Hougan’s Racing Sandwich Shop

Great Philly’s! I’ve had allot of Philly cheesesteaks and I’ve never been so addicted to one like the ones here! Ruth will make it however you. I wanted to change it up one day so I told her to add BBQ sauce while she cooked it. Oh man that was freaking amazing! A BBQ Philly! Plus for a few bucks she will give you a side of stuffing and gravy! It’s home made and the best thing is it is all year long! My girlfriend gets the Italian every time and I swear it is the fattest Italian sandwich I’ve seen come out of any sandwich shop I’ve been to. This is a must try place!

CLOSED!!!
It is close to work, so I went back had a hot ham and cheese it was quite good and the service was much better. Tried to go back again last week and it’s closed. No sign, emptied out.

I actually really like this place mostly for their salads! It is soooo hard to find a decent clean, fresh salad! I like their turkey salad! You get a ton of fresh lettuce two people can share it. The sandwich I like the best is the Burnout. I rarely eat red meat so this is a treat for me. My boyfriend originally got it, and after i tried it was convinced that it was wonderful. Love the dressing and cole slaw on it.
Its not much of a sit down type place, you can order for pick up and go, that would be your best bet. Who needs a dinning room when you have good food anyways. The staff is nice, they seem to remember me, even thought I have only been there twice. Its better than many sandwich shops I have been to!

Great food and great service ! My favorite sandwhich shop in town, having lived back east, it reminded me of a good east coast sub shop, great Philly cheese steak and Italian sub

Family owned and friendly. I recommend the Italian, ask for the special cherry hot peppers. They make it special. I tried the Philly too, but didn’t care for it. Stick with the cold cuts and you’ll be good. They were out of turkey on our visit, it is roasted in house so that may be a winner too. Will have to try it next time.

This is a small sub place «hole in wall» but I’m glad it’s hard to find, cause if everyone knew it would be crowded all the time. (More subs for me) anyway the owner is very hospitable always smiling, food fresh and hot never disappointing the place is always clean.
My favorite is the 12 inch Philly double everything American cheese. The cheese sticky gooey all over your face sub the only reason I don’t eat there more is my wife, «you’ve gotta watch your diet.» Yeah, yeah whatever, so when she ain’t home it’s Hougan’s time baby!

I really, really wanted to fall in love with this place. It’s a little family owned business tucked away behind an Auto Zone just east of Maryland Parkway on Silverado Ranch Blvd.
They do have a small dining area available, but we opted to take our sandwiches to go since we live right around the corner. I was really craving a roast beef cold sub (Mmmmmm, I love those!), but they were out. That sucks! How do you run out of Roast Beef? You’re a sub shop! Okay, no biggie. I than opted for the roasted turkey sub while my friend grabbed the hot pastrami. We each ordered the «regular» size and for just the two subs with tax it came to a little north of 17 bucks. A little on the pricey side considering that was with no drinks or chips.
But if its a great sub, I’m willing to pay for it! Problem is, it just wasn’t that great. The roasted turkey was okay. I got a few bites of the pastrami too and it was quite underwhelming. Almost kind of reminded me of Capriotti’s a bit, as they were heavy on the sauce (she did warn us they were gonna be sloppy! lol)
The service was very friendly and efficient, so certainly no complaints as far as that goes.
For all the glowing reviews on here, we were just a bit underwhelmed. It wasn’t horrible, but honestly I can’t see myself coming back here.
Meh. I’ve experienced better.
2 stars
UPDATE: How odd. About 10 minutes after posting this review I received a hateful message (directly replying to this review) from a Ms G (account created Sept. 2013… of course) telling me to grow up and «quit acting like a baby». Hmmm? Who might be motivated to respond so irrationally to my review? Perhaps the owner? I would hope not. Seems a bit hypocritical for some one who took the time to create that account and send the mail to tell anyone to «quit acting like a baby». I don’t know who it was, obviously, but one can only wonder. Oh, and BTW, she has 1 review ATM… a 5 star review for… you guessed it… this sub shop.
Second Update: I received a «compliment» from Ms.G. Please feel free to read it under my compliments. It really speaks for itself and there is absolutely no need to add to it. I wonder if other reviewers who gave 3 stars or less were subjected to this?

