DiBella’s served me the meatiest sandwich I have ever had in my life. Much like they advertise, the bread was the best part, reminding me of an Auntie Anne’s pretzel: Chewy, soft and tasty.

Next to the entrance was a door labeled “bakery” where they make their bread in-house. The counter where all of the sandwiches are made was fairly long and, behind it, were around five waitstaff and a neon red sign. I walked along the black and white floor tiles, passing some old-fashioned sleek, black booths to a man behind the counter who asked me what I would like.

In my reply, I asked him what was the most popular sandwich on the menu. Following his advice, I then ordered the toasted seven inch Godfather and Chicken Philly subs.

Afterwards, he asked me what my deli number was. I completely missed it upon entrance but there was a classic red post holding numbered deli slips like you would see at the grocery store. I grabbed a number, relayed it to the man and then went to wait in one of the booths. Each seven inch sub was affordably $8.29.

The interior design was very cool and everything inside the restaurant made me feel like I was in the 80s at the grocery store purchasing deli.

After my subs came out, I sat down and opened the Godfather first. Both sandwiches were unlabeled and the paper they were wrapped in was massive. I imagine it was because they’re meant to fit the largest sizes sold. It was much bigger than what they wrap their sandwiches in at Subway.

The wrapping overall was super clunky and as I went to take my first bite I received a spicy meaty mouthful. The three meats in the sandwich overwhelmingly dominated its flavor: All three meats including genoa, salami and capicola left my mouth feeling warm and spicy. I didn’t notice there were vegetables until the end. My last few bites were disappointingly just lettuce, onions and bread which made it difficult to consume the vegetables by themselves. The sudden shift in flavors created an odd experience because I enjoy vegetables. After eating something so dominated by meat I wanted to gag on the onion because it was abrasively raw to my palate.

At the very least, the sandwich was very filling, and they were not skimpy to give any protein.

After I was done, I picked up the Chicken Philly and could physically feel how much warmer the sandwich was than the first. I definitely favored the specialty sub more over the Godfather.

There was so much flavor in between the chicken, cheese, sweet tomatoes, green peppers and onions that really satisfied my hunger. Everything was flavored so nicely that I forgot I was eating chicken instead of beef.

DiBella’s Italian subs is an old fashioned, immersive experience that I would recommend for a cute lunch date. Go there and order what you like rather than what is most popular. The bread they have is unique to any kind of roll I have ever tried before.