Located on the outskirts of Gatlinburg, near the Arts & Crafts district, lies a cozy little sub shop called J.O.E. and Pop’s Sub Shoppe. It is a split restaurant that shares both physical space as well as menu space with Mama’s Chicken Kitchen. We did not eat chicken in this sitting, so we’ll come back another time and let you know what we think about that.

The shop’s menu offers a wide variety of subs, specialty sandwiches, salads, side items and wings, not even counting the whole chicken meals on the Mama’s Chicken Kitchen part of the menu. When testing subs, we feel like you generally need to start with the classic of all classic subs – the Italian.

The Italian sub features ham, genoa salami, capicola and pepperonis topped with provolone, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, banana peppers and homemade Italian vinaigrette. That is the structure of a proper Italian sub.

The Italian sub was presented beautifully, with the vegetables crammed between layers of thinly sliced meats, cheese and toasty bread. One thing we liked is that the tomatoes and onions are chopped up. This keeps them on the sandwich a little better.

The sandwich tasted great! The Italian vinaigrette is more subtle than some subs that use a large amount of dressings. The sandwich really lets the meat and toppings shine. It is a very natural tasting sub. Everything tasted fresh. And it filled me up just fine. I paired the sandwich with Carolina Kettle Carolina BBQ chips. You can get other sides, such as french fries, mac and cheese or mashed potatoes and gravy.

If you find yourself driving around Gatlinburg hungry for a really great sandwich, you can’t go wrong with J.O.E. and Pop’s Sub Shoppe. At the present time we can’t comment on the fried chicken options, but there are lot of those options if you’re in that kind of mode, from chicken legs, breasts and thighs, to chicken livers and chicken and dumplings. I would expect they are quite good.

The service at the sub shop was friendly and efficient. The sandwich was prepared quickly and with care, ensuring that it was just as delicious as I had hoped.

The prices at the sub shop were reasonable, especially considering the quality of the food. You’re looking at $10 for a regular size sandwich, about what you would pay anywhere, much less a place this quality.

The restaurant also has outside seating, plus a picnic area highlighted by statues of a bear family. On a nice day, you could just take your food outside to enjoy.

Overall, we highly recommend this sub shop for anyone looking for a delicious sandwich at a place that is easy to get in and out of. From downtown Gatlinburg, head East on East Parkway toward the Arts & Crafts district. The address is:

1244 East Parkway
Gatlinburg, TN 37738

You can also look them up online at https://joeandpops.com.