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This is my observation as an outsider who has tried several Philly cheesesteaks. They don't salt the steak so if you don't get it with cheeze whiz, your sandwich is likely to be extremely bland. The whiz makes a world of difference. Everyone gets it with provolone first but after they get a taste with whiz, they all switch.

I did like fries with whiz... will take note. I did have a DiNic's roast pork that I can easily get on board with.

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Going to Philly for the first time next weekend. Have always heard the city is full of good neighborhood spots where you can BYOB. Can someone please recommend some that are convenient to City Hall or otherwise?

Also, is there a consensus spot on the top one or two cheesesteaks?

TYVM!

Jims is good. Had a great one at Cosmis a few weeks ago.

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Upon arrival, we went to John's Roast Pork for cheesesteaks only to find it closed for vacation so we landed at Tony Luke's instead. I was utterly unimpressed with the cheesesteak although I will give the caveat that we may have ordered "wrong". The roast pork at Dinic's was better, but still pretty uninspiring to me. I liked the bitterness of the broccoli rabe with the pork and cheese, but the meat by itself was quite dry and not that flavorful imo. I much preferred my corned beef Rachel from Herschel's (also in Reading Terminal Market). It's hard to ignore ordering one when you can watch the meat being sliced fresh in front of you. The sandwich itself was piled high with the corned beef, along with a slightly sweet mayonaise-y slaw, 2 slices of cheese, and a healthy dose of dressing and then pressed in a panini machine. SO good.

In the sandwich competition, John's Roast Pork's cheesesteak (wit onions, sharp provolone) was a revelation, while the roast pork italian (sharp provolone, broccoli rabe) at Tony Luke's was a big disappointment, failing to keep up with Taylor Gourmet's spin on the classic in every way -- particularly with lousy bread, dry underseasoned meat, and badly overcooked broccoli rabe. Sarcone's Bakery had great bread, but seemed to just have Dietz & Watson cold cuts available. Good bread is a key ingredient in a good sandwich, but next time I'll just buy rolls to take home.

Jim's is a great choice for cheesesteaks, but for the atmosphere not for the food. John's Roast Pork is widely regarded as having the best cheesesteaks (recognized by Craig Laban/Philly Inquirer, James Beard Award, and recently Andrew Zimmern). Tony Luke's is also a great option.

Cheesesteak - Jim's on South St.

Johnny's Hots is the current holder of Philly Magazine's Best Cheesesteak, so you might want to add that one to your list (they last won in 2006). Also, 2009: Wit or Witout. 2008: Cosmi's. 2007: Steve's.

Wow, eating out with 2 toddlers, even with 3 adults, is a...challenge. To say that it limited our options is an understatement, but we still managed to scrounge some tasty eats - we just had to find them some chicken first.
...
We tried a mushroom cheesesteak from By George's and the verdict is that we do NOT like whiz. Good, but next time, back to provolone!! 

Pat's King of Steaks- I think I am just not a huge cheesesteak person- I would rather have a prime rib sandwich in all honesty. This was ok, the highlight were fries with cheez-whiz for me. But I had mine. Hubby likes these more than me he probably really liked his. We both got with provolone. If I ordered again, I would get it without onions, peppers and just mushrooms as the peppers had no flavor and the hot peppers on the condiment stand were better, I think it would be better if the cheese was on top instead of the bottom (it is with the whiz, but not provolone as it just kind of melded into the bread which I find rather mediocre).

A few weeks ago I spent a wonderful day in Philadelphia. Having had a terrible experience at one of the original Philly Cheesesteak places, I was reluctant to try another one. Ending up at the Reading Terminal for lunch, my friend's mom and I decided to go with the local cuisine and each got a cheeseteak from Rick's. We looked at the size of the sandwiches and regretted not splitting one. My friend looked on in shock as his mother and I both finished off the foot-long sandwiches. Glad we didn't share. (Ricks has closed at the Terminal, not sure if there is another one in town).

Do you live in Philly? Happens to be one of my favorite food cities. Every couple of months I make my way up for Ocean Harbor, Dmitri's, and cheesesteaks of course. I was at Morimoto about a month ago and was sadly disappointed. It used to be my measuring stick for Japanese food, but I fear quality is slipping slightly as of late. Recently, Leon's, a bit south of the city, has assumed my top spot for best cheesesteak in Philly.

If you are in the cheesesteak mood, I have to agree with Hillvalley. These days, Chubby's beats Delessandro's hands down, and yes, if you're lucky, there are about 4 booths available if you can snag one. It's probably only a 15 minute drive from Conshohocken, depending on traffic of course.

While the dinners were good, we had even more satisfying experiences at the Reading Terminal Market for lunch--this is a can't miss place. Sandwiches at DiNic's were fantastic, as was the cheesesteak from Rick's. The espresso at Old City Cafe was very good, albeit served in a paper cup at the location right in the center of the Market.

cjsadler and I were in Philly this weekend. Lunch was a philly cheesesteak taste test between cheesesteaks from Pat's and from Geno's. There were five of us at lunch and from each place, we got the following three cheesesteaks: Cheese Whiz and onions, only Cheese Whiz, and provolone and onions. The ideal cheesesteak would be with Pat's meat, Geno's bread, Cheese Whiz and onions.

