Yo! Philly’s Cheesesteaks

The cheesesteaks were OK-​ish though overpriced. The service was lousy — rude and it seemed they thought that added to the authenticity. Well, is going out of business an authentic Philly tradition? If so — congrats. Next time if you want to get into the hospitality business, try showing some hospitality.
Oh and the gun in your logo was tacky and offensive. Be gone.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!! I guess all the fake phony five star reviews finally caught up to them! Their food was over priced, not authentic and the employees were rude! Karma’s a bitch as they say, LOL!!!
To this day I still don’t understand why there were so many people writing 4 and 5 star reviews about this place claiming they lived in Philly and this is as authentic as is gets??? They were obviously either the owners, friends or family of the business trying to boost sales. You all are aware that you can create as many accounts as you want on Unilocal and write all the reviews you want, right???
They were so cheap that during the short time they were in business they never replaced the sign of the business that was there before them. They just put a banner over it, LOL!!!
That place was garbage and I’m glad to see them go. In your face to all the fake reviewers and especially to the losers that actually went out of their way to send me hate mail on Unilocal.
Looks like I get the last laugh, awwwwww… L…M…F…A…O!!!

I used to come here all the time when I lived in Alameda. Definitely recommend the Rocky Balboa. Much to my chagrin, I just found out that the owner got into the Groupon craze and was not notified of the «cap».
article:
Now because of such deep discounting, you have to assume that this is a new customer acquisition play with likely net neutral revenue impact up front. The idea is that customers will come back and you get long-​term revenue generation.
People don’t seem to realize how Groupon makes money. They take between 20−50% of the overall sales. This means for a $ 20 item, you typically sell it for $ 10 to «qualify» for Groupon-​worthiness. Then Groupon takes $ 2 – 5 of the remainder. So for something you sold originally for $ 20, you’re now getting $ 3 – 5. That’s a huge loss. And without a cap a mom and pop is basically screwed.
This place had to redeem over 800 of these. That’s a huge loss for a small store.
No wonder it went under. We’ll miss you Yo Philly.

One word: Meh. This place was pretty skimpy for the price. Pretty thin roll with not that much meat. It was tasty i guess but it left me wanting more, like a 2^nd sandwich to fill my stomach.
I will give them that the steak was juicy tho

the rocky balboa’s first bite almost knocked me out with the jalepenos. i hung on, took more bites and pretty soon the bites were like flea bits. rocky didn’t knock me out nor did the yo philly classic win me over. the steak texture was chewy. .
sampling: rocky balboa (11)
–soggy bun make it difficult to eat
–steak kind of tuff, chewy, not juicy
–cheeze melted, like running cheese
–didn’t taste the onions.
g whiz:
–don’t get the hype.
–only one patron here post lunch. scolari’s up the street had diners on the street.
–maybe mushrooms would have been better.
–menu included in order. tuff times for rocky and yo?

I was lured here by a Groupon. It was OK, i have no specific complaints, but there’s no way that it could be «the best cheesesteak in the Bay Area» as some other reviewers have said. If it is, then that is more a condemnation of the Bay Area’s cheesesteak offerings than anything else.
The cheesesteaks here are edible, but there is nothing special nor particularly authentic about it. I lived in Philly before moving out west. Let me put it this way. When you get the sandwich, if all you can see is the bread, such that all of the meat, cheese, onions, etc are completely enveloped by the bread, then there is probably too much bread and too little of the good stuff. I want to see cheese coming out of my cheesesteak. I want meat that can’t be held back by a thin hoagie roll. I want a five-​napkin experience. I was able to finish the steak without needing to wipe anything off my hands. There’s no way you can call that authentic.

Looking for lunch after a recent business meeting out to Alameda.
Noticed a bunch of cops sitting on the table outside Yo! Philly’s and figured, it’s gotta be good, right?
I got the basic cheesesteak and it was better than any of the ones’ I’ve had on the West Coast. The roll was longer and thinner than those I have had locally, lightly browned, with some actual texture and really tasty. I had my steak with the white american cheese option but apparently Cheese Whiz is the classic choice — will have to try that next time. Maybe. Who am I kidding? Cheese Whiz?
At $ 10 for sandwich, chips and soda, a bit on the higher priced lunch side but still do-​able and worth it. I got a coupon for $ 9 for next time.
Also, despite the table outside, only 3 stools on the inside so I ended up eating my lunch at a little park which turned out to be just the right spot.

Seems like all the Unilocalers are either lovin it or hatin it.
unfortunately put me in the latter category.
due to many of the reviews, thought it was going to be better than the mediocre cheesesteaks you find in most places. but it tasted similar to everywhere else. simple bread. cheap beef. dry.
if you really loved it, that’s great. as for me, I am going to be skipping this one.

Yo Adrian, Yo Pauley, Yo Rocky, Yo Phillys Cheesesteaks Oh Yeah!!!
I’m Craving a Philly Cheese steak. So I jumped into my Weekend Whip and Headed for A-​town. Its a beautiful day and I’m rolling with my A/​C on and I pull up to YO Phillys Cheesesteaks, its a cute little hole in the wall. It has some Rocky Memorabilia hanging in the shop. There were 2 people working they were really nice and friendly. I ordered an
Authentic Philadelphia Rocky Balboa –which is a Double Steak, Cheese Whiz, Hot Peppers and Fried Onions. I also ordered a Sarnac 1888 Shirley Temple for a Beverage and it was really tasty. They had my Rocky Balboa ready for me in 6 minutes. Holy Moly I was SHOCKED they presented me with the BIGGEST Cheese steak Sandwich I have ever seen. It would be the Knock Out punch to Mr T. It filled the Whole Basket and Shaved Beef and Cheese Whiz were Overflowing the Bun. I looked at that Sandwich and I’m in LOVE. LOL
I had to use a Fork to eat the excess Beef and Cheese Whiz just so I could lift the Bun and eat the Sandwich. I’m Loving My Cheese steak. It was a Yummy mix of Beef, Cheese and Hot Peppers. Just a Heavenly Cheese Steak Ill definitely be back for the Balboa YUM. I’m just trying to picture my Unilocal friend Ivy R trying to drive and eat one of these Monsters LOL.

After going here, I realized what people meant when they said I was missing out on an authentic philly cheese steak. I was a little nervous about having cheese whiz instead of provolone, but I didn’t realize that the cheese whiz was going to be melted and not like that hard funk that comes out of the can. When you get the sandwich its piping hot because of the cheese being freshly melted and poured over the mound of meat. I also got a bag of waffle cheezie chips which were definitely interestingly different and tasty, when I looked at the calorie count, I was shocked to see that one bag was really 5 servings, thankfully I was full from my sandwich so I didn’t have many. My only complaint about this place was that the diet coke we got was soo tiny, that I was dying, yes dying of thirst the rest of the day… I wish they had free refills, b/​c I didn’t want to pay for another soda.

I feel like I’m the only one who thinks these Cheese Steaks are way over priced… $ 11 for a sandwich with no fries and $ 2.50 for a bottled soda. $ 13.50 and I wasn’t even close to being full, and I’m a normal sized guy. Got home and had to make something for dinner.
Cheesesteak was good but no one sandwich is worth $ 11 unless it’s filled with filet mignon.

Bread was dry (almost borderline stale bread), it tasted like boiled, under seasoned beef and mushrooms with cheese whiz. I was really hoping that this place would be good because I bookmarked this place two months ago. I was really excited to come out here. Driving from San Francisco to try this place, my expectations were very high. The weather was nice and with all of these 5 star reviews, I expected to be wowed. I expected to shed a tear after a bite of the sandwich.
I came here with Sandy L for our second lunch, the first being Phở King in Oakland. I told Sandy to take a bite of my Philly Cheese steak with mushroom sandwich and she said the same thing. It was dry and it needed seasoning. She said a cheese steak sandwich is something that you want to keep on eating. All we wanted to do was stop. Never have I ever wanted to add salt to restaurant food but today was the first time that I wanted to do that. Yes, it was very bland.
Maybe they had an off day, maybe the grill wasn’t already heated, maybe they had to turn the grill back on because it wasn’t that busy during this time. Because of that, the beef wasn’t seared the way it was suppose to be. Maybe it was a Sunday and the bread was near the end of its cycle. Maybe… just maybe… it was just us.

Went here awhile ago with the boyfriend. We got a Cheesesteak Hoagie to go and rushed back home to eat it while it was fresh. The sandwich was yummy with enough meat and cheese, but I would have liked more lettuce and tomato… the whole point in ordering it has a hoagie! The sandwich was 8 dollars and my boyfriend and I shared it for dinner so it’s a great place to get full for cheap!
One problem, they don’t offer french fries which I like with my cheesesteaks so we had to make a quick stop at a McDonald’s on the way home to satisfy that craving.
If I’m ever in the mood for a cheesesteak I would come back… and I also want to try some of the Philadelphia snacks they carry!

The Good News: Alameda now has a new choice for cheesesteaks.
The Better News: It’s leaps and bounds better than Cheese Steak Shop.
The over-​the-​top Rocky Balboa /​Philadelphia memorabilia makes this place seem a bit touristy but that’s ok.
We ordered a Rocky Jr and a Chicken and Mushroom. They were awesome. Both were seasoned well and not salty or watery at all. The roll was sweet and everything blended together. I woulda preferred more onions and mushrooms but for a first go, it was good and the i enjoyed the cheese wiz. I devoured my sandwich with more enthusiasm than Paulie’s betting addiction.
5 Stools for sitting inside and two tables with two chairs each outside. Grab it for take-​out but remember to hold he bag flat or your yumminess will leak.
If Yo! Philly is Rocky Balboa, Cheesesteak Shop is Paulie.

