Mama’s Pizzeria Cheesy Cheese Steak Review

Mama’s Pizzeria is located at 426 Belmont Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004. Established in 1958, Mama’s has built a large reputation. Their shop has two levels. The first level is mainly for take out with a few tables. The second floor has the restaurant area. Be wary of the clowns as there are many pictures of clowns on their walls.

Although Mama’s Pizzeria has won many awards including Best of Philly (Mainline) 2006 cheese steaks, their sandwich doesn’t cut it for me. Let me explain why.

Mama’s Pizzeria sells what they call mini sandwiches in addition to their large. The mini cheese steak was $6.50 and their large was $10.75. Their mini was only 6 inches (I kid you not) and their large was only 10 inches. So after reading my blog and all of the best Philly cheese steak sandwiches, you will find that at the time of this writing, a Geno’s and Pat’s famous Steaks cost $8 for about a 10 inch Philly cheese steak. These are the most famous places in Philly and their sandwich is $3 cheaper than Mama’s Pizzeria large (equivalent in size). Their argument is that the pack their sandwich thick. I say “Who cares.” Actually, they didn’t pack it thick enough for that price compared to a Gooey Looey’s, Leo’s Steaks, or any local steak shop in South Philly for that matter. I bought the mini sandwich because I wanted to test the ground. Good thing I did as aside from the size and cost issue, the taste was nowhere in line to be considered the best.

Mama’s Pizzeria chops their steak instead of using strips. I think that they may have chopped it too fine. If you read the interview of the famous Rick Olivieri from Rick’s Steaks he explains why chopping is second to steak strips in terms of quality. He says that it is easier to hide the quality of the beef when it is chopped. It is the opposite effect for steak strips, which demonstrate easily if the beef has beautiful marbeling or not. I totally agree with him and with a sandwich such as Mama’s Pizza I can’t tell what the steak even looks like. The steak was chopped so fine and covered with so much cheese that you can barely see anything let alone what grade and texture the beef has.

That leads to another point that I didn’t like about Mama’s Pizzeria. They used so much cheese (American) that the sandwich looked like a big bowl of cheese with something (you had to find the surprise) inside. Guess what the surprise was - some form of steak. With just a mini sandwich I must have ate more cheese than in the last 5 cheese steak reviews. The cheese was not only mixed inside with the steak and onions but it was layered on top of the sandwich and on the top and bottom of the roll (this is insane).

The rolls on Mama’s Philly cheese steak were semi soft Italian roll. The onions were not thoroughly cooked. This was another negative. Onions need a little brown too them whether it is a light or average (burnt is bad too).

Overall, I do not recommend Mama’s Pizzeria. They are way over priced, have too much cheese, onions are not cooked enough, and the steak has a lower grade quality that was well hidden in the chop. If you like all of these qualities than you are more than welcome to pay them a visit. If you like my style of Philly cheese steaks then stay tuned for more reviews (or visit my Best Philly Cheese Steaks Review page).

Ardmore Pizza Cheese Steak Review

Ardmore Pizza is located at 10 Rittenhouse Place, Ardmore, PA 19003. Established in 1973, this pizzeria has made a reputation in its area just a little drive outside of Center City Philadelphia.

Ardmore Pizza is a little pizzeria on a beautiful street alongside many other various shops. The place has a few tables to sit if you want to eat there. Their shop is also very clean in appearance. They have newer tiling and a nice big flat screen TV. I also like how high tech this place is. They have several giant monitors behind the counter that appears to be handling their internet pizza system. From a quick glimpse at their website it appears that you can order pizza online. Ardmore Pizza also has a very friendly staff but they were extremely busy (a good sign).

Ardmore Pizza is also known for its Philly cheese steaks. I ordered one Philly pizza cheese steak. They chopped their steak instead of using steak strips. The onions are slightly fried and mixed well with the American cheese steak, and pizza sauce. They didn’t use much pizza sauce in their sandwich. I actually agree with this method because if you use too much then you may risk drowning out the taste of the steak sandwich. The cheese was mixed well in the steak but was also placed on top of the steak, onions, and sauce for an extra kick. However, the result wasn’t too much cheese. Their style made it just right.

The foot long Italian roll they used was slightly toasted. This toasted option worked well for this sandwich as it complemented the tomato sauce. This resulted in a very Italian sandwich that gave a crunchy bite as you taste your way through the juicy tomato sauce.

Ardmore Pizza has just the right ingredients to make it in to the Best Philly Cheese Steaks Club!

Welcome Ardmore Pizza!

University City Abner’s Cheese Steaks

University City Abner’s Cheese Steaks and Pizza Review

University City Abner’s Cheese Steaks is located at 3813 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA in University City. Abner’s was established approximately in 1983 and is a favorite for many of the students in that area.

What I thought was interesting about this place before I went in was that there is a small gentlemen’s club right next door that said to buy a drink and get a free Abner’s cheese steak. I am not sure of the connection between a strip club and a cheese steak place but maybe this combo works for them. The place is very wide inside with many TVs. I thought the staff was very friendly and I like that they had a giant booth to sit.

