Frank's Philadelphia — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

In the 3 miles I traveled to come here, I could've had MUCH better fare. I love a good sandwich, and I love a good sandwich spot. They've apparently been here for 25 years, but I think it's more a testament to their low rent, rather than their food quality.

I had the meatball sandwich, and I normally don't. Why? Quite frequently, I'm disappointed, but my wife wanted meatball, and folks on Yelp reviewing this place said it was amazing. Save your money--it's not. For a meatball sandwich to be amazing, it needs an amazing sauce, an amazing meatball, and good bread--soft, crusty, thin, or thick doesn't matter.

This place uses canned tomato sauce. Or maybe it's ketchup mixed with Ragu. They also use frozen meatballs that have that weird artificial moisture you only get when the frozen 'balls are injected with water to make them moist. I paired the meatball with some cheese fries, but was jealous of the way the onion rings looked--they looked delicious. Maybe they were, but they get those frozen, too.

I was expecting the Philadelphia cheese fries to have Cheez-Whiz on the side as (I'm told) the traditionalist places in Philly do--these didn't. Instead, a small amount of shredded cheese covered the fries, but he fries themselves were actually pretty good, though. As others have noted, the canned banana/pepperoncini peppers kinda suck.

All in all, it was very "meh". If you're in the area, a good meatball can be had at Al's New York Cafe, while a good Philly cheesesteak can be had at John's Philly Grille on Beach.

Dear Restaurant Owners, please stop passing frozen food off as good food. Also, please stop passing it off as yours. Also, please stop charging an arm and a leg for "fresh" food you are simply reheating. K? Thanks. Signed,...

James Infante is a fool! I can only tell by pictures since I haven't been here yet, but these cheesesteaks look legit. The official review will come when I find out if they're on Amoroso rolls or not.

@ James Infante... in response to your ignorant statements...

real cheesesteak meat is supposed to be chopped small and mixed with the grease and cheese cheesewizz is at Pat's and Ginos's only(tourist attractions or 3am after bar spots, not good cheesesteaks) Provolone... NO! And no mozzarella, peppers, mushrooms, etc. American cheese only!!! White american cheese is what's supposed to be on a cheesesteak. If you were in Chicago you'd probably be one of those people that say no ketchup on a hot dog unless you're a kid Okay... onions should be cooked if you like onions. No Peppers! If it's an Amoroso roll... don't you dare say anything about the way the roll should be. If it's not Amoroso, do whatever you want to your roll

So dear Californians, don't listen to James. Try it for yourself. I recommend nothing but meat, white american cheese and ketchup on a cheesesteak.

I'm born and raised in Philly, so I'm not just stating opinions. Now I'm stuck in the midwest and always on the lookout for real cheesesteaks! If you're ever in Wisconsin, look up Ken...

Mediocre at best. I had a Philly cheese steak (the works) and cheese fries. Philly is known for cheese wiz, and it’s always weird to me a lot of these (authentic) places don’t use it. The cheese fries are a hard pass. It’s literally soggy fries with melted shredded cheese. Not even the good kind. The cheese was all dried up and at that point not even edible. They didn’t even cover the entire plate of fries. I’ll give two stars for the cheese steak. It was okay. Definitely not close to the real deal. They advertise the bread pretty hard, which is why I chose to try this place out anyway. Philly cheese steaks are known for the bread they use. The one they use doesn’t even hold a fraction to the quality a real one is supposed to have. I also asked for Mayo and ketchup and it literally sat on the base of the bread. Overall, flavor wasn’t there either. This place is a hard pass. Customer service could use some work too. They were very unpleasant on the phone. Guess that was the only thing...