Elevate Your Jersey Mike's Famous Philly With These 5 Ordering Tips

Jersey Mike's is a chain of sub sandwich shops that got its start in the Garden State in the 1950s and is Reddit's favorite sandwich shop. The business began expanding after Peter Cancro purchased it from the original owners in 1975. Since the beginning, the chain's approach to customer service has gone above and beyond what one might expect from a sandwich shop, and it's even received the distinction of being the top-rated quick service restaurant for customer satisfaction, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI^®) Restaurant and Food Delivery Study 2026. As such, staff here do their best to satisfy a customer's unique requests; you can customize any sandwich with any topping, meat, cheese, or sauce from the menu, including creating something called "The Martian." As long as it's in the store, you can get that in your sandwich, including on a Famous Philly.

Philly cheesesteaks are iconic for a reason, and the combination of shaved beef, peppers, onions, and cheese works so well together that few people consider messing with it. However, there are some people who like to get creative with their food and believe a menu description is an invitation to rebel. We like those people and have come up with five ordering tips to really take your Jersey Mike's Famous Philly from a traditional dish to something entirely unique. These hacks are based on other sandwiches or popular dishes you may or may not have heard about. Just remember that while staff can technically help you experiment with your sub, not every location may be able to help you. Choose an off-peak time to try out these tips, ask nicely, and leave a generous tip.

If you're in New England, you may be familiar with this region's deluxe take on a cheese steak sandwich. Called the steak bomb, this regional specialty includes all the usual suspects found in Philadelphia's famous hoagie — shaved beef, peppers, and onions — with one porky addition: salami. To recreate this meaty explosion, add salami to your Famous Philly and request the staff "throw it on the grill" with the steak. This is the chain's lingo for cooking or toasting anything on its flat-top griddle and will make the dried Italian sausage crispy, as well as render some of its flavorful fat, which infuses into the beef, giving it a unique flavor that distinguishes it from a typical Philly.

Substitute the American cheese that comes in this Jersey Mike's favorite with provolone, and you'll have a wicked good sandwich. Add some mushrooms to the mix, and you'll be exclaiming, "Wicked pissah!" Despite what it sounds like, that means something very good up in the far Northeast.

Beef stroganoff was created in Russia in the late 1800s by a French chef for a noble family, and consists of beef and mushrooms in a creamy sauce. Many variations of this dish exist today, from simple preparations made with canned cream of mushroom soup to a Brazilian favorite topped with potato sticks. What they all have in common is beef and a creamy sauce, and you can get a similar effect by modifying a few things on your Jersey Mike's Famous Philly.

First of all, scrap the peppers from your sandwich, and add mushrooms and black pepper to the beef and onions. Keep the American cheese but add Swiss to the mix and request a generous amount of mayo, especially on the side of the sandwich with the cheese. The combination of melty American cheese and mayonnaise creates a texture similar to béchamel or reduced cream, while the nuttiness of the Swiss elevates the sandwich and makes it sophisticated enough to grace an aristocratic table.

The Cuban sandwich as we know it today, also known as the Cubano, originated in Florida, and while it's a Tampa staple, it has now gained recognition throughout the country for its mouthwatering combination of roast pork, ham, and Swiss cheese. However, there isn't just one type of Cuban sandwich, and that doesn't refer to different variations on the same theme but rather the fact that Cuban cuisine has a pretty substantial roster of sandwiches. A perennial favorite is the pan con bistec, which literally translates to bread and steak and stars a thin beef cutlet garnished with fresh veggies and potato sticks.

Fortunately, Jersey Mike's has everything on hand to make a Philadelphia-style riff on this Latino classic. Leave out the peppers and cheese from your Famous Philly, and request the staff cook the onions together with the beef. Add a generous amount of mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato, and purchase a bag of plain potato chips. Kindly ask an employee to crush the chips onto the sandwich, close it, and press it on the griddle until it's toasted. If they don't want to open a bag of chips for you, you can add them yourself to your Cuban-inspired creation.

Peru has one of the largest Chinese Diaspora communities in Latin America, and these immigrants created a localized version of Chinese cuisine called chifa, which actually comes from the Mandarin "eat rice." One of the most popular dishes in this sub-genre of Peruvian cuisine is lomo saltado, which literally means jumping sirloin, and consists of sirloin chunks sauteed with tomatoes, onions, chiles, and french fries. There are many recipes for this dish, including a Jersey Mike's version you can recreate with a few special requests.

Traditionally, there are no bell peppers in this dish, but they'd be a welcome addition in this Chino-Latino sandwich if you love them. Do skip the cheese, though, and ask the staff to cook the shaved beef along with onions, tomatoes, hot chopped pepper relish, a couple of dashes of vinegar, and a sprinkle of oregano and black pepper. Some locations of the New Jersey-based chain actually serve french fries, and if you're at one of those, ask the staff for a "frub" to have your crispy fried taters stuffed into your sub. Don't fret if your local store doesn't serve this item, though. You can get a similar effect with a bag of chips.

If you've ever had to decide on a place to grab a bite with a group, you know it can often be difficult to decide on a place, especially a fast food restaurant. Some may want chicken, others may want burgers, and there's that one friend who's always craving Taco Bell. If you're at Jersey Mike's, that friend can still "live más" while everyone else enjoys a sub. This tip completely transforms a Famous Philly into something that's not even a sandwich anymore.

To get a fajita queso burrito here, replace the bread in your sandwich with a flour tortilla by requesting it as a wrap. Ask the staff to cook your beef with onions, peppers, jalapeños, and extra American cheese. Add lettuce, tomato, and a generous squirt of chipotle mayo. If you want it spicier, add some chopped pepper relish. You can keep the regular hoagie bread in this creation and end up with a Mexican torta. You can also ask for it "in a tub" to get the fillings in a bowl, order a side of Doritos, and enjoy a plate of nachos.