I came here on a recommendation from a friend.
The place is clean, staff is very friendly.
I guess i expected more.
The sandwich was ok. Nothing to write home about.
Sorry but I like Capriotti’s much better…

A project team member recommended we stop here for a cheesesteak before embarking on a long day of homework last Sunday. I have heard about it and read some reviews, but since I live in East Vegas, I didn’t really want to drive so far across the valley for a cheesesteak. That being said, I have to say:
–The service is great! The woman and little girl running the place were super friendly!
–My friend said she recognizes him and knows what he wants, all the time. That’s how you run a business!
–The double meat philly was a hot mess, and in a good way, freakin huge and oozing with molten cheese and TONS of steak, onions and mushrooms! And only TEN dollars for a DOUBLE meat 9′ incher.
–She made a mistake with my friends cheesesteak, as he is allergic to mushrooms, and she accidentally put them on. She was extremely apologetic, and made another one immediately!
–She gave him a 10 dollar gift card with his new sub. Now that’s how you treat your customers!
–The other subs looked incredible, like a turkey/​gravy/​stuffing grinder, a massive reuben sub sandwich, and a Philly chicken parm steak sub.
–I want to go there at least one more time before I move back to Florida in June because, even though I’m not a huge cheesesteak fan, I want to try the other sandwiches they offer, and they were absolutely great to us as customers.
So Unilocalers, I recommend giving Hougans a shot. It’s nothing fancy, but I don’t go to sub shops for the ambiance, I go for the sandos! Youse unduhstand me? LOL
I would give them 5 stars, but i’ve only been once, so they only get 4.
Joe

This sandwich shop reminds me a lot of Cappriotti’s, but more fun and friendlier service. The shop itself is cute, bright and cheery. I think the person who took our order owns it, and she was super nice. The very best thing about this place is their sandwiches. I LOVE their chicken philly with friend onions and sweet peppers and melted provolone. It is to die for.
I was in a huge hurry this time so I had to eat mine kind of cold and in the car as I was rushing from one spot to another, and yet it was still delicious. I actually can’t wait to get home and eat the other half.
The sandwiches are a tadbit expensive, but worth it if you are a lover of good sandwiches!

In a town of the mediocre sandwich, this is a good sandwich for vegas — but far from a great sandwich from SF, LA, Chicago or New York. Don’t get over hiped like I did reading reviews that give them 4 – 5 stars — I can only imagine, these reviewers have never had a really good sandwich.
Bread is usually just ok — they almost always taste a bit too old and dry. quality of meat and ingredients are good and service is ok. I can’t wait to find that great sandwich here in vegas… until then, I’ll keep dreaming

I ordered the Racer salad which is kinda like a antipasto salad. It was decent had better though. The ladies working were a little rude to me and my friend. When asked what were the specials or favorites she pretty much said everything. Then we ordered and once our food was ready she came around with to go bags and told us they were closing. (I’m like why didn’t you tell us that while we were ordering.) So with that said my experience here was so-​so. I would probably go to Capriotti’s over this place in the future.

A-​OK.
I ordered a turkey sandwich and got a roast beef sandwich. I also ordered no mayo and got mayo. It does appear to be a small family restaurant and my roast beef was ok but it just wasn’t close to what I ordered. Threw the other ½ of the sandwich away.

I am a sucker for the old «Best Philly Cheese Steak» sign that is invariably found in every city in America. Whenever I see it I cannot fight the urge to do my own xxxx vs. Philly taste test. Hougan’s is one of these places. They have a sign that sits on Silverado Ranch that begs you to walk in and give their steaks the old college try. After fighting the urge for a month, I finally caved in last night.
First, let me tell you about the food. I ordered the Pizza Steak (steak, provolone, pizza sauce) with onions, peppers and mushrooms. The first step to a great Philly cheese steak is the bread. A Philly steak will give your wrist a nice dousing of wiz but the bread will always hold firm no matter what toppings you decide to pack into it. This was not the case with Hougan’s. Immediately upon the unwrapping of the sammy I could see that the bottom of it was soaked almost to the point of turning it into to mush. This was def from the pizza sauce and might be limited to this particular sammy. Eventually towards the end of each half everything fell out of the bread due to the bottom deteriorating into mush. Luckily, I was eating at home so I had access to a roll of paper towels allowing me to pick up the slop and eat it like the savage I am. The second step to a good Philly steak is the meat. I believe they use a thin sliced rib eye in your typical Philly steak. Hougan’s meat looked like a couple notches above steak-​ums and on its own it tasted pretty bland. Lastly, the make-​or-​break moment for a good Philly steak, is that first taste of the cheese. Mmmmmm cheese. The cheese didn’t stand out as sharp provolone that punches you in the face like it does in Philly but it was plentiful and melted well. The other toppings were all up to par and I rather enjoyed the pizza sauce. That sauce could probably pass for a pizza sauce in Philly. All this being said I HOUSED the sammy and still enjoyed it despite its flaws.
Secondly, let’s talk service and décor. Hougan’s has a big menu on the wall with all of their offerings and you have to love places like this where they also have pictures of the menu items posted on the counter. Sure, I might be the only weirdo who enjoys average printouts of random sammy’s but so be it. The rest of the inside is filled with pictures of patrons and NASCAR memorabilia. Nothing too exciting or frightening in here, it looks like your average East Coast sub shop. The woman who took my order was extremely sweet and very good at explaining every item on the menu (she makes the meatballs herself, the turkey is fresh sliced etc.) and she even threw in a free soda because it was my first time there. Score.
Overall, Hougan’s was just OK for me. The sammy was good but it fell well below the authentic Philly steak standards. The service was lovely and Hougan’s will def get another visit this week to see if it deserves another star on the board.

