Shugar’s Philly Deli

Great place! Lucky its so close to home. Next best thing to being in Philly at Jim’s. A whole subbis big enough for 2 – 3 people.

We had a local half-​off deal for this little, in-​town shop, which was the main reason we chose to go for a spur of the moment dinner option!
It was fantastic!
Loved the bread. Loved the food. It was all so delicious.
Two subs, crab fries, and coleslaw. Everything tasted fresh.
We will definitely be going back, regardless of any coupon or special that we may or may not have!

Great Philly Cheesesteaks! They bring the rolls and stuff in from Philly. The store is clean and service if quick.

Cheesesteak with wiz cheese and onions pretty good. The roast pork with broccoli rabe an smoked provolone was also pretty good. The bread they use here is excellent.

The food is remarkable, even the 10 in sandwich was enough for me to have two meals out of it. Cheese fries are great too. I had the brawler and it was just loaded with top notch cold cuts and sharp provolone the bread is great. Wife had the cheese steak, she was equally as impressed. Will definitely return.

I was in philly last week and had a cheesesteak from Carmen’s Famous Italian Hoagies. It was overrated.
Feeling unfulfilled, I came home to harrisburg and searched Unilocal to help satiate my cheesesteak desire. I’ve had Aleco’s and was unimpressed. I’ve had Philadelphia Steaks & Hoagies, and they were ok (very little steak in their sandwiches). And today, I’ve had the best cheesesteak I’ve had in years at Suga’s!
The meat was top notch and packed in the sandwich. It was a little under seasoned, but the salt in the cheese makes up for it. The rolls were fantastic.
My new go-​to cheesesteak place.

Excellent Philly style cheesesteaks and other excellent sandwich choices. The menu board can be overwhelming at first but after your third or fourth time back, (and you will be back), you’ll have no trouble finding your favorite sandwiches and some others you plan on trying on your next visits.
We’ve made Shugar’s one of our favorite stops on our motorcycle rides.
Always order your cheesesteaks with whiz, of course!

Great food, decent service, atmosphere is completely cold and uninviting.
Eat here about 3 – 4 times a month. Have not had a bad meal yet. Mostly subs, sandwiches, wraps, and salads. The rolls they use are nice and crusty on the outside yet soft and chewy on the inside. They have an excellent variety of meats and cheeses to choose from. Nice choice of sides too. Walk up counter. No table service. They service is efficient and they typically fill orders pretty quickly. Their prices are a little steep but the food is better than most. Atmosphere is very blah… a lot of miss-​matched furniture and fixtures hurts the already bland floors and walls. Honestly looks like the place was just thrown together in a hurry with no real planing or organization. Nice location in town but please don’t be a lazy bum and park at the post office which is posted by the way…

My favorite sub shop. Fresh bread and excellent meat and cheese combos. Quality has dropped off a bit (now use iceberg lettuce instead of Romaine but you don’t buy a sub for the lettuce :-)) but it is still excellent.

This is BYOB! Pretty good sub place, and there is a Buddy Boy wine shop within the restaurant. I have gotten the cheese steak and turkey cold sub. Good place to get subs on the go.

I’ve taken my family there several times. Food is great, and they are happy to accommodate you. There are some great chicken tenders that we usually request for our kids that are not on the menu (last time I went). Salad is great, and cheesesteaks are so good. Definitely check this out if you are in New Cumberland.

Always an excellent choice for hoagies and sandwiches. Great rolls and meat seasoned well for an outstanding taste. A cooler of premium sodas cap it off.

My wife said the bread was tough but the amount of meat on the sandwich is great. The meats that they use are very good. Don’t think you can beat this place. We will come back for more.

