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Categories: Pizza, Sandwiches [Edit]
Neighborhoods: South Street District, Society Hill
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Me likey alot!
So after trying the famed Geno's (have yet to try Pat's) I find myself returning to SOS time and again. I like mine with onions and American. Cheez Wiz just isn't gooey-gloppy-cheesy enough for me. I like my sliced steak enveloped in channels of melted cheese.
Oh, and order two. One just isn't enough. Really, trust me. You don't want to get in that line again.
I heard the veggie cheesesteak here was supposed to be the best in town, and I was extremeeeeeely disappointed.
I tried to replicate my memories of a true cheesesteak by ordering the veggie cheesesteak with whiz, onions, and hot peppers. They also include broccoli raab in theirs. The outcome was seriously salty, and I was immediately disappointed to see a cut up boca burger instead of a more committed attempt at a faux cheesesteak. Somehow, the boca burger itself tasted really salty, and the whiz made it so much worse.
They also forgot the onions, and when I asked for hot sauce, they gave me the most generic wing sauce in a cup which hardly helped the situation.
I am still looking for the best veggie cheesesteak in philly, I'm going crazy seeing/smelling all of these regular versions on the street!
This place isn't a place i'm going to run to if i'm craving a veggie cheesesteak, but their edition is quite tasty! For $6.75, you get a huge veggie cheesesteak with broccoli rabe and roasted red peppers. I personally took away the red peppers in fear of it overpowering the sandwich and added mushrooms and wiz. I love wiz and I can't help it. Their rendition of the classic cheesesteak is basically a chopped up veggie burger, not the ground "beef" type that giannas carries. It was a nice variation, had a good bite to it and flavor- I wish they had garlic powder and oregano on the table too. We also had a coupon for a free fry with our sandwiches and took advantage of that, they were tasty for fries but nothing special.
I went on a friday afternoon (I think!), it wasn't crowded like the line that was around jims and the service was quick and efficient.
We sought this place out for the vegetarian cheesestakes. We ordered two, and wish I had actually bothered to order cheese on them. They would have been sensational. As it was, the "steak" (probably TVP, but in a format very reminiscent of chopped steak sandwich steak) was well seasoned and fried with broccoli rabe and red peppers, which added a surprising, meaty depth to the sandwiches. They're a good size and very tasty. Again, some provolone on them would have made them perfect, and next time I go I'll remember to order that.
Also got an order of mozzarella sticks which were battered and fried--better than the typical frozen ones.
This is not the best steak nor was it the worst. However Pat's and Jim's will always be my ranking favorites! The meat was too stringy and it was not enough cheese wiz it was so so dry. I mean god would it hurt to put some damn cheese on it. Other than those compliants it was okay.
I don't eat cheese steaks, but the Chicken Philly at this place is very good. Also, the cheeseburgers and hamburgers are not bad and will definitely fill you up.
Also, the fries were crispy just like I like em'.
The cheesesteak served here is a freaking great piece of work. Perfect. Five Stars, indeed.
VERY underrated. At least as good (if not better) than Pat's and Gino's.
It has Jim's a block away, and Lorenzo's Pizza across the street to compete with. So, when we saw the enormous line at Jim's and Lorenzo's I was glad to remember SOS!
Had a Provo-With.. and it was awesome. The prices are similar to the other joints ($7-8). The steaks are bigger than Pats and Ginos for sure! about the same as you would get at Jims...but minus the line.
Onions were great, meat was chopped..and cheese through-out! Perfect.
Service was quick, and we got a table..exactly what ya want after drinking all night. Hit it up!
Yum! And they do cheesesteaks just the way I like them!!!
Prompt service!
Friendly and hip staff!
Air conditioned dining area upstairs!
It's grrrrreat!
I'm by no means a cheesesteak connoisseur. I'm just a girl. A girl who likes food. Good food. And in the words of Tony the Tiger, these cheesesteaks are grrrreat! The meat is juicy & wonderful & the cheese is perfectly melted...oops, drooling again. The employees are incredibly friendly and gave us free toppings when we couldn't decide what we wanted until after we'd paid. A $10 well spent.
