, there was no extra meat. I understand about inflation and S.E. is clearly one of the victims. It's a bummer to pay higher prices and get lower quality in return. I won't be going back. *sigh*

The New Yorker was yummy. Turkey sandwich was ok. Very nice people working there too. Will defiantly go back and try some other sandwiches if in the Clairmont area again.

I don't know what happened to this place, it used to be spectacular. The sandwiches are not worth the value. Tiny portions. Bland flavors. Sourdough is tough. Like well well well done steak. There's too many better options for sandwiches. Service was quick and friendly. The place is hip. But will pass in the future. 15 for a tiny bland sandwich is a no go for me... unless I'm on an airplane.

This is my go to sandwich spot! The prices have gone up significantly since I first started going here, but the chicken pesto sandwich really hits the spot, especially with those bits of bacon in there. I always try to call in ahead to get my order in but even if I order at the counter the food is always prepared quickly. Quick and easy to pick up especially when I'm in a rush to get to work and I didn't have time to eat at home. They have a lot of different sandwich options--I wish the breakfast items were offered all day tho tbh because I work the later shift so I never wake up in time to try them :(

Our new favorite sandwich place in San Diego! After moving to San Diego, we started our hunt for a great sandwich place and we found it at the Sandwich Emporium! The sandwiches are delicious and a great size, but if you want it a bit bigger make it "thicker". Lots of options and everything always tastes really fresh. The cookies are also AMAZING. Highly recommend Sandwich Emporium!

always good and reliable place to grab a sammy..... staff is usually nice. easy in and out. yummy lemonade and a cookie awaits as well.

For a $14 sandwich they could use a bigger roll. Seriously about the side of a brat bun. Also kind of a weird smell inside when picking up the order. Not appetizing

The California sandwich was delicious. I added jalapeños, and it was great. The service is very polite. The restaurant has a very nice dining area. I would definitely go back to try another sandwich. The price is fair--it is about the same anywhere to get a decent sandwich these days.

Sandwich was amazing ! The customer service was great! I'm actually waiting for them to open because the sandwich is just enough to keep you satisfied.

Sandwiches are always great! We're big fans of the Saigon grinder and the cali melt. Hard to find a good sandwich place these days and this is a hidden gem!

I'm giving this place 5 stars although I pre-ordered in advance and had to wait! The tuna sandwich on wheat was delicious and the staff was quick to help!

This is my favorite sandwich shop around Clairemont. The Bacon Clubhouse Melt is my favorite, very well balanced. Spicy Julio is also excellent.

Nice ambiance and quick service...but terrible sandwich. I asked for the Californian with no chipotle sauce. I said mayo and mustard were fine. Boy do I wish I would have said LIGHT because this sandwich had so much mayo and mustard it literally dripped out as I ate it. Bread and lettuce were soggy from it. Not worth the trouble of finding parking. I may give it another try... but definitely going to ask for light mayo/mustard next time.

Love the California sandwich. Excellent service and clean restaurant too. Look forward to my next order.

This place always has great sandwiches! The service is fast and friendly! Will be coming back!

Absolutely delicious every time. So fresh and homemade, all of the meats are flavorful and juicy. Lots of great choices too!

Best sandwich I've had in awhile! I'm not originally from San Diego and I have been searching for a place here as good as my favorite one back home. 5 years later and I stumbled upon this amazing place. Will definitely be coming back! Excellent quality ingredients, excellent service and excellent prices.

These were the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life. I got the cali sandwich and the chicken pesto sandwich. Both hit the spot! Excellent service too (we sat outside and the sandwiches were even brought to us!) Generous portions too!

This's the best option to go eat, starting with the welcoming attitude of the staff and then the tasteful sandwiches...thank you

First time trying today, I ordered through Uber eats. The crannie melt is sooooo GOOD, one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. Really good ranch dressing as well. Will order again.

First tasted their Saigon Grinder at the Pacific Arts Movement Asian Film Festival Chew the Scene Event and it was one of our favorite tastes of the night. We come back every few weeks for that sandwich and the Spicy Julio. The bread is always fresh and soft, ingredients crispy and delicious and they're always on it with the service. My boyfriend and I often say it's hard to get this good of a sandwich at their price anymore. Highly recommend!