Knock Out Burgers & Philly Steak

Southpark Mall

               Amanda and I spent last Saturday morning watch Steak Paradise on the Travel Channel so by lunch time we were both starving and desperately craving meat. We felt that having an actual steak might be a little much and the show did highlight Philly cheese steaks in Philadelphia so we decided to split a cheese steak for lunch.  I first drove to Sub Hub in Hopewell, a place that has amazing subs, only to find out much to my chagrin that it was closed.  After brain storming for a couple of minutes Amanda suggested that we try the cheese steak place in the Mall, Knock Out Burgers & Philly Steak.

            I’ve seen this place a thousand times but have never tried it out. I was very excited to see that they actually had cheese wiz to put on the subs to make them really authentic.  We split a large original cheese steak with cheese wiz, onions, sweet peppers, mayo, lettuce and tomatoes.  To be short and sweet, it was nothing like Pat’s or Geno’s in Philadelphia.  I don’t know what it was but it had a very strange flavor to it, I think that it must have been the sweet peppers. I think I would have actually liked it more if it just had meat, cheese and onions; the rest seemed to through it off.  I was also not in love with the roll that it was on; it was neither soft nor crunchy but was in some weird unappealing middle place.   I will say though that for the price it was very large and more than filled both Amanda and I and unlike some places in malls they gladly provided free refills on soda.  

            Overall, I knew that it would never compare to the two powerhouses in Philadelphia but I was hoping for something on par with the now closed Great Steak and Fry Company that used to be in the mall. But Knock Out Burgers & Philly Steak fell well below there as well. It seems that the best places to grab a cheese steak in the Tri-Cities is either Sub Hub in Hopewell or Jersey Mike’s in Colonial Heights, both of those places have awesome Cheese Steaks; but if you know of somewhere else in the Tri-Cities that makes an awesome Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich please let me know.