SANDWICHES • 5 min read
What Is a Meatball Sub?
Meatballs, marinara and melted mozzarella — the one sandwich on the po’boy menu that breaks every rule the rest of it follows.
A meatball sub is meatballs in tomato sauce in a long roll with melted cheese over the top. Ours is filled with meatball, mozzarella and marinara, in a 7-inch and a 12-inch, and unlike every other po’boy on the menu it does not come dressed.
A meatball sub is meatballs in tomato sauce, loaded into a long roll with melted cheese over the top. That is the whole thing. It has no salad, no dressing and no negotiating — which makes it the simplest sandwich on our menu and, for a lot of people, the most reliable.
Ours is on the po’boy list, filled with meatball, mozzarella and marinara, in a 7-inch and a 12-inch.
Why it is not really a po’boy
It sits on the po’boy menu, but it breaks the rule that defines the rest of that list. Every other sandwich there comes dressed — lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, pickles — and a meatball sub comes with none of it.
That is not an omission. Cold salad and mayonnaise against hot tomato sauce is a texture clash, and mayonnaise splits when it meets something that hot. The sandwich is Italian-American in origin rather than New Orleans, and it arrived on menus like this one because it sells, not because it fits the category. Our po’boy guide covers the other eight, which do follow the rules.
The three parts, and which one goes wrong
- The meatballs — should hold together but not be dense. A meatball that survives being cut in half was made too tightly
- The marinara — enough to coat, not enough to pool. Sauce that runs out of the end has been overdone
- The mozzarella — melted over the top, so it seals the filling in rather than sliding off it
- The roll — the part that actually fails, every time
Bread is the weak point in a meatball sub in a way it is not in a dry sandwich. Hot sauce goes into the crumb and keeps going, and a roll that was fine when it was wrapped can be soft in the middle ten minutes later. The fix is not a sturdier roll so much as eating it sooner. It is the one sandwich on the menu where the difference between eating in and taking home is measured in minutes rather than in convenience.
7-inch or 12-inch?
Both are on the menu, and the honest guidance here differs from the rest of the list. A meatball sub is heavier per inch than almost anything else — meat, sauce and cheese with nothing light in it to break the density up.
| You want | Order | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A normal lunch | 7-inch | It eats bigger than it measures |
| To be full for the afternoon | 12-inch | But expect to slow down near the end |
| To share | 12-inch, cut | Two halves travel better than one long sub |
| Something alongside | 7-inch plus a side | A 12-inch plus fries is a lot of the same thing |
If you are ordering it as a special, it is A15 on the weekday all-day list and again on the weekend list, which comes with fries or onion rings and a drink. That is the version most people should be ordering, and it is covered in our guide to the three special menus.
Taking one away? Ask for it cut in half even if you are eating it yourself. Two shorter halves hold their shape in a bag far better than one 12-inch sub, which sags in the middle and pushes the filling to the ends.
Where it comes from
The meatball sub is Italian-American rather than Italian. Meatballs in Italy are generally served on their own or in soup, not stacked into bread — the sandwich version was built in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, in the same wave that produced the hero, the grinder and half a dozen other regional names for a filled long roll. Britannica’s entry on the hoagie traces one of those names to Italian immigrants working at a Philadelphia shipyard during the First World War, which is roughly the same story with a different filling.
What it inherited from that lineage is the format rather than the recipe: something substantial in a roll, sold cheaply, eaten standing up. The reason it turns up on menus that have nothing else Italian on them is that it does that job better than most sandwiches, and everybody already knows what it is.
What to order with it
Something dry and something sharp, and not much of either. The sandwich is already soft, rich and wet, so a second soft, rich, wet thing next to it is wasted. This is the one place on the menu where the usual advice to order generously works against you.
- Onion rings — the best pairing on the menu, for the crunch
- Plain fries — fine, and what most people order
- A house or Caesar salad — the sharp counterpoint, and underrated here
- Loaded fries — skip it. Cheese on cheese on sauce
Meatball sub, cheesesteak or French dip?
Three hot sandwiches in long rolls, a few lines apart on the same menu. What actually separates them is what the sauce is doing:
| Meatball sub | Cheesesteak | French dip | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filling | Meatballs in marinara | Chopped ribeye or chicken | Sliced roast beef |
| Sauce | In the sandwich | None — cheese does the work | In a cup on the side |
| Cheese | Mozzarella, melted over | Seven to choose from | Provolone |
| Gets soggy? | Yes, and quickly | Slowly | Only where you dip it |
| Eat it | Straight away | Straight away | Bite by bite |
If wet-and-rich is what you are after but you want more control over it, the French dip puts the sauce in a cup instead. If you want the meat to lead rather than the sauce, that is a cheesesteak.
The short version
Meatballs, marinara and melted mozzarella in a long roll, 7-inch or 12-inch, no salad and no dressing. Eat it hot and eat it soon; order onion rings rather than loaded fries; and if it is a weekday, order it as A15 and get the side and the drink with it. It is on the po’boy menu.
Nine po’boys, in two sizes
Most come dressed. The meatball sub and the French dip do not.
Frequently asked questions
What is in a meatball sub?
Meatballs in marinara sauce with melted mozzarella, in a long roll. Ours comes in a 7-inch and a 12-inch.
Does a meatball sub come dressed?
No. Every other po’boy on our menu comes with lettuce, tomato, mayo and pickles; a meatball sub comes with none of them.
Is a meatball sub a po’boy?
It sits on the po’boy menu but it is Italian-American rather than New Orleans, and it breaks the dressed-as-standard rule.
What goes well with a meatball sub?
Onion rings for the crunch, or a plain salad for the sharpness. Avoid loaded fries — it is cheese and sauce on top of cheese and sauce.
Is there a meatball sub special?
Yes, A15 on the weekday all-day list and again at the weekend, with fries or onion rings and a drink.
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