Albacore Tuna from Paradise Bakery & Cafe

So, you might think that since this a sandwich blog, I'd make my first review one of a sandwich from an amazing little local deli that does nothing but make great sandwiches. Well, don't worry - I'll get there, too. But let's face it - sandwiches can be had almost anywhere and everywhere and I don't plan on being too discriminatory when it comes to where I get sandwiches from. That means everything from the aforementioned deli to bigger chains such as this place - Paradise Bakery & Cafe.

Paradise is a national chain with locations in most of the Western states and a couple others as well. As the name would suggest, they specialize in baked goods, but also serve sandwiches, soups and salads throughout the day. My wife loves this place, so on the first day of 2010, I accompanied her to this location and started this sandwich project with, appropriately enough, the first sandwich I saw at the top of the menu - the Albacore Tuna sandwich, which is composed of the following:

• Type of Bread: Multigrain
• Dressing(s)/Condiment(s): Mayonnaise
• Toppings: Albacore Tuna Salad, Leaf Lettuce, Tomato

Let me start off by saying that I typically don't order tuna sandwiches. I guess the reason for that is that it is a bit more of a gamble ordering tuna than say turkey or roast beef. I mean, a good tuna sandwich is wonderful. However, a bad tuna sandwich is just HORRIBLE. If the tuna-to-mayonnaise ratio is weak, the sandwich can turn south into a soggy, uneatable disaster pretty quickly. Thankfully, that was not the case here. Let's go right to the score-card:

• Quantity/Value: 3/5 - I paid $7.15 for my sandwich, which included a chocolate-chip cookie, but coming on standard size sandwich bread, I thought it was a tad over-priced
  
• Originality: 3/5 - Aside from the pizazz that the multigrain bread provided, nothing out of the ordinary here.
  
• Appearance: 8/10 - I know it doesn't help that my photo is pretty washed out by my flash, but this was a good looking sandwich. The tuna salad had celery and sweet pickle to give it some color and the fresh lettuce and tomato provided great contrast.
• Quality/Freshness: 8/10 - As just mentioned, the tomato and lettuce were fresh and appealing. And, since I watched the guy make my sandwich, I know it was fresh. This was important considering the sog potential of a tuna fish sandwich.
• Taste: 17/20 - As I mentioned earlier, the downfall of a tuna sandwich in my mind is when it is a bland, soggy mess. Paradise Bakery avoided this with the celery and pickle in the tuna itself, the lettuce, and the sunflower seeds baked into the bread all providing some level of crunch to offset the softness of the bread, tuna and tomato.

That means the Albacore Tuna sandwich at Paradise Bakery & Cafe comes in with a final SSTF (Supreme Sandwich Task Force) Rating of 39/50. In summary, I would not hesitate to order this sandwich again. I just wish it were a bit cheaper. Oh yeah - the cookie that came with my sandwich was awesomely chewy and delicious.