7 Restaurant Chains Serving the Best Tuna Melts
Some people are content with an OG tuna sandwich, while others like it hot. I myself usually prefer a warm sandwich over a cold one, if it is done right. Obviously, you don’t want the fresh, crispy veggies heated up. The right way to make a tuna melt is to butter the bread, add a delicious tuna salad, top it with your choice of cheese, and griddle it in a pan until the cheese is perfectly melty. If you want lettuce, tomatoes, or other toppings, they are usually added at the end. Where can you get the best tuna melts? Here are 7 restaurant chains serving the best tuna melts.
Potbelly
Potbelly makes an esteemed tuna salad, using “100% albacore tuna salad,” according to its website, calling it a “must-try for any tuna lover.” The salad is made with “premium albacore tuna, mixed with a light touch of mayo and relish,” and served on their trademark freshly baked bread. If you want a tuna melt, add cheese to the tuna salad and toast it.
Which Wich Tuna Salad Is Just Tuna and Mayo
The Takeout maintains the tuna salad at Which Wich is made with two ingredients: Tuna and mayonnaise. This allows diners to choose what else they want on it. And, the Tuna Melt is basic but a classic, made with tuna salad and cheddar.
Denny’s
If you want a classic diner tuna melt. The grilled sandwich features tuna salad and melted cheese, served on the bread of your choice. It is on the Melts & Handhelds menu and is served with wavy-cut fries.
Marie Callender’s
Marie Callender’s served up a more gourmet albacore tuna melt that still feels like the classic diner favorite. It features albacore tuna salad topped with melted aged cheddar and jack cheeses, avocado, tomato, and applewood smoked bacon on grilled Parmesan sourdough. “Good and very filling,” writes a TripAdvisor diner.
Firehouse Subs
Firehouse Subs keeps its tuna salad traditional. The Firehouse Subs Tuna Salad is a “blend of tuna, mayo, relish, and black pepper—an old fire department recipe,” says the website. Like any sub, you can order it toasted. “The tuna is shredded down to small pieces, so no bite is excessively fishy, yet the substance tasted like something that could have come straight from a fresh fish market,” our review, Megan Hageman, writes in her review.
Subway
Subway’s tuna is 100% wild-caught; they went to court over it and even created a page on its website in response to the “meritless lawsuit that falsely questioned the quality of Subway’s tuna,” the brand explained about the case, which was dismissed on July 27, 2023. And, the tuna salad is a quick-fix tuna melt solution, especially if you are at the airport on the go.
Jimmy John’s
Jimmy John’s uses only Starkist tuna for its sandwiches. “Our tuna salad is made from scratch by hand. Real tuna fish, real Hellmann’s, real fresh veggies, reeeeeeealllly good,” the brand confirmed in a 2017 Facebook post. Our reviewer enjoyed it overall, though they did say “the fish essence is toned down.” The #15 Toasted Club Tuna: Provolone & Tuna Salad Sandwich is made with their house-made tuna salad and provolone cheese, topped with fresh lettuce & tomato, on your choice of fresh-baked bread.