Penn Steaks — Restaurant in State College

I got a regular cheesesteak with sweet peppers and funnel cake fries. The cheesesteak was decent but they couldn’t even be bothered to cook the peppers into the sandwich. They give them to you separately, which I could understand if the sandwiches were cheap but they are pretty expensive. The funnel cake fries tasted like deep fried cardboard and they had melted styrofoam on them.

The customer service is terrible. I had a bad experience with the Joe, who I believe is the owner. I waited a very long time for my food (~35-45 minutes). I saw my food sitting on the counter for a while with many others’ orders getting called before mine even though they ordered after me. When I finally got it, I made a comment to the guy about it sitting there for a while. He said nothing so I walked away. Joe overheard and asked me to come back. I told him what happened in a respectful way and his response was, “Well, we’re not Amazon sweetheart.” I’m more upset about that comment than the food waiting there. Why even call me back to come talk to you?

I’m very surprised this place has 4.9 stars as of this review. Maybe I went on a bad day, but I was not pleased at all. If you want a good cheesesteak and good service and you’re willing to go outside of downtown, I recommend CC peppers. Way better...

My husband and I stopped in at Campus Steaks during our exploratory trip around State College. I wasn't expecting much because I'm not a big cheesesteak person, but I was blown away by the chicken cheesesteak.

These are full-size (maybe 8"?) sandwiches, and they are overflowing with cheesy, meaty goodness. Per the owner's suggestion, I tried the mixture of wiz and other cheeses, and it was delicious! Don't let it weird you out before you try it! Also, putting the pickled sweet peppers in your sandwich is the perfect way to add crunch and a bright flavor that cuts through the rich cheesy-ness of the meat.

The beer-battered onion rings are probably the best onion rings I've ever had - the crunch is...idk...delicate? in an almost melt-in-your-mouth kinda way. I tried the ranch, jalapeño ranch, and the campus sauce and they were all 10/10.

Lastly, I gotta say, the people who own the place are some of the genuinely friendliest people I've ever met. It would be worth going to Campus Steaks just to hang out with them and learn more about State College. But you gotta try the...

I heard about Campus Steaks just though word of mouth at the barber shop. My 6-year-old and I decided that we would get dinner for the family which consisted of two Joe's specials and a bag of fries. These sandwiches easily feed two people, or one firefighter.

These cheese steaks are better than any other cheese steak that I have had in all of State College, and the Centre County Region. This place is a hidden gem if you have not been to it yet. Easy parking in the Pugh Street garage across the street (even during arts fest).

However, what makes this place the real gem is the owner and his staff. Joe made my daughter and I feel like family. He cooked us the Joe's specials himself. He bought my daughter an Otto's root beer just because she said she was thirsty.

We talked for 30 minutes and then took our steaks back to the house and again, these steaks fed 4 of us. (Granted 2 kids, 2 adults). I'll be taking a few of my firefighting buddies over in the next few weeks.

But, if you are a local and you have not tried Campus Steaks, get out...