Cheesesteaks and wings are the two things people order here most, and a fair number of them want both. That is not indecision — they work well together for a specific reason. A cheesesteak is rich and uniform from end to end; wings are sharp, messy and eaten a piece at a time. One resets your palate for the other.

The question is usually how much to order, and whether to build it yourself or take a combo.

There is already a combo for this

Before you build anything: a 7-inch cheese steak with five wings is on our specials board as A10, and it comes with fries or onion rings and a drink. It runs on the All Day Special Monday to Friday and again as a Weekend Special on Saturday and Sunday.

For one person who wants both, that is the order. You are not choosing between a sandwich and wings; you are getting a smaller version of each plus a side, and the drink is in it.

Building it yourself

The combo is fixed at 7 inches and five pieces. If you want more of either, build it:

• Phillys come in a 7-inch and a 12-inch, on Amoroso bread
• Wings run 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100 and 200 pieces
• Either bone-in or boneless, at every one of those counts
• Nine Philly builds, any of them with chicken instead of steak
• Fries or onion rings are the two sides that come with the specials

The most common mistake is scaling both at once. A 12-inch cheesesteak is already a full meal; adding ten wings to it makes two meals. If you are moving up to the 12-inch, keep the wings at five and treat them as the starter.

How much food is that, actually?

Rough guide, assuming you want to finish it:

A 12-inch cut in half stretches a group order further than most people expect, which is why the sandwich column climbs slower than the wing column. For the detail on the wing side of that, our guide to how many wings per person works through the same maths at party sizes.

Which cheesesteak goes with wings

If you are having both, the sandwich should stay simpler than usual. Wings already bring heat, sauce and acidity to the table, and a heavily built cheesesteak next to them is a lot of competing flavour.

There is a practical argument for boneless here too. Eating bone-in wings and a cheesesteak in the same sitting means putting one down to deal with the other, and both suffer for it. Boneless pieces work better when the sandwich is the main event and the wings are riding alongside — the comparison between the two covers what you trade away for that.

The plain Cheese Steak Philly is the one that pairs best — sliced ribeye and cheese, nothing else fighting for attention. The Pizza Steak and the Smokehouse both bring their own sauce, which is where it starts to get crowded. The Tiger Steak has jalapenos and a blackened beer sauce in it, so pairing that with wings is a decision rather than an accident.

Our explainer on what actually makes a cheesesteak covers the builds in more detail, and Britannica keeps a short entry on where the sandwich came from.

What about at lunchtime?

Worth knowing if you are coming in before half past three: the lunch menu runs Monday to Friday from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM and is a separate, shorter list. It has wings on it — five pieces and eight pieces — and it has 7-inch sandwiches, but it does not carry the cheesesteak-and-wings combination as a single item.

So at lunch you have two routes. Take a lunch special and add wings separately, or order the A10 combo off the All Day Special, which runs Monday to Friday alongside it. The second is usually the better value if you want both, since the side and the drink are already in it.

One quirk to be aware of when ordering online: the lunch items are only visible on the ordering page during lunch hours. If you are looking for them at four in the afternoon and cannot find them, that is why.

Sides, sauces and drinks

The specials come with fries or onion rings and a drink, which covers most of it. If you are ordering off the main menu instead, one shared side is plenty — loaded fries next to a cheesesteak and wings is where a good order tips into too much.

Sauce cups are worth adding separately. Ranch, blue cheese, honey BBQ, honey mustard, hot sauce, mild sauce and a few others are on the menu as sides, and having one on the table changes how far a plain order goes. Blue cheese or ranch against wings is the standard for a reason.

The short version

One person who wants both should order the A10 combo. Two people should take a 12-inch cut in half with ten wings. Anything larger, scale the wings faster than the sandwiches. Everything is on the Philly menu and the wings menu.

Both, without choosing

Nine Phillys in two sizes, wings from 5 pieces to 200, bone-in or boneless.

Philly Cheesesteaks

7-inch and 12-inch.

Wings

5 pieces up to 200.

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Frequently asked questions

An Amoroso roll is a long, hearth-baked sandwich roll made by Amoroso’s Baking Co. in Philadelphia. It is the roll most people picture when they picture a cheesesteak: soft enough to bite through cleanly, sturdy enough to carry chopped steak and melted cheese from the first bite to the last without falling apart in your hands.

It is also the roll we build on. Every Philly on our menu is made on Amoroso bread, and so is the French Dip.

What makes it different from ordinary bread

Two things, and they are related. The first is that it is hearth-baked. The bakery’s own description is that its bread and rolls never see the inside of a pan, which is what lets each roll take its own shape and develop a real crust rather than the soft, uniform sides a pan gives you.

