Philadelphia: a mecca of food, sports, and culture. Something that is hard to replicate elsewhere. I’ve been lucky enough to live just 10 minutes away from Philly for my whole life, and I miss it more and more every day. Going for food at amazing places like Amis, Parc, Talula’s Garden, even Reading Terminal Market, these are the luxuries that are not offered here at PSU. At the Reading Terminal Market you could go and get an amazing cheesesteak at just about any sandwich counter, and here, at the City Grill, they claim to offer you the same.

But is it really the same? The simple answer is no. The City Grill, without exaggeration, did not just serve me the worst cheesesteak I’ve eaten; however, they served me the worst food I’ve ever consumed in my entire life.

You might be thinking There’s no way that this is true, or Justin, you’re definitely over-exaggerating to prove a point. 

I meant what I said.

Now, you might wonder why I think such terrible things about a place you’ve most likely tried, and maybe even liked. I’ll tell you, but first let’s take a look at what goes into the perfect cheesesteak. And I know, this is a very controversial topic, but on this blog it’s important to understand my tastes so that you can better evaluate my reviews and help yourself generate your own opinion.

1. The Roll-Indisputably, every cheesesteak has to be on a hard roll, preferably lightly toasted. All other rolls serve as just extra fluff and add an unnecessary chew to your meal. A nice flake to a lightly toasted fresh roll goes a long way.
2. The Cheese-Some people will try to tell you that a cheesesteak isn’t a cheesesteak unless you get wiz, but those people also would chew gum with the wrapper on. I don’t like canned garbage sprayed onto my food, so I go with a nice sharp provolone. If that’s not an option, I go with american, which is never a bad substitute.
3. Wit or Witout-I shouldn’t even have to explain what this means, but the people at City Grill must not get it. Wit or witout means with or without fried onions. I emphasize fried because the onions I had on my sandwich must’ve been on the grill for 10 seconds. I could’ve made better fried onions with the sun and a magnifying glass. Anyway, I side with wit. It’s not to say that a cheesesteak needs onions to be good, but it adds an extra flavor that really compliments the meat and cheese.

With the three major factors of cheesesteaks covered, now for the review of the City Grill. (Pictured below)

Here at our very own Penn State University there is an imposter. A place so foul that I will literally never eat there again. This sorry “restaurant” serves what they dare to call a cheesesteak, and insults Philadelphia every day that it continues to sell these monstrosities.

To start, the system put in place for ordering is so chaotic that I literally cannot describe how it works. I seriously do not know where to go to order food, but I do know that anyone can steal your order if you’re not paying attention! The line is mayhem, and wouldn’t even be worth it if the food served there was twice as good as it is right now.

Now on to my meal experience.

I’ve eaten all over the place, and I eat just about every type of food, but never have I once gotten food poisoning. That is until the City Grill.

I ordered my cheesesteak exactly how I described above, but was terribly disappointed to find that the roll was soft, like a long hotdog bun, and that my onions were barely fried. Despite these two major setbacks, I choked down my sandwich. An hour passed. I felt a little lethargic, like I had a food baby. Not too unusual because I had just eaten an entire sandwich. Two hours passed, and now I’m feeling a little uneasy. I sat down for 15 minutes to relax, and as I went to get up. it hit me. I sprinted to the bathroom and put that cheesesteak where it deserved to be: flushed down the toilet. This continued for 12 more hours, and it ruined a visit I had with my uncle!

I cannot emphasize enough that you must AVOID CITY GRILL AT ALL COSTS. It ruined my appetite for days, it ruined my family visit, it ruined my health, and it might have even ruined cheesesteaks for me.

The lesson to be learned here is NEVER trust a cheesesteak from a place farther than 20 minutes away from Philly.