One look at the bright yellow sign on North Forklanding Road and a certain Ringo Starr vocal probably starts playing in your head. Yellow Submarine has the kind of name that makes an ordinary sandwich run feel more colorful, but the real surprise waits behind the counter.
This Maple Shade institution has spent more than four decades serving hefty sirloin cheesesteaks, hand-pressed burgers, homemade onion rings, pizza, and enough varieties of fries to derail anyone’s sensible lunch plans. The Beatles reference supplies the playful hook, while the food keeps the place grounded firmly in South Jersey.
Nothing about the experience demands encyclopedic knowledge of Revolver or Abbey Road. You can come for the musical wink, ignore it entirely, or quietly hum along while deciding whether your steak needs hot peppers and fried onions.
Either way, this longtime neighborhood favorite proves that a memorable name and a seriously broad comfort-food menu can make a pretty harmonious pair.
A Beatles-Inspired Name Sets the Tone in Maple Shade
There is no mistaking the reference behind Yellow Submarine. The Beatles released the song in 1966, and the animated film of the same name followed two years later, turning that cheerful underwater vessel into one of the most recognizable images associated with the band.
Borrowing the name gives this Maple Shade restaurant an instant jolt of ’60s nostalgia before anyone has taken a bite. The connection is playful rather than overbearing.
This is a casual South Jersey sandwich shop, not an elaborate music museum or a theme-park recreation of Beatlemania. You will not need to identify obscure B-sides before ordering lunch.
The nostalgia largely begins with the unmistakable name and sunny visual identity, allowing the place to acknowledge the Fab Four without losing sight of what regulars actually came to eat. That balance feels right for the location.
Yellow Submarine sits at 710 North Forklanding Road in Maple Shade, a Burlington County community close to Cherry Hill, Moorestown, and the busy Route 38 corridor. The surroundings are everyday South Jersey rather than swinging London, which makes the famous name seem even more delightfully unexpected.
It also gives first-time visitors an easy reason to remember the place. Plenty of sandwich shops serve cheesesteaks, but far fewer can make customers think of John, Paul, George, and Ringo while scanning the menu.
The musical association adds personality without turning lunch into a production. Once the order reaches the counter, however, the Beatles are no longer doing the heavy lifting.
The soundtrack in your head may bring you through the door, but sirloin steak, melted cheese, crisp sides, and thick milkshakes quickly take over the performance.
Yellow Submarine Has Been a South Jersey Favorite for Decades
More than four decades of business is an impressive run for any independent restaurant. In a region overflowing with pizza counters, hoagie shops, diners, and neighborhood takeout spots, Yellow Submarine has stayed afloat by following a straightforward principle: use fresh ingredients, serve ample portions, and give people food they will want again next week.
That longevity is especially meaningful in South Jersey, where customers tend to form strong opinions about their favorite sandwich places. A cheesesteak shop cannot survive on novelty alone.
It needs familiar faces returning for dependable orders, families picking up Friday-night dinners, and local workers who already know what they want before reaching the counter. Yellow Submarine describes almost everything it sells as freshly made by its staff.
That includes its hand-pressed burgers and homemade onion rings, two details that separate the operation from places built almost entirely around frozen, ready-to-cook products. The approach is not flashy, but it is exactly the kind of consistency that earns a restaurant staying power.
The shop has also received attention beyond Maple Shade. Chef Aaron McCargo Jr., a Camden native known for his Food Network programs, singled out its food on The Best Thing I Ever Ate.
Recognition like that may bring curious newcomers, but it does not explain four-plus decades of survival by itself. National television delivers a burst of attention; neighborhood loyalty carries a business through ordinary Tuesdays.
That may be Yellow Submarine’s most convincing achievement. Its quirky name makes a strong first impression, yet the restaurant functions as a practical local favorite where someone can order a steak, burger, pizza, or tub of ice cream without turning the meal into a special occasion.
The Beatles connection is timeless, but so is the appeal of generous food made with care.
Sirloin Cheesesteaks Are the Real Headliners Here
Listen closely near the grill and the most important music at Yellow Submarine is the sizzle of sirloin steak. Cheesesteaks anchor the menu, beginning with a classic combination of beef and American cheese that leaves plenty of room for customers to add fried onions, mushrooms, peppers, or other preferred toppings.
Anyone who likes a little more volume can move straight to the Big Daddy. This specialty steak layers pepperoni, hot peppers, fried onions, and cheese over the beef, creating a sandwich with considerably more punch than the standard order.
It is messy, salty, spicy, and unapologetically built for a serious appetite. Other variations blur the delicious boundaries between a cheesesteak shop, pizzeria, and deli.
The cheesesteak hoagie adds lettuce, tomato, and onion for cool crunch against the warm meat. The pizza steak brings in tomato sauce and melted Grande mozzarella, giving two South Jersey staples one shared roll.
There is even a cheesesteak pizza topped with steak, American cheese, and mozzarella for anyone who would rather skip the bread-versus-pie decision entirely. Chicken cheesesteaks receive much more than a token spot on the menu.
Choices include Buffalo, barbecue, chipotle, fajita, ranch, and Italian-style versions. The Chicken Cheesesteak Italiano combines roasted peppers with provolone, while the Fajita piles grilled chicken with green peppers, tomatoes, onions, and Jack cheese.
