It had been a fairly long time since I last visited Angelo’s Pizzeria, the purveyor of my top ranked cheesesteak in the Philly region. During that period of absence, they expanded, first to Wilmington, Delaware, and more recently to a second South Philadelphia location only a couple miles from the still hugely popular original. There have also been reports of another outlet opening at some future point in the western suburb of Conshohocken.
I wanted to make sure that expansion hadn’t cut into their quality and ended that drought last week with a visit to the newer South Philly spot. While the original location still draws long lines and usually requires a considerable wait for one’s order to be ready, I suspected that might not be the case at the new outlet – at least during off-peak times – and arrived there a few minutes before their 11 a.m. opening time on Thursday.
My hunch was correct. I was the first customer inside when they opened the front door and there still was no crowd to speak of by the time I left after eating my lunch.
And that brings me to the most pleasant aspect of this new Angelo’s location on Wolf Street within a couple blocks of the Delaware River. There are a handful of tables and a long counter with stools for indoor onsite eating. The original has nowhere to sit. You can eat your order in your car, on the sidewalk or take it home.
Free nearby parking is also much easier to come by at the new spot.
The photos I took of the menu they have posted behind the ordering counter didn’t turn out well, but you can view their offerings here.
It would have been ideal to sample one of their pizzas, which are also rated by some as the best in the city and which I had once at the original spot. But I was on my own and kept my order to a cheesesteak with Cooper Sharp cheese and fried onion on one of their famous seeded rolls. Angelo’s now has its own baking facility where they make the rolls for all of their outlets, as well as Uncle Gus’ Steaks at the Reading Terminal Market.
The wait for my name to be called was a reasonable one and I eagerly took the steak back to my comfortable seat and began snapping photos.
My first visual impression was that the sandwich had more cheese and probably also more meat than the pair I’ve had from the original Angelo’s on 9th Street. Yet I didn’t take that as a strong indication that the steaks on Wolf Street are either worse or different than those from 9th Street in general. I’ve seen more than enough photos of steaks from Angelo’s to know that they aren’t all proportioned identically. That can probably be attributed to different people working the grill along with even the time of day and how busy they are when the sandwich is made.
The amount of meat at least bordered on being more than I prefer, but there wasn’t the pound of chopped ribeye that so many places are stuffing into their cheesesteaks nowadays. I was able to comfortably pick up each half and eat it without meat spilling out all over the wrapper.
My bigger concern was the amount of cheese was on there. I’ve had a number of cheesesteaks with a flavor that was so dominated by the Cooper Sharp that it was difficult to taste anything else, and this one had that look.
Thankfully, looks were deceiving in this case.
I’m not sure how they did it with all of that cheese on there, but the flavor of the extremely well seasoned, moist and tender ribeye still shone through while the toasted sesame seeds on the sensational roll also made a big flavor impact.
If there is a better steak roll anywhere, I’ve yet to try it. The texture of the crust reminds me of bread and rolls I’ve had at high-end restaurants.
While this cheesesteak was not quite as perfect as the two I’ve had from the original Angelo’s, it was still outstanding. When combined with those two earlier steaks, I don’t see them dropping out of my top spot any time soon.
Any worries I may have had about a drop off in quality due to expansion were probably unfounded, although I still need to try a pizza at the Wolf Street spot and will hopefully do that before too long.
Those who want an authentic South Philly sidewalk cheesesteak experience and don’t mind a wait should continue heading to the original Angelo’s on 9th Street. But if your only interest is the food, Wolf Street might be a better option.
This Wolf Street Angelo’s outlet is within a few blocks of the legendary John’s Roast Pork, another of my top five steak shops. That makes for a good opportunity to knock off both places in one shot. If, like me, you can’t eat two cheesesteaks back-to-back, bring a partner and split one each at Angelo’s and John’s.
