Philly's Best — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

I have to admit, as a big fan of Philly sandwiches, I had high expectations and had been planning to visit this place for quite a while. I finally made it.

I ordered the classic Philly sandwich with green peppers and mushrooms—a small 8-inch, which is actually a decent portion for your average “small-plus” guy. Sure, it’s on the pricier side, but I was fine paying a bit more for what’s supposed to be the best Philly in Chicago.

On paper, everything sounded great: the sandwich was well-proportioned, solidly built… but totally lacking in flavor. The meat wasn’t even mildly seasoned—no salt, no spices, just bland. Aside from the cheese, there was no sauce of any kind. It wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t good. Just completely forgettable.

And honestly? I was pretty disappointed. Turns out the Philly cheesesteak from that little spot, in my neighborhood, at Grand Ave & California in Humboldt Park - Best Submarine—a typical, no-frills place like so many others in Chicago—is miles better than the one that’s supposed to be the city’s top-tier Philly destination.

Oh and unfortunately, the service killed my enthusiasm before I even got started.

I walked up to the window—no other customers around—smiled and said “hi,” adding that it was my first time there. Silence. I just stood there awkwardly while the guy and the woman at the register fussed with something, completely ignoring me. After about a minute of uncomfortable quiet, with me literally standing face to face with someone, the guy finally started taking my order. No greeting. No “Great to have you here for the first time!” No “Sorry for the wait, what can I get started for you?” Nothing. A robot would’ve handled that better.

There was also a tiny sign on the window that said food wouldn’t be handed out without a receipt—fine. But then again, I had to wait so long for the receipt that I honestly wasn’t sure if I should just walk away or stick around. It was bizarre.

Zero customer service. And this was at 4 PM on a Tuesday. The guy seemed totally burned out—and...

The food was pretty good. Not the best Philly cheesesteak I've ever had, but it was a really good cheesesteak. The service was okay. The guy who took my order wasn't rude, but he certainly wasn't friendly either.

The actual location is pretty beat. It's not very well maintained and over to the right of the counter where you pick up your food, the door was open to what looked like it went down to a basement or maybe out toward an alley or something, and it smelled disgusting. If I didn't see that door open, and I made the guess that the smell was coming from the inside, I would have turned around and left. As it was, I convinced myself that the smell was coming from something rotting in the alley, and waited for my food.

Since the service was not terrible, and I pretended like the smell was okay, because it might have been coming from outside, I would have given this place a higher rating if the price hadn't been so outrageous. A small cheesesteak (8 in) is $14.99, and the large cheesesteak (12 in) that I ordered is $19.99. Surprisingly, The cheesesteak only comes with onions and cheese. If you want peppers, it's an extra $0.75. I'm not a Philly native, but every cheesesteak I've ever had has grilled peppers and onions, so I was surprised to have to spend $0.75 to add peppers to my sandwich. An order of fries is $7. So for two people with an appetite to each have a cheesesteak and share an order of fries, it's over $50 after tax. The large cheesesteak is technically big enough for two people to share, but if you have a decent appetite, you'd probably want more than a half of a large.

If you're looking for a very good cheesesteak, and don't care about the atmosphere or service, and are okay with the prices, I don't think you'll be disappointed by...

Philly's best is unfortunately nowhere near the best Philly sandwich I've had and is not even as flavorful as the new Subway series Philly sandwiches from Subway. Philly best portion sizes are great, but once you get over the size of the sandwich, unfortunately its all downhill from there. The biggest issue is the Philly sandwich only comes with meat and onions....no peppers. This is essentially unacceptable for any Philly sandwich and in my opinion, the absence of peppers disqualifies it as even being a Philly. I grew up in New York, Dad from Philadelphia and spent many summers in Philly and at the Jersey shore boardwalk food vendors and thus I've had hundreds of Philly sandwiches from all along the East Coast, none of which ever came without peppers. This baffled me completely. Without the peppers, I never got any of the flavor I was expecting from the Philly. I could only envision a restaurant backstory where maybe, once upon a time Philly's Best had an owner who actually was from the East coast but sold the place off at some point and retired and the new owners had never been to Philadelphia. I ate half the sandwich and brought the other half home where I added tri color grilled peppers and extra cheese and this brought the sandwich back from the dead. I also tried the seasoned fries which were oddly just overly salty and didn't hit with flavor the way I expected them too. If you're ordering takeout, you.might be ok if you doctor your food when you get it home, otherwise if you're looking to fill a craving for a Philly and are dining in, sadly, you might want to...