So four guys from work (myself included), decide to try the relatively new Jimmy John's near our office. We had been joking for weeks about the neon "Free Smells" sign that can be seen from the street, and figured we'd see just how bad it smelled for ourselves.

After walking in, my initial impression was that the menu was jumbled and confusing. There's not really a lot on there, but its organized in a way that nobody can easily make sense of it. Incidentally, I have this same problem at Panera Bread, but I digress. The girl taking orders at the counter was very brusque and businesslike, bordering on impatient. We dubbed her "The Sandwich Nazi". At least she was kind of cute.

I decided to try the "California Club", which is a sub with turkey, avacado, cucumbers, and some kind of sprouts.

This place is a typical, order at the counter, get your own drink, find a table kind of new age fast food restaurant. I went to the soda fountain, and got some lemonade. Unfortunately, I don't think it had been tended in a while - My lemonade was extremely watered down, I guess it was the last dregs from the box. I ended up dumping it out and getting some Mountain Dew instead.

The sandwich wasn't horrible but it wasn't great either - there was a hint of something bitter in it, but I couldn't quite identify it; it bothered me the entire time.

The restaurant itself was very loud. The music was mostly classic rock, but cranked up to a volume that is pretty uncommon in restaurants. It was good music though ;)

The best part of the entire meal happened while we were all at our table eating. One of us noticed a sign hanging on the front of the counter that said "We would like to see you naked - but the law requires a shirt and shoes". We got a few chuckles out of it, wondering if it was ok if we took our pants off, etc.

Then one of the guys I was with, Forrest, turned around, pointed at the sign, and told The Sandwich Nazi, "That sign is dangerous". She replied "What?", to which Forrest yelled, "WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU NAKED!". It took everyone a second to realize what he had just yelled to her, then we lost it. Go Forrest, you stud!

Overall, it was a fun lunch, filled with laughter, and great out of context humor. But the food was nothing extraordinary. Its certainly no worse than subway, but Its not exactly better either. There is more room to sit, though. and more flair.

After all of that, we totally forgot to investigate what the "free smells" were all about.