The Nashville version turns up the heat with house-rendered hot oil, comeback sauce, and pickles. The basic cheesesteak combo has recently been listed at $9.35 with a choice of fries or mozzarella sticks, making it possible to put together a filling meal without wandering into special-occasion pricing.
Menus and prices can change, but the central idea remains wonderfully stable: steak, cheese, a sturdy roll, and enough variations to keep regulars experimenting.
Burgers, Hoagies, and Pizza Keep the Menu Crowd-Friendly
Picture a group of four walking in with four completely different dinner plans. One wants a cheesesteak, another insists on pizza, the third is craving a burger, and the fourth would happily eat an Italian hoagie every day of the year.
At Yellow Submarine, this is not a problem that requires negotiation. The menu simply absorbs everyone’s demands.
The burgers begin with eight ounces of Angus beef, pressed by hand and grilled to order. The standard cheeseburger keeps things classic with American cheese, while the bacon cheeseburger adds the smoky crunch its name promises.
More elaborate options include a Mushroom Swiss, a chipotle burger with roasted red pepper, and the Rancher, topped with bacon, cheese, and ranch dressing. On the cold side, the Italian hoagie stacks capicola, pepperoni, Genoa salami, and provolone.
Turkey comes with lettuce, tomato, onion, oregano, spices, oil, and vinegar, while homemade chicken salad and tuna provide quieter but dependable alternatives. There is even a combination cheese hoagie blending American, provolone, and Swiss for the person who considers meat unnecessary when three cheeses are available.
Pizza widens the field further. Traditional Neapolitan-style pies come in 12- and 16-inch sizes, alongside white pizza, calzones, turnovers, and specialty combinations.
The roasted white Vendura covers a garlic-and-olive-oil base with roasted red peppers, mushrooms, sweet onions, and mozzarella. Buffalo chicken, meat lovers, white spinach with ricotta, and an upside-down pie with the sauce and cheese reversed show how quickly the choices multiply.
Hot sandwiches, wraps, wings, tenders, salads, and pasta dinners occupy the remaining corners. There is even a pork roll and cheese combo whose menu description jokingly starts to say “Taylor Ham” before correcting itself.
That tiny bit of Jersey humor says plenty about the audience this kitchen knows best.
Homemade Onion Rings and Loaded Fries Deserve an Encore
A cheesesteak may get top billing, but the sides can easily steal a few scenes. Yellow Submarine makes its onion rings in-house, a seemingly small decision that produces a noticeable difference.
Instead of uniform rings that taste as though they came from the same freezer as everyone else’s, these arrive as a proper companion to the restaurant’s freshly prepared sandwiches and burgers. The mozzarella sticks are homemade too, served six to an order with red sauce.
At $7.75 on the current online menu, they are substantial enough for the table to share, although that arrangement depends on how generous everyone feels once the cheese starts stretching. Jalapeño-and-cheddar poppers, breaded mushrooms with ranch, broccoli bites, garlic bread, tenders, and wings round out a side selection that has little interest in restraint.
Then come the fries. Standard straight-cut fries are only the opening track.
Curly fries offer a more seasoned alternative, and both styles can be paired with cheese. Old Bay fries bring familiar Mid-Atlantic flavor, while Dock Fries use that same seafood-shack seasoning and add white queso on the side.
The loaded versions lean further into comfort-food territory. Bacon cheese fries arrive under fresh bacon and cheese sauce with ranch for dipping.
Buffalo fries are coated in wing sauce and accompanied by blue cheese. Pizza fries use red sauce and mozzarella, and combo cheese fries cover the potatoes with a blend of cheeses.
Most options currently fall between roughly $5 and $8, though prices are always worth checking before ordering. The variety presents a strategic challenge.
Choosing one side feels prudent, but the menu clearly encourages a table-wide sampling operation. A cheesesteak with onion rings is the traditional move; adding Dock Fries or mozzarella sticks turns a quick sandwich stop into a far more elaborate production.
Sometimes the supporting act knows exactly how good it is.
Ice Cream and Milkshakes End the Meal on a Sweet Note
After sirloin, melted cheese, and a plate of loaded fries, dessert might sound ambitious. Then someone mentions that Yellow Submarine has an ice cream shop, and suddenly everyone discovers a little unused space.
This is the pleasant twist at the end of the menu: the same neighborhood stop handling cheesesteaks and pizza can also supply the classic frozen finale. Richman’s soft serve is one of the main options, joined by hand-dipped hard ice cream, gelato, water ice, and sundaes.
Customers can keep things simple with a cone or cup, turn their chosen flavor into a milkshake, or go fully old-school with a root beer float. Flurries fold candy or cookie pieces into soft serve for anyone who believes plain ice cream needs backup.
The portions and prices make it easy to match dessert to appetite. A kiddie serving has recently been listed at $2, while two scoops of hard ice cream cost $4.50 and three scoops cost $6.50.
A hard-ice-cream shake is also listed at $6.50. For takeout, pints of the day’s hand-dipped Richmond ice cream are available, so dessert does not necessarily have to happen immediately after dinner.
The most playful choice may be the Oreo nachos, which take the loose structure of a shareable snack and steer it directly into dessert territory. It is exactly the kind of menu item that fits a restaurant called Yellow Submarine: familiar, a little quirky, and far more interested in fun than formality.
That final stop at the ice cream counter also explains why the restaurant works for such a broad crowd. A family can handle dinner and dessert in one place, longtime customers can revisit a childhood favorite, and Beatles fans get one last sweet note before heading back out onto North Forklanding Road.