Down South Philly Grille

Down South Philly Grille
3830 South Nova Road, Suite B1
Port Orange, FL 32127
(386)304-1111

Surely you have seen my post here before regarding my feelings about Philly cheese steak sandwiches. If not, I basically had given up ordering any cheese steak sandwich outside of the city of Philadelphia. I have been screwed so many times trying to find that authentic flavor and taste. Finally, I discovered Famous Philly's in Port Orange. This was what I had been craving for so long. Now I have to say, "There's a new sheriff in town."

I had heard about this new restaurant a while ago, but just hadn't had the opportunity to get there yet. My friend Kelly lives right down the street and she told me she was down to join me for lunch, so we decided to get after it yesterday.

We enter the restaurant and I immediately notice that it is another shrine to Philadelphia sports teams. It is very spacious with a number of flat screens that would make this a great place to watch the game if you are a fan of Philly sports teams. We sit down and the waitress comes to take our drink orders. We order and are sitting there chatting when something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye. Sitting on the table is a bottle of ketchup with the name, "House Recipe." Are you kidding me? How can any restaurant that claims to be born of a Pennsylvania city serve anything but Heinz? I don't care how much cheaper this stuff may be. There are some things you just have to suck up and take it on the chin for and this is one I feel strongly about. Heinz is the only ketchup as far as I am concerned.

The ketchup issue was so perplexing to me that I had to reach out to my buddy Kraig to ask what the deal is with this House Recipe product. I figured maybe it was made in Philadelphia and since Heinz is from Pittsburgh then that was the reason they don't serve it here. Kraig informed me that House Recipe is a Sysco product with no true history to the city of Philadelphia. I still am suspecting something sinister here and feel like the owners are trying to keep it real and not serving Heinz because it is made in Pittsburgh. Whatever the case, this may keep me heading down to Famous Philly's since they do serve Heinz.

With that discussion out of the way, we start to peruse the menu. I can give them props on the way they have incorporated Philly sports in their menu items. For instance, all of the burgers are named after Phillies players, the sandwiches after Eagles players, the cheese steaks represent the 76'ers and the wings feature the Flyers. I thought that was pretty cool.

Since we were looking for cheese steak, Kelly ordered a cheese steak supreme and I got a mushroom cheese steak. Each sandwich comes with a pickle spear and a bag of chips. We also ordered fries to split. If you decide to order fries, get the small order as it is plenty enough for two. Our sandwiches come pretty quickly after we placed our orders. On my first bite I can tell that this place is the real deal. The buns are from Amoroso's Bakery in Philadelphia and is what you will find at most locations in the city. The steak is seasoned well, cooked just right and quite juicy. We had to remind them we ordered a side of fries to split, so when they finally did bring them, they were piping hot. Both Kelly and I thought the cheese steak sandwiches we had were great.

Since both of these great cheese steak locations are in Port Orange, I can tell you if you go to Down South Philly Grill, you will not be disappointed. They serve great food within a cool Philadelphia atmoshere. If I was an Eagles fan, this would probably be my spot to watch them each week and reminisce about being back home in Philadelphia.

Visit Down South Philly Grille and I am sure you will not be disappointed.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry