Saturday, August 2, 2014

Who's Got the Best Philly Cheese Steak? Pat's, Geno's, Tony Luke's, or Jim's?


For years I've wanted to go to Philadelphia and put their famous cheese steak places to the test. Finally I was able to fly in for a few days and settle my curiosities once and for all.

  
My first stop was Pat's King of Steaks. I ordered the cheesesteak with cheese whiz and onions (whiz wit). The sandwich was amazingly good. The bread and onions were especially good.



After Pat's I walked across the street to the flashy Geno's Steaks for a whiz wit. The steak was thinly sliced, instead of chopped like Pat's. I did not care for that as much. The bread and onions were not as good as Pat's, but the cheese whiz was better than Pat's.



The next day I ate a whiz wit at Tony Luke's. The meat and cheese whiz were better than Pat's and Geno's. Pat's bread and onions were better than Tony Luke's.



My last stop was Jim's Steaks for another whiz wit. The line was incredibly long and it took about 45 minutes to finally sit down and eat. I had the highest hope for Jim's since the locals highly praised it.



And they were right. Jim's had everyone else beat in every category (bread, steak, whiz, onions). The steak at Jim's was truly crave worthy. If I could only have one cheese steak in Philly I would choose Jim's.

So here is how I would rate everyone:
1. Jim's Steaks - 9.5 / 10
2. Pat's / Tony Luke's (tie) - 8.5 / 10
3. Geno's - 7.5 / 10

On a side note: I did cheese whiz on all of my sandwiches but from what I gathered from the locals provolone and ketchup seems to be the more "local" way to have a cheese steak.

Enjoy!