Syracuse Sandwich: Zebb's Rib Eye Sandwich

Who: Zebb's What: Rib Eye
Where: Kmart Plaza, Mattydale Phone: 455-5131 Website: Zebbs
Parking: Shared lots Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No

     Christine and I hadn’t seen my dad in a few weeks so we were happy to hear from him late Friday night. We both had to work Saturday so we decided to meet up for dinner at Zebb’s. Zebb’s has a little bit if everything and we hadn’t been in a while so we thought this would be a good choice. If you remember, about 6 months back I had an awesome pastrami sandwich from Zebb’s so I was excited to back and see what else they had to offer. Last week was the final week of their summer menu which was dubbed “Backyard BBQ”. The waitress said if there was anything that caught your eye to order it because they may never have it again. Well something did catch my eye, the rib eye steak sandwich. There were a few regular menu items I wanted to try but didn’t want to let this one get away if it turned out to be any good. Christine went with her regular order of the 3D BLT while my dad went with the philly cheesesteak. We had all opted for sandwiches thinking they would be great but we were sadly disappointed.

     Our food arrived just after we finished our appetizer, which looking back, I’m glad we ordered because I didn’t finish my sandwich. Christine’s BLT was so big I couldn’t even have gotten my mouth around it so she had to settle for dismantling it and eating it in sections. I would later find out that most of the bacon was fatty, the lettuce and tomatoes not fresh, and the bread hard but not toasted. My dad’s cheesesteak looked pretty good and he didn’t complain about it but he didn’t finish it either which leads me to believe that it didn’t taste very good.

     My sandwich was tiny to begin with but since it came with fries and macaroni salad I wasn’t going to complain as long as it tasted good. Unfortunately it did not taste very good to the point I stopped eating it after the first half. The steak came with green peppers and onions on top along with some provolone cheese, it reminded me of the cheesesteak sitting across from me. The steak was a better grade of meat so I guess I was to expect less. I ordered it medium and because the meat wasn’t pounded evenly, some of it came medium rare. This was just the first of many problems. The steak wasn’t seasoned at all so I found myself dashing it with salt and pepper to give it something. The peppers and onions were sautéed but barely as they still had quite a bit of crunch to them. The provolone was melted but added little to this already sad sandwich. Thank God their fries are amazing and that the macaroni salad is pretty good.

Rating: Edible – The closest thing to garbage I’ve eaten since starting this blog.