Marky’s BBQ

First off I’m disappointed that I have to give this place 2 stars. If it wasn’t for the friendly staff then I might of gave it 1 star.
At the previous location I gave it 5 stars. But things were different back then when the owner was around more often. Seems like most new food places start off very well and over time after getting established their quality goes down. I don’t know why that happens.
Unfortunately my last few visits here were just average and poor. The ribs have been pretty dry. Especially when you charge a decent price for your product you should have consistency in quality control.
But tonight did it for me. Got the pulled pork sandwich and it killed me. By the time I got it home, the bun was completely soaked in oil. When u squeeze the buns oil just poured out of the pork. The wrapping was soaked, and eventually made its way to the brown paper bag. I can’t blame the owner for this, but probably the chefs fault. I’d assume I was given the bottom of the pot full of oil. Like seriously? How do you sell this to customers? Just throw it away and say no more pulled pork tonight. Like wtf!!!
Anyways… Time to move on.

Stumbled across this place randomly trying to find some late night grub and happened in to Markys. SUPER friendly and personable staff and the food was super tasty! (I had the BBQ chicken sandwich and girlfriend had the chicken poutine). Will come back!

My best friend and I were craving ribs for quite sometime and she had suggested this place. We opted for delivery. Not only did they kindly deliver to us a bit before delivering hours but they also came the extra km outside the delivering area. We now are aware for the future because we will be going back!
Full rack with sauce hit the spot for us two. I sucked the bones dry and the sauce wasn’t too mild and not too spicy! Just right. And I’m not a fan of spicy. I would recommend this place to anyone looking for some good food!

I had Marky’s delivered last night through Just Eat and it was at my house in about 30 minutes. This was my first time trying Marky’s and am I ever glad they are in my neighbourhood, I’ll definitely be ordering again.
I ordered the The Sampler (½ rack of pork ribs, ½ lbs of chicken wings, ¼ lbs each of beef brisket & pulled pork, 1 regular baked beans, regular coleslaw, 2 biscuits
& 2 signature sauces. CAD $ 45.50). All of the above was well cooked, seasoned and tasted delicious. Overall I would agree that this is enough food for 2 — 3 people. I do wish there was a bit more sauce, one more container would have been enough for me.
My only complaint is that they don’t have cornbread on the menu.

I’m a big BBQ eater, having sampled some of America’s finest BBQ houses such as Gorilla and Bludso’s in the US. I’d say Canada is catching up slowly, but BBQ is probably one of the hardest and most competitive restaurants in the US and we should feel the same about it up north! Not everyone can make finger licking ribs or zesty brisket that easily!
I was recommended by some co-​workers to try Marky’s out, so we came here for lunch, expecting to do little or no work afterwards due to meat sweats. We ordered the Ultimate family meal, along with extra sides, poutine and meat. Yes extra meat on top of the meat. To put it frank, this place was ok. The BBQ platters took a little while to come out and when they did the portions were a lot smaller than we expected. Between the 6 of us, we needed to make a couple more orders of other things to fill our enormous appetites. Here is the lowdown on the meat: Ribs were a bit dry, chicken was a bit dry, brisket was not soft and did not have those amazing fatty pieces, pulled pork needed flavor, sausage was fairly salty and I’ve definitely had better wings. The sides were alright as well, typical beans and slaw along with frozen fries. The main thing that made me drop a 2 instead of a 3 star, was our food was served cold. Cold BBQ! I know we are Canadians, but BBQ should be served HOT! I expect to see my ribs smoking and brisket bubbling in fat.
Needless to say I’ve tried much better places for my BBQ fix. The staff however were very polite and service was on the up side of things. Also, the place looked great inside, the décor and table set ups were nice, and really bring an outdoor BBQ cookout feel. Unfortunately though, the food didn’t follow suit. You might want to try Barque or Royal Meats for some Q in the 6.

Dropped into Marky’s for lunch today as we had heard about the place but had never been. We had the chicken and rib combo to share and found the portion size perfect. Both the wings (you can do wings or chicken) AND the ribs were very tasty with a lovely smokey flavour. We had the spicy BBQ sauce with our meal and it was deelish! The baked beans were awesome, coleslaw was ok and the cheese biscuit perfect! The service was attentive and very friendly and all in all, we would definitely go back. The individual dishes for eating are paper lined plastic baskets… not a big fan. I prefer to eat on a plate when eating in but that’s personal preference. All in all… nice spot and awesome food!!! Good job Marky!!!