I don’t know if I have enough pepcid to keep doing this…
When I first found Yo Phillys, it was love at first bite– literally. Now, several months later, I feel I’ve become a regular at Yo Phillys and have enjoyed a countless number of steaks thanks to Yo Philly’s head honcho and owner, Tom. For the longest time, however, I’ve only been getting cheesesteaks, mushroom steaks, or Yo Philly steaks– I had yet to venture into the world known as THE ROCKY BALBOA… until last night.
As if I’m surprised that the steaks could get any better at Yo Phillys– they did. As long as my heart can handle it, the Rocky Balboa will be my new go to steak at Yo! Imagine this, a whopping 1LB of steak topped with HOT PEPPERS (that means jalapenos!), Onions and Wiz– A steak so intimidating that it may make you question your masculinity half way through– Yet so delicious that it makes you wonder why no other steak shop can get it right…
Since my last review, Yo Philly’s has quickly blossomed into a Bay Area wide known shop for delicious steaks. The shop itself has new items– including an even WIDER variety of Wise Chips and Tastycakes. It’s even got an authentic Rocky III punching bag hanging now– kinda neat. The owner has put together community fundraiser events to help for the local schools– most recently a Steak Eating contest where the winner downed 3 Balboas in an hour! How freaking awesome is that?! When the owner and I spoke, he even let me in on a few more cheesesteak contests he had lined up for the future (but i’ll keep those secret for now, you’ll have to wait and see!)
5 Stars for the steaks. 5 Stars for the service. Another 5 stars for Yo! Philly’s Cheesesteaks in Alameda.

After reading enough reviews about Yo! Philly’s, I felt the absolute necessity to try it out.
First impression: cozy, quaint, and welcoming. I was greeted immediately with smiles and warmth. I looked up at the menu, saw the Rocky Jr and made my order.
After a quick glance around, I immediately noticed the décor revolving around the Philadelphia lifestyle… specifically, the famous Rocky Balboa! I loved it.
Minutes later, the chef brought me the cheesesteak personally. As I unwrapped the tin foil blanket, I saw a long roll covered in cheese whiz. What a sight for hungry eyes!
As I sat outside, eating on the charming outdoor patio-​style set, I was in pure bliss.
Tom, the chef (and owner?) came out to greet me and ask how I was enjoying it. I don’t words had to describe the expressions shown on my face after my first bite. I found out today that they’d only been open for less than 6 months. 6 months! My goodness.
Ladies and gentlemen of Alameda… we have a new gem.
5 Stars for a stellar dining experience.

I dipped into Alameda today for lunch and found myself at Yo! Philly’s based on word of mouth. I told the owner that I heard this was the place to be for a cheesesteak. He actually said «that depends». When I told him that my frame of reference was The Cheesesteak Shop, he scoffed and said no problem.
I read the other reviews. One guy was complaining because he thought 5 stars meant filet mignon. It’s a sandwich for crissake. It’s like 5 star phở. Or a 5 star taco truck taco. Then another lady gave this place low stars because it didn’t offer provolone. That at least I can understand. Her expectations were based on her experience and the shop didn’t live up. And that’s why the Yo! Philly guy told me «that depends».
Yeah, it’s a real good cheesesteak. I got mine Wit Wiz. With grilled onions, with cheese wiz. The bun was soft and warm, the meat hot and cheesy. Hot meat in soft buns is always a win in my book.

Tastycakes… Check
Person behind counter speaking with an East Coast accent… Check
Cheese Whiz… (unfortunately) Check
So this is a real cheesesteak place.
The bread here is the same bread as the places in Philadelphia, same bakery even. Like other authentic places in the Bay Area, I could swear that the bread tastes fresher here even though it has shipped thousands of miles.
Cheese whiz was a slightly welcome product. Had to order it as a first timer, but not a fan. Only real complaint is that they chop up the sweet peppers by default. I would rather the peppernobly be chopped up so finely. (but they will refrain from chopping on request) Grilled onions not as flavorful as it can be.
Other than that, a solid effort and now a part of the cheesesteak rotation.

Came by here yesterday and they were closed, :(!!
My coworkers eat the same basic food everyday. Until they met me, they never had a sub before, funny how things turn out! I ordered 5 Yo! Philly cheesesteaks to go today, I would show you pictures but we have devoured every single one. They were out of WISE chips (east coast thing) so I bought a bag of Maui Onion and it goes well together, just for a munch on the side. I was so surprised to see that they had Devil Dogs, haven’t had those since I was a kid, there goes the memories again.
Anyways, we ordered simple, no cheese whiz this time, we’ll save that for our next visit. It is very good, I just wish they were BIGGER. Maybe I should have ordered the Balboa or maybe even 2 subs cause I sure can eat… Again, that goes for another visit…

I was so excited to be able to go to Alameda for an emergency work situation. I was able to use it as an excuse to come here and get a Cheesesteak.
I came in around 1pm or so and it wasn’t busy except for a guy sitting outside on the edge of a planter eating his steak.
I like how the menu is really easy to read and you just look at it and Bing, Bang, Boom you already know what you want.
I got the Pepper Steak. A regular Philly with Sweet Peppers and I added Onions.
Not as cheesy as I wanted but plenty of Peppers. I also don’t remember if there was any size option for your steak. I probably would have went with a smaller size. I could only eat half then saved the rest for later.
Also, they are really hard to eat while driving. That’s just a warning.