Philadelphia's best Philly Cheesesteaks
Against their better judgment, my employer will sometimes let me out of the building to see clients. If it weren't for the travel part, traveling would be really fun! Being in a new place is awesome. When I travel and my work is done, I get my tourist self on and try and see everything! I will hunt down any cool site, place of historic significance or local food! Especially the food.
Philadelphia has been a place where I've been able to visit a few times. Obviously, when I'm in the City of Brotherly Love, I will visit the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Rocky steps and a myriad of other amazing sites. And of course, I try and eat tons of Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches! They are magical.
These sandwich making magicians will use a combination of varying types of steak, cheese (usually Cheez Whiz. No joke. It's delicious), fresh bread and grilled onions to create their version of the Philly Cheesesteak. The results can be incredible! Many will even venture on and offer options with different cheeses, sauces, meats (steak, pork or chicken) or they might add peppers, mushrooms or even lobster to the sandwich.
In Philadelphia, Geno's Steaks and Pat's King of Steaks are the most iconic places to visit. It's a thing. When you travel there, people ask if you have visited these two places and which one you prefer. Pat's claims to have invented the Philly Cheesesteak and even Rocky Balboa made a visit here.
After a couple of visits, you can ask locals to cut the crap and tell you where the real places are. Where do the locals go? Where is the real Philly Cheesesteak found? You will get a myriad of responses and being the hefty fella that I am, I have tried pretty much all of them.
Now that I have eaten my weight in Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches in Philadelphia (ok, not quite), I want to share the top 10 best places in Philadelphia to get a Philly Cheesesteak (and a few who didn't quite make it). Here we go...
10 Geno's Steaks Geno's is good and you definitely won't be disappointed by going there. Geno's and Pat's are right across the street from each other, so you've got to hit them both and take some selfies.
9 Pat's King of Steaks After you've visited Philly, people will ask which you like better. I'm going to give Pat's the nod in this contest, but it is pretty close. Plus, they invented the darned things!
8 Chickie & Pete's - Someone told me "even though this is a chain restaurant, it is still good". I don't discriminate, so I thought I'd check it out. These crazies put lobster on the Philly Cheesesteak, which I only tried out of sheer curiosity and I was impressed! Plus, they have a location at the airport, so you can grab one on your way home!
7 The Original Tony Luke's - This is a little harder to get to for an outsider, but if you are stopping by on your way from the airport to downtown or on the way to a game, it is really good!
6 Sonny's Famous Steaks is awesome. The best part is that it is literally a stone's throw from Campos which comes in at number 2 and Oh Brother Philly coming in at number 3 on my list! My recommendation? Find two other friends and share one at each place! Don't worry, there is plenty of sandwich to go around!
5 Cleaver's I found this place by looking at how many of the top Philly Cheesesteak places on Yelp that I had missed. I really wasn't expecting much but it was incredible good! Plus, it is downtown which made it easy to get to.
4 John's Roast Pork - Dang good! The cheesesteak was the bomb. Their pork is pretty good too and they were kind enough to give me a sample. I felt bad going to a roast pork place and not getting any, but I was on a mission. Sorry John. Their great cut of steak, onions, cheese and fresh bread was amazing!
3 Oh Brother Philly I'm a little wary of new places, but this was amazing! Most places will mix the cheese into the steak while its cooking, but the globs of whiz added on after that you see below was fantastic.
2 Campo's Philly Cheesesteaks These guys are awesome! You cannot go wrong with their magical mix of the ingredients!
1 Jim's Steaks was the highest recommended place by the locals that I spoke with and for good reason! It was absofreakinglutely amazing! It is a fun place to go visit and have the best Philly Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia! Apparently, they keep getting raided for drugs and I'm not sure if they add extra ingredients that keep you coming back. (https://philly.eater.com/2012/6/6/6580007/jims-steaks-raided-for-drugs-again).
Not really, you can watch them make the sandwiches and it is a beautiful work-of-art to behold!
NOT in the top 10...
Chubby's tops the famous Dalessandro neighbors across the street, but it probably isn't worth the drive from town.
Con Murphy's is pretty cool and are my first one to get knocked out of the top 10. It is close to downtown and you can eat outside. It is more of a fancier restaurant than your regular Philly Cheesesteak dive, but it isn't too shabby. And you can eat outside, which is pretty fun in the city. Did I mention you can eat outside?
Tommy DiNic's If you are in town, you have got to visit Reading Market. That place is awesome. Tommy's is one of the more popular places there, though I didn't care much for their cheesesteak. However, they are popular for some other type of sandwich and I'd recommend getting that one. Just tell them you want the famous sandwich or just order whatever the person in front of you got.
Dalessandro's Steaks and Hoagies - I've been way excited to go here, and the place was packed! It is a little ways out of town, so it took me a longer to get here. The only thing slowing their operation down is that they can't take money as fast as people are throwing it at them! No joke. Unfortunately, my excitement was matched only by the letdown of trying their sandwiches. Maybe my expectations were just too high. My sandwich was pretty much just ground up hamburger. I couldn't detect any cheese, which isn't abnormal because it is often cooked in with the meat, but I think they just forgot it. I looked in vain for some sauce or anything to give it some flavor but couldn't find any. I threw most of it away (something I never do) and went across the street to Chubby's. It was a rough night.
