Discontinued Jersey Mike's Menu Items We May Never Eat Again

In a nation practically overflowing with sandwich shops, Jersey Mike's Subs stands out as one of the biggest and best. With over 2,800 restaurants and counting, the chain — which considers itself among the first to sell submarine sandwiches in the U.S. — has come a long way since its first location opened on the Jersey Shore in 1956. While the subs remain as tasty as ever, Jersey Mike's menu has transformed aplenty over the years, bidding adieu to multiple items in the process.

Of course, we understand that change is necessary for growth. Sandwiches have always been Jersey Mike's core offering, but it's also experimented (both successfully and unsuccessfully) with new varieties and product lines in the past. Sad though we may be about the loss of several menu items, the chain clearly knows what it's doing. It's been dubbed one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in America, with sales increasing by a whopping 24.8% from 2022 to 2023. However, that doesn't mean we can't mourn what we once had. From the sandwiches cut down in their prime to the menu items we barely noticed were missing, here are the discontinued Jersey Mike's menu items that we think are gone for good.

The name may sound more like a Chick-fil-A special, but once upon a time, the Chicka-Phila-Roni was actually a fixture on Jersey Mike's menu. Launched in 2011 to mark the sandwich shop's 55th anniversary, this was a chicken cheesesteak with savory and sweet onions, pepperoni, and melted American cheese, all toasted to order. "Pepperoni and cheese are consumer favorites and this sub delivers full flavor," Hoyt Jones, Jersey Mike's president, said at the time (via QSR Web). This combo came courtesy of the culinary creativity of fans (and professional footballers) in Dallas.

While the chain teased that the Chicka-Phila-Roni — which was its first limited-time offering in five years — may become a permanent menu item, this sadly never happened. Instead, the sandwich quietly finished its run and transitioned into the halls of deeply missed sandwich legends. There's no shortage of Jersey Mike's fans lamenting its loss on the internet, with employees even revealing how to order something similar during its absence. All you need to do is order a Mike's Chicken Philly, request bonus pepperoni, and boom: you've created a makeshift Chicka-Phila-Roni. As per some Jersey Mike's workers, you may even encounter the occasional employee who knows exactly what to do if you request the discontinued sandwich by name.

It's not entirely clear when Jersey Mike's decided to say goodbye to its Chicken Parmesan sub. Customers have been mourning its absence since at least 2018 when Jersey Mike's confirmed that it had zero plans to bring the sandwich back any time soon. According to employees, it was scrapped due to quality concerns, with the chicken itself arriving in stores pre-cooked and frozen — something that doesn't exactly fit in at a sandwich shop that constantly stresses its commitment to quality ingredients.

Regardless of why the Chicken Parm was axed, fans are still pointing out the gap it leaves in the menu years after its demise. As one X, formerly known as Twitter, user said, "Jersey Mike's is a fraud, what kind of sandwich sub shop from New Jersey doesn't have Meatball subs & Chicken Parm?" While customers once tried to launch a Change.org petition to "bring back the cheesy, saucy, gooey goodness that was the chicken Parmesan sub," this ultimately proved unsuccessful. They've since been left to try and fill the void by their own devices, with copycat chicken parmesan sub recipes popping up on social media over the years. Nothing hits quite the same as the OG, but at this point, we'll take what we can get.

Pastrami was MIA at Jersey Mike's for a while until the chain revealed it was making a limited time return in November 2024. Unfortunately, its triumphant return didn't come with the reintroduction of the Reuben — a sandwich that's been in high demand for years since Jersey Mike's scrapped it from the menu.

But not everyone's rooting for its return. According to some customers, there's a very valid reason why pastrami (and the Reuben) was removed from the menu in the first place — it just wasn't good. "Even the people who 'like it' claim it tastes like hotdog meat," said one Reddit user, while another compared it to gas station jerky. Some claim that the pastrami is passable. However, a common consensus is that it doesn't compare to the meat doled out by authentic delis — like the pastrami haven that is Katz's Delicatessen in New York — which is likely why the Reuben struggled to retain its place on the menu.

Ultimately, Jersey Mike's employees claim that the Reuben was scrapped due to logistical issues. "It had a distribution issue," alleged one worker on Reddit while addressing the sandwich's absence. "Essentially, to solve waste, among other things, they wanted to freeze it and send it to us. This was not an option for Peter [Cancro, Jersey Mike's CEO] for his cold subs and quality control. Thus it was removed."

