Phil’s Original BBQ

Was good while it lasted for the most part. Sadly this place has closed. Saw the R.I.P. on Toronto Life. I have 2 bottles of their hot BBQ sauce still and I’ll have to ration it out.

FAