Philly Flash

Ground level. Small, but wide open! Has both booths & tables.
The lady at the counter was very friendly. She worked & didn’t just stand around. The place was CLEAN!
Our food was brought to our table after ordering at the counter. Not sure if that’s policy or because we were 1 of 2 couples in the restaurant.
The food seemed very fresh… which was nice.
Cheese steak — good! [fresh bead & cheese]
hand-​cut fries — very good! [you can tell a real potato was used]
pizza — average [a 14″ pizza was $ 9.49…so…]
All in all, a good spot. Good food. Worth going.

After arriving at 8:45 and waiting 5 minutes for a lethargic employee to show up at the counter, I placed my order, only to be told they’d be closing in «5 minutes» and that I’d need to take my food out. Now I see why the other location closed.

The food is amazing but can cost a little more than you might expect. It’s totally worth it though. I’ve never dined in, only take out, but apparently if you eat in you get free fries according to the cashier which is awesome.

I’m definitely a fan of this little shop. The food is extremely tasty, priced right, and the portions are very generous — so easy for 2 to share for a nice lunch. The owner and staff are also super friendly.
Based on all the wonderful things I tried at the recent Community Manager Unilocal Event (CMYE) here — when I knew I was heading back out this way a mere 2 weeks later, I knew EXACTLY where I was going to be taking my mom for a little lunch before shopping.
We shared a plate of rotini & pasta sauce (a rich wonderfully flavorful sauce) with excellent meatballs. Now a carbo-​loading athlete or really hungry person might be able to put down one of their subs or a plate of pasta — but like my Mom and I, many around us were splitting their meal often with a heaping bowl of crunchy fries.
At the CMYE, I also tried their pizza, cheesesteaks, onion rings and shakes. All were very good and I’d have any again in a heartbeat.
Great place to take a break from shopping and grab an affordable tasty bite to eat.

Oh I went to the DC-​Baltimore CMYE in Annapolis here at Philly Flash. Can I just say I needed like four stomachs for the amount of food I wanted to eat? Pizza, wings, pasta, meatballs, milkshakes, sodas, beer, onion rings, philly chicken cheese steaks. Oh. My. God! This was some serious community manager love flowing here. Kristin. Elsa. Man, oh Man. I totally enjoyed this intimate setting with excessive food more than some Unilocal elite events. I love love love this venue and event.

VERY EXPENSIVE! Once in a while I do get a craving for a Philly Cheese Steak and Philly Flash does satisfy my appetite. But holy crap where do they get these prices from? One Philly Cheese Steak, one order of fries, and small soda = $ 10.50. I understand we all need to make a profit but come on that’s way too much. The food is good and their store is pretty nice. I was unaware that they relocated to the Annapolis Towncenter until I went to the previous location and it was closed off of West Street. On my most recent visit this past Sunday 3/​25, they were in no rush to make my food. I timed it from when I walked in the store and received my order was 22 minutes. The staff was nice, but they had no sense of urgency whatsoever.

unfortunately there arent too many shops to get a good cheesesteak in naptown. If you are dying for one, this will do.
Each time i eat here i get an upset stomach and before the whole sub is done i tell myself im never coming back.
you ask why 2 stars and not 1? solely for the reason of it being the only cheesesteak joint in the area.

Is this a five star restaurant? No, absolutely not. It is a pizza and sub shop. The reason I gave it five stars is because it does it’s job perfectly. And it’s job is to be a top of the line pizza and sub shop.
I was truly astounded by the pizza. It’s rare since my time in Europe that I find a pizza I like. The pizza here is not European style, don’t take it that way. It’s a more American style. And it’s really good. The cheesesteaks are also incredibly good. The sub bread is to die for and the cheese sauce you get with the fries is equally impressive.
To top it off, this place is clean. I don’t mean clean as in wiped down. I mean spotless, see yourself in the table, levels of clean. Top it off with the fact that this is a family owned place instead of a chain and you have the recipe for a winner.
I discovered this place simply because they hosted a Unilocal event. I reviewed the event separately and have gone back since to see if the food is equally enjoyable at a more random time. Let me be the first to say that it is. I’m truly glad they hosted the Unilocal event because I may not have gone in here otherwise given the wide range of reviews. To be honest, I truly don’t understand the low reviews. Give it a try for yourself and make up your own mind!

