Pj's Steaks Fortitude Valley

Really good food, love the triple cheese ❤️ first time trying it

TL;DR: It makes sense that with the American cuisine craze sweeping Brisbane, there is definitely going to be props given to the brainchild behind PJ's Steaks for getting outside the burgers and Southern-style barbecue with the cuisine. Even if this is not particularly the place for me, credit is always deserved for offering something different and that is precisely what the case is here.

After a number of years of great success on Boundary Street in West End, a second location was brought to another one of Brisbane's rich boulevards for dining - Brunswick Street in Fortitude Valley. Just as apt as the other, it is the perfect location with all of the drinking holes that are open late at night, and an astute move to have it in the early hours of the morning for both Friday and Saturday. I have been to the West End one several times, and have gone past this new Valley outlet beforehand a few times and the whole place is pretty much a hole-in-the-wall with a giant grill. It possibly has its customers, and after a few times I will finally give the honest opinion - it is okay, nothing that I really will right home about, though not with some merit in certain circumstances.

It was another day at work, and since it was another location the burl of using UberEats tempted me again. For the lunch time rush, I ended up testing it out and getting something a bit simple - a habit on mine with getting food at work. The translation there meant finger food was the key thing. An additional perk was the sheer range of options that would go to the address, and there were so many to choose from. A lot of the time, it is just spur of the moment and here was chosen. A new location, so good to compare how they go against each other. So it was to firing up the app, placing the order around lunch time and just waiting for it to arrive. The time was around lunch time at work, and going outside of the office I plugged the order in and was waiting with my colleagues while doing so.

Well, there were a couple of setbacks with the delivery and meeting up. To be fair, not either party is really at fault here so it cannot be a deduction or demerit on their part. The good thing is eventually there was a general meeting up location, and I did get the food. The guy was pleasant enough, plus the food was being delivered more or less right on time and quite quickly. So as of now, UberEats still has a untarnished streak with me for being effective and reliable in terms of being a delivery service.

With their menu, it is one of the aspects that I will give some credit to. They keep it simple, and relatively in the vein of what they do. The main thing that they serve is the Philadelphia specialty "cheesesteak". This is a really big thing over there apparently, to the extent locals are perfectionists. There are possibly hundreds of places serving the specialty in Philly, but for Brisbane it is a bit of a novelty still. Getting back on topic, for those not in the know it is essentially a sandwich with a mixture of chopped steak and onion on a grill and then add it on a roll with some cheese and a few other extras if requested. At PJ's, they also have a few different hot dogs and some extra sides to nibble on to make the meal complete - that is with the drinks they have, which are a range of sodas and some beers. Basically, they know the right combination and there is nothing more to it.

With that in mind, I went ahead and got a pepper cheesesteak asking for it with provolone cheese. On the side, I got an order of fries. Overall, I might have liked it pretty well but the steep comparative price for it all has my opinion about it held back to somewhat apathetic. And that is not to say that I can't find much wrong with the sandwich, which really just needs a bit of hot sauce for sprucing up and it is good enough. The meat that they use to cook on the grill is really tender, and at just the right level of consistency. Plus the amount of meat in it was good, and the bread roll was stuffed to the brim with it all. To give it the credit that it deserves, you will never be finding me complaining about having that much meat in a snack that is based solely off a lot of meat. The peppers on top of the roll were sweet and juicy, cooked to the right consistency as well. Plus, the cheese was nice on it but might have needed a little more melting to really gel together. So the overall sentiment with it is that it is not bad, would possibly be a good snack good on the run, and if it were bigger would definitely be worthy of many visits being reliable and whatnot. As it stands though, it is merely okay.

I might be committing some form of blasphemy when I mention that I think I preferred the fries to the cheeseteak. If these suckers were straight from the fryer at the eatery, then they would be fantastic - that is what a good seasoning can do to a serving of fries. There is obviously a herb of some sort mixed in there, possibly rosemary, which made it tasty really good and they were cooked to a good consistency. My colleagues even tried a few of them and were impressed enough. For a small size, this serving was pretty reasonable and quite filling both as a snack on its own and as a side to one of the cheesesteaks.

For what it is worth, part of why the West End one does in its way (I have found) is that it is in a busy part of the city and a simple hole in the wall with a no-nonsense approach to everything. It is grungy, it is a hole-in-the-wall, and it services all kinds of audiences with a quick turnaround and ordering system. Much the same is likely here, and if much more was added to it, a big part of the vibe and charm would be gone. Looking at the photos online, the Fortitude Valley one does much the same thing albeit being a lot less decorated with Americana imagery.

Well, I have given this place a number of goes beforehand (mostly the West End branch, this was a first for the Fortitude Valley branch) to give it a chance and I can only really get so far to it as thinking it is adequate. Given the combination of the size and the cost, it doesn't equal up that much as a snack to frequent to me. If it were either way, or both, maybe an opinion would be higher (also, I find the cheesesteaks a bit bland as well) but as of what they are they are more or less stuck in the "it doesn't suck category" for not having much to detract them or elevate them.

PJ's Steaks make the bold claim - 'The Original Philadelphia Cheesesteaks'.

I lived in Philadelphia for five years and have eaten hundreds of Philly Cheesesteaks, from Pat's King of Steaks (the real original, serving up Cheesesteaks since 1930), to Geno's Steaks (1966) and my personal favorite Jim's Steaks (1939).

I've eaten at PJ's Steaks in West End before and it was good, but not great.  Today's Triple Cheesesteak from PJ's Steaks in Fortitude Valley was fantastic and would fare well against any of the cheesesteaks listed above in terms of quality of ingredients, roll, seasoning and flavour.

The only thing keeping PJ's Steaks from receiving an even higher mark is the size and cost.  The cheesesteak is very small (4-6 bites) and there isn't very much to it for $12.  Triple cheese is definitely the way to go and equates with a normal serving of cheese in the US.

Well done, but if the cheesesteak was 20% larger or cost 20% less I would be a much more regular customer.

I've had better cheesesteaks here than I have in America. The food is always fresh and delicious and there's a good vibe, but it's a little pricey for what it is.

The bread roll is always soft, the meat grilled to perfection. I always douse mine like crazy with hot sauce. It's just an unbeatable combination and done right. The atmosphere is also always really nice at both this one and the one in West End.

I'd had these in America and usually when I've tried them back here they haven't been anywhere near as good. I have to admit I was pretty impressed with PJ steaks, the cheesesteak was great!

I had a chilli dog and it was beautiful! Such a good place to sit and have a bite before hitting the town. Lovely staff, great service, great atmosphere. Just can not recommend it enough!

Nice little dinner to round off a date I had. Service was nice and fast and the food was amazing as always. Infinitely better than the West End location! As always, I reccomend the mushroom cheesesteak with provelone cheese with a nice jarrito to wash it all down.