A Sunny Saturday Splurge Session

Here are the two famous locations we decided to research. These are google map pictures of the Geno’s Steaks and Pat’s King of Steaks. Google must have been there when the shops were closed because there is always a line of people waiting to get their fix.

Hubby’s Desert Dwelling brother came to visit – he was out of the desert for work and in nearby Washing D.C. – and he lead us over to Geno’s to see if the steaks were just as he remembered. It’s kind of hard to miss Geno’s with all the bright orange paint and neon signs and the huge crowd of people milling around. Although we headed to Geno’s first we also sampled Pat’s so this will be a side by side comparison of the rival cheesesteak eateries.

It was a gorgeous day so we didn’t mind waiting in line. Both lines were about 20-30 people deep and artfully snaked around the buildings and outdoor tables – no line jumpers anywhere in sight. Everyone knew where the end of the line was and patiently waited for their turn to order. Pat’s line was slightly longer but moved at the same rate as Geno’s line. (Geno’s Left / Pat’s Right)

While waiting we got to notice the flair of both legendary eateries. Geno’s was obviously loud with it’s bright orange paint, shiny tile, and the hundreds of celebrity photos and firehall patches on the walls. Geno’s definitely gets your attention! Pat’s was less assuming only painted in white with a singular sentiment about it’s cheesesteaks. (Geno’s Left / Pat’s Right)

Geno’s leaves you to yourself when it comes to ordering by offering the names of what you can order while Pat’s has very specific rules that may or may not be daunting to a new comer. As Pat’s suggests “If you make a mistake, don’t panic, just go to the back of the line and start over”

Once you finally reach the order window you better have your order AND money ready. Geno’s offers less variety than Pat’s but both are limited in that you order what they have and you don’t make special requests. We decided to get the traditional Steak wit whiz (“wit” being “with onions” and “whiz” being “Cheese Whiz”). Geno’s sandwich is $8.25 and Pat’s sandwich is $7.50 (we opted for mushrooms on the Pat’s steak and it was $8.00 – don’t worry I took bites without the mushroom so I wouldn’t discredit the experiment/research results). Both are actually overpriced in my opinion but it’s a tourist thing and it was all in the name of Research. It wasn’t really that bad and I didn’t mind because I was treating my Hubby and his desert dwelling brother Steve!

You place your order and then you can peer into the windows to see the cooks hard at work flip flip flipping the cheesesteak meat on the griddle. (Geno’s top / Pat’s bottom)

And now we were ready to eat – We went to Pat’s second and only ordered one to share since we didn’t want to be big huge monsters and eat two whole cheesesteaks each!

Innards of the cheesesteak – sorry that Pat’s is blurry – I was holding up the actual devouring and I had to move my hands out of the way before they were bitten! tee hee. Both are very similar sandwiches. Geno’s keeps the thin steaks kind of whole compared to Pat’s more chopped style think steaks. Both had an okay amount of cheese – I like more cheese personally. And truthfully I like the sandwich to be juicier – maybe I am just picky or maybe these two landmarks are dishing out a lesser quality sandwich because they don’t really have to worry about pleasing customers anymore. (Geno’s Left / Pat’s Right)

Here is another comparison – which mouth is bigger? (Desert Dwelling Steve left / Hubby Right)

I wrapped up my Geno’s steak because I knew I wanted a taste of Pat’s but the boys both devoured their steaks and were ready for the next one. Like I said before we split the Pat’s steak and ordered another couple sodas to wash it down.(Geno’s Left / Pat’s Right)

We all voted and Pat’s was the unanimous winner! In my opinion it won because of the better chopped think steak making it more juicy. Also, the crust of the bread was more crusty and added a nice texture and flavor – the bread was only slightly better than Geno’s both were actually really good bread. And Pat’s also won because you can get mushrooms on your steak there!

I guess you can travel to Philly and make your own informed decision or you can go with my opinion. But if you need a little more convincing and another expert opinion maybe his will suffice: