Sugar High: Dive of the Month: Fillet of Phillies

The man and I sometimes eat out on weekends, but decided that we'd save our money to eat out just once a month. During each month we'll have time to choose a restaurant to go to, and we'll visit at the end of the month. It can be anything from dine-in or fast food restaurants, to just something as simple as ice cream or coffee. I'm interested in finding really good, locally owned businesses that neither of us have ever been to. I'm really bored with the usual chain restaurants, and I want something that's not really 'known'.

There's a website called Urban Spoon. It has lists upon lists of places to eat. I mean it has EVERYTHING! I was looking around on it on Friday for a place to eat, and I spent a good hour looking. We had picked a couple places to choose from, a waffle house downtown which would have been too long of a drive, and a philly cheesesteak place that was also a little out of our way. We were about to decide on one when the Man looked for himself and came across another philly cheesesteak place. The price was right, and it was located right next to the mall we were heading to. We were a little iffy about going because we'd never heard of it and it had very little reviews to go off of. But, that was the point anyway, right?! We wanted something just like this. Something different, something we've never had before. So, on to Fillet of Phillies we went!

We got there around 5 pm Friday, and had actually thought it was closed because they're open sign was off and the place was empty. We almost pulled away when the Man decided to call to make sure they were open. Turns out they're open sign was broken and they were more than ready to cook up some food! My first impression upon entering was mixed. It's a pretty small place, and you can tell that it's been there for a while. It looked a little old, a little run down - some of the booth's cushions were torn up or stained, and it could use some new paint on the walls. With looks aside, it was very clean. The guy that took our order was really nice, laid-back, I actually commented to the Man that he seemed like someone we'd hang out with. The menu has a good, but not overwhelming, variety of sandwiches with different meats (steak, pastrami, & ham are the ones I noticed) and toppings. They offer french fries, onion rings, and English chips. There were other things on the menu like kid's meals, but I failed to really notice because I was preoccupied with the thought of the cheesesteaks.

I ordered a 6" Godfather: ball-tip steak and mushrooms topped with a marinara sauce, with a side of English chips and a drink. The Man had an original 8" philly cheesesteak: ball-tip steak, pastrami, mushrooms, and swiss cheese with a side of fries and a drink. The price wasn't too bad, right around $12. We were told a number, got our drinks, and took a seat next to a window. There were some newspaper stands by the door so we had something to look at while we waited, which was less than 10 minutes. I'd plan on waiting longer if visiting during busy lunch hours, that's what you get for choosing to eat fresh! The owner himself brought us our trays of food, which was nice. They had forgotten to give us one fry sauce, and gave us two instead when we asked for it which was even nicer since you have to pay for it. We were drooling instantly at the sight of our food-filled trays, I felt bad I had to make the Man wait to dig in so I could photograph his food. These sandwiches were definitely worth any amount of waiting! They are HUGE! The ingredients are fresh, and you can taste it. The steak was very juicy and tender, it wasn't stringy or chewy like some other steaks can be. And the rolls.... What can I say about the rolls!? They are big, and very very soft. We are picky about our bread, and I'll just say that if this place used any other kind of roll than what they use it'd kill their sandwiches. The rolls are seriously that good!

My sandwich was very tasty and I enjoyed it a lot, but when I took a bite of the Man's sandwich I literally slid right off my seat from pure ecstasy! It was SOOO tasty, juicy, and so full of flavor! Oh man, the sandwiches were so good I almost forgot about the fries. The french fries are pretty good, like homemade fries cooked up dark and just slightly greasy. The English chips are what I really liked. They're just little mashed up potato squares fried to golden perfection. I gobbled them right up! Halfway through our meal the owner took his time to come out and ask us how our food was (my reply was 'F***ing Good!'-), and chatted with us just a little about how we found out about the place. He also offered to bring us out some to-go boxes, good thing because as good as it was there was no way I was finishing that HUGE 6-inch sub. As we were leaving the owner said goodbye, thanking us for coming - I left a well-deserved tip :)

Overall our experience at Fillet of Phillies was fantastic. We love the location, the staff, and most of all the food was awesome. We've been bragging to everyone we know since then how good they are, and we're looking forward to stopping by again very soon!