Robb W.
Yelp
This one's a bit tough to write as Uncle Paulie's is EXACTLY what I was hoping to see in town-- an East Coast themed sub place (albeit, originally from LA) that ISN'T Jersey Mikes . Located in the new Durango Station's Eat Your Heart Out food hall, it's in the center of the hall and hard to miss.
In terms of meat quality, and as you can see from my photos, you definitely get a generous amount of high quality meat on the sandwich. As for the bread, it's absolutely perfect with the soft sesame seeded rolls that are excellent with the sub. Off to a great start, for sure!
That said, I spent $22 for the sandwich (with a can of diet pepsi) and well, that's kind of rough for a sub. Plus, if I'm spending that, it needs to be absolutely mouth watering delicious and while all of the essential components were there for a fantastic sandwich, the sub felt a little bit, dare I say, bland?
I think what the sub seemed to be missing was mayo/mustard/dressing, etc and in absence of that, it was just a bit too dry tasting for my liking. There was ostensibly red wine vinaigrette to my understanding but couldn't really taste it. Also, in my mind, an Italian Cold Cut sandwich should be the defining sandwich at a sub shop. They are so close to magic here, but just not quite sticking the landing as yet.
That said, service was phenomenal, the counter staff couldn't have been nicer and there was little to no wait. --- which is a double edged sword I guess.
This restaurant seemed to be a bit less traveled than the other food options and so while it's certainly convenient for those that don't want to wait in a long line, as you would for Prince St. Pizza but at the same time, that's probably not great for the management at Paulies.
All that said, this shop has the bones to be something wonderful, but it definitely needs to drop costs by maybe 10% and perhaps add a bit more condiments to the sandwich, or at least be super clear about what can be added in addition to what they put on as standard so folks can customize as needed.