I tried Italian sandwiches from Subway, Jimmy John's, and Jersey Mike's. One stood out from the rest.

This delightful amalgam of meat, cheese, and a select few veggies and condiments traces its roots to Italian immigrants in early 20th-century America.

The definition of this sandwich can vary by region and restaurant, so I established a baseline by asking Google, ChatGPT, and Copilot: "What comes on a classic/standard 'sub' style Italian sandwich?"

The answers were remarkably similar in each case, so I feel confident saying that an Italian sub sandwich should feature fresh ham and a dry meat like salami or capocollo (a dry-cured pork you may also know as "gabagool"), provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, and, in most cases, oil and vinegar.

Sometimes, there's salt, pepper, and other herbs, like oregano, sprinkled on them as well.

With that in mind, let's talk about how these chains did when delivering their takes on the classic American sandwich that is the Italian.

At Jersey Mike's, the Original Italian consists of ham, cappacuolo, prosciuttini (similar to prosciutto but coated in black pepper), pepperoni, salami, and provolone.

Here, I ordered my sandwich "Mike's Way," as suggested, since it adds onions, tomatoes, lettuce, olive oil, red-wine vinegar, and oregano — basically the exact toppings for a classic Italian sub.

I paid $14 for this 7-inch-long sub, which comes to about $2 per inch.

Jersey Mike's is famous for having staff slice its meats and cheeses right in front of customers, and I was immediately impressed as I watched the man preparing my sandwich doing just that.

The portions looked very generous. In the end, my sandwich featured almost a full inch of the various meats and several slices of provolone.

When I took my first bite 30 minutes later, my first thought was there's actually too much meat on here for my liking.

The lettuce and onion tasted crisp and fresh, and the bread had a pleasant texture without being doughy or dry, but the stacked meat dominated the sandwich's flavor profile in a salty way.

I'd certainly rather have a surplus of meats than a dearth, though, and I'd absolutely order this flavorful sandwich again.

Although this was the most expensive sandwich I got, the price seemed pretty fair to me.

At Jimmy John's, I also ordered a regular-sized Italian sandwich. It came to $12 for an 8-inch sandwich, or about $1.50 an inch.

Based on the menu, I expected to receive the Italian Night Club, which comes with "hand-sliced" salami, capocollo, smoked ham, provolone, mayo, "fresh-sliced" lettuce, onions, oil, vinegar, and oregano-basil, per Jimmy John's website.

When ordering this sandwich online, the default answer to the question "Do you want your sandwich toasted?" is no. This makes sense considering the chain is famous for its fresh French bread, which is baked in-house each day.

Unfortunately, when ordering in person, I wasn't asked whether I wanted my sandwich toasted. As it happened, the sandwich got toasted — and that was the first disappointment.

The famous bread from Jimmy John's is usually delectable, tasting fresh, thick, and good enough to enjoy on its own with some oil or butter.

In this case, though, by the time I ate my still-warm Italian sub about a half hour after it was prepared, the bread felt soggy.

This may have happened whether my sandwich was heated up or not — in fact, toasting it may have helped slow down this process — but the heat didn't help.

Although the onions and tomatoes seemed fresh enough, they were warm, and the lettuce seemed wilted by the time I took a bite. I didn't think there was enough meat or cheese on my sandwich, either.

Also, note how I didn't mention mayonnaise in the baseline description of an Italian sandwich earlier. Most sandwich purists will tell you to leave mayo off an Italian sub, and I agree.

The mayo on this sodden tube of ingredients just added to the mess while adding almost nothing to the flavor.

At Subway, my Italian sandwich was the B.M.T, which came with Black Forest ham, salami, and pepperoni, provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and (unfortunately) mayo on artisan Italian bread.

I got the 6-inch size for $9, which is about $1.50 an inch — the same cost-per-inch breakdown as the Jimmy John's sandwich.

Although the sandwich had too much mayo, it didn't get soggy as it sat, and the rest of the ingredients were in balanced proportion: There was plenty of each meat, several slices of cheese, and a generous layer of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions that added a pleasant crunch.

Also, the bread from Subway tasted quite fresh — it was still slightly warm, while the rest of the ingredients were chilled.

Overall, the texture of Subway's Italian B.M.T. was pleasant, but the flavor was rather lacking. It may have benefited from a bit more seasoning or maybe a different combination of cold cuts.

Ultimately, I was pretty satisfied because this was a filling sandwich for what I felt was a very reasonable price.

I'm sad to say that my Italian sub from Jimmy John's let me down most of all.

Since I've had many excellent sandwiches from this chain and its signature bread is usually fantastic, I'd be open to trying it again. Next time, though, I'd ensure it's served cold and order it with extra meat and no mayonnaise, in hopes of a better eating experience.

Subway's sandwich was middle-of-the-road for me. There wasn't anything really wrong with it — and it was satisfying — but it didn't stand out to me as particularly special.

Jersey Mike's was my favorite Italian sandwich of the bunch, with my only note being that the overabundance of meat is more my issue than a real problem with the sandwich.

Ultimately, each Italian sandwich feels worth trying again, but the only one I'm definitely going back for is from Jersey Mike's

Although it was a bit pricier than the other options, it felt like a great value, especially given the meat's quality and freshness.