Explorer’s Den Steaks and Hoagies

I don’t get how this place only has 3 stars… but anyways, their chicken cheesesteaks are freakin amazing and all the prices are affordable. I prefer explorer’s den chicken cheesesteaks over ishkabibles most definitely. Try this place out if you’re in the Lasalle Univ. area.

Came here this afternoon for the first time and had THE BEST HOAGIE I have ever eaten, ever. The hoagie was humongous loaded with meats and vegetables and the hot peppers were perfect! I brought half the hoagie home and my husband ate it and he claimed it was THE BEST HOAGIE he has ever had despite it being half soggy from sitting in the fridge for 7 hours! lol
We are moving out of state in a couple weeks and I am really sad we hadn’t discovered this place sooner but at least I’d like to help get the word out. We wish you guys great success with your 5 star hoagies!

there steaks is ok not like it use to be… i wont be ordering from there again…

I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t eat the steaks and hoagies. But the pizza is great! It’s the best pizza you can find in the area and extremely cheap! Not good for sitting down. There are only a few spots outside.

Every time I come to visit family this is the only place I’ll go to get a philly cheesesteak!!! Amazing!!! By far the best

Awesome service and cheesesteak

I usually love ordering from this place when I come to visit my mom, but not anymore. The problem here: customer service. I currently live in Conshy, where if you have an issue with your food, the owner/​manager of the establishment is apologetic and tries to make it right by sending new food or giving you a credit towards something in the future as a gesture to keep your business.
My mom and I ordered delivery (for once, instead of pick up) and I got the chicken cheesesteak with the works and she ordered a turkey club. When everything arrived, it was time to chow. My sandwich was awesome, as usual, but her club was poor. The bread was toasted way too long, making it tough to chew. She was hungry and didn’t want to complain, so she decided to disassemble the Club slices to create a makeshift salad. She made it about halfway through before throwing up her hands and giving up on lunch, tossing it in the trash. Also, the coleslaw was sour and tasted very old… I normally don’t expect much from takeout slaw, but old slaw trumps a poorly made bad tasting slaw any day. It was clearly around for the week and was going bad. She called and was told to return the food for a refund, seemingly out of disbelief from the manager. I understand that a lot of ppl probably call and scam local places like this for free food, but if it’s not the SAME person from the SAME address or with the SAME number, you should take the complaint seriously as a concerned business owner. She told him she threw it away and he told her to dig it out of the trash and bring it in. Wow!
What sucks is that I’ve been buying from this place since I was 8 (now 28) — never again. We’ve supported it even though it changed hands more times than anyone can count. I refuse to give them any more money.

I frequented this joint while I went to La Salle, and that’s what it is-​college food. And as college food goes, it’s great. They deliver late (good for all nighters), there is no minimum dollar amount for delivery (all you want is a $ 5 wrap? No big deal), and they usually don’t take too long (40 mins max). The prices are fair– good price for good pizza (and its wayyyy better than dominos or papa johns).
The food is good, especially for the area. I enjoyed: hot buffalo wings, pizza, Caesar wrap, gyro, chicken fingers, cheesesteak, hoagies, house salad (so many veggies), jalapeño poppers, and their fries were good too.
I did not enjoy: Stromboli (they literally folded a pizza in half before they cooked it. It was really bad, but I haven’t found a place in Philly that does a good Stromboli, they all do it this way), and chicken pesto panini (just not good, but it’s a pizza joint, not a deli).
Bottom line, if you are hungry — this is a great place to eat. It is exactly what you would expect from a corner college eatery. My parents even liked it. I definitely recommend this place!

Called up an order after finding the online menu. My order was ready when I arrived. Paid with my charge card and I thought the price was a little higher than I saw when I ordered. Got home and checked the website and yes, I was over-​charged (not by much but overcharged). So I called and their answer was it wasn’t their website. Their phone number, their trademark, their address, not their website. It’s 2013 and that excuse doesn’t cut it. The food? Better off elsewhere.

