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I have lived in Pittsburgh all my life and I cannot understand why people love Primanti's. The sandwich is very dry from the french fries.

Daaa charlie dude! anyone that's from pgh. knows the joke of spelling it "stillers"!!!! You obviously do not!

GO STILLERS!!!

i waited a long time to go there. i went to the one in rosslyn farms. i was so dissapointed. asked for fried onions and fried green peppers..what a joke... they were heated in the microwave. shame on you! gonna try the one on the strip. the only good thing there was the soda pop!

If you can, go to the Strip District Primanti's about 2:30 am after the bars close. This is the "real" primanti's - jovial and hungry drunks and a line out the door. A real party atmosphere. When I was in college, I recall a nocturnal visit where all six of us ordered different things. The knife-wielding waiter said "ok, 6 cheesesteaks". When they're busy, expect anything. This same samurai was known to leap onto a table, knife in hand, and order everyone in the back, "out" and the folks on the sidewalk "in". He was the "greeter". Once seated at a clutter ridden table, the "busboy" would come by to clean the table (wheel a garbage can to the end of the table, reach down to the end with both arms, and slide the debris into the can). Voila, clean(?) table. I miss those days. They were great college memories (circa 1979).

Ironically, when we went there sober, the food didn't taste as good :-P Proud to be a Pittsburger!

I am a bacon girl, all the way...egg optional...but the Red Devil hot sauce is mandatory! My stomach is growling and it's 10 a.m.!

if someone says shenanigan's one more time...

I will be back in Pittsburgh this weekend. Pirates game and Primanti Brothers are on the agenda. I can't wait!

@Phlipper: Never, ever had watery coleslaw on any of my sandwiches (double egg & cheese, lots of hot sauce).

Agreed that the fries are undercooked to stand-alone standards, but I love them soft inside the sandwich. They're still toothsome and always hot. Anyway, who wastes the time and expense on Belgian frites quality when your gonna' smoosh the fries to hell in a sandwich?

Obviously I met hamburger not hot dog. Yeesh.

Mario Batali, with no known prodding from Primanti's, raves about the sandwiches every chance he gets. (recently in Esquire, although I can't find it in the archives.)

I always go for fried bologna and yellow mustard. For breakfast.

El Reyno was selling chorizo and scrambled egg breakfast tacos last weekend. Ole!

Yes to Lucy's bahn mi, a refreshing, exotic, mildly spicy, grilled porky treat (and quite the bargain). Yes, Penn Pilsner if the finest real beer in the region (along with their gold, dark and wheat beers), but a glass of Iron City (the only beer you chew before you swallow) does help a Primanti's down. A great cup of coffee brewed to order is available at the 21st street coffee shop on 21st and Smallman. The pastry shop next to La Prima offers wonderful canoli and sfoglietelle (sp?). Get the chocolate eruption too at Enrico's.

In my college days, I was a kielbasa and cheese kind o' guy. But upon returning after many years away and fine tuning my palate a bit, I'm a pastrami and cheese guy all of the way.

In my experience, I've never had undercooked fries, but one offs happen. The slaw, as was noted earlier, is dominated by vinegar and lots of pepper, and is not creamy in the least. I had a sandwich at one of the locations in the 'burbs and the slaw was almost sweet, which was unfortunate and I'm going to guess intentional.

Next time in Pittsburgh, make it a full morning in the Strip, starting with an espresso or cappuccino at La Primo Espresso (brush up on your Italian before you arrive), perhaps a biscotti at Enrico's Biscotti Company around the corner, a bloody Mary at Roland's (if not a fan, then they have a great beer selection); a starter sandwich, a banh mi that rivals, if not surpasses Primanti's, from Lucy's sidewalk cart; perhaps a fish taco from Penn Avenue Fish Company to cleanse your palate, followed by some more walking and browsing of cheese and bread and pasta at Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, capped off by a sandwich at Primanti's, chased by a PENN PILSNER, Pittsburgh's best beer by far (Iron City, while a sentimental favorite, is swill and undrinkable).

i love making a grilled tuna fish sandwich