So, I was in Philly for the weekend and I made an important resolution. For the entire weekend, I would keep myself alive by only eating cheesesteak. So, after two days and five cheesesteaks, my digestive system was really giving me hell but I decided to hit one more spot on the way out of town. Now, I heard about Pat's and Geno's but, to be honest, I just didn't feel like braving the lines to eat at one of these places so I found myself at S.O.S. instead. I ordered cheesesteak number six and got ready to wolf it down. Without a doubt, II had saved the best for last. The meat was seasoned perfectly and I could feel the delicious grease clogging my arteries, which is a good thing! My girlfriend had a sausage and pepper sandwich that was also very good. Next time I'm in town I'll make sure to hit the other 'famous' places but I'll be back to S.O.S. as well.
The haters are silly... S.O.S. is far superior to all of the big tourist trap cheesesteak places, and is one of the better steak spots in Philly, period. The steaks are big and tasty, and make sure you try the roast pork (with broccoli rabe, of course). Sure, having your food made fresh might mean a little bit longer of a wait, but S.O.S. is all about the food, not a touristy experience where you have to order a certain way or risk being yelled at. They have awesome fries (and pizza/cheese fries) as well.
Bonus points for the "order in any language you'd like" sign on the door.
On any given afternoon if you walk down South Street you will notice a line of (ahem) losers wrapped around the corner coming out of Jim's Steaks.
Why, please inform me, would anyone in their right mind stand in line for a steak from Jim's when you could walk a block away and get a much better steak made fresh and to order in a clean and friendly environment?
Whereas Jim's is a tourist-trap and a factory line for overcooked meat and onions, SoS delivers up the kind of personal touch you expect in Philly.
Before I say anything else, let me say this: The place is on South Street and it's clean. Honestly, that alone should get it 5 stars. And a Medal of Honor from the Mayor's Office.
I'm not sure which bakery they get their rolls from but they are always fresh and taste good. The steaks are well made. The staff is very friendly.
My only complaint is that their menu is somewhat limited. Because it's so clean and friendly I wish I could go there for more than just steaks because you can't eat cheesesteaks all the time without, well, looking like you're from Philly. If the menu had a little more depth that fifth star would be up there.
So the next time you go to a show at the TLA and one of your friends is like "Yo, man, let's go to Jim's and get a steak." or "Dude, grab a cab let's go to Geno's or Pat's." You gotta lay down the law and make sure they know "Only a Giant's fan would be that lame."
We grabbed this sandwich from Steaks on South St. It's made with roast garlic & pork, filled with broccoli rabe and sharp provolone.
It took a little longer to make that your average cheesesteak, but it was worth it. The guy serving it up asked me "Are you ready for an awesome sandwich?!?!"
If you like sharp strong flavors then this sandwich is for you...biting bitterness of the rabe, the cheesy sting of provolone, the deep sweetness of juicy roast pork & garlic all melded together perfectly.
I tried their cheesesteak before and it was OK as well.
I ended up here because Jim's down the street had at least 25 people outside of the restaurant (in addition to the line on the inside). I figured it wouldn't be much of a wait because there were only 5 waiting in line when I walked by SOS. Turns out there were 15 other people sitting around the restaurant waiting for their food. However, they do things different from Jim's/Geno's/Pat's in that they actually wait for you to order before they start cooking - which isn't a good thing on a busy night. I've only been there once so maybe this was only a one time thing, since no other reviewers have mentioned it.
I ended up waiting 35 minutes from the time I ordered for what I thought was an average cheesesteak, which probably would have been the same time if I waited at Jim's instead.
I think this might be a good secret hiding on South Street about 2 blocks from busy, unimpressive Jim's Steaks.
Here, I have never encountered a huge wait, but I have encountered a delicious cheesesteak more than once. Just last week, I took my sister and her friend for her first cheesesteak and she found it to be incredible, while I enjoyed the pizza fries joyously.
It has the South Philly feel without the South Philly line.
