Ditkas Chicago Style Italian Beef and Gravy -- 6 per case.

Moved from Chicago to Phoenix and found this product to satisfy our taste for a good Italian beef. Many locals pretend to offer but none deliver the flavors. We use the local grocers for their bake your own bread products and we are pretty satisfied with the results.

Great taste, great value...about four sandwiches per package...and you get SIX packages. Just defrost and heat on the stove. A taste of home.

You get very little beef. Enough for two good size sandwiches. It says makes five sandwiches, but I made four small 4" sandwiches, and nothing was left. Not what you would expect from a Chicago sandwich. One pound of beef from a Chicago sandwich shop (purchased while visiting) made four decent sandwiches. They don't list the weight of/the amount of actual beef anywhere that I have seen, and I looked. If they put in one pound of beef, it would be a good deal for me and they could still make a profit. I would think putting Ditka's picture on it, it would be a better deal. I doubt that I buy again, until they put in a full one pound of beef in it.

Skip to the last paragraph for a little trick to make this go further.The reason I gave 4 stars is because I agree with other reviewers that the amount of actual beef is definitely not 5 sandwiches, more like 2 real sandwiches or 3 ok sized sandwiches, so the price is high with that taken into account.The flavor of the gravy/juice is excellent. I actually compared it side by side against the vienna brand kit when I bought one of each at Jewel back when I still lived in Chicago, and this one has a better flavor for sure. I actually have been searching for just the Ditka gravy/juice (au jus if that's what you want to call it), but I guess they don't sell just the juice unfortunately.I keep all the leftover juice from all the containers when the beef is gone, and then I go and and buy a few pounds of thin sliced roast beef for a decent price at Publix. With this beef and the leftover juice I'm able to make quite a few more sandwiches, and honestly the beef is fresher and better IMO. I'm not a "dipped" beef sandwich guy. I typically add the beef straight from the pot and that is enough for me, however sometimes I might spoon on a little more juice. So, while this definitely lacks in meat quantity, you can still buy some beef locally and use the leftover juice to get more sandwiches out of it. One last important thing is sourcing some good bread and some Marconi (or Ditka, Vienna or whatever brand) giardiniera.

Going through the first container and trying it for the first time, I was like "yeah, this ain't no Portillo's" but my daughter and I still finished it.Going through the 2nd container several days later, I was like "yeah, this still ain't Portillo's"....Going through the 3rd container a few more days later, I was like "yeah, this actually isn't too bad. The broth was slowly growing on me"....Going through the 4th container the following week, I was like "yeah, this broth is actually pretty damn good!"Going through the 5th container, we absolutely smashed it...Going through the 6th container, again we devoured it and I went through the trouble of getting some extra french bread so I could dip it in the au jus for some additional meals.Bought Portillo's (not fresh but frozen from online) and it was still good but I wished I had another container of the Ditka's to follow up with.Both brands are obviously good even though their approach in the au jus / gravy is different...For the price though, you can't beat the Ditka's version...

Could be less expensive

Being from Chicago, we anticipated the arrival of this beef, but was totally disappointed once we tried it. The packaging was excellent, shipped using dry ice. So far, we only tried one container 36oz (2.25lbs) and it had enough sliced beef for only two normal sized sandwiches (not 5 as noted on container) that were a lot smaller than the actual photo on the container. The beef was sliced thin and was tender, but tasteless. The abundant amount of gravy was supposed to be Italian (Chicago Style), but it was bland flavorless. We added some basil, oregano, thyme, and crush red peppers to make it correct (Chicago style). At approximately $20.00 per container, try another brand.

Great. Thought I was eating at one of my favorite Illinois taverns.