If you, as a restaurant, are going to call yourself great, as the Great Steak and Potato Company does, you had better be truly great. If not, you are opening yourself up for a slew of invited criticism. As an optimist, I figured the place was worth a try, if for no other reason than I had pretty much exhausted the options at Burbank’s Empire Center.
I wasn’t expecting a fancy steak dinner joint, so when I walked in and found it to be a predominantly cheesesteak and fries joint, I was pretty happy. I cannot claim to be a cheesesteak expert, since I’ve never had one in Philly, but I feel as thought I’ve tried enough to say what a good one should taste like. I ordered their Original Philly Cheesesteak, which was offered at a discounted price, without the onions (it was only cheese, onions and steak), then ordered their Coney Island Fries, which were topped with chili and cheese.
The result was sort of an unexpected sandwich. As you can see above, the cheese was more of the nacho variety than anything that should actually be on a cheesesteak. Don’t get me wrong, I love nacho cheese, but it has its place and that place is not a cheesesteak. The overall meat content was nice and they definitely grilled the steak to order, but the cheese part of the cheesesteak is such an important component that I could not overlook.
The fries were a nice addition, but they really weren’t anything special. I found the chili to be pretty generic, and although the nacho cheese worked better on the fries than the sandwich, it still left a bit to be desired.
Also, I cannot confirm, but I think the meal made me a bit ill. After lunch, my stomach was not happy with me and I can only assume it had to do with the Great Steak and Potato Company. Had the meal actually been somewhere near great, I would have left my angry bowels out of the review, but the lack of greatness combined with stomach destruction left me wishing I had eaten a whole lot of something else.
A traditional “Philly cheesesteak sandwich” is served with Cheez Whiz or provolone, and with or without onions. The sandwich that most people in the midwest and west coast know as a cheesesteak is a mutation. It can have everything from mushrooms to swiss cheese on it. DefinItely not saying the above sandwich is a good one, but if you look at the requirements of a “real” cheesesteak… this is exactly what it should look like. Below is some cheesesteak info, as well as info on the creator of the cheesesteak and his restaurant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesesteak
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat's_King_of_Steaks
Hey Dave, I’m definitely with you on cheesesteak needing to be whiz or provolone, but this was more nacho cheese than whiz, and I definitely think there is a difference. It looked a whole lot better than it tasted…
I’ll steer clear! Thanks! Great website…
Glad you like! Hopefully getting some good, new content up this week…
While this is a pretty accurate review, I think you would have had a much better experience had you ordered the Great Steak sandwich. The provolone goes a lot better. A Supersteak is also better, or even the Chicagoland with both this nacho cheese and provolone are all better than the original Philly cheesesteak. I’ve also found that quality varies a lot between individual locations. The one at my local mall delivers consistently good sandwiches. On the other hand, I’ve tried other locations and they tend to be rather hit and miss. But if I were you I’d conisder giving the Great Steak and Potato company another chance.
Thanks Trey, maybe I won’t write the chain off completely…