The second is the balance between that crust and the crumb inside. A cheesesteak roll has an unusual job. It has to survive being loaded with hot, wet filling, hold together while someone eats it standing up, and still give way easily enough that you are not pulling the whole filling out with your first bite. Too soft and it disintegrates. Too crusty and the filling squeezes out the back end.

Why the roll matters more than the toppings

Ask anyone who takes cheesesteaks seriously what ruins one, and the roll comes up before the cheese does. Meat and cheese are forgiving; bread is not. A stale roll cannot be rescued by a better ribeye, and a roll that is too dense turns the whole sandwich into work.

Here is how the common options actually compare for this particular job:

That last row is worth dwelling on, because the difference between a cheesesteak roll and French bread is not a matter of quality. They are built for different sandwiches. New Orleans French bread shatters when you bite it, which is exactly what a po’boy wants and exactly what a cheesesteak does not.

Where it comes from

Amoroso’s is a Philadelphia bakery that says it has been family-owned and operated for more than 120 years. The company’s line about itself is that the sandwiches which define Philadelphia all have one thing in common, and the implication is not subtle. Whether or not you take a bakery’s word for its own importance, the practical point stands: shops across the country ship the rolls in specifically because a locally baked substitute does not behave the same way.

What we use it for

All nine of our Phillys are built on Amoroso bread, in a 7-inch and a 12-inch, with freshly sliced ribeye and your choice of cheese — White American, Provolone, Mozzarella, Cheese Whiz, Pepper Jack, Swiss or Yellow American. You can have chicken instead of steak on any of them, and onions on or off.

The French Dip on the po’boy menu also comes on an Amoroso roll, with roast beef and a side of au jus. That one is the real test of a roll, since dipping is the fastest way to find out whether bread has any structure.

If you cannot get one

Plenty of people go looking for an Amoroso substitute when they are making cheesesteaks at home and cannot buy the real thing. What you are trying to match is the behaviour, not the brand:

• Look for a long roll with a thin crust and a soft, slightly open crumb
• Italian or hoagie rolls from a proper bakery are the closest common match
• Avoid anything sweet — brioche and potato rolls fight the meat
• Avoid anything with a hard crust, which will fight your teeth instead
• Warm it briefly before filling; a cold roll goes stale-tasting fast

The one thing you cannot fake is freshness. A day-old roll of any kind makes a worse sandwich than a same-day roll of the wrong kind.

How to tell a good roll from a poor one

You can judge a roll before anything goes in it. Four checks, none of which need any expertise:

• Squeeze it gently — it should spring back, not stay dented
• Look at the ends: a hearth-baked roll has irregular, slightly floury ends
• The crust should crackle faintly rather than flake off in sheets
• It should tear cleanly when you pull it, not stretch like a bun

A roll that stays dented has gone stale, and no amount of warming brings it back. A roll that stretches instead of tearing has too much sugar and fat in it, which is the supermarket sub-bun problem — it will taste sweet against the meat and go soggy under the cheese.

The short version

An Amoroso roll is a Philadelphia hearth-baked sandwich roll with a thin crust and a soft interior, and it is the standard for cheesesteaks because it holds hot filling without going to pieces. If you want to see what it does, order a Philly and pay attention to the last bite rather than the first — that is where a lesser roll gives up.

Nine Phillys, all on Amoroso bread

Freshly sliced ribeye, seven cheeses to choose from, in a 7-inch and a 12-inch.

Philly Cheesesteaks

Nine builds, steak or chicken.

Po’boys

Including the French Dip.

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Frequently asked questions

Both are hot, both come with fries, and both will fill you up. The difference is texture and how the meat is cooked. A cheesesteak is thin-sliced beef griddled loose and folded into a long roll with melted cheese, so every bite is broadly the same. A burger is a single formed patty on a round bun, so you get a defined edge, a crust and whatever you stack on top. If you want something to eat quickly and consistently, take the cheesesteak. If you want contrast in each bite, take the burger.

How the meat is handled

This is the whole distinction. Cheesesteak beef is sliced very thin and cooked fast on a flat top, often chopped as it cooks. There’s no single piece of meat to bite through, which is why a cheesesteak eats softly and why the cheese can melt right through it.

A burger patty is formed and seared, so it develops a browned crust on the outside while staying juicier in the middle. That crust is a big part of the flavour, and it’s something a cheesesteak can’t replicate.

Which is bigger?

