I've been keeping my eye on this place for awhile now, and today I drove by, and the sign said Open. Without further delay, I ventured off to Hoagie Steak Out with my good friend Leigha and my flaky friend Josue. I call him my flaky friend because...well he's a flake of course! He may actually have only come today because it got him out of work for a bit. Hmm...
We get there, and I placed my order. I decided on the BellPepper Instinct. Side note, they have really stupid names on the menu. BellPepper Instinct? Ugh. Other examples are Rocky Philly, GodFather Hoagie, 3Pepper Scarface. Just call it a pepper steak. You don't go to a place in Philly and see stupid names like this...they're trying way too hard. Anyway, all of the steaks come with mayo and grilled onions. I don't prefer mayo, but I wanted to try it the way they normally serve it.
I get my steak, and the presentation was a hot mess. A good portion of the meat was not even in the roll. I also was immediately concerned about the roll thinking it seemed too small...
I grabbed a piece of meat from the top and tried it. Bland...except for a chunk of coarse pepper that made me cough. Much to my dismay, this place also uses orange American cheese, and it just doesn't feel right. The onions and peppers seemed to be sauteed perfectly, but there was an odd aftertaste to them. Normally I could just eat them alone and enjoy, but there was a slightly vinegary aftertaste.
Leigha agreed that the meat was bland, and had to add salt to her steak, which is just plain crazy. One should never need to add salt to their cheesesteak, especially with mayo on it! We all agreed that the bread was awful, and it reminded us of a hot dog bun. It didn't stay together very well, and Josue pointed out that it was really quite dry. Look at it:
The employees were very nice, and they gave us all free fries, which is a special that they are running this month.
Let me address the decor for a minute. The outside is cute, but they have these corny pictures hanging in the windows all around the building, and I'm not crazy about it:
The inside gets plenty of natural light, so its bright and pretty, but its also a little much with the decorations. We get it...you're soooo South Philly Italian:
Maybe I'm being too hard on them...it is Hollywood after all, and I do love Rocky. Bottom line is, Hoagie Steak Out could possibly improve, but there is a lot of work to be done.
Before I went to this place, I already thought that I would have to go back for a hoagie, but now I'm not feeling very eager. Maybe if I wait a long time, they'll have better bread by then.
Hoagie Steak Out
1429 N. Highland Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90028
323-962-8833