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I personally prefer Abner's, a bit west of center city.

As for Whiz: While Whiz is gross in most any other setting, it is OK for the occasional steak.  Like disgusting marshmallows on a tasty smore.  But that doesn't mean one shouldn't try, or couldn't prefer, provolone.

As for Geno's and Pat's - every visitor should have the experience of driving though that part of the city in the middle of the night to reach the neon oasis that is that intersection.  It's a little like visiting the Taj Mahal or the Grand Canyon.  (only a very little.  And in full disclosure, I've been to neither of those places, except the Atlantic City version.  But I bet that if I did go, on first sight I'd say "wow!  This is like driving up to Pat's and Geno's in the middle of the night!)  Once there, buy or not buy, that's not very important as the steaks aren't unique.  You get the check mark if you just drive past.

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As a follow up to my above message, and I know this will be controversial (and neither is considered the "best" in Philly), in a side-by-side comparisson, about myself and 4 friends unanimously agree that Gino's is better than Pat's.

Isn't that kind of like asking who has the best burger in DC, Five Guys or Elevation?

Yeah, I visit Philly about once every 5 or 10 years.  It was very touristy to doing the side-by-side, fun none-the-less.

Are they really that mediocre?

Philly natives: Get your Brotherly-Love asses on here and tell us who has the best Cheesesteak; otherwise, people from DC are going to decide *for* you.

Yes, you can consider this a challenge. B)

And I'm sorry, but the last time I went to John's Roast Pork, it was pretty lame.

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I was born in Philly, but left when I was 10, so my opinion then about who had the best steak was the one that I walked past on the way to school.

These days I go up once or twice a year. I don't know if it's necessarily the best in town, but I almost always stop at Tony Luke's on the way out of town. Classic old style stand, right off I-95, good cheesesteak but awesome Roast Pork.

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I was born in Philly, but left when I was 10, so my opinion then about who had the best steak was the one that I walked past on the way to school.

These days I go up once or twice a year. I don't know if it's necessarily the best in town, but I almost always stop at Tony Luke's on the way out of town. Classic old style stand, right off I-95, good cheesesteak but awesome Roast Pork.

Tony Luke.

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I am partial to Franco's which has a location in Dover De and Dewey DE.  Back when I was an environmental consultant I used to spend a lot of time at Dover Air Force Base.  On one trip I was supervising a crew of well drillers from Syracuse NY.  I took them to Franco's for lunch on a bitter cold day.  I warned them not to get the large.  Their response was something like "I have never met a steak and cheese that I couldn't finish".  I think you know how this story ends ...

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Granted, I didn't visit long, but the best I had was at Mama's Pizzeria in Bala Cynwyd.

I need to make another visit up there for work, so other than bringing back bundles of things from Reading Terminal Market, I'm always looking for other spots to try for Cheesesteak.

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Will be going to Philly in a few weeks. Any forum members willing to give an update regarding some of the best places to eat a cheesesteak? During my last visit to Atlanta I had a great one at Fred's Meat & Bread, but granted, my experience is fairly limited!

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On 4/4/2016 at 0:52 PM, DanielK said:

I still say Tony Luke's, but here's what the folks at Philly Magazine have had to say recently. 

I had never eaten one before this month, due to getting roast pork usually, and then had two in the span of a week.  First one was at Spot Burger.  High quality meat, a bit skimpy on the provolone, but justified the hype overall.  The brisket with provolone and a fried egg at Paesano's (Fishtown location) was a hot mess to eat but ultimately more satisfying.  Actually, the best sandwich that we had during this time was the pork sausage banh mi at Stock, also in Fishtown.  Spicy yet balanced due to the great assortment of condiments.  Maybe not a classical preparation but on par with anything I've ever had in Eden Center.

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4 minutes ago, silentbob said:

I had never eaten one before this month, due to getting roast pork usually, and then had two in the span of a week.  First one was at Spot Burger.  High quality meat, a bit skimpy on the provolone, but justified the hype overall.  The brisket with provolone and a fried egg at Paesano's (Fishtown location) as a hot mess to eat but ultimately more satisfying.  Actually, the best sandwich that we had during this time was the pork sausage banh mi at Stock, also in Fishtown.  Spicy yet balanced due to the great assortment of condiments.  Maybe not a classical preparation but on par with anything I've ever had in Eden Center.

Spot Burger won best cheesesteak in 2014, so that's probably a good representative.

FWIW, I don't think of a cheesesteak as a sandwich, or compare them to other sandwiches, any more than I would lump burgers into that category.

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On 2/1/2016 at 8:32 PM, DonRocks said:

Are they really that mediocre?

Philly natives: Get your Brotherly-Love asses on here and tell us who has the best Cheesesteak; otherwise, people from DC are going to decide *for* you.

Yes, you can consider this a challenge. B)

And I'm sorry, but the last time I went to John's Roast Pork, it was pretty lame.

Top 10 Cheesesteak spots

 

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Gaul & Co Malt House (curiouskitkatt)

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