That’s a “cheesesteak hoagie”, btw.
I used to work summers at a cheesesteak & pizza joint down the shore (“at the beach”, for you non-Jersey or Philly folk). Pat’s and Geno’s are good, but I made the best cheesesteaks. I’d double the meat, saute some onions, cheez whiz that sucker, and scoop it onto an Amoroso’s roll. It was heavenly.
So, neener neener.
Thanks for all the replies.
The more I read, the more I feel I want to avoid both Pat’s and Geno’s.
To the back of the line if you don’t order ‘properly’? Fuck that. Whether they actually follow through on that or not, fuck that attitude toward your customer.
This is America, order in English? Please.
Does Tony Luke’s treat their customers like that?
mmm
I should point out that it’s only Geno’s which has the “Speak English” signs.
Not a cheesesteak, but try a Roast Pork sandwich w/Greens from DiNic’s in the Reading Terminal Market.
[QUOTE=Mean Mr. Mustard;14068678Pat’s or Geno’s?[/quote]
Pat’s. Their steaks are better and, bonus, no racist signs.
Whiz. Extra whiz.
Don’t go overboard. Pick one or two. I’d go with onions and maybe one more – mushrooms, probably.
I like Jim’s even better than Pat’s.
Mom didn’t make cheesesteaks at home. (Well, maybe yours did. Mine didn’t.)
They’re actually pretty difficult to make at home, because the vast majority of supermarkets can’t slice the meat thinly enough, and grilled meat dries out quickly and gets nasty unless the meat is kept moist. You also have to get the right bread, because most supermarket “steak rolls” are too soft and get mushy quickly. Good bread like Amoroso’s can stand up to moist meat and melty cheese. Having a well-seasoned grill is also essential to the flavor of a cheesesteak, and unless you’ve got Grandma’s cast-iron griddle that has been well-maintained for half a century, it’s not possible to duplicate that flavor. Hell, Airman has made cheesesteaks at home and while they were good, they weren’t nearly as good as the ones he makes at the restaurant. (Sorry, sweetheart, but it’s the truth.) Cheesesteaks, then, are the perfect example of a food that shouldn’t be made at home, at least not if you want a good one.
Robin, who gets hers with provolone, grilled onions, sweet peppers and mushrooms. She’s been trained well. 
If you want to experience the real thing you go to Pat’s and order “Cheese wit.” That gets you Whiz with onion, the ‘default’ cheese at Pat’s. Only then are you are qualified to make judgments regarding the superiority or inferiority of other Philly Cheesesteaks.
There was a Food Network show several months ago, don’t remember the name, where a guy who became an Iron Chef went around the country comparing things like who makes the best local specialty. They did Pat’s vs Geno’s. He said Geno’s uses better cheese; provolone vs Whiz – Geno’s uses better meat; slightly higher quality, thicker sliced and left whole rather than chopped to pieces – and the rolls were comparable.
However, when it came to the final score, both he and the group on a tour bus all voted Pat’s to be the better sandwich overall … some mystical blending that makes the whole better than its parts.
So, IMHO, go to Pat’s. After that, your opinion regarding the better or best Philly Cheesesteak is an informed one.
Welcome to Philadelphia.
They also reserve the right. Cheesesteak places are very blue-collar, and the lines are typically of sufficient length that when you get to the front you will have had plenty of time to figure out what you want. Don’t dawdle, just come out with it. And don’t expect a “Hello, sir, what can we get for you today?”, it’s more like “Whattayawant?”.
That is the most frustrating part of my job, waiting on customers who find it more important to talk on their cell phones or chat amongst themselves than figure out what they want, so when they get up to the counter I have to mind read and pull teeth while the line is halfway out the door. Don’t be that guy. In Philly, you may not have the chance to be that guy.
I’m not a local. My boss(es) are from the Philadelphia area, but I do my job in Camp Hill, PA. My opinion comes from being an outsider.
And by the way, on the show Geno himself stated that Pat’s is the original.