Tried my very first Philly cheesesteak here, and I must say, it was quite tasty. Meat wasn't fatty. I was able to order extra vegetables and cheese. I liked how they offered chicken and veggie options for non-beef eaters (the chicken cheesesteak is good, arguably better than their beef).
People were friendly, service was fast. Not sure what was up with all the Coca Cola branding. For hot sauce lovers, SOS doesn't have Tabasco sauce, but the Chicken Wing hot sauce is a decent substitute. I also liked how the restaurant made announced on the door sign that all customers are welcome, despite language barriers or personal beliefs.
Overall, the food was good, but it wasn't phenomenal. 3.5 stars
The Absolute best Philly Chicken on south street. I've made the trip here from NY countless times and I've never been disappointed. The food is great! As many on Yelp have said ishkabibbles fries are better.
Best cheesesteaks on South St, by far. The mean is great quality and seasoned well. The rolls are always fresh. The only reason I didn't give them 5 stars was their fries aren't as good as Ishkabibbles.
They can be slow, they can be expensive, but their food is always delicious. I agree with Luis G. - their fries aren't as good as Ishkabibbles (or O'Neals around the corner), but they make a bitchin' buffalo chicken cheesesteak.
A bit underwhelming. Stringy meat.
This kind of thing pisses me off: I saw the manager cleaning tables & counters with a wet rag & then go to the french fry station & hovering over the fry bowl began picking em' up & stuffing his face. Then the fry guy sold the rest to a customer. Dude! get yourself a plate! Don't put the fries right into your mouth use a utensil & plate! Won't be back.
So apparently they make a good cheesesteak in this corner of the country.
I would have to agree, and Steaks on South was as good as any steak I've ever had. [Of course this was 1:45AM judgement talking]. It's touristy, but not so much so that you have to wait in a 25 minute line ala Pats or Geno's.
Solid, authentic, and delicious. Good fries too.
My sister told me about a local favorite: the philly taco. You grab a steak and a floppy slice of pizza and fold the steak sandwich inside, and you got yourself a delicious philly taco.
Now I have an excuse to head back to Philadelphia.
The line for Jim's snakes around the block (wow, somehow in the past my random yearly visit is during a slow hour). I've got a tourist in town who wants a cheesesteak (she's visited before, so the best isn't necessary). We head to Steaks on South.
The line is MUCH shorter. The staff are exactly what we're looking for: local Philly guys who hustle to make your food as soon as possible, will help you with your order, but are really just there to keep the line moving. They answer the same questions every two minutes but manage to keep it together. Nice guys, but not there to chat. They even smiled. We got our food quickly. It was good.
Steaks were not too greasy, decent bread, good stuff. Unlike some other steak places, we were able to get fries instead of potato chips. The music was straight out of the 70s (was that an entire Eric Carmen album?). It was just awful enough to keep us from lingering, which is probably what you want when you run a cheesesteak emporium on South Street.
It was just what we needed, without all the hassle of the other places. We shared a regular cheesesteak (w/provolone) and fries. We left full. It wasn't Jim's, but it was much more pleasant than waiting 45 minutes.
The best thing about this place is probably the fact they have substitute fare, mostly chicken variations, for those who don't like cheesesteaks. I didn't particularly like the cheesesteak here, it was dry and I felt like I was eating more bread than steak (and they didn't really melt the american cheese enough, i opted out of the whiz this time), but the mushrooms were interestingly tart and the onions were fine.
I do think the place is nice though, it's clean and bright and the staff here is very friendly and the cashier/manager dude was a really hardworking, nice guy.
Totally not in agreement with all the haters regarding this place. On a recent trip to Philly with a friend, we went into grease seeking tourist mode and hoofed it down to South St. like all the other schmucks to get a cheesesteak. I have tried almost all the staple cheesesteak joints in this area and saw Steaks on South and wanted to give it a try. This is definitely the cleanest of the steak places in the city, with an open kitchen so you can watch all the awesomeness go down. Also, this place isnt a pillar in the cheesesteak community YET, so there isnt some ridiculous line around the block.
