Jimmy John's

I last visited this restaurant in December 2007, and my experience was bad enough that I do not plan to visit this or any other Jimmy John's franchise again unless I absolutely have to.

I was doing my laundry at the Daily Wash across the street, and I needed some supper, so I went in to buy a sandwich. I thought I would get the sandwich and a cup of tap water from the soft drink dispenser, and eat it there while I waited for the laundry to be done.

However, I was informed that they did not offer tap water to drink. That's right--they DID NOT HAVE TAP WATER. I have never before or since been to a restaurant where I could not get a cup of water to drink. Some might charge you ten cents or so for the cup, but you could always get it. But not there.

The sandwich wasn't very good either.

To be fair, as soon as I registered a complaint via Jimmy John's website, the franchise consultant for the Springfield area e-mailed me to let me know he was going to look into the matter. For all I know, tap water may be available at this franchise now.

But I have no immediate plans to darken their door to find out. Not when there's a Subway just a block further away, and a Planet Sub only five minutes' ride on my scooter.

(Another minor annoyance: they have a WiFi network whose name proudly proclaims "Eat Jimmy John's!"--but it's locked and not accessible to customers. If they're going to ADVERTISE with the name of their network, they damn well should let customers use it.)