Elite Steak Shop Expands Without Slipping

When I last visited Gazzos Steaks in early 2023, they were serving cheesesteaks out of a food truck. It was a chilly winter day in Pottstown, PA, when I sampled one at a picnic table next to their kitchen on wheels. Regardless of the setting, it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had – good enough to earn the number four spot when I put out my top 20 list. 

At the end of the post on that earlier visit, I mentioned that with Gazzos‘ growing reputation and popularity, they may not be working out of a truck much longer. And it turned out that they did move into their own brick and mortar shop in downtown Pottstown. Although I intended to visit it at some point, the fairly long ride out to western Montgomery County led me to procrastinate until it was announced on Gazzos’ Facebook page last year that they’d be expanding into Ardmore, Pennsylvania. That’s much closer to where I live, making my obvious move to wait for the new satellite location to open. That finally happened in mid July, and I made my way over there a couple weeks later.

As you can see in the above photo, it’s a tiny place; not big enough for dine-in service. They probably also have less kitchen space, as the menu is abbreviated to just steaks and fries. The Pottstown location also offers roast pork and chicken cutlet sandwiches. 

That wasn’t an issue for me. Although Gazzos offers several variations on cheesesteaks, my sole interest was in trying a basic one with just ribeye, Cooper Sharp cheese and fried onions on a seeded roll. 

It didn’t take long for my name to be called after ordering. Although I thought I might wind up eating the steak in my car, I arrived early and had no difficulty grabbing one of the two available outdoor picnic tables – perhaps the same ones that used to be next to the truck in Pottstown. 

Upon unwrapping my steak and pulling the two halves apart, I was struck by how well proportioned the meat appeared to be. That impression held as I ate the sandwich. There was a lot of chopped ribeye, but the roll wasn’t ridiculously overstuffed and it remained easy to eat the steak without a lot of meat spilling out onto the wrapper.

The cheese was very well proportioned as well. I felt plenty of it in each bite, but it didn’t overpower the meat in terms of flavor. It was also beautifully melted to a nearly liquid state and blended in with the chopped ribeye throughout.

In addition to being nicely proportioned, the meat wasn’t chopped too small and was seasoned about as well as could be hoped for. On top of that, the onions had enough caramelization to add a bit of sweetness to the overall flavor profile. 

This was an absolutely fantastic tasting cheesesteak that freshly reminded me of why I rated Gazzos so high the first time around.

In addition to opening a second shop, Gazzos has formed a partnership with local AJ Bread & Bakery to bake their own rolls. If I had one very minor issue with my steak, it was that the new rolls aren’t quite as crusty as I prefer. Having said that, the roll – and particularly its crust – that my sandwich came on did have a very nice chewy quality that at least partially made up for being on the soft side. And it was perfectly fresh. In other words, it was more than good enough to not drag down my overall rating of the steak.

And that being the case, Gazzos will remain in their lofty position on my list of the best cheesesteaks in the Philadelphia region. If they move in any direction when I make future adjustments to that list, it’s more likely to be up than down.  

Gazzos isn’t the only one of my top ten steak shops that has made news recently. Another has finally moved into its own space after operating out of local bars for a few years. I’ll be visiting their new digs in the coming weeks.