The Cheese Steak Shop — Restaurant in San Francisco

The staff were amazing!!! This was my first visit and my first cheese steak.

The menu was confusing. If you have never had a cheese steak like me then you might not be familiar with what the regular sandwich comes with. The menu had the "regular" listed but didn't say it came with peppers and onions. Having never had one of these I was not aware of the peppers and onions automatically being included. The menu read as though those were extras you could add. Glad our server was so friendly and explained that the peppers and onions were included.

All the sandwiches start exactly the same: meat, cheese, peppers, onions on a roll. If you do not want any of these items in your sandwich you must tell them. The store has pre-designed flavor combos such as pizza and BBQ, as well as a few others, or you can make up your own combo from thier extras menu.

I chose the BBQ sandwich without the peppers and ononions. I wanted the cheese but somehow that also got removed.

The sandwich was extremely bland and dry. I had ordered fried onion rings and added those to my sandwich which helped a tiny bit.

The bun was smooshed like it had been manhandled. There was more sauce on the outside of one end of the bun than there was in the entire sandwich. Even the wrapper had more sauce than the inside of the sandwich.

You had a choice of beef or chicken, I chose beef. Again this was my first beefsteak so I didn't know they were going to chop the meat up like a serial killer. It was minced! When you took a bite it was as if you were biting into a sandwich with pre-chewed meat!!! It's one thing to cut or even chop something but it did not need to be minced.

The inside of the restaurant was tired looking and not particularly clean. There were a few tables with chairs. It could use better lighting. You had to ask for napkins. It felt like we were on the edge of the Tenderloin instead of on Divisadero close to Japantown.

It is extremely unlikely I will ever be having another cheesesteak, but if I do, it will not be...

We walked in at this joint today (3/22/23) at 8:00 PM and thought they’re already closed. We looked at their hours of operations stamped on their door and it says 10AM-9PM. As we walked in, place is filthy- all chairs were on top of the tables, floor mats were rolled up, trash bins were emptied and pulled out of stations.

We approached the counter and placed our orders. We asked the employee at the counter if we could still eat in since there’s nowhere to sit. He says that we could eat in but reminded us that they close at 9. We decided to dined in and pulled couple of chairs out and sat at the table by the entry doors.

After dealing with all the commotions, our food finally came in. And, of course, what do you expect from buncha employees who obviously couldn’t wait for closing time? they messed up my orders! I ordered a large classic philly cheesesteak with extra cheese and I got the disgusting south philly cheesesteak. I paid for a large curly fries, but got a small order of fries. Honestly, I was super irritated and really thought about bringing the errors to their attention and have them redo my order but I just let it go because I know nothing good is really going to come out of these dumb kids handling my food.

After a few bites and overall bad experience, we were ready to just get the hell out this place. We proceeded to the garbage stations to throw our food in but there weren’t no trans bins inside. I approached the employee about it and he says we could just leave it on top of the counter....

from skeptical san franciscan who had not bothered looking for authentic philly cheesesteak in the city (nor in bay area), this place is LEGIT :) the food, ambiance, taste and smell, took me right back to a memorable Philly vacation taken years ago.

on to sandwich components lol fresh bread, good texture on the outside, slightly soggy on the inside (from the juices, PERFECT). meat is well seasoned and juicy, tasty peppers and grilled onions adds great flavors, cheese is aromatic without overpowering the sandwich. coming together for a very satisfying experience (will do more for your soul than chicken soup haha)

if eating in, your spectacular meal will be accompanied by the rhythmic clinking sounds of metal spatula on griddle, as one delicious sandwich freshly made after another, which was music to my ears.

lastly, the wonderful dining experience is further enhanced by 5 star service. Michael C. took excellent care of us. this included coming around the counter, asking how we like the food, followed by sharing brief stories about founders & history, and later came around the counter (yes, again, wow, impressed yet? lol) on our way out, handing us takeaway menu's, and letting us know about the loyalty program. honestly don't recall the last time I had such personable dining experience (this includes Michelin starred restaurants lol)

as freshly minted (and proud) member of Cheese Steak Shop Loyalty Club, will be repeat customer :) highly recommend to...