Pizza Steak and Pizza Cheeseburger both do the exact same trick: swap a sandwich’s usual cheese and toppings for mozzarella and marinara, essentially turning it into a pizza in sandwich form. One does it to a cheesesteak. The other does it to a burger.
Here’s how the identical flavor concept plays out differently across two different bases, what the $2.25 price gap between them actually reflects, and how to decide which format you want.
Our complete cheesesteak guide and complete burger guide each cover this item briefly on their own. This is the first piece that puts them directly side by side.
Pizza Steak vs. Pizza Cheeseburger at a Glance
| Pizza Steak | Pizza Cheeseburger | |
|---|---|---|
| Base | Griddled chopped steak | Beef patty |
| Bread | Long roll | Round bun |
| Topping | Mozzarella & marinara | Mozzarella & marinara |
| Price | $9.75 | $7.50 |
Pizza Steak: The Cheesesteak Version
The Pizza Steak takes our griddled chopped steak and tops it with mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce instead of the usual cheesesteak toppings. It’s a cheesesteak that eats like a pizza slice folded into a roll.
The chopped, griddled steak underneath is what makes this version different from the burger one, beyond just the bread. Thin-sliced steak spreads loosely through the roll, so the marinara and mozzarella work their way into the meat itself rather than sitting cleanly on top of a single patty.
Pizza Cheeseburger: The Burger Version
The Pizza Cheeseburger takes the same idea — mozzarella and marinara replacing the usual toppings — and applies it to a beef patty on a round bun instead of chopped steak on a long roll.
Here the mozzarella and marinara sit on top of one solid patty rather than blending into loose, chopped meat. Every bite gets a consistent ratio of beef, cheese, and sauce, since the patty holds together as a single piece the way the steak doesn’t.
Same Two Toppings, Two Different Textures
Mozzarella and marinara are identical on both — same cheese, same sauce, same core idea. What changes entirely is how that topping interacts with what’s underneath it.
On the Pizza Steak, the sauce and cheese mix into the chopped meat throughout the roll, so the pizza flavor is distributed evenly in every bite. On the Pizza Cheeseburger, the same two ingredients sit as a distinct layer on top of the patty, closer to how they’d sit on an actual slice of pizza. If you want the more literal pizza-slice experience, the burger version is structurally closer to it.
Bread matters too. A long roll holds loose, chopped filling well but can eat messier with a wetter topping like marinara. A round bun contains the patty and toppings more predictably, since everything is stacked rather than mixed in.
Portion shape plays into this as well. A cheesesteak roll is built to be eaten in bites along its length, so the marinara has more surface area to travel across as you eat. A burger is eaten more or less the same way through its whole diameter each bite, so the sauce-to-bread ratio stays more consistent from the first bite to the last.
Ordering for a Group Craving Pizza Flavor
If you’re feeding people who all want that pizza taste but can’t agree on format, ordering one of each covers both camps without anyone settling. Since the topping is identical, nobody ends up with a genuinely worse version — just a different base underneath the same flavor.
It’s also a useful pair to know about if you’re trying to decide between ordering an actual pizza slice and a sandwich on a night when you’re craving pizza flavor but want something handheld instead. Either of these solves that craving without committing to a full pie.
Why Pizza Steak Costs More
Pizza Steak is $9.75; Pizza Cheeseburger is $7.50 — a $2.25 gap between two sandwiches using the identical topping combination. Since mozzarella and marinara cost the same regardless of which base they go on, that difference comes entirely from the base itself: griddled steak versus a beef patty, and a long roll versus a bun.
That’s consistent with how the rest of each category is priced on our menu. Every cheesesteak costs more than its closest burger equivalent, largely because chopped, griddled steak is a more involved preparation than a formed patty. Pizza Steak and Pizza Cheeseburger just make that pattern easier to see, since the topping itself is identical and isolates the base as the only real cost driver.
Pros and Cons of Each
| Sandwich | Best For | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Pizza Steak | Pizza flavor mixed through chopped steak | Costs $2.25 more |
| Pizza Cheeseburger | Pizza flavor layered on a single patty, lower price | Less blended, more separated layers |
Which One Should You Order?
If you want the pizza flavor worked all the way through the meat, in a long-roll format, order Pizza Steak. If you want it layered on top of a single patty in a more traditional burger shape, and don’t mind spending less to get it, order Pizza Cheeseburger.
If you’re genuinely torn, think about which format you already prefer on a normal night. If you usually reach for a cheesesteak over a burger, Pizza Steak will feel like the more natural pizza-flavored version. If burgers are your default order, Pizza Cheeseburger delivers the same idea without asking you to switch formats.
Our Steak Calzone and Steak Stromboli take steak and mozzarella in yet another direction — baked into pizza dough instead of a roll or bun. See our complete calzones & stromboli guide for that version of the same idea.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What’s the difference between Pizza Steak and Pizza Cheeseburger?
- Both use mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce. Pizza Steak puts it on griddled chopped steak in a long roll; Pizza Cheeseburger puts it on a beef patty in a round bun.
- Why does Pizza Steak cost more than Pizza Cheeseburger?
- The $2.25 difference comes from the base, not the topping — griddled chopped steak costs more to prepare than a formed beef patty, the same pattern seen across our cheesesteak and burger menus generally.
- Do Pizza Steak and Pizza Cheeseburger taste the same?
- They share the same core flavor from the mozzarella and marinara, but the texture differs — the topping mixes into the chopped steak on one, and sits as a distinct layer on the patty on the other.
- Is there a version of this same idea on a calzone or stromboli?
- Yes — our Steak Calzone and Steak Stromboli use steak and mozzarella cheese baked into pizza dough instead of a roll or bun.
- Which one is closer to an actual slice of pizza?
- Pizza Cheeseburger, since the mozzarella and marinara sit on top of a single patty rather than mixing into chopped meat, closer to how toppings sit on a pizza slice.
- Can I order both to share with a group?
- Yes — since both use the identical mozzarella and marinara topping, ordering one of each covers anyone craving pizza flavor regardless of whether they prefer a cheesesteak or a burger format.
Same pizza flavor, two different sandwiches.