Sandwich Gardens may have been MIA for nearly a decade before reopening three years ago in downtown’s River Park Square, but once back, nothing had really changed.

Since opening in 1975, Sandwich Gardens has emphasized consistency, serving the same great sandwiches as always, and relied on their quality and affordability to keep customers coming back.

“We had a grandmother who was always coming in and then started bringing her daughter, and one day came in with her granddaughter,” says owner Pat Matthews. “Three generations of a family. It’s pretty special for that to happen.”

Sandwiches like the Humdinger ($9.25 whole/$6.55 half) — a simple but hefty wallop of pastrami, lettuce, mushrooms, olives, Parmesan and provolone on rye — are crowd favorites. If for some reason you aren’t feeling up to one of their sandwiches, a variety of salads as well as seasonal offerings of made-from-scratch soups are also available.