Critic's Review
I was out in Pompano cruising down Sample and I remembered hearing about this place. I didn't have much time, so I figured I'd do take out.
You walk inside and you realize that this is no deli; this is a sandwich shop, and an old time one run by people still operating in 1990s mode.
I ordered a small Philly Cheesesteak with onions and a small greek salad. $10 and change. No Credit Cards. Cash only.
I take a seat and take in the ambiance. It takes a while to get your food. There's one guy taking orders and 1 guy cooking. Someone asks if they make they bread in house. Sure, do they even have an oven?
Normally I'd open this up in the car and taste it, but this could be messy. And the sandwich was also sealed with multiple pieces of tape, so it would be too much of a project. I was going straight home, so it would only be 20 minutes.
First think I did was take a peek at the salad. A pretty good portion for a small; lots of cheese. No red onions like the picture on their FB page.
Next, I opened the cheesesteak. It looked pretty good, if not short on cheese.
I wasn't eating the salad until later, so I started to transfer it to an air tight container to put it in the fridge, tasting it along the say. While the stuff on top was good and fresh, the lettuce underneath told a different story.
Old looking, browning shredded lettuce. Not what I want in my salad.
I used the stuff on the top with some fresh lettuce to make a pretty good salad. Good thing I wasn't eating in.
The Sandwich was "OK", but not particularly memorable; it needed seasoning. My view on cheesesteaks is that they better be really, REALLY good to justify the calories and extra minutes on the elliptical. This was bland and didn't have enough cheese.
Conclusion
When you eat out alot, you are wary of places that are willing to give someone a heap of brown lettuce. They MUST know you're not coming back after getting it, so why take the chance? Maybe in this part of town, brown lettuce is acceptable if the price is low enough?
You can't scrimp on cheese on a Philly Cheesesteak. Raise the price 50 cents and make it look like your advertisement.