Carl’s Steaks

I’ve come here multiple times before, less now that I have since left the area for my education. However, it is still worth a visit every now and then when I’m in Tribeca. Although there are reports of terrible service and whatnot, I’ve always been greeted with a smile and treated well. Then again I haven’t been here during lunch hours, in the midst of what are probably large lines and packed seating. This is a little borderline pricy. You’re paying just about $ 10 for your sandwich and a drink, go figure.
Get a cheesesteak (or a chicken cheesesteak) with onions and jalapenos. Make sure you pick whiz cheese. Then take some of their hot sauce and drench that bad girl. Hnngh. Their fries are pretty standard stuff.
I need to go back.

As a Philly native, I should imagine I know what a cheesesteak is supposed to taste like, and having previous expectations set low, I wasn’t sure how this place would stack up.
I ordered the «low carb» option they have, which is a cheesesteak without the roll, with onions and spicy peppers. It was fairly decent. I didn’t find it exceptional by any means, but they didn’t screw up anything– just was a fairly plain steak.
Given the quality and the quantity, the price was slightly more than I’d be willing to pay again, so I’m not sure I’d recommend it. But if you do end up here, it’s not terrible.

They make and awesome cheesesteak sandwich!
Make sure you get it with onions.
I think it is better then those to «famous» cheesesteak places in Philly.
Service? This is New York, get over it!
Actually the lady behind the counter came across as unfriendly but she was a sweet-​heart.
If you go at lunch time the place is packed. There are some tables in the back.

I’m embarrassed that this place even disrespects my hometown with the word «Philly» before their sorry excuse for a cheesesteak:
–Service: Horrendous. The place was empty but we stood for a solid 7 – 10 minutes before someone took our order. Of the three employees — one had a serious attitude and was cursing trying to balance receipts, giving us the occasional «i’ll be right with you» before angrily storming off to clean the flattop. the other stood there doing nothing, when asked by the one woman who was working to take our orders she replied «i’m off the clock.» Employee #3 came to take our orders after cooking. after we started eating, she sat right behind us and did the following: sneezed directly in her hand, wiped her nose, and bit her nails. never made it to a sink before going back behind the counter.
–Atmosphere: a shithole with a nice TV.
–Food: embarrassment. I’ve had better Cheesesteaks at Chinese stores. Though i have high standards for steaks, i have enjoyed cheesesteaks outside of the city, even in the middle of nowhere. It’s no excuse to serve this crap. It was very bland. the only thing that saved my steak was fried onions and hot peppers. I’m not big on salt, but i found myself using about 2 packets to give it some taste. The bread pulled apart at the seams with every bite and didnt have the right consistency for a steak.
Save your money and refrain from eating someone else’s saliva, snot or fingernails.

HORRIBLE Service. Even worse «cheesesteak».
+ Stood around for 5+ minutes before someone even looked our way to take food orders. It was like we were invisible.
+A worker said to her co-​worker «I’m off the clock» meaning she stood there but refused to take our order. fine. but at least say «someone on the ‘clock’ will be right with you» or SOMETHING.
+Get our cheesesteaks and fries. the cheez whiz was thick and old tasting.
+the cheesesteaks were GROSS. Blasphemy to make people think this is what a cheesesteak tastes like in PHILLY (born & raised).
+TO TOP THIS WHOLE EXPERIENCE OFF (drum rollllllllll)… the employee that cooked our food sat down at a table near us and coughed all over her hands and sat there biting her nails and rubbing her nose. NEVER AGAIN! This place needs to be shut down.