They have some other stuff on the menu, but I came for tasty meat globbed with pounds of fake cheese. GIMME A CHEESESTEAK WITH WIZ!!! Good lord these are massive cheese steaks, I just got the regular and it was almost a foot long. Not too greasy, not too much cheese, fresh bread...what else can you ask for? I was lucky enough to get a free show by some schizophrenic methed out magician in the ally by the outside tables, so I guess you could ask for that.
Apparently if you eat two you get your picture on the wall, aim high Meghan, aim high. Who am I fooling, I was ready to curl over and die after forcing the last few bites of my massive steak down. Yum.
Wandered ino this place after getting a chop shop haircut & my husband was craving a cheesesteak. i was happy to see that they acually had a vegetarian menu right up on the board, including an Eggplant Parm sandwich, which I am a huge sucker for. This was the best Eggplant Parm i have had, probably ever. The bread was fresh & the eggplant altho breaded, actually tasted like eggplant! Also the fries were Really good & the guy working was super nice. The only "con" was that it was a little slow to get our food.
Don't come here for cheese steaks you lazy tourist. Do your research.
This spot of real estate is always changing and it seems that every month there is a new restaurant/store here. SOS has lasted the longest.
They have an open, clean stainless 'kitchen' where they whip up your chicken parm hoagies, cheese steaks, fries and hamburgers. Then they have the whole upper floor for seating as well. It's super clean and the food is all pretty decent. This is definitely a good take-out place as long as you don't order anything you would at a real restaurant. Stick with the hot sandwiches, greasy apps and fries.
Another cheese steak place in Philadelphia? How original. I was, as Caitlin C., said a lazy tourist. The cheese steaks were good but nothing out of this world as has been the rumor of Philly's allure. I don't think we ended up going to any of the "great" places like Pat's. The lines on Saturday were blocks long.
I'll have to do it again out there and do it right. As of right now, I think you can get the same shit in New York as you can in Philly. I'll try to prove that opinion wrong the next time I'm out there.
This place was packed with teens when we went in, so it must be a south street favorite. The cheesesteak was good, though the meat was somewhat fatty. The service was friendly but slow, even when the crowd died down.
Step aside Geno's and Pat's, because their may very well be a new king in town. the best thing about this place may very well be it's variety. if you ask most cheesesteak joints for something other than then steak or chicken on your roll they just look at you kind of funny or tell you to step aside. but this place has the usual stuff, hoagies, chicken parm, burgers and then some.
But the best thing about it may very well be the fact that it has a veggie steak! if you ask most steak joints for a veggie sandwich they'll either look at you like they don't understand, or they'll pile a whole bunch of peppers and onions onto a roll and tell you to move along. but this place really goes all out.
It also offers a lot more cheese selection then just "wit whiz" (I know there's a lot of people out there on a quest to find this kind of place). And another good thing is that it doesn't have the super long line mentality. And for a steak joint it's pretty clean, and it has a pretty roomy second floor to sit in.
my judgement is skewed cause i have never been here w/o a healthy dose of vitamin A lcohol. it is the other spot on south, jim usually has a big line so ill come here if i dont want to wait. they chop the meat but have provolone, shrooms and onions so im happy. everyone is friendly enuff at 2 am and cook to order.
I went to Philly for a weekend (with Eric S. and Victor L.) and we wandered in here on a quest for cheesesteaks. The food was good, it didn't blow my socks off but I wasn't disappointed.
Like Caitlin said, this store front has changed frequently, so it is ironic that the restaurant called "SOS" has not sunk...yet. I think I would have more respect for SOS if it did not try to take advantage of the Philadelphia standby of including "steak" into their name. Their steaks are not the best, and I feel they should have tried to establish themselves as the premier "anything but steaks" shop on South St. Let's face it, as much I and others dislike Jim's, it will rein as king of cheesesteaks in this area.
Caitlin's right. If you only have one cheesesteak in your life, it shouldn't be from Steaks on South. But these are still better than most. It's also convenient if you're "drunk on south," because when you stumble out of Mom's at 2 a.m., few people ever feel like waiting in that line at Lorenzo's. Better to get quick service at SOS. You'll even get a place to sit.
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Category: Sandwiches
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