Friendly staff, food was delivered hot and fast. Cheese steak meat was a little on the dry side, but we were starving. When we’re hungry and toting 4 hungry kids, we don’t complain. ;)

Before today when anyone asked me where to get a cheesesteak I would tell them Philly Flash… after today not so much. This is the first time I have been to the new location and it seems to me like this is a whole new place…
First I will start with the food… I always order the chicken cheesesteak and it has been awesome… Today, well let’s just say I didn’t even want to take the first bite because it didn’t look good. If it wasn’t already home with it I would have sent it back and gotten some pizza.
Second the staff was not friendly at all… I really expect to see some smiles when I walk in to an establishment and that did not happen…
Nothing about this visit makes me want to go back, and I probably won’t. I am very disappointed and really hope this is only a temporary problem…

Ah… Philly Flash. I can still taste your deliciousness.
I had the best cheesesteak in my life in Philly with cheese whiz. Here, I wouldn’t recommend ordering it with cheese whiz because it didn’t have that deliciousness of Philly – it was really sub par. HOWEVER, I had the cheesesteak with provolone and it was incredible.
If you like hots with your subs, Philly Flash has some great giant-​sized peppers. The portion of meat is filling enough to last you two meals (if you’re a small fry like me). Speaking of fries, my partner enjoys them, but I could take them or leave them. There is an interesting seasoning on that seems like a cross between cajun and old bay. I love both individual seasonings, but the PF seasoning just doesn’t seem to be particularly exciting. Good, not take-​a-​bath-​in-​it worthy.
PF delivers now — yessss!!!
All in all – delicious cheesesteak, decent fries, and a great value. This is my new to-​go joint for a somewhat-​taste of Philly.

If you are waiting to get your car serviced at Pep Boys or any other car maintenance facility nearby, this is within walking distance.
One thing I did find annoying is that there was not a menu over the counter. I had to look at a pamphlet to order. For split second I was confused. But found my cheese steak options easily on the flier.
The place is very clean! It’s got the diner look without the diner filth. Love the classic car theme. I now know why its so clean, they are closed on Sundays and they have a bunch of people cleaning the place from top to bottom! While it gives a nice clean place to eat, it stinks that its closed on Sundays. But then again Chic-​fil-​a operates like that so I guess it works.
I’m no cheese steak connoisseur, but I thought the cheese steak was pretty good. Not overly greasy and just the right amount of cheese. The bread was also nice and toasty.
Not the same as one from Philly, but good enough to satisfy a craving here in Annapolis.

This place is quaint, tasty and they are willing to cater to different needs (read vegetarian friendly).
My hubby loves the cheese steak sandwiches, but they also make a veggie version with green peppers, mushroom, zucchini and onions with the same sauces etc… delicious!
The place is large enough to accomodate strollers, one or two large groups. They have a bunch of large booths as well and provide table side service if you would like. They also have an excellent selection of sodas and some bottle beers as well as fountain beverages.
Thumbs up! (on they also make some great crinkle cut fries and onion rings — perfectly fried!). YUMO!
Check it out if you are in the neighborhood!

We discovered this place very early on and tried our best to spread the «word». After all, it was another local place with a great story and a very nice family that served quite tasty food.
The cheese steaks compared to other local places seemed to have just the right bun/​meat/​seasoning/​whiz combination to get it right. Definitely not to the elevation of what you would find in The City of Brotherly Love, but a decent substitute.
We were happy anyway, as Jake’s Steaks in Edgewater and Jeno’s Steaks in Severna Park had been slipping. They both claim to shave their prime rib daily, but the quality of the meat seemed to have gone down along with the economy. The latter still managed to produce a good sandwich, but the seasoning was never quite right. It’s kind of hard to pry open a perfectly mingled sammie to salt it.
Our last couple visits to the Flash were a big disappointment though. I figured I would stray from my usual order so I tried the chicken cheese steak (which actually cost more!) and was not happy. No flavor, no heavenly co-​mingling of ingredients — just dry chicken on a pillowy soft roll. Didn’t even taste the cheese. Big thumbs down.
I’ve always liked my cheese steaks with provolone so I thought I would have a go of it on our next visit. Guest wanted a burger. Don’t order either. The provolone did not become one with the meat, and all of a sudden you started to taste the components of the sandwich individually. The cheese was bleh, and the meat surprisingly unappetizing. The burger arrived on a pale sub bun and was a disaster.
The service was unfortunately the worst part of the experience. I phoned in our order and still waited 35 MINUTES for our meal. CRAZY. The sandwiches came out with no sign of our fries. Those arrived when we had already thrown away most of our meals and were ready to leave the table. We sent them back and asked for a refund on the spuds. Only positive was they comped our whole meal but our lunch for the day was ruined.
After tasting the funky not whizzed beef, I decided to email the owners and ask if they used fresh beef. Her answer was that they spent a year testing products and found the fresh meat was too grizzly and not to their liking, but she never revealed the beef product that they do use. If it has any relation to those preformed grease sheets prepared in food courts throughout the country, then at least they have mastered the craft of griddling them.

I haven’t eaten a cheese steak since 1996 when I ate one while sick. That put me off for a while. Until, one day I randomly decided to eat a cheese steak again, and ordered from Philly Flash.
Now, I grew up in a neighborhood with the B.E.S.T subs I have ever eaten, so all other subs get compared to that place. Therefore, giving Philly Flash three stars is very fair. The staff is great and the food is ready quickly (for when you get that junk food craving and need fries STAT!) The food rates a high average. Good fries, good wings, good cheese steaks. Recommended.