Once upon a time, the Jersey Mike's menu featured BBQ Beef (aka the "#19"). Advertised as a twist on pulled pork, this took sliced roast beef and combined it with heavy helpings of a smoky barbecue sauce in a hot sub. Nowadays, you can still order sandwiches containing hot beef. However, the BBQ Beef itself has been (mostly) discontinued, with a small number of stores reportedly offering the sandwich if they choose to stock the barbecue sauce.

Jersey Mike's never explicitly stated which sauce was the go-to for the BBQ Beef, with employees claiming to have used both the Cattlemen's Kansas City Classic BBQ Sauce or the KC Masterpiece Original Barbecue Sauce. At the same time, employees claim that the sauce was never super popular and that their stores ended up throwing away more of the sauce than they actually used, which is why the powers that be allegedly decided to drop the BBQ Beef from the main menu. "It's actual garbage, and unfortunate to be on the menu," said one worker on Reddit. "We throw away entire cases of BBQ sauce because the unopened BBQ sauce hits it's expiration date. No one likes it."

For what it's worth, a significant number of customers seem to be in agreement. One compared Jersey Mike's BBQ Beef to a Sloppy Joe (and not in a positive way), with a common consensus being that the sub was only worth eating if you added extra toppings to liven things up a bit.

First thing first: yes, technically, Jersey Mike's still sells cookies. However, these aren't the indulgent cookies we knew and loved in years gone by. There was a time when Jersey Mike's offered a giant cookie, rich in chocolate chips and utterly, completely addictive. Known as the Decadent Cookie, this has since been axed — as have other cookie varieties, such as sugar cookies — with smaller, more basic cookies taking their place.

To say that this change went down poorly with customers would be an understatement. "Why would they change the dough, the chips, and basically everything, instead of just making a medium size of the original big cookie?" questioned one Reddit user. "They sold for a reason." One employee explained that the switch was made because the chain ditched its previous supplier and now provides its own cookies. The supplier in question is reportedly David's, which also provided Jersey Mike's beloved brownies. If you're not coping well in the wake of the Decadent Cookie's departure, you'll be pleased to know that you can actually order your own cookies from David's in bulk. The internet is also stacked with chocolate chip cookie recipes if you feel like attempting to create the next best thing at home.

There was a time when Jersey Mike's featured a whole other section on its menu. Until at least 2012, the chain offered an array of soups and chowders to go with its subs, with a long list of varieties available in stores. Nowadays, however, a visit to Jersey Mike's is a strictly soup-free affair, with the only sides on offer being chips or a sweet treat.

Before soups and chowders were scrapped, offerings included Beef Steak and Black Bean, Chicken Gumbo, Lumberjack Mixed Vegetable, Boston Clam Chowder, Cream of Potato, Timberline Chili with Beans, and more. Although some customers report spotting the odd soup at their local store, employees claim this is often the work of franchisees getting creative and bending the rules slightly.

While Jersey Mike's soups sound delicious, the chain has apparently made a huge push in recent years to stick to its core offerings, axing extra menu items in the process. "The whole point of getting rid of them was to streamline the experience and narrow the menu down," explained one Jersey Mike's worker on Reddit. "They are trying to keep it authentic to the jersey mikes that opened in '56, when you went inside and left with a 14 inch sub made mikes way and nothing else." And thus, the soup-free era of Jersey Mike's began.

Meatball subs are a sandwich shop staple, and yet Jersey Mike's axed its own several years ago. Despite multiple petitions (all of which have been unsuccessful) from fans requesting otherwise, the chain has been a meatball-free establishment since at least 2020.

Some customers may feel passionately enough about the Meatball Sub to push for its return, but there are plenty who feel equally passionate about keeping it off the menu. "It was disgusting. Horrible!" said one particularly vehement Reddit user. Employees have complained that it was a pain to make, creating extra unnecessary mess and requiring extra space and equipment.

While Jersey Mike's may have been more willing to put in the effort if the Meatball Sub sold well, this was apparently not the case. Allegedly, the sandwich was also a concern from a quality standpoint — something Jersey Mike's takes very seriously. "We got rid of the sandwich due to it not fitting the fresh theme," said one employee on Reddit. "Sits in a countertop warmer all day that takes a lot of working space. The meatballs received one to two rotations and a little extra sauce so the sauce doesn't dry up. They come frozen too." Others have also claimed that some stores didn't store the meatballs properly, which led to both food safety and wastage issues. All in all, not exactly the easiest menu item to maintain. We wouldn't count on the Meatball Sub making its grand return any time soon.