South Philly Experience — Restaurant in Los Angeles

People here in LA used to look at my strangely when I'd tell them that the most authentic -- and, not for nothing, the best -- cheesesteak in town came off the South Philly Experience food truck. (Note: Philadelphia native here, and I can tell you I've tried damn near every cheesesteak in town, and they're a pretty sad bunch.) After popping into the brick-and-mortar version of SPE for the first time, I need to amend that opinion: The best cheesesteak in LA now comes out of a tiny, cheerful, friendly storefront on West Pico. They've kept what's good (cheesesteaks, of course, on Amoroso rolls with Cheese Whiz) ) and added hoagies and other sandwiches I can't wait to try. For a bonus, Bernadette spends her days in the back baking knock-your-socks-off pies. If you're lucky her husband Tom will be hanging around shooting the breeze. Their daughter Gabby will ring you up.

A friendly family-run business that serves a delicious, artery-clogging cheesesteak? What could be bad? I love this place, and I don't care what my cardiologist says. I'll be back,...

Hey, you guys, so I decided to actually drive to this location because I was already out and about. I went when it was dark, around 630pm. The place was lit up. I used to live on Cochran, so it definitely gives a better vibe at night because in the day, Pico is just busy with a lot of cars all day. They only have outside dining because the place inside is extremely small. So you can imagine a bunch of cars driving all day while you eating can be annoying but at night it's probably better. The tables do not have an overhead, so I just decided to eat at home. I ordered Philly with provolone, and I ordered another one with the wiz cheese and every . I also ordered the Philly fries as well. It came to about 52.00. The Philly was ok. It wasn't the best ever. I added peppers to eat on the side. The fries were ok too, but I had some left over, and they are just not that good the next day. I feel these restaurants have good pictures and marketing but they food is very regular. But the lady was nice at the register, and they have...

First the staff are super friendly, very refreshing.

Absolutely the best cheesesteak in the area outside of Philly. Let's start with the meat, it is high quality chopped into .5 -1 inch pieces. Perfect, I have when they chop it to much and it feels like you are eating ground beef. The roll, standard amarosa, perfect. The cheese, you get 3 choices, American, Provolone or the Wiz. I asked the very nice woman behind the counter and she pointed me in the direction of American. Other good cheesesteaks I've gotten melt the cheese on top of the meat and then do the meat to bun transfer. The problem is that you get a layer of cheese rather than even distribution. Not here! Here the cheese is melted and spread throughout, that way you get even cheese distribution and some in every bite. Finally onions and peppers. Onions were sauted well and hot peppers added a nice background heat. Price is reasonable. This was a 1.15 hour drive for me and I will...