It depends on what you order rather than on the food itself. A 12-inch cheesesteak is more food than a single burger; a double burger is more than a 7-inch cheesesteak. If you’re comparing like for like, a standard cheesesteak and a double cheeseburger land in roughly the same territory.

Our burgers are built to order — cheeseburger, double cheeseburger, a smokehouse burger available as single, chicken or double, and a fish burger — with cheese, peppers, bacon and mushrooms available as additions. The Philly side of the menu runs to nine variations.

Which travels better?

Neither is designed for a long journey, but a burger holds up marginally better, because the patty and bun stay distinct. A cheesesteak relies on the cheese being molten, and it loses something as it cools. If you’re taking food home rather than eating it there, that’s a genuine point in the burger’s favour.

How to choose

• Want melted cheese through the whole sandwich — cheesesteak
• Want a seared crust and defined layers — burger
• Eating in the car or taking it home — burger
• Sharing across a group — cheesesteak, cut into halves
• Want to build it your own way — burger, with add-ons

Neither is the “better” sandwich. They solve different cravings, and the honest answer is that most people who like one also like the other. If you’re new to cheesesteaks, our explainer on what goes into one covers the cheese options, which matter more than any topping.

A note on the burger itself

The hamburger’s route to becoming an American staple is longer and less tidy than most origin stories suggest, with several competing claims from the late 1800s. Britannica keeps a short entry on the burger and its history if you want the background.

Order either one made to order

Nine Philly variations and four burgers, all built when you order.

Po’boys

New Orleans style, 7-inch and 12-inch.

Loaded Fries

The side both sandwiches get ordered with.

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Frequently asked questions

A Philly cheesesteak is a hot sandwich built from thinly sliced beef and melted cheese on a long roll. That’s the whole definition — everything else, including onions, peppers and which cheese goes on it, is a matter of preference rather than rule. The sandwich comes from Philadelphia, where it started as a steak sandwich sold from a hot dog stand in the 1930s and picked up cheese later. What separates a good one from a poor one is usually the slicing and the roll, not the toppings.

What goes into a cheesesteak

Three things do the work:

• The beef. Sliced thin and cooked quickly on a flat top, so it browns without drying. Thicker cuts turn chewy — the thinness is the point.
• The cheese. Added while the meat is still on the griddle or immediately after, so it melts into the beef rather than sitting on top.
• The roll. Long, soft enough to bite through cleanly, sturdy enough not to collapse once the meat and cheese go in.

Onions are the most common addition and are usually cooked down with the meat. Peppers, mushrooms and extra cheese are standard options almost everywhere that sells them.

Which cheese should you pick?

This is the question people actually argue about. There’s no correct answer, but the choices behave differently:

Our Philly sandwiches come with a choice of White American, Provolone, Mozzarella, Cheese Whiz, Pepper Jack, Swiss or Yellow American. If you’re ordering one for the first time and want the version most people picture, white American with onions is the safe start.

Cheesesteak, cheese steak, or Philly?

All three refer to the same sandwich. “Cheesesteak” as one word is the most common spelling in Philadelphia itself; “cheese steak” as two words is equally understood. Locally, ordering “a Philly” is usually enough. Britannica keeps a short entry on the sandwich and its origins if you want the history in more detail.

Variations worth knowing

Once the base sandwich exists, most shops build variations on it. Ours run to nine, and the pattern is common across the country:

• Pepper steak — peppers cooked in with the meat.
• Mushroom steak — mushrooms added on the griddle.
• Pizza steak — marinara and mozzarella rather than a plain melt.
• Smokehouse — a smoky, barbecue-leaning build.
• Surf and turf — steak with shrimp added.
• Veggie Philly — the same sandwich built without meat.

You can see the full list on our Philly cheesesteak menu, including the Tiger Steak and The Garden.

What to order with it

A cheesesteak is filling on its own, so sides tend to be about contrast rather than volume. Fries and onion rings are the default pairing. If you’re ordering for two and want to cover more of the menu, splitting a cheesesteak with a portion of wings works better than two sandwiches — you get both textures, and the sauces break up the richness of the melted cheese.

If you’re deciding between the two, our comparison of bone-in and boneless wings covers which style shares better.

Ordering one in Lakeland

Ours are made to order on the flat top rather than held ready, so the cheese goes on hot. Pick your cheese when you order — it changes the sandwich more than any topping will.

Want one made to order?

Nine Philly variations, each built on the flat top with your choice of cheese.

Seafood

Fried shrimp, fish and seafood combos.

Po’boys

New Orleans style, dressed to order.

Explore the Menu Order Online

Frequently asked questions