My friend and I were seated at our table and the waitress on 11/27/22 at 445 pm and she walked by our table at least 5 times and never acknowledged our presence. The table adjacent to us were seated received their meal and the bill. As of yet we were still not acknowledged there were just the TWO tables to wait on. As a long time loyal customer for years it's unconscionable. We finally got up and left read more

Cheesesteak was good. Large was too big for me, it was ginormous. So bring an appetite or expect leftovers. I only wish there was more cheese on the steak, I could barely taste it. read more

Just ordered a few steaks through Seamless. The food was delivered on time however for being known for their steaks, why were the fries considerably better than the steaks?! I ordered a "Smiths Steak". No other choices for steaks and the only two options were cheese and mushrooms. I selected both. The steak I received had no sauce, no onions and if it weren't for some of the cheese being visible across the top, I'd swear they missed that too. The mushrooms were placed on top and not mixed in with the meat - who does that?! Speaking of the meat; it was way, way dry! Sauce probably would've helped but nope, not here! I could've had a better steak from a 3rd rate pizza shop. I've been going to Smiths for decades and this was beyond disappointing. Why would I ever take a chance again? read more

Honestly, I haven't been there since I lived next to the elementary in the early mid nineties. I loved the fish sub so much I am still thinking of it and asking you good Pennsylvanians to get me a good food porn shot of the fish sub. Please! read more

Very disappointing cheesesteak. The meat was so dry and crumbly (almost like hamburger) it wouldn't even stay in the bread. The meat wasn't hot and the bread was not warm. read more

Ordered a large chicken cheese steak sub with onions and banana peppers to go. When I got home the roll was so soggy you could not hold the sub. Opened it up to look inside there was hardly any meat. The ratio was about 75% onion to 25% meat. The large sub had 4 pepper rings on the whole sandwich. The food was tasteless. Well honestly the only taste was onions. Use to order out quite often from here. Over the last 2 years the quality of the food has gone down hill. Unless I hear of improvement I will not be back! read more

The husband and I get a large sub-onions and lettuce on the side- and a large cheesesteak no onions, extra cheese and light sauce. It seems choosing those options is the way to go. Both are so good with out all the onions! The rolls are key! We only ever do take out and they are always busy. Good food for a good price. read more

Ok, a bar that serves food, notably, cheese steaks and subs. Not real pretty, kinda old and maybe dirty looking. This is not a place to take someone to impress them with the ambiance -- this is a place for cheesesteak lovers, who want to wash the juicy, sloppy, overfilled sandwich with a pitcher of good beer. This is a local hangout, a very mixed crowd, bar room up front, dining room in back. Complete with 50 yr old formica tables and some booths. Nothing fancy. You will see some folks in dirty t-shirts, work boots, maybe an ass crack hanging out, some beer bellies, some rough language, a lot of local color. Columbia, PA is a working man's town. No "New York City" stuff here. BUT the cheese steaks are worth the trip. Take it from me, a guy who loves good barbecue, this is a place that many people drive a fair distance to eat the food. read more

Didn't actually get to eat. Walked in for a cheese steak takeout. Three people hanging over their counter. Looks like they make one sandwich at a time. After so many min standing there with no one to even acknowledge us we just walked out. Place was dirty so we might have dodged a bullet here read more

Great food and service!! We eat at Smith's every time we are in town! Wish we had a Smith's Hotel in Arizona!!

Was so excited to take an out of town family member for a cheesesteak and was SO disappointed!!!!! The service was amazing, we had the best waitress. Was really disappointed with the cheesesteaks though. Not sure what happened, they used to be delicious!!!! read more

Smith's Hotel - Hotels Near Me - Columbia, Pennsylvania

Best turkey subs on the planet. Cheesesteaks not so much, more like an onion sandwich.

so. a few months ago i swore off smith's because of what i perceived to be a trend of declining portion sizes. like a bad addiction my DH and i were unable to stay away for very long. in the past few times that we've been there and gotten take out the portion sizes seem to be back to their normal medium amount. service has ranged from ok to ok (nothing horrible, nothing great) and orders have actually been accurate. not sure if they got new staff or what. moral of the story: smith's is still your place for cheap and tasty cheesesteaks. read more

Smith's Hotel - Portions here have gotten really skimpy...lg Italian sub with one very thin slice of ham and salami...won't be coming back!! - Hotels Near Me - Columbia, Pennsylvania

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My parents have been going there for over 30 years. It was my grandmas favorite place, I have a lot of memories of this place. We always used to stop in on our way to grandmas and bring them to her. They have some cool old style bottled sodas. They have the best cheese steaks. You can get sauce, grilled onions, and peppers. Its stayed the same over all these years. read more

Probably one of the worst places I have ate at. Food came with a bug in it and the management refused to make us a new philly cheese steak.