When I get a craving for steak, a Philly steak definitely hits the spot.
Well, I had such a craving today and I happened to be in the area. Carl’s was an adequate fix. I went around 4:00 (weird time, I know), and the place was pretty empty with just one other customer.
Got my usual, steak with onion & ‘shrooms w/​a side of fries. The cashier shortchanged me 10 cents, but it was going into the tip jar anyway.
The sandwich they built me was a mess, steak gushing out the sides, getting everywhere. This I did not mind, just shows that this joint’s pretty liberal in sharing the meat. Messy sandwich makes for messy eats… definitely had to use a fork to pick up the scraps.
Thankfully (for me anyway) the steak was not too greasy; however, not greasy = not Philly. As an adopted son of Philadelphia, my keen Philly instincts definitely noticed this, but my human instincts were definitely grateful (I don’t wanna die from a coronary).
The fries were alright, there were a few that were wayy cooked too much. Ate ‘em anyway.
Definitely gonna hit the place up again if I’m ever in the area.

After reading the other Unilocal reviews, I was almost a little scared of visiting Carl’s since others seem to mention how terrible the service is.
Upon arriving, we were told they weren’t ready yet, even though it was after noon (and they opened that day at 12pm). Err okay… so we took a stroll around and came back 5 minutes later. Still not ready. Took yet another, longer stroll, and then went back around 12:15pm– finally ready.
I placed our order (gave a CLEAR order of what we wanted, since I felt like I needed to tiptoe around them… person who took our order was initially too busy checking messages on her phone to help us) and we sat down. There are about 6 or so tables with several chairs each, so it was easy to find a spot. We were served our cheesesteaks and fries quickly, and scarfed them down.
I’m not a big cheesesteak person at all… so I can’t really speak to the quality. They were greasy, but I’m pretty sure all are haha. Bread wasn’t great and began to fall apart midway through. Fries were good and tasted like BK fries (which I personally love).

NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE CARL’S ON CHAMBERS STREET
This is my first review — I have utilized Unilocal for a long time to help in my restaurant decision making, but this experience pushed me to create an account.
This was Sunday, March 18^th at approximately 1:00pm ET
When I walked in, there were two employees — one was playing a game on her phone (Will refer to her as Cook), and the other was working with orders that had come in via the web (Will refer to her as Cashier). Neither looked up at us and it literally took 60 seconds or so for them to acknowledge our presence. At this point I notified them that I had a GROUPON, and I heard an immediate groan from both the employees.
The Cashier was somewhat helpful to me, but rude to other customers, she seemed new or possibly subordinate to the Cook. The Cook, was VERY impolite & discourteous to both customers and to the Cashier. My girlfriend ordered with the Cashier, then I ordered — I am assuming the Cashier entered the order into computer system and it then showed up electronically in front of the cook — before paying my Girlfriend changed her order from American Cheese to Whiz (pretty simple right?)…When the cashier relayed this to the Cook verbally, the Cook basically berated her and said she will «listen to what the real order (computer order?) says… ok!?» and with that, my GF received a cheesesteak with American Cheese, not Whiz. I decided not to complain.
Let me back up and explain that the reason my girlfriend and I decided to use our Groupon at this time was that the NCAA games were on and from some Google-​research we found that there was a television in the establishment. So we figured: «Cheesesteaks and the game? sounds great!».
After ordering and sitting down, we found that the main TV was on a channel that was playing a movie. So when the busboy (?) delivered our food to the table we asked him if the TV station could be changed so that we could watch the games — he asked the women at the counter and came back to say «no, sorry, they are watching a movie»… … … oookay. ??? Mind you, we were the only customers in the establishment at this time.
At this point, after the rude introduction, the fact that they got my GF’s order wrong (which I still don’t understand), I went to the register and asked the Cashier myself (VERY POLITELY) if «there is any possibility we could switch the channel for the next 15 minutes to watch the game while we finish our food?» — She looked behind her (almost in a nervous fashion) to see if the Cook had heard me, then quietly & timidly told me to just give her a second and she would try.
I just don’t understand why we were tiptoeing around this woman (The Cook) — in any event. The station never changed, and the Martin Lawrence movie remained on the TV.
I will never go back, and I am honestly sorry that I wasted my time. I have heard great things about Carls Steaks, but they were no Philly Steak, and I would rather not deal with that type of customer service for any type of meal. I am just stunned at the rude and just plain unnecessary experience that we had.
If you are going to order from here, just order delivery.

