Have a Big Appetite? Glads Deli Specializes in Huge Hoagies
Could you consume a 5.5-pounder in 30 minutes or less?
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
My happy new year started at Glads Deli.
I’d been eyeing the Glassport shop’s Facebook posts for the better part of 2025. I especially enjoyed the photos of customers posing with their subs as if they’d hooked a whopper at a big-game fishing competition.
A few “Star Wars” fans wielded the sandwiches like lightsabers. I had to get in on this action, even though Glassport seemed like a galaxy far, far away from my place in the North Hills.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
When I finally visited Glads on Jan. 4, the Valentine’s Day decorations were already up. I typically don’t like it when businesses jump the gun on holiday celebrations, but, in this case, it was appropriate since I have a lot of love for their food.
In addition to affordably priced options that can satisfy an average appetite, Glads’ menu features some seriously huge hoagies, including three-footers that you have to order three days in advance. They’ll probably take you just as long to eat.
If you’ve cut carbs, you can order a salad, a grazing box filled with meats and cheeses, a hoagie bowl or any sandwich on a giant pickle instead of bread, which, to repeat the most overused pun in Pittsburgh, is kind of a big dill.
The Yea Buddy includes 11 meats, eight cheeses and 13 toppings on a 12-inch Breadworks roll. It’s approximately 5.5 pounds, which is more than my daughter weighed at birth. There are snapshots on the wall depicting the dozen or so hungry souls who have attempted to consume this beast onsite solo in 30 minutes or less.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
Only one person — a competitive eater who also downed a bag of chips — has succeeded and earned a Glads T-shirt and the right to walk away without paying the $55 bill.
Since I’m “dieting,” I opted for the slightly more modest 12-inch American-Italian with cooked ham, turkey, salami, prosciutto, mortadella, hot capicola, provolone, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, salt and pepper, oregano, balsamic, red wine vinaigrette oil and roasted red peppers. I had planned to have half of it for lunch and save the other for dinner, but ended up consuming the whole thing in one sitting. Where’s my T-shirt?!
I had to take a nap afterward. In my opinion, that’s the hallmark of a great meal.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
Owner Jason Billingsley opened Glads in 2023 as a change of pace from a long career in the kitchen-and-bath remodeling business. He spent his teens working at area pizzerias and, in his early 20s, launched his own. This father knows how to feed people and often donates to area schools and struggling families.
His heart is bigger than his hoagies.
Billingsley wanted Glads — named after his grandmother Gladys and the South Allegheny School District’s gladiator mascot — to stand out from other eateries. I believe he’s accomplished that goal, since you can benchpress a Yea Buddy to build up your biceps.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
The business itself is also growing; a second location is slated to debut next month in Westmoreland County. Billingsley is in the process of renovating the storefront at 3535 Route 130, a space that formerly housed a Subway.
I asked him to open a spot in West View so I can walk to it from my house and burn a few calories before eating a few feet of sandwich. He says he’ll think about it.
Yea, buddy!
Glads Deli is at 614 Monongahela Ave., Glassport. Hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
