Geno's Cheesesteak Review

Today, we are reviewing Geno’s Steaks Cheesesteak. Situated in Philadelphia, the restaurant was founded by Joey Vento in 1966. It is located in South Philadelphia at the intersection of 9th and Passyunk, directly across the street from rival Pat’s King of Steaks. Joey passed away in 2011, and his son Geno, the namesake of the restaurant, took over ownership.

In addition to the South Philadelphia location, there are locations at the Philadelphia International Airport and at the XFinity Live! Complex in Philadelphia. From 2004 to 2006, Geno’s operated a satellite location at Citizens Bank Park (home of the Philadelphia Phillies).

This Geno’s Cheesesteak Review was conducted from several extended layovers at the Philadelphia International Airport. While I usually use either the home studios or a less distracted setting like a hotel room, I was able to conduct assessments at a relatively quiet time at the airport, where there were no distractions.

The Construction

While Cheese Whiz is a Philadelphia institution when it comes to cheese steak, I prefer provolone cheese. Ultimately, that’s what I went with on my Geno’s Cheesesteak. In Philadelphia cheesesteak folklore, a cheesesteak with onions is called “wit,” and without onions is called “wit-out.” I went with the “wit.”

I opted for the small size based on recommendations.

Cheese: Provolone
Ordered: Wit (Grilled Onions)
Sandwiches Eaten: 3
Location: Philadelphia International Airport – Philadelphia, PA
Price: $17.00 + $1.00 onions

One note, the cheesesteak at the airport was more expensive than at the base location ($15.00). From some initial research, this is most likely due to operating in the airport.

The Experience

The following is the scoring that was used for this assessment. I went with the same scoring criteria as when we assessed the Pat’s King of Steaks Cheesesteak. In that assessment, it was decided that cheese would be scored as a condiment. In our Turkey Quest sandwich reviews, we included the cheese with the meat, but in this case, it was more of an ancillary component.

Steak: 4 points
Bread: 2 points
Condiments (Onion, Cheese): 2 points
Intangibles: 2 points

Meat

The meat used on a Geno’s Cheesesteak is ribeye. On one hand, it was a tender and flavorful meat. This wasn’t a greasy meat, nor was it dried out. Compared to most cheesesteaks, the ribeye certainly was above average, yet it still seemed to fall a little short in terms of my memories of eating at the Passyunk location.

Score: 2.75 out of 4.00 points

Bread

The bread on the Geno’s Cheesesteak has a pleasing appearance. It has a split top, and a nice color to the crust. Unfortunately, the crust was softer than I prefer, and the bread as a whole was chewier than I like. The bread has a satisfactory taste. I’d categorize it as average, and I’ve definitely had better breads. Geno’s advertises that its bread always comes “straight from the oven.” I’m not sure what the airport does, but much like the meat, I remember a better bread experience from the Passyunk location.

Score: 1.00 out of 2.00 points

Condiments

The condiments score well. First, the provolone cheese had a decent amount of sharpness, yet at the same time, it still had a good sweetness to it. I also like how the cheese was layered on the bread. The onions were excellent and really were the star of the show. They had a nice sweetness and caramelized effect, and were definitely enjoyable.

Score: 1.50 out of 2.00 points

Intangibles

I look for the sandwich experience to be greater than the sum of the parts. This was not the case with the Geno’s cheesesteaks I ate during these iterations. The bread was average, and as I said, the bar should have been higher with the meat. The condiments were delicious, and I think overshadowed the meat a bit.

The other problem was the quantity of the meat; there needed to be more meat on this cheesesteak. It didn’t require a ton of new meat, but it still needed more meat. The cheese and onion proportions are fine.

Finally this wasn’t a good looking cheesesteak. This happened each time I stopped at the airport location. Terence Reilly of Aganorsa Leaf (inside joke for those who follow the cigar industry would only get) did not take these photos.

Score: 1.0 out of 2.00 points

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

The question of Pat’s versus Geno’s cheesesteaks is one of the big debates in Philadelphia. If you read my Pat’s assessment, I gave that cheesesteak a 7.25 score. My review of Geno’s cheesesteak comes in with a more modest 6.25 score. Usually, I would say you can’t go wrong with Pat’s or Geno’s, but I think the differentiating factor was the fact that this was an airport satellite location. This still isn’t a bad steak, and given it’s slightly above average, it’s a nice (but at $18.00 expensive) option out of an airport. Ultimately, I need to do an assessment out of Passyunk and validate that I think the airport location doesn’t deliver at the same level as the mothership.