Paulie's Pizza - it seems like they have some pretty good pizza, but I wouldn't recommend their Philly Cheesesteak. It was basically ground-up meat with ketchup on it. Ketchup! I don't get it. I should have known better when everyone was getting pizza, except for me.
Philadelphia has been a place where I've been able to visit a few times. Obviously, when I'm in the City of Brotherly Love, I will visit the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Rocky steps and a myriad of other amazing sites. And of course, I try and eat tons of Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches! They are magical.
These sandwich making magicians will use a combination of varying types of steak, cheese (usually Cheez Whiz. No joke. It's delicious), fresh bread and grilled onions to create their version of the Philly Cheesesteak. The results can be incredible! Many will even venture on and offer options with different cheeses, sauces, meats (steak, pork or chicken) or they might add peppers, mushrooms or even lobster to the sandwich.
In Philadelphia, Geno's Steaks and Pat's King of Steaks are the most iconic places to visit. It's a thing. When you travel there, people ask if you have visited these two places and which one you prefer. Pat's claims to have invented the Philly Cheesesteak and even Rocky Balboa made a visit here.
After a couple of visits, you can ask locals to cut the crap and tell you where the real places are. Where do the locals go? Where is the real Philly Cheesesteak found? You will get a myriad of responses and being the hefty fella that I am, I have tried pretty much all of them.
Now that I have eaten my weight in Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches in Philadelphia (ok, not quite), I want to share the top 10 best places in Philadelphia to get a Philly Cheesesteak (and a few who didn't quite make it). Here we go...
10 Geno's Steaks Geno's is good and you definitely won't be disappointed by going there. Geno's and Pat's are right across the street from each other, so you've got to hit them both and take some selfies.
9 Pat's King of Steaks After you've visited Philly, people will ask which you like better. I'm going to give Pat's the nod in this contest, but it is pretty close. Plus, they invented the darned things!
8 Chickie & Pete's - Someone told me "even though this is a chain restaurant, it is still good". I don't discriminate, so I thought I'd check it out. These crazies put lobster on the Philly Cheesesteak, which I only tried out of sheer curiosity and I was impressed! Plus, they have a location at the airport, so you can grab one on your way home!
7 The Original Tony Luke's - This is a little harder to get to for an outsider, but if you are stopping by on your way from the airport to downtown or on the way to a game, it is really good! 6 Sonny's Famous Steaks is awesome. The best part is that it is literally a stone's throw from Campos which comes in at number 2 and Oh Brother Philly coming in at number 3 on my list! My recommendation? Find two other friends and share one at each place! Don't worry, there is plenty of sandwich to go around!
5 Cleaver's I found this place by looking at how many of the top Philly Cheesesteak places on Yelp that I had missed. I really wasn't expecting much but it was incredible good! Plus, it is downtown which made it easy to get to.
4 John's Roast Pork - Dang good! The cheesesteak was the bomb. Their pork is pretty good too and they were kind enough to give me a sample. I felt bad going to a roast pork place and not getting any, but I was on a mission. Sorry John. Their great cut of steak, onions, cheese and fresh bread was amazing!3 Oh Brother Philly I'm a little wary of new places, but this was amazing! Most places will mix the cheese into the steak while its cooking, but the globs of whiz added on after that you see below was fantastic.
2 Campo's Philly Cheesesteaks These guys are awesome! You cannot go wrong with their magical mix of the ingredients!
1 Jim's Steaks was the highest recommended place by the locals that I spoke with and for good reason! It was absofreakinglutely amazing! It is a fun place to go visit and have the best Philly Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia! Apparently, they keep getting raided for drugs and I'm not sure if they add extra ingredients that keep you coming back. (https://philly.eater.com/2012/6/6/6580007/jims-steaks-raided-for-drugs-again).
Not really, you can watch them make the sandwiches and it is a beautiful work-of-art to behold!
NOT in the top 10...
Chubby's tops the famous Dalessandro neighbors across the street, but it probably isn't worth the drive from town.
Con Murphy's is pretty cool and are my first one to get knocked out of the top 10. It is close to downtown and you can eat outside. It is more of a fancier restaurant than your regular Philly Cheesesteak dive, but it isn't too shabby. And you can eat outside, which is pretty fun in the city. Did I mention you can eat outside?
Tommy DiNic's If you are in town, you have got to visit Reading Market. That place is awesome. Tommy's is one of the more popular places there, though I didn't care much for their cheesesteak. However, they are popular for some other type of sandwich and I'd recommend getting that one. Just tell them you want the famous sandwich or just order whatever the person in front of you got.
Dalessandro's Steaks and Hoagies - I've been way excited to go here, and the place was packed! It is a little ways out of town, so it took me a longer to get here. The only thing slowing their operation down is that they can't take money as fast as people are throwing it at them! No joke. Unfortunately, my excitement was matched only by the letdown of trying their sandwiches. Maybe my expectations were just too high. My sandwich was pretty much just ground up hamburger. I couldn't detect any cheese, which isn't abnormal because it is often cooked in with the meat, but I think they just forgot it. I looked in vain for some sauce or anything to give it some flavor but couldn't find any. I threw most of it away (something I never do) and went across the street to Chubby's. It was a rough night.
Paulie's Pizza - it seems like they have some pretty good pizza, but I wouldn't recommend their Philly Cheesesteak. It was basically ground-up meat with ketchup on it. Ketchup! I don't get it. I should have known better when everyone was getting pizza, except for me.
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