Eh, you’re still in the part of the world where you can get real cheesesteaks. Close enough to local for me. 
Pat’s has detailed signage about ordering properly. I’ve never seen them actually send someone to the end of the line.
It seems to me more of an image thing. It’s part of their legendary (anti-)charm – they’re posing as tough, no-nonsense, blue-collar dudes. I don’t think they take it all that seriously. They seem reasonably polite to me, although they’re not necessarily very talkative.
I’m not trying to be obstinate, but how can Pat’s (with Whiz) be the original when they use a “cheese” that was invented long after Geno’s opened?
What am I missing here?
mmm
Alright, I guess that makes sense then.
Something tells me I’m going to be trying Pat’s, Geno’s and Tony’s.
mmm
To make them properly, you also need a large flat grill, and a long-bladed spatula or two. I’ve done it with a cast-iron griddle on the stove, but it just doesn’t work as well as the proper equipment I had when I was working in the student union.
And I’ll echo that the proper roll is important. It should be soft, but still firm enough that you can hold a ten-inch steak in one hand without it falling apart. Just about any cheese is acceptable, and go with low-quality beef if you must (it originated, after all, as a way to make cheap meat palatable), but don’t compromise on the roll.
I don’t really know but I am pretty sure their first steak sandwiches didn’t have cheese … just a Philadelphia Steak Sandwich … and the Cheesesteak came later.
Actually, I prefer sauce and onion, no cheese.
Oh, you want to get into the history of the Olivieri family? That’s a story all its own.
The bottom line is that Pat’s came first (in 1933), therefore becoming the “original” purveyors of steaks and thus the “original” steak, and all the others came later. Geno’s opened in 1966.
Quoth Turble:
Again, you can get Provolone anywhere at all. If you want a prov with at Pat’s, well then, order prov with at Pat’s. You won’t even get any funny looks for it-- It’s universally recognized as one of the standard forms of the cheesesteak. There’s really no basis for saying that the cheese at one place is better because they have Provolone.
Another recommendation for Tony Luke’s. Their cheesesteaks are very good (don’t forget the long hots), but, to me, they are special for their roast pork. My toppings? Sharp provolone and broccoli rabe. Mmmmm. I want one now.
BTW, the not-so-secret part of good Philly sandwiches is the roll. Tony Luke’s uses rolls from Sarconi’s Bakery. (Sarcone’s is also a deli with great hoagies.)
Sure, you can order several different kinds of cheese at Pat’s … but the “default” if you just order “cheese” is Cheez Whiz at Pat’s and provolone at Geno’s.
Lot’s of people, including the Iron Chef guy on the show I mentioned, will be happy to pronounce provolone (or any real cheese) as superior to Cheez Whiz.
My point is that Pat’s is the original Philadelphia Steak Sandwich, and Cheez Whiz is the default cheese-like substance added to that sandwich. That is the standard to which others are compared … and I don’t contest at all that there may be some that are superior overall, although if I am going to have cheese, it’s gonna be Whiz.
Yeah, that sort of thing is not uncommon in urban-type establishments maintaining a sort of “keeping it real” kind of image. Gene & Jude’s hot dogs, just outside Chicago in River Grove, for example, does not even have ketchup on their premises. Not even for their fries. You have to go to the nearby McDonald’s or bring your own bottle with you if you want ketchup. Is it a gimmick? Perhaps a little, but I’ve never actually noticed its absence until somebody pointed it out to me. And they are, in my opinion, the best hot dogs in Chicagoland, but there are also many detractors of Gene & Jude’s, especially those who believe a “Chicago dog” must be molded to Vienna-beef specification. (I did not grow up with fully dressed “Chicago style” hot dogs in my part of the city, so Gene & Jude’s is perfectly representative of the style most common in my neighborhood.) I dunno. I like a little local idiosyncrasy in my eateries. I do understand people who don’t have patience for it, though. It’s not meant to be taken too seriously, but rather a little bit of playful parochialism.