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| - First of all, I have to preface this by explaining that I am a Philly girl - at least until I moved to Madison at age 25. One of my biggest regrets about living in the Midwest is the lack of real cheesesteaks. Although my personal preference is Jim's on South, as a kid I spent most of my money at Pat's.
So I was thrilled to read the reviews about this place, including the ones from other Philly transplants, and bundled up the kids and my guy on a Saturday to get a real, juicy, greasy, cheesy joyous mess of a sandwich.
All I can say is that I must have gone on an off day. A really, really, off day. First of all, we were the only people there the whole time (Saturday around 1:00PM), which might mean that they turn down the grill and therefore don't have it at a good temp for cooking. If so, it really is a mistake, as you will see below.
So we order, we sit, we wait just a few minutes, and then we are brought our steaks. I hate to say it but they were awful. Someone else suggested that the meat cuts vary widely, and I hope to god that's true. Because our meat was so tough that none of us could bite through some of our pieces of meat without a struggle. It was cut too thick, and secondly, it was so tough I actually wondered what cut of beef it was. It certainly wasn't the ribeye that Pat's uses. It was full of tendon and gristle.
The onions were barely cooked (as it not even translucent) which may be a result of the grill not being hot enough. There was none of that glorious juice that should have been oozing from the meat. And as the final straw, the cheese under the meat was not at all melted, and the rolls were cold. COLD.
It was a terrible experience. Even my 12 year old son wouldn't finish his.
I am praying that it was simply an off day, combined with the worst meat they have ever used, and an attempt to save energy by turning down the grill, that culminated in a terrible cheesesteak. I am willing to go back in the hope that it was a complete aberration. But sadly, my guy and kids are not willing to try again - it was that bad. I will have to go it alone. In the meantime, if I really need a guaranteed great steak, I will head to the Philly Way in Milwaukee.
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