I used to eat here forty (40) years ago while attending the COLLEGE.
On a return visit about 5 or 10 years ago I noticed Bob to be gone and it looked
like the people that worked for him «inherited’ the place. It was awful.
If there’s been an improvement due to a turnover then GREAT!
I used to tell all my out-​of-​this-​area friends that this was the best.
Bob knew how to make a great cheesesteak. No cheeze-​wiz crap
just «real» processed American Square or provolone/​mozarella.
The secret was the chopping of the steak with the onions while cooking it.
Yes — this made it seem like hamburger to the un-​informed
but it really was something else! A unique blend of flavors.
Bob used real top-​sirloin that he froze and then cut on a luncheon deli slicer.
I hope the new owners take it back to the good (really) old days.

Great Place for a Cheese steak or a Hoagie. Service is very consistent and fast. I had a Philly Cheesesteak with ketchup and a Italian hoagie. They where both good.

Not the best food I ever had… But it did the job. Would I eat there again? Sure I would. But spice up the food some more.

The recent (2011) change back in ownership of Explorer’s Den has improved the customer friendliness and menu of this establishment. It’s twice as good as it had been. I can place an order, and have it be done in five minutes, done right! The call-​ahead system is wonderful, I never have to wait in any unnecessary long line anymore (used to take half an hour here, routinely). This would have been incomprehensible for the previous owners. Further, hoagie standards such as «roast beef» are no longer «out of stock» all the damn time! And they haven’t screwed up my order yet. So they appear to have cleaned up their act a little bit. Very impressed.
Unfortunately, the diligence and noticeable improvements in their customer service department have not really translated into food that I could consider myself a «fan» of. I do enjoy a good cheesesteak in this city, and I understand that the roll usually defines a genuinely good cheesesteak. The rolls at the Den are way too thin and therefore they become soggy. Nobody wants that. And Explorers Den’s sizeable ingredients compound this problem, they still continue to pack too much meat on a sandwich, as their reputation has always been for quantity not so much quality. What happens is, the bread will never hold up, so this cheesesteak falls apart and you would require a fork to pick it up. And they seem ever insistent here on putting the lettuce and tomato under the meat, instead of topping the sandwich. It creates a messy meal. Knowing their cheese steaks are sloppiness, they should automatically put napkins in the bag, I should not have to request them. As for the taste and texture, my most recent cheesesteak more resembled a breakfast food than any other kind of meal. The cheesesteak had a consistency similar to ground beef, rather than prime chopped steak. The overall effect of this sandwich was less than satisfying.

Food is good but service sucks. Better than walking to treetops on the weekend.

The Den just re-​opened. It’s now owned and operated by La Salle University. A great idea, but we’ll see how this plays out.

Cheesesteaks in Philly. Controversial to say that the best are not (nor never really were ever) in South Philadelphia with names like Pat’s, Geno’s, or Jim’s. A native will have their favorite neighborhood grill which will quietly and unassumingly deliver a solid, meat packed, rocket of a sandwich from which several meals besides the original one could be made! All I am saying is that the Explorer’s Den has been around for a minute (in my lingo that is equivalent to saying a long time…20 years or more) and it has consistently been satisfying anyone who has had to attend LaSalle University, Girls High School, Germantown Hospital, or the Academy for the Middle Years (as was my first experience with the Den). To say that this institution of meatiness and spice is good is an understatement equivalent to the likes of saying that Britney Spears is NUTS! The place has had a face lift but do not let that fool you into thinking that the fare has been altered for the worse! Not at all… This is the cheesesteaks legends of Philadelphia spoke of and you have been dreaming about ever since you got that fake one in Boston at Fanuil Hall or in New York at some boug-​ey place that wanted to «improve on the classic».
Lest I be hunted down and lynched by my paison in South Philly (yes, I can order in English or Italian if need be), let me say that I have personally conducted many tests and personally have gained additional pounds in my mid-​section to ensure the authenticity of my claim!!! These sandwhiches of steak or chicken are THE BEST OF PHILLY and possibly should get the award for the icon that pops into your head when you think of a Philly Steak!
Not to be discounted is the fact that the real Italian Hoagies that are also done well at a WAWA FOOD MARKET can be found on steriods here and pumped up on taste as well! They just cannot go wrong!
The meats used are quality and fresh. Trust me… nothing stays there long enough to go stale!
I will say that I have a couple of other locations that I will recommend you get a cheesesteak at if you are not in the vicinity or if you are scared to go to this area at night (I would argue that the neighborhood can be dodgy but if you will risk South Philly… why not here). Pagono’s on Ogontz Ave is my number two.
D’Allesandros and Chubby’s in Roxborough face each other in a fight for third place.