PJ's Steaks

I have been wanting to go here forever. My Boyfriend is terrible at remembering the names of restaurants because firstly, he pretty much doesn't care about them and secondly I tell him about so many restaurants, they're not worth remembering. I will pass a restaurant and say, so and so told me this was good, and he will say, do you want to eat here, no I will reply and continue walking. This happens for the entire length of a street.

Finally!

PJ Steakhouse on the other hand, is somewhere where I have been saying I would go to, since we started dating back in September 2012. Pretty every time we get there though, it would be closed or I would decide on somewhere new at the last second. So, we decided we would go there once and for all, especially since it had started getting quite a large fan base around the city.

Its a very narrow bar like establishment with lots of posters up and neon lighting on the inside. Above their ordering counter is chalkboard with a few options then in on their actual printed out menu.

Visuals, looks exactly as displayed

Food side

Drinks!

The history of cheese steak!

I didn't take a picture, because people were looking at me. Directly beside the front counter, is their open view kitchen which can you also see from the front of the shop and watch your food being made.

Pretty solid drinks

We ordered at the front counter and headed out with our drinks. They have a really wide selection of American beers and soft drinks and I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what I wanted. I got a Hanks Philadelphia recipe Root Beer and he got a Hanks Creaming Soda. I didn't like my root beer, it tasted sarsaparilla with artificial vanilla flavouring in it. My Boyfriend really liked his, it tasted like good vanilla ice cream and regular creaming soda.

Squeezy sauce bottles

Red hot original!

On most of the tables around the shop, there is an assortment of sauces available. When we sat down, we got handed this basket, containing mustard, barbeque sauce, tomato sauce and Frank's Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper sauce. There was a few more sauce baskets inside with sweet chilli and tabasco sauces present.

L-R, tomato, mustard, barbeque and hot sauce!

The mustard was good, a nice strong American mustard with a good tang but not a terrible mustardy burn like English mustard or wasabi has. The tomato sauce was terrible, thin and runny, with that odd taste when its past its best by date. The barbeque sauce was good, although my Boyfriend disagrees, its a slightly smokey sweet flavoured barbeque, I think it would be good on ribs or chicken wings. I've never had Frank's Red Hot sauce, it wasn't what I was expecting. Its actually a very mild, in my option, hot sauce, like Sriraicha is three times as spicy as that stuff. Its very vinegary and reminds me of what Nando's mild sauce should properly taste like if it were actually mild.

Hmmm

We ordered an original cheese steak with Provolone cheese and a side of chips to share between us since we weren't feeling that hungry. We were seriously thinking of getting tater tots or their spicy wings though. Our waiter thoughtfully split the roll in half and came back with extra greaseproof paper when he figured out we were sharing the roll.

The Italian roll was a soft hot dog like roll, soft and squishy. The steak was just that, plain well cooked steak, nothing else, no discernable seasoning and that was it. There was heaps of it and the onions were sweetly caramelized. The Provolone cheese was sharp and a touch on the stinky side but it went well with everything else. It was a bit of a let down to be honest, but its very much simple comfort food, you could do just as well at home to be honest.

Chips!

The chips came in a little metal bucket to keep them together. The chips were crunchy but a bit floury. They were sprinkled with a light savoury and spicy salt.

PJ's Steaks

Atmosphere: 8, its nice place. You feel you're in a hole in wall American diner, with all the celebrity photos and the authentic accents from all the staff. Its a good place where you can just sit and chill out with a few friends after work with a beer and some cheese steaks. We saw quite a few people doing that as we were there.
Service: 7, our waiter came out with extra stuff when he saw we were sharing and was quick to wipe down table tops when people left. I also saw them chatting with other patrons when things were a bit slower.
Food: 5, you could easily do just as well as home for the same price with way more portions. Plain and simple food.