Nevertheless, I was not impressed with their Philly cheese steak. University City Abner’s Cheese Steaks and pizza has a large fan base but it didn’t ring a bell for me. Actually, when I first came in I looked directly at the pizza that was in the counter and it appeared that it had been sitting out for hours (sort of like many of the boardwalk pizzas on the New Jersey boardwalk). This doesn’t mean they were going to serve you these pizzas though. I mean I don’t know because I came there for the cheese steak but it still wasn’t a good first impression.

Abner’s Cheese Steaks were about a foot long sandwich. They gave you an Italian roll that was soft but yet I still didn’t see the shiny golden brown of the perfect soft Italian roll that could be found in many South Philly joints. The onions were lightly darkened and chopped thoroughly with the steak. The steak was chopped very fine and a decent amount was placed in the roll. But that is not why I am giving this place a yellow light (proceed with caution).

It is not that the steak sandwich was entirely bad. It was average. The biggest problem was that the steak on the sandwich was dry. I asked for American cheese and it was put at the base but not enough was used. The rolls were not very fresh either. Thus, the combo made a decent sandwich but I am not here to find decent. I am here to find the best. I know that the best has different degrees, for example, the best of the best. But this place could not quite make it to my tolerance level of what would be minimally accepted as the best (they were almost there though).

If you compare this sandwich up against my other recommended Philly cheese steaks then you will see that Abner’s is not on the same quality level. My suggestions would be to try using fresh soft Italian rolls (maybe Amoroso, Sarcone’s, etc.) They must be shipped fresh everyday. This is only fair if you want to be in the Best Philly Cheese Steak Club. Also, you need to master the art of mixing the cheese well with the steak and putting just enough.

I hope that you have enjoyed my review of University City Abner’s Cheese Steaks!

Little Sicily Pizza Steaks | Hoagies

Little Sicily Pizza Steaks and Hoagies Review

Little Sicily Pizza Steaks and Hoagies in South Philadelphia is a perfect example of a pizza and Philly cheese steak place that is a hidden secret in the Philadelphia food community. This is a perfect example of how you can find non touristy places in the heart of Philly that has food better and cheaper than the most popular restaurants.

Little Sicily Pizza was established in 1968 and sits at 1433 West Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia, PA. They promote themselves as having the best pizza in town and that is why they need to be reviewed here. This type of business falls under two categories, pizza and cheese steaks, so I will have one review for two of our blogs. In Philly, these types of operations are very common. A pizza place tries to complement its business by selling cheese steaks and a cheese steak sandwich shops tries to complement its business by selling pizzas.

Pizza or cheese steak…it doesn’t matter with a place like Little Sicily as you can’t go wrong either way. This place is very Sicilian style Italian. There are many pictures of famous Italian actors on the walls. You may enjoy the Al Pacino pictures. This is a sit down or take out pizzeria. The cashier slash waiter is very polite as this is a nicely run family business.

First the pizza. The pizza that I ordered was American style. They do not have fancy gourmet pizza here and if I asked for my traditional Margherita pizza that might blow my cover as an undercover food critic. So places like this I prefer not to ask stupid questions. Besides, most Philadelphia pizza places aren’t in tune with the whole Margherita concept unless you go to a gourmet pizza joint and they better know what a Margherita is.

I ordered one slice of pepperoni and one plain cheese slice. There pizza is very unique. They really make good Sicilian pizzas (I have been here before) so their regular pizzas have a similar crust. That is, there crust is sort of thick and blackened. They give you plenty of pepperoni on the pepperoni pizza slice. The cheese tasted good but it was part of the only problem with this pizza. The cheese slides off very easy as it was all stuck together. So I had to keep picking it up and putting it back on the pizza. This may be due to a little more oil than necessary.

Overall, the pizza was very good for the price (about $2 each) and the slices are very big slices. I didn’t need the cheese steak to help full me (but I ate it anyway). This is an example of how you can get a great deal in Philly. A place like this runs specials on hoagie, cheese steaks, and pizza specials all day every day. You can get a 16 inch large pizza from anywhere between $11 and $15 depending on what type. This pizza will fill about 3 or 4 people – It’s the real deal!

The cheese steak was phenomenal. It makes Geno’s or Pat’s look silly in all areas. The Philly cheese steak cost about $5.50 and it is a few inches longer and thicker than any of the top 3 cheese steak joints. The rolls are good soft Italian rolls. The softness is what makes this sandwich taste out of this world.

You should be full if you eat the whole sandwich (if you’re not then add a slice of pizza). The cheese was American cheese melted 100% and the stick was chopped rib-eye steak. I put a little ketchup on my cheese steak to add some flavor. The onions were fried nice and crispy.

Little Sicily cheese steak was about $2.50 less than a Geno’s or Pat’s Steak. Are you starting to understand what I mean that you can find way better, cheaper, tastier, and friendlier cheese steak joints in Philly, especially South Philly? Little Sicily Pizza is only about 10 blocks from Geno’s and Pat’s. You can follow Passyunk Avenue straight up and you will actually pass right by it. So with that said, why does all of these tourists want to go wait 2 hours in a line for a cheese steak of a lesser kind? My answer is because they don’t know and that is what this blog is about. So stay tuned as I take you to the true best Philly cheese steak and best Philadelphia pizza places.