GUIDE · PHILADELPHIA EATING
The Cheesesteak Question We Get Asked Every Day at Reading Terminal Market
We do not sell cheesesteaks. We get asked about them every single day, so here is the straight answer, and what we tell people who ask us.
Yes, you can get a cheesesteak at Reading Terminal Market. Two counters in the market’s own Eateries directory list one, and the building is open 8 AM to 6 PM every day. We do not sell them, so a Reading Terminal Market cheesesteak is a question we answer rather than a sandwich we make. Here is the straight answer.
Does Reading Terminal Market have cheesesteaks?
Yes. As of September 2026, two counters in the market’s Eateries directory list a cheesesteak: Uncle Gus’ Steaks and By George Pizza, Pasta & Cheesesteaks. The Eateries category runs to 34 merchants, so the two that list steaks are a small part of a long list, and most of the building is doing something else entirely.
We point at the directory rather than at our own memory for a reason. Reading Terminal Market is a building of independent small businesses, each one running its own kitchen and its own week. Counters open, counters close, and menus change without an announcement. The directory is the live answer to who serves what, so if you are reading this a year from now, check it before you set off.
The market itself is open 8 AM to 6 PM, Monday to Sunday, and individual merchant hours vary inside those doors. That last part matters more than visitors expect, and at ten past five it is the difference between finding what you came for and finding a closed shutter.
Where to find a Reading Terminal Market cheesesteak
Two counters, in two different parts of the floor. Before the details, the question that usually follows about a second later: which one is the best. We do not rank other counters, here or anywhere else on this site. What we can do is tell you who lists one, where they stand and what to check when you get there, which is the half of the answer you can actually act on.
Uncle Gus’ Steaks, map location A8. Per the market’s merchant directory, checked September 2026, it comes from the families behind Tommy DiNic’s, Angelo’s Pizzeria South Philly and Pearl’s Oyster Bar. The sandwich is listed as a 10-inch Philly cheesesteak with thinly sliced ribeye, melted Cooper Sharp cheese and a choice of toppings, on a seeded roll from Angelo’s Baking Company. The counter is named for Gaetano “Gus” Pollizzi, a cashier at the market for nearly 30 years. The directory gives the year opened as 2024, daily hours of 10 AM to 6 PM, and delivery through Grubhub.
By George Pizza, Pasta & Cheesesteaks, map location C2, year opened 1991. Per its directory page, checked September 2026, cheese steaks and chicken cheese steaks sit on a menu that is otherwise a catalog of Italian classics: brick oven pizza, stromboli, gourmet sandwiches, pasta, Caesar salad, eggplant parmesan, chicken parmesan and baked ziti. The page notes that a new deck oven means they have begun baking all their own fresh bread for sandwiches, and that they sell fresh and frozen pastas, sauces, pizza dough and fresh mozzarella to take home. Hours are listed there as Monday to Saturday, 8 AM to 6 PM.
Three things to check, in the order that will save you a walk. The hours on each directory page against the day you are standing there, because the two do not list the same week. The map location, because the floor is a grid and the two sit in different squares of it, A8 and C2. And the menu board when you arrive, which is always more current than anything written down. If some other counter is selling steaks the day you visit, that is between you and the counter: we will not name a merchant we cannot find on the market’s own list.
Why nearly every first-time visitor asks this
Because the cheesesteak is what the rest of the world knows Philadelphia for, and this is often the first food building a visitor walks into.
Most of the people who ask us are somewhere in their first ten minutes in the market. They have come in off Arch Street or up from Jefferson Station, and there are more signs in front of them than anyone can read at once. The question is not really about lunch yet. It is about orientation: they want to know whether the thing they came to Philadelphia to try is in this building, and once they know, they can decide what to do with the next hour.
It arrives in every language we hear at the counter, in more or less the same words every time. It is a fair question asked in a reasonable place, and the only wrong response to it is a shrug.
There is a version of the same question that comes from people with a lanyard on. If you are here for a convention, we wrote a separate guide to eating on a conference break, because the timing problem is a different one when your lunch is 45 minutes long.
What we tell people who ask us
We point them at the counters that have one, because that is what they asked for.
That is genuinely the first thing out of our mouths. You came for a cheesesteak, so go and get a cheesesteak. We will tell you roughly where A8 is, and if the line looks long we will tell you that too. Nobody who walks up with a question about someone else’s sandwich should have to sit through a pitch to get it answered.
If the answer is settled and the person is still standing there, which happens more often than you would think, then we say what we do have. Olympia Gyro is Greek. Two cones turn on the spits from the moment we open, one beef and lamb and one chicken, and a gyro is carved off when you order rather than before. A gyro sandwich is $13.00 on the autumn 2026 menu, and the easiest first order is the Olympia Special, set out below.
That is the whole offer, and it is not a correction to anything. You came for a cheesesteak, go and get one. If you are back in the building tomorrow, come and find the spit, and what we do serve is on the menu page.
Timing, queues and seating
A Reading Terminal Market lunch runs on a wave, and the wave is at noon.
Noon to one is the crush. That is our observation from behind a counter rather than a measurement, but it has held for years, and 11:30 or 1:15 is a different building. Lines also look worse than they are: a counter line twenty people deep is usually moving, because nobody at a market counter is waiting on a check or a table. Seating is shared and nothing is reserved, in Center Court and in the Rick Nichols Room, and you carry your tray to the first open seat you find. Most counters take cards and a few do not, so keep some cash on you.
All of that in full, hours, cash, parking and where to sit, lives in our first-visit guide. If you are in early instead, our breakfast guide covers what is open in the mornings.
What else the market is known for
A great deal more than one sandwich, and for a great deal longer.
The market opened in 1893, and its own history page puts the current count at more than 75 independent small businesses under one roof. That is the real reason to walk in: not any single counter, but the fact that six people with six different appetites can eat at one table without negotiating first. Pennsylvania Dutch merchants keep their own week and are closed on Sundays, which is worth knowing if Sunday is the only day you have.
Rather than relist the building here, read our guide to what to eat here, which walks the floor properly. If you eat plant-based, we wrote the honest version of that too. And the rest of our guides covers the questions we get asked most often at the counter, this one included.
Come say hello
The Voulgaridis family has run this counter since 1984, and pointing people at a cheesesteak is a normal part of the day rather than an imposition. If you ask us where to get one, you will get a straight answer and no sales pitch. If you come back for a gyro afterwards, we are glad, and if you do not, the answer was free either way. Our address and a map are on the contact page. Find us at the spit, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, every day.
Athens Voulgaridis
Athens is the second-generation owner of Olympia Gyro at Reading Terminal Market. The Voulgaridis family has run the counter since 1984.