The line at Subway was ridiculous since they are offering those $ 2 subs, so I decided to try this place located around the corner.
The sign outside the building says they are known for cheesesteaks. When I got inside, I browsed the menu. They have a good combination of hot and cold subs. I asked the nice little old lady what she suggested, and by now surprise she recommended the cheesesteak. It set me back $ 8.78 for a small sandwich.
The sandwich — I have been to Philly. While I did not go to Pat’s or Geno’s, I have had a genuine down home Philly steak sandwich equipped with the Wiz. This one was not quite there. In a game of baseball, it would make it to second base and strike out on the way to third base. It was just okay. The bread was somewhat fresh. Maybe baked a day or two prior. The meat was sliced deli-​style, which I am not a fan of.
I like Capriotti’s much better, and would recommend it for the steak sandwich. The service is really good though!

Out and about this afternoon, searching for a good and different sandwich. Then my husband remembered this place and we were close by so we stopped in. It’s small with very limited seating, but with friendly staff/​cook and laid back approach to it. Of course there is the race theme everywhere, and a small flat screen with what else but racing on.
I ordered the pastrami sandwich and it was really good! The bread was soft but with a crispy crust, the pastrami was thinly sliced and then heated on the grill. The runny mustard sauce was slightly spicy with a little bit of sweetness and together, made for a great sandwich.

This is one my favorite places in Vegas for a Philly cheesesteak. And the service is excellent.
The bread is just right and the meat has a decent flavor. Though, I must say that the standard Philly is not as good as when you get it with hot peppers and pepperjack cheese. That just makes the flavors explode and gives you just the right amount of spiciness. In fact, that really is the only way to go here. And it has just the right amount of greasiness. It’s a great sandwich.
The downsides are that they don’t have Whiz as a cheese option and they don’t really offer any sides (i.e. fries), though they do have a decent selection of chips.
When I have a Philly craving and don’t feel like venturing outside of my neighborhood, this is where I go.

I came back in wanting that delicious Italian Combo… but the picture of that Meatball sandwich was calling out to me DEVOUR me. It could’ve used a sprinkling of parmesan cheese on top but the seasoned balls were ginormous and had lots of ooey gooey melty provoloney cheesiness on a soft roll.
I’m telling you if I run into anybody again who tells me OOH… that Subway makes the best meatball sandwich, I’m going to have slap them upside the head with one of these bad boys. With that said, as much as I enjoyed it wasn’t enough to surpass that Italian Combo, which is still my 5 star winner. Next on my to do list is the Slick Track Sandwich!

After reading all of the great reviews of this place, I was really really hoping for a great sandwich experience. I don’t live anywhere near this place but happened to be in the neighborhood yesterday, so I decided to make a stop here.
I ordered a Regular Sized (9″) Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich with Provolone & Peppers.
The woman working there was very nice and friendly. The other customers in the joint appeared to be regulars because she knew them by name and already knew what a few of them wanted… very impressive. You don’t find service like that too often in Vegas.
My sandwich was very fresh & hot and looked awesome. However, in the taste department it fell flat for me. I thought the Beef was a little bland… it didn’t have that distinctive taste that I expect from a Steak Sandwich. I also thought it could have used more Cheese as I could barely taste the Provolone. The Peppers were good… although, I didn’t know you had the option to order Sweet or Hot Peppers until I overheard other people asking for them… wish I would have known, I would have ordered Hot… to be fair, it’s printed on the menu on the wall… but I overlooked it as I was trying to read everything and figure out what to order before someone else came in and cut in front of me.
Overall, it was a pleasant experience and even though the Steak Sandwich didn’t do it for me, I will give this place another try the next time I’m in the area so I can try the Pastrami & Swiss Burger and their Italian Sandwich. Until then, it gets 3 Stars in my book.

Sandwiches are good, not great, and prices are a li’l on the high side.
Extra points for being family owned and having better service than Capriotti’s.
Minus a point for the strict rules on the punch cards.