Youz Guyz South Philly Cheesesteaks — Restaurant in Universal City

The steak sandwich, though now completely representative of Philadelphia, began some 80 years ago with only a grill top, some scraps of steak, and a hoagie roll. As the years progressed the sandwich has evolved into the Philly cheesesteak, adding cheese and vegetables to the mix. Despite the affinities of some Philadelphians, there are several acceptable variations on the classic sandwich:

A cheesesteak sandwich may contain one of the following types of cheeses:

Cheez Whiz Provolone American

and it may contain the following vegetables:

onions peppers mushrooms are also acceptable

Cheez Whiz is an obvious choice of cheese from a food service perspective, though I'm not a fan of the processed cheese dip from a culinary point of view. American makes sense, too, given patriotism and the Liberty Bell and what-have-you. I'm not sure how provolone got mixed up in this mess, but it's certainly a welcome departure from the processed and the ordinary.

There are a handful of other places in town doing the cheesesteak thing, but not many better than Youz Guyz. The little building with the giant mural of Ben Franklin chowing down houses some decent cooking to produce a darn authentic product.

Six dollars nets you an eight inch cheesesteak with any of the above cheese/vegetable combinations (provolone and sautéed onions for me, please). A sign outside the building explains the "Philly lean," a necessary maneuver to prevent the meat's juices from dripping all over your clothes. I did not have to perfect such a movement, because not a drip was to be found. That's not to say that the meat wasn't juicy, but rather that the rolls were fresh enough to sop them up, making the sandwich even more enjoyable. For a traditionally messy sandwich, I thought mine was very well made, with a meat-to-bun ratio that felt just right and allowed me to eat it all without it falling out as I bit. The meat's not fresh (that is to say, it's frozen), but given that we're dealing with street food, it's not supposed to be. It tastes good, all the same.

What I cannot allow to be frozen, however, are the fries. I was expecting the sides to bring it just as well as the sandwich, but was given french fries that were completely ordinary, and left me with little desire to finish them. They did provide several interesting options to dress them up, either via Old Bay seasoning (fans of Five Guys would feel at home here) or through their pizza fries - covered in marinara and provolone. I would be hard-pressed to share any complaints about anything covered in sauce and cheese, but when the core ingredient is so mediocre, it's too little too late. They could easily hand-cut their own fries, especially because they tout their own freshly-made potato chips (a menu item I failed to see, unfortunately, until after I ordered). Even without trying them, I can recommend them to the fries.

Typically, the fancier the restaurant, the worse their take on authentic street food. Youz Guyz is just thoze guyz in a small restaurant offering the same cheesesteaks that have been popular for the past fifty years. Bad spelling aside, Youz Guyz is one of the better places for lunch...

OUTSTANDING. We finally got around to trying Youz Guyz this evening....I know, I know, we are late to the party....and it was perfection. Hands down the best cheesesteak I've had outside of Philly itself. It not much to look at, an old gas station type building that you might think was abandon if not for the picnic benches out front. Inside is charming though with lots to look at. It is clean & reasonably priced. The staff were genuine, hilarious and very patient with a couple of first timers that unknowingly came in 15 minutes before close. We apologized a dozen times but they were gracious and explained they just recently changed their hours due to a staffing issue.The food came out in just a few minutes and as I mentioned above, was perfection. The rolls were fresh, loaded with a good portion of beef and drowning in whiz just like I asked for. I cannot wait to go back with time to spare to try the Italian beef, funnel cake fries and the cannoli. It is hard to find good cannoli here and theirs looked legit. Do not sleep on this place like we unfortunately did. We've lived on this side of town for 4 years and have definitely been missing out....

Based on the reviews, it really seemed like i had finally found a solid place to get a true south philly style steak. Pictures look promising, and the atmosphere of the place surely spoke for itself. Upon receiving my order (10” steak with cheese wiz, peppers, and onions), i notice a very sad looking sandwich. Now i must preface that i have a mildly distinguished background in working as cook in some very nice restaurants in the area and spent 8 years doing so. My standards may be somewhat high but they realistic. Back to the cheesesteak- it was as dry as can be and had no cheese wiz, but provolone instead. I do not mind provolone even though it was not what i ordered. I take my first bite and within an instant nothing but utter disappointment sets in. I had never tasted such nothingness in a sandwich before, let alone a cheesesteak. The meat was clearly not seasoned as was my enthusiasm at this point. Ive been to geno’s and pat’s in south philly plenty of times and this steak that i ate was an insult to the memory i have of eating at these places. I knew that i should have just gone to charley’s in the forum instead. Never going back...