Review: Arby's - Grand Turkey Club

Arby's Grand Turkey Club is the flagship sandwich of Arby's new line of Turkey Roaster sandwiches. It features a toasted Harvest Wheat bun stacked with sliced roast turkey, Swiss cheese, pepper bacon, leaf lettuce, tomato, and mayo.

It falls at the premium end of fast food pricing at $4.49 for a sandwich at my local Arby's. I did have a coupon for free fries and a drink with the purchase though.

There's not much to differentiate the Grand Turkey Club from a regular turkey club sandwich. I'm don't know what's so grand about it. I suppose it might be that it comes on a burger bun rather than your standard sandwich bread, but it's nothing special. The bun is a little more dense and firm than most burger buns and probably has some whole grains going on somewhere.

The Swiss cheese is a processed slice which is more like Swiss-American than Swiss. It's inoffensive and good for melting, but lacks the distinctive flavor of natural Swiss.

I think saucing was a missed opportunity here. Arby's went with mayo which is pretty standard for turkey clubs, but does nothing to set Arby's version apart. With so many other sauces to choose from, like Arby's trademark Horsey sauce or honey mustard sauce, it's a bit ho-hum to play it safe with mayo.

The turkey came in a thick slab with more texture and a bit more flavor than your typical supermarket deli meat. Salt covers up some of the finer turkey flavor though.

Arby's bacon is top-notch for the fast food sector; it has a good crispness and great taste. The Grand Turkey Club came with four strips which is enough for every bite. Between the bacon and the turkey, the sandwich does get quite salty though.

The saltiness could be cut with more lettuce, but the Grand Turkey Club only comes with one leaf of lettuce. If cost is an issue, I would rather have a lot of iceberg lettuce than a little of green leaf lettuce. Arby's meats, like most deli meats, tend to be very salty and there's only bread and lettuce to counterbalance that, so if there's more of the former (the Grand Turkey has the most turkey of all the Turkey Roasters), there needs to be more of the latter.

Overall, the Grand Turkey Club was just average for me. It feels to similar to something I could make at home with little fuss. I don't think it disappoints so much that it fails to excite. I would go with one of Arby's Market Fresh sandwiches over the not-so-Grand Turkey.

Nutritional Info - Arby's Grand Turkey Club (233g)
Calories - 490 (from Fat - 220)
Fat - 24g (Saturated Fat - 8g)
Sodium - 1440mg
Carbs - 38g (Sugar - 8g)
Protein - 29g