My family of foodies dined here on ¹¹⁄₈ for their Philly Cheesesteak fix before returning to Syracuse.
Food: Of course, all of us ordered Philly Cheesesteaks … along with two side orders of fries. All in all the food was good, but there were a few things that kept it from being on the same level as Philly Steaks and Hoagies.
Meat: The meat was definitively a high cut of beef. They say Ribeye, and I do not doubt it. Despite that, I found the beef to be under-​seasoned and a little bit tough. The frizzled pieces of the beef were fine, but the larger chunks that were no broken up were chewy. Meat (³⁄₅)
Roll: The roll was good, but had a denser, more bread-​y texture than other Philly Cheesesteaks that I have liked. Alecco’s and Philly Steaks and Hoagies have superior rolls, for sure. Shugar’s roll also tasted old. If not old, then drier. Overall, the roll was still slightly above average … a 3.5 really, but I will be rounding it down to a 3 (³⁄₅)
Composition: This is the biggest bummer of the sandwich. They just slop the cheese on top. Ummm… what about the bottom and middle of my sandwich. Now, if you can wrap your whole mouth around the cheesesteak, then you get cheese in every bite — though, that is impossible. You have to alternate biting top, bottom, top, bottom, etc. Thus, you get some bites that are cheese heavy, and other bites where the cheese is non-​existent. This exhibits very little balance and nuance.
Take Philly Steak and Hoagie for instance… everything conglomerates into one delicious, consistent bite every time. This is the way that it should be. Even with my brother’s weird cheesesteak that he ordered, they put the slices of cheese directly on the bun, then the hot beef on top of it. Thus, for his sandwich, all the the cheese was at the bottom. It isn’t hard to throw that cheese on top of the beef at the end of cooking, give it a quick mix with your spatulas so that it is evenly distributed, then put it on the bun. Seems like a common sense compilation technique to me? Also, in terms of the whiz, that needs to be slathered on the bun and the steak, not just glooped over the top. (²⁄₅)
Fries: These are obviously frozen fries, but they are delicious! Perfectly crispy on the outside, fluffy and steamy on the inside. They are also coated with some sort of dusting. Either way, these are solid fries. (⁵⁄₅)
Produce: I did not order my sandwich with lettuce or tomato, but alas, it came on my sandwich. I do not like cold produce on a hot sandwich. The lettuce gets a little soggy/​wilty, and the tomato gets a weird in-​between firm and mushy texture. Though, these tomatoes were already in the ‘mushy’ category prior to assembly. It was obvious that the tomatoes they used were not fresh, nor even cut that day. Most likely, they prep them up to three days in advance and put them in a storage container. There is no way they were prepped that morning. If they were, then your tomatoes were old. They had a slightly mealy texture to them. (²⁄₅)
Food: ³⁄₅
Service: The service was what you would expect from a somewhat grungy sandwich shop. Everyone was respectful, but it was a classic ‘approach counter, be greeted, order food, pay for food, they call your name, bring out your food’ and that is all. Really no personal touch. Just focused on executing the task of taking the order and delivering the food. Nothing wrong with that, it is what is expected. The one thing I did not expect was for them to add a bunch of stuff to my sandwich. I did not want lettuce or tomato on my sandwich, but yet mine came with it.
Service: ³⁄₅
Atmosphere: I said ‘somewhat grungy’ above. That may be a little bit generous. Honestly, this space has a TON of potential. They have a lot of room in there to do something other than what they are already doing. It feels like a cold, unloved, vacant space with some mismatched tables and other furniture haphazardly scattered about. This did not have all that great of a ‘feel’ to it; but if this matters not to you, then disregard this category. Lastly, it didn’t look dirty on the inside (with the exception of the nasty, stained ceiling tiles; but it ‘felt’ dirty. Not sure how else to describe that.
Atmosphere: ²⁄₅
Price: For what I paid, I am disappointed. I do not feel like I got my money’s worth, or a quality product. Between the substandard produce and the sandwich that was no better than Philly Steak and Hoagies (or Alecco’s for that matter), I feel like I paid too much.
Price: ²⁄₅
Final Thoughts: If this is an authentic Philly Cheesesteak from an authentic Philly cheesesteak vendor … then maybe I do not like authentic Philly cheesesteaks because it just wasn’t that good. If you are looking for a première Philly cheesesteak in this area, you need to go to Philly Steaks and Hoagies. After that, there really isn’t much else competition. If Philly Steaks & Hoagies is an A-​Level shop, and Alecco’s as a B, this is certainly a C-​Level establishment … or ‘average’.

Awesome cheesesteaks and fries. I keep saying I’m going to try something else when I go back but I can’t resist the cheesesteaks.

Good sanwhiches. Hit the spot. My parents had regular hoagies and loved them. Tons of meat and cheeses. You walk up, order, then grab your drinks before the food is brought to you, The sandwiches are huge, and I had to take half home. I had a chicken cheese steak… My only complaint is that there was not a good blend of chicken and cheese. The bay fries came with a tasty cheese sauce. Delish. We would definitely go back to try something new. Loved the bread.

Do not believe the most recent reviews of this place. Years ago when this place was in a different spot near lemoyne it was a really great place. I have been here over a dozen times and it has slowly gotten worse. The cheese steaks are average at best. The last one I had was actually below average. The fries are terrible now, even though they used to be great. Honestly this place has gone down as the employees now have changes and the ingredients I believe are cheaper and prepared with little care like they used to be. Really sad as I loved this place in the old days! And yes I am a real human who actually has been here many times! Perhaps some things there are still good. I am only speaking of the cheese steaks and fries. Why do businesses do this. They had a good thing going in the early days.

You’ll think your in Philly. Cheesesteaks and hoagies are authentic.
Fresh bread, quality meat and friendly staff. Huge portions and a 10 inch is plenty for one person.
Try the fries as they are cooked to perfection.

Best cheese steak and roast pork I have had in the area. A notch below my favorites in Philly, but no complaints. Nice to have this as a local option. They bring in their bread daily from Philly and it’s very good. Eat in (with lots of Philly sports stuff) or take out. A good, solid spot for your cheese steak fix.
Tip: Get broccoli rabe and sharp provolone on either sandwich and it won’t disappoint

My first time at the new location. Portions were big as usual and they have a solid sandwich offering and great bread!
We got a stock cheese steak w/​whiz and Roast Pork. Both were a little bland this time like they needed salt. Maybe it was just me. Was also odd that they didn’t have hot sauce. I asked for some and they brought me out the wing sauce, which was nice of them, but not what I had in mind.
The new location is very big. (where the old one had one table and was largely a takeout place). I hope they can do enough business to pay the rent here, because there are not enough independently owned quality sandwich shops like Shugar’s around.
Will definitely stop again when I’m coming through Harrisburg, though. It’s still the best I’ve been to outside of Philly.