Jim’s Steaks – South Street – Philadelphia, PA
One of Philadelphia’s hottest tourist areas is the South Street area for better or worse. I find I have a love/hate relationship with this street. You have some of the most tasteless stores and flavorless eateries, but you also have some of the best shopping and amazing eats all right next to each other while trying to avoid the throngs of helpless and wondering visitors from out of town. It is horrible and great all at the same time. One of the most poplar places is Jim’s Steaks (JS) which at times has a line around the block just to put an order in. I passed by JS one day with a light crowd and decided to give them a shot. I would order a mushroom cheese steak with American cheese and fried onions.
The sandwich itself was slightly above average. The steak was of nice quality, but chopped up way to much as it fell out of the roll, the mushrooms even though generous in portion size came directly out of a can, but I must admit the fried onions were delicious and some of the best around. If you are a tourist it is not a bad one to try and maybe slightly better than the other two well-known tourist cheesesteak destinations while provided somewhere indoors to eat your fare and having some neat pictures to browse around the place.
What really got me at JS had nothing to do with how my sandwich tasted. After my order was when things got a little dicey. The patron in front of me did not have cash so they went over to the atm in JS and tried to get money out of that machine. After a few minutes trying to no avail, they told the cashier that it was not working and that they would be right back as they were going to use the atm around the corner. One would think the cashier would move on to the next customer. NOT!!! The cashier said she already entered their meal into the register and she could not cancel it. I had to wait five to ten more minutes for the individuals to reappear while the line behind me grew exponentially as well with all of our sandwiches going cold on the counter waiting for them. Once that issue was cleared I thought I could move on, but boy was I wrong. Once I handed over my money, the cashier advised me that she did not have any more quarters or dimes at the moment even though it was only 1pm and she just stared at me for fifteen minutes waiting for the other people to find an atm instead of finding some money for herself as well in that timeframe. She asked if it was ok to just give me pennies and nickels. I agreed and was handed some coins. I looked down at noticed she did not give me the proper change in pennies as I was given eight pennies and three nickels for change of seventy-seven cents. I advised her of the mistake, and she said she gave me the correct change and she would have to check register count to refund anything else. With many other customers behind me and having a much longer wait than it needed to be already, I decided to let JS keep my extra change and move on, but I was not happy.
With all said and done I will give JS two ratings, which is the first time ever on this website, but I could not give JS just one score on the basis of one of the employees being completely incompetent.
Three and half out of five stars for the meal and atmosphere in and around JS
and
One star overall for the meal and quality of service JS provided to me
*********** UPDATE 01-26-2016 ********************
Talked to the president of Jim’s Steaks over the phone and then he sent a follow up email (shown below). They apologized for my experience and stated he will take corrective actions on the things I mentioned and he strives everyday for every customer to have nothing but an outstanding experience and sandwich. I will have to give them another chance. Kudos Jim’s Steaks for being professional.
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Derek:
Thanks for your time on the phone this afternoon. It is not often that I get to speak personally to a reviewer, especially a negative one. I apologize for your wait you had in line at our restaurant and the unprofessional way in which your change was tendered. Most of our staff has been with us for many years and would never have handled you in such a manner. The cashier that day was in her second week of training and, as you might imagine, didn’t make it to week three. We pride ourselves on our service as well as our cheesesteaks and the wait you had to endure was completely outside our normal operating procedures. We handle the situation you described multiple times a day and simply move the patron ahead of you to the side if there is a problem. When busy we serve up to 3000 guests a day through a single cash register, so we have to have policies in place that address folks who don’t have cash.
We hope that the next time you have a chance to visit the South St. area you give us another try. I can assure you in no uncertain terms that your experience will be one that will leave you with a much more positive impression of Jim’s Steaks South St.
Sincerely,
K## S##### – President
Jim’s Steaks South St.
400 South St.
Phila., PA 19147
BlueJeanFood 