They got to change the oil the food was gross the chicken sub left a nasty taste in my mouth

Cheesesteak had no flavor I understand it was a busy Saturday but I would think waiting 10-15mins it would be fresh cheesesteak. People around the area have highly recommended this place but not me I will not be back. read more

Ate here before and had good food, but tonight we called in an order for takeout, had unfriendly service picking it up, took our food to eat it, as I was eating my cheese steak, I bit into something hard, chipped my tooth and thought it would have been some kind of bone piece or something, so I spit the food in my mouth out to find a screw in my food. This was followed by another little small piece of metal. I called the restaurant and was really friendly and told them what happened, and not to worry about me but to check on everything so they could make sure it doesn't happen again. They persons response was very unfriendly and didn't apologize for the problem at all. Very poor customer service and I have a chipped tooth from a screw that was in my food, I will attach the photo. read more

Smith's Hotel - a bottle of beer left on the bed - Hotels Near Me - Columbia, Pennsylvania

Huge disappointment, this used to be one of my family's favorite places to get steak sandwiches. Now the only good thing about this place is the speed of service. Zero flavor, they're using onions as filler, the rolls were so soggy by the time we got home I had to eat mine with a fork bc it was falling apart. Really hope they turn it around and get back to being great. read more

Rick H's description of Smith's may be a bit much but it is pretty close. The only thing he neglected to mention was the deck. The deck is a nice place to go on a summer evening, sit outside, have a couple beers and the best cheese steak for miles around. No need to get dressed up, jeans shorts and tees shirt are the attire of the day. I cannot imagine eating something other than a steak; it is one of the few places I do not need to look at a menu. If you go and get something other than the steak it is your loss. If there is any doubts just look in the kitchen window and see the huge mound of chopped steak, not minute steak, on the grill. read more

If anyone is new to this area (South Central Pa) and requests a good cheesesteak or cheeseburger sub, I steer them to Smith's Hotel. I just remind them when they are coming into Columbia to keep watching for the little sign on the building. If not, they will drive right past it. I also remind them to call their order ahead on weekends or be prepared to wait in the side take out area (...and it can get cramped!). Smitty's is a once in a while treat that I will drive the distance to pick up. The bad part is driving home and the smell of damn good unhealthy subs fills the car. ("Mmm....So hungry! Must hurry home and dive in!") I haven't had anything bad yet from Smith's Hotel. Until then..........Excellent cheesesteaks and subs. read more

I have been eating Smith's Italian subs for 28 years. They were the gold standard with great bread and amazing onions. However, for the last year we have been getting subs that are somehow drenched with water. I'm not sure if it is the lettuce, the onions or what, but when we get home 7 minutes after picking them up the water is seeping through the wrappers. The result is that the sub has soggy inedible ends. YUCK! A completely ruined sub and a real disappointment. I know they are busy but I think it's a matter of lack of training for the young staff and a sign of bad management. I truly hope they can get back to the quality they used to have. Right now they are running about 50/50 chances that they get your order right and if they do get it right it might be soggy. read more

Yuck!!!!! Haven't had Smith's forever. I was talked into it and I threw away the worst driest steak sandwich I ever had. Seriously, NO juiciness at all!!! Not even edible. I even tried to spruce it up but no luck!! Also, the fries were cold and over cooked. Go somewhere else. This place has lost its touch. By the way the sandwich in the picture is a Cuban from Atlanta. Not anything from Smith's. read more

