I can clearly tell that anyone calling this place NY-style or ""authentic"" has never truly visited New York (or at least not a good deli there). Having grown up and spent my entire life in New York prior to coming out to Arizona to attend ASU (now finishing my last year!), AND being 100% Jewish, I am quite familiar with good Jewish NY food.
Chompie's is simply a typical west coast mass-scale, imitation, chain restaurant like virtually all of the food in this state (i.e. Dilly's Deli, ANY Pizza, etc.) While I am not entirely discrediting the food as being terrible or anything, this is nothing like the food I have at home in any way. Just by looking at the menu you can tell how hard they desperately try to make you think they are traditionally New York with all their food items being named after areas is NY or overused yiddish words. I mean...is anyone who works there actually jewish? NO.
The portions are big, which I like, and they have a huge menu so there are plenty of things to choose from, but they sure know how to over-salt just about everything they make. Their bagels are usually awful, unless you simply don't know better. Any time I have friends or family visiting from NY and have taken them to Chompie's, they are seriously disappointed.
For those of you who are interested in trying REAL New York food, I strongly encourage you to make the trip to my home state and enjoy some of the best food on the planet. On almost every street is a real local deli where everything is prepared fresh. And to get the best bagel in the world, you must stop by H&H Bagels, where the bagels are freshly baked all day (not mass-produced in a warehouse and shipped to one of many locations like Chompie's).
If you are craving Jewish food and don't know how to make it yourself, then this might be your best bet in Arizona, but if authenticity is what you're looking for, leave this state.
Pros: Big portions
Cons: In NO way authentic
more