Carls is a very good place to temporarily appease your craving for a cheesesteak (of course until you take the 2 hour drive to genos or pats) and I say this since it is a very hit or miss spot.
Sometimes the steak is juicy and tender other times it is soggy and bland. Try to order the whiz as the provolone doesn’t really complement the sandwich.
Now as for delivery… they can horrible with this, as the deliverymens shifts change leaving your food in limbo. The managers who answer the phones are sweethearts though and try their best appease you.

Greasy, not the prettiest or the cleanest but solid cheesesteaks, especially in the FiDi /​Lower Manhattan area.
The bread is nice and soft and I agree in liking the option to choose cheez whiz, provolone or american. The steak is never overcooked and the peppers and onions are pretty good too. Fries and onion rings are decent.
For the price and the lack of alternatives, Carl’s is good when I have a cheesesteak craving and no interest in taking the subway.
Delivery, in my experience, has been fast and cheap too with minimal sogginess.

As I sat at the restaurant and devoured my cheesesteak with onions and cheez wiz i thought «OMG this is amazing!» and was about to give it the highest of praise… then i walked back to the office with my 2 coworkers who ate exactly the same thing…
If we all ate the same thing and all had the same stomach pains around the same time, I would say this is something that I should never eat again.
Its a shame too. Before it murdered my insides, it was a pretty delicious cheeseteak.
Off to hold myself and cry.

This place was terrible.
First let me start with the fries. They were disgusting. The tasted like the fries at Burger King, with that weird coating they have on them. To make matters worse they were cold. Total fail.
Next up the sandwich. What an abomination to the Philly. The bread was floppy and cold. Just downright awful. Not even remotely enough meat, albeit it tasted decent, or cheese. The onions were filthy and overcooked. Also, they charged me .50 cents extra for three tiny slices of pickle. Give me a break.
Finally, the soda machine was out of order so I had my choice of Sprite or Diet Coke from the fountain, they wouldn’t let me have a Pepsi in a bottle cause I had ordered a combo and already paid with CC…
Please make sure you never come here. I know I won’t. Places like these need to die.

I have to say that I was not impressed with my cheesesteak from Carl’s. But like Jonathan E. mentioned I feel like I am no longer sure I am a fan of food THIS greasy.
I felt that the cheesesteak meat itself was of a mediocre quality, and the condiments didn’t really shine at all, Whiz was distributed poorly and the onions were almost non-​existent. The bread was soggy but I did order late delivery (1AM on a Thursday) so I guess it couldn’t hold up the blocks it needed to travel. The delivery did come pretty fast though. My favorite part of the meal was actually the bacon cheese fries, even though those were a little soggy too they were covered in Whiz and there was more than enough bacon.
I’m not sure I’d return for a cheesesteak but I’d gladly have those fries.

I’m not quite sure if I’m:
— not impressed with this place
— or am no longer impressed with greasy/​fatty/​cheesy gut bombs.
That said, I let the signs out front promoting their fare seduce me inside (mostly because I was starved).
They promised a better experience. I’m just not sure if it was delivered. It was cleaner/​fresher than a gut bomb tube of greasy meat & cheese, but it wasn’t really anything better taste-​wise.
i’d say go there if you need to eat quickly, but don’t go out of your way for either a nice meal or an authentic gut bomb.

Just okay
* Good portion of meat at a decent value, but meat is not as tender or flavorful as it could be.
* Fries are nothing special, not worth the calories after a good-​sized cheesesteak sandwich.

I’ve been here a few times and it’s the best cheesesteak that I can get in NYC, so far.
I like «Whiz, Wit» HA! MEANING: I love the cheesesteak with Cheese Whiz and wit’ onions. A classic. And ask for the fries extra crispy and with a side of cheez whiz to dip in it. OH MAN! Dude!!! it is awesome!