Smitty's is a perfect sandwich shop. Don't be fooled by the Smith's Hotel sign in front, I don't think that there is really a hotel at all. I think that the front is a bar and the back is the sandwich shop (that sells beer too). Great subs - cheesesteak, tuna, whatever, they got it. Really out of the way and hard to find to an outsider, but well worth the effort. Sublime subs. read more

Have to agree with the other 2 star reviewers. BLAND. Cheese steaks aren't rocket science. Salt, pepper, and some Italian seasoning is needed. The sauce is out of a can, and a soggy mess when we got home.... I'll make the longer drive to the 'Vous next time. read more

Karen, ordered the chicken salad, threw up and stayed in the bathroom all night. Thanks for the food poisoning! Also the warm beer in the plastic mugs, NICE TOUCH! Never again! read more

over cooked steak, over cooked white onions with little flavor and no zing, too many onions on subs, paper thin tomatoe slices, no lettuce on subs, meat disapearing from subs, steaks wet but not from too much sauce, and not enough meat on them either....so pretty much, Columbia NEEDS a new sub and steak shop....really badly.... this place is sooo over rated for years, and I live here, Thanxx....??? I tell it like it is...and I am not alone in this thought....lots of haters out there...remake the food ! read more

Cool bar, nice staff, OK beer selection, great subs & steaks. I like the atmosphere and the crowd is cool, nice mix of people. The one huge downfall to Smith's; they do not take Credit or Bank Cards. That's a pretty big deal these days. read more

Ok first the cheesesteak. No seasoning whatsoever. Then, the salad we got had maybe a spoons worth of dressing. What's worse is the Italian hoagie. One skimpy piece of ham and salami. When I say skimpy I mean extremely thing like paper. The Blt bacon is not fresh. It was the precooked bacon that can be stored on the self. Horrible. read more

Bring cash as that's the only form of payment they accept. Food is ridiculously cheap and good . They have an outside seating area which is wonderful in the summertime. Not a high class place but it's great for food and beer . read more

Don't get what the fuss is over. They have large sandwiches that aren't that tasteful. Still scratching my head why people loves this place so much. Subway is down the road and is cheaper and better read more

Steak sandwiches and subs are good. But, you can't depend on the kids taking orders to get it right. In our experience, we got exactly what we ordered approximately 50% of the time. The food is good. But there are other businesses with good food that also care about pleasing their customers- we stopped going there. read more

Yupper very fantastic streak. Ull just have to put up with the young n dumb or if ur lucky mean n slow service. Guess that why I always been afraid to order out front. Cuz I really like this place n don't wanda get tramatized more. read more

I lived in NY my whole life and now currently live in Lancaster. Smiths is a great place for a great cheese steak and also a great place to hang out on the patio when there is great weather, I would suggest checking it out. read more

I was told by a local Colombian that Joe's is better than Smith's. I finally had a Joe's steak today. Very good and the people were nice. I think they use a different cheese that was better than Smith's. But Smith's sauce and toll were better and the steak was bigger! I vote for Smith's, because it is not ambiance and friendly conversation I am after. They are both really good though. read more

Read a review that said the portion sizes were smaller and was very nervous to go back since this has been a fave of mine for years. It was STILL ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! The sizes were the same...doesn't really seem like anything has changed. Great hole in the wall joint for sloppy delicious cheese steaks and cheap cold beer. read more

I love this place! Turkey subs are fabulous too! Can't beat the price for the amount of food you get.

If you find yourself in Columbia, PA, you do not have to travel to South Philly for a great cheesesteak. Smith's Hotel had fast service and a SUPER large cheesesteak that extended beyond the width of the plate, on both sides. This wonderful staple of bars across the country is not just massive in size but packs large amounts of flavor into each bite. Don't be fooled by its rugged exterior, this establishment will treat you right while feeding your appetite. Ample parking behind the establishment. Enjoy. read more

Your review helps others learn about great local businesses. Please don't review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you're connected in any way to the owner or employees. John Bair Columbus, OH Whenever I'm in Columbia, the only place to go for a steak sandwich, is Smiths! We travel back home to Columbia several times each year, and wouldn't think of going anywhere else! Great place to meet friends and family. read more

Once what I thought was an ok cheese steak this side of Philly but terrible customer service from the manager will keep me away for ever as long as she is there. read more