Pat’s King of Steaks

I came to South Philadelphia in search of the Philadelphia Cheese Steak Sandwich. This part of the city seems to be in love with the sandwich and I intend to try it out. I was then surprised to find the place which started it all – Pat’s King of Steaks. Story is that Pat and Harry Olivieri came up with the idea of a steak sandwich by chopping up beef and putting it in a sandwich. Unsurprisingly, the idea took off and they gave up their hotdog stand and ride into history. Unsurprisingly, others were keen on getting a piece of the proverbial cheesesteak and there emerged the cheesesteak wars.

Pat’s King of Steaks is known as the original cheesesteak place. However, directly across it, is a rival shop called Geno’s. There were also a lot of people eating there. Both camps have their fans. I didn’t get to try Geno’s since I really want to eat at the “original” place first and there was no way I would be able to finish a second sandwich. The queue at Pat’s Kind of Steaks was long but it moved fast. There were posters which provide instructions on how to order a cheesesteak sandwich. They have come up with their code to take orders and you better get it right or you get sent back to the end of the queue. “One whiz without” means one sandwich with Cheese Whiz without onions. So the formula is amount followed by the cheese followed by onions (with or without).

I managed to order my sandwich without getting sent back to end of the queue. The sandwich came out quickly. The bread was nice and warm and it was a bit crusty which was prefect. I had a cheese whiz steak sandwich with onions. It was okay and nothing ground breaking. If you ask me, I probably would have preferred a little more stuff in it. I must say that I’m not a huge fan of sandwiches to begin with but it was okay and I managed to finish it. There were a lot of seats around the stall and it was covered which was nice. It felt great to eat at such an authentic sandwich stall.

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