This cheesesteak is friggin awesome… I get it. it’s not Pat’s or Genos or the other Philly spots… I also happen to think the best falafel in the world is in Paris… but that doesnt make me complain about settling for Azuri café… Soo I guess what i am saying is… I’ll take it any day of the week if I can sit in my office, and have it come to me. rather than travel 90 miles and then wait on a long line… Besides…F the Eagles!
They make a great cheesesteak and you get a nice pile of meat in there too. I was kinda expecting them to skimp on it… no siree bob
and it’s cheap. i think it was like $ 7 for the sandwich.
here is the problem… the fries were bleehhh… not crispy at all. kinda soggy… just plain *weak*…i was looking forward to getting a nice bag of golden brown crispy ridiculously greasy fries, and you just shatter my dreams… after looking at the steak I was almost euphoric… and Mr. Carl, you took me right back down from the clouds into my cube with those fries… what could be so perfect if you just learn how to make some fries (i feel like they bought them frozen at Gristedes) that away i can throw about 10 on the sandwich and eat the rest on the side…
but…ill order a steak (most likely 2 next time) from you guys any day

Philly cheese steak wit onions and cheez whiz, please!
During my research of key spots to try, Carl’s Steaks showed up as «Best place for a cheese steak in NY» on Living Social. Curious to try the ‘best’, the fella and I stopped by Carl’s for a quick snack before heading back to our hotel. My fat ass self was secretly wanting a cheese steak of my own, but since we had dinner a couple hours prior, we only ordered one to share along with a side of nacho fries.
Big regret! A couple weeks back on the West Coast and I’m still craving for Carl’s. A soft hoagie, sizzling, tender slices of steak, flavorful grilled onions, and that oh so amazing cheez whiz! So good, it makes you
wonder why cheez whiz is such a taboo after you turned 10!

I found Carl’s Steaks through Seamless Web. On that website, they are rated as one of the best restaurants in the downtown area. That seems a bit generous. Their real selling point is Philly-​style cheesesteaks offered cheaply and with quick delivery service. So naturally, I ordered that along with some fries.
The sandwich is noticeably oily but otherwise okay. Cheese whiz was available as a traditional option along with Provolone and American. I went with the cheese whiz. I also opted for the hot peppers which helped provide some contrast to the fatty ooze. The amount of «steak» was fairly generous. Overall, nothing special, but it will do in a moment of hunger. The best bet in the city though for cheesesteaks is 99 Miles from Philly. The fries were unremarkable.

Discovered this place on Unilocal,when I decided that I wanted to explore my options in the steak and cheese world in NYC. I’ve previously tried 99 Miles to Philly, which was definitely a good first experience as well.
Carl’s Steaks was easy to find, but don’t mind the scaffolding that is currently in front of the place. I ordered the Steak and Cheese sandwich with provolone cheese. I was the only one at the restaurant at the time, but I’ve definitely seen it bustling other times I have walked by it.
They make the steak cooked to order, as I imagine most Steak and Cheese places do. They definitely put a lot of meat and a lot of provolone too. I definitely thought the taste was good, and the bread was surprisingly soft too. Not your basic Italian sub roll or what not. As usual, I couldn’t finish the whole sandwich in one sitting, so I took it back and had it for lunch as left overs. Even after reheating it was still pretty good.
Their sandwiches are about the same price as any other place, so roughly $ 6 – 8 depending on what you get on it. I didn’t notice the little chalkboard A-​Frame in front of the stop until I was leaving, but apparently they have deals like getting a sandwich and a soda between 4pm-​6pm for only $ 5.99. That is definitely not bad! I also read that you can get a combo of a sandwich, chips, and a soda for something like $ 8.99 which is also a great price.
I highly encourage that people check this place out, if they are a steak and cheese fan!