I have been to Marky’s twice now. I’m a bit split on whether this is a 3-​star review (A-​OK is still good) or four stars. You’ll see from my other reviews that I eat BBQ across North America, so my sample size for comparison is pretty decent.
I was a huge fan of Marky’s last venture. To me, the holy grail of BBQ is brisket and they nailed it. I was chomping at the bit to try Marky’s. First the good: It’s thickly cut and has good fat. I hate lean brisket; it’s just not the right way to eat it. The smoke is decent. I found in both my trips that the rub is too salty and if you get more than a bit in a bite it really hits hard. The solution is pretty simple: They should offer chopped brisket. I tried this recently in Atlanta and can say it is the correct way to eat brisket. It distributes the fat and seasoning throughout, making the whole thing so much better. I felt that Marky’s old brisket was the best in Toronto and I think that the new brisket could make it.
The wings are clear winners. Again, had these on both visits. My 8-​year-​old girls wolfed them down. They loved them. Smoked wings are really the way to go and Marky’s does a good job. The only improvement they could add is a way to crisp up the outside a bit more without losing moisture.
The ribs (visit #1 only) were very good. I plan on trying those again in the future. They weren’t fall-​off-​the-​bone (as they should not be) but had good pull and good smoke. I recall ordering them dry, but didn’t really find them truly «dry». Maybe it’s because I did takeout on visit #1.
One criticism is the sauces. I have never been to a BBQ joint where you need to spend $ 1 per dose of sauce. Here, you seem to get one free sauce dose with each meat. That may be enough if you’re not a sauce-​o-​holic, but you’re limited to that choice. I like it when there is a variety of squeeze bottles on the table. I understand that the mayo-​based sauces can’t be like that, so make them special orders.
Marky hasn’t been open that long so I look forward to a fine tuning of the recipes based on feedback. I still do believe that it’s one of the better BBQ spots in the city and well worth a visit.

Why only 4 stars you ask? They just (sort of) re-​opened on Jane St and they will only get better! If you like Beef Brisket you will really enjoy the smokiness of theirs. Enjoy the sandwich along with a side of slaw or Mac & Cheese and wash it down with a huge selection of juices, sodas, beer or water, whatever your tastebuds want. It’s not a large establishment but there is plenty of room to sit for a quick lunch or dinner. No rush relax and enjoy. They have takeout too so bring some home, tastes just as good there too!

I recently went and tried a sampling platter. Most of the items were great. I highly recommend the ribs (I wonder what was in the rub… they were delicious), the wings, baked beans, cheddar biscuits, sausage, and brisket. The pulled pork was a bit bland, particularly in light of the sparse portion of sauce (see below). The coleslaw was a bit of a miss – too much vinegar with few other flavours to balance it out.
My biggest complaint about the food related to the BBQ sauce, which is obviously essential for any BBQ joint. With the platters, you get two sauces, and we chose mustard and spicy BBQ. Two small BBQ sauces for an entire platter of meat is not sufficient. Furthermore, the spicy sauce was not spicy and the mustard sauce was just plain mustard (which was annoying because I had specifically asked if it was «a mustard based BBQ sauce»). Who wants to put straight mustard on wings or brisket?
My other complaints don’t relate to the food. First, the service was painfully slow. Second, the atmosphere is totally depressing. There is no natural lighting in the back seating area and no décor whatsoever. I’ve eaten in cafeterias with more ambiance.

Really enjoyed dinner at Marky’s and I“m very happy to have them in the neighbourhood!
The Father’s Day special was a good value — Full rack of ribs, pint of beer, and choice of beans, slaw or fries for $ 25. We also ordered the sampler which is a great opportunity to try a number of things on the menu. The ribs and wings were tasty. Wings were meaty, though I’d have preferred them cooked just a little more so the skin was a bit more crisp. Loved the beans, slaw, fries and dips (the aioli was great!)
Service was decent — though I’d think Marky would do well if he checked in on the table himself just to say hello, see how everyone is doing, and get his face out to the hood. (Maybe he wasn’t around though.)
The restaurant is lovely and clean. More seating than Mad Mex had. It might be a good idea to put a blind on the window for hot sunny evenings like today. The hot sun was a bit much on the back.
All said and done though, I really enjoyed the food and will be back for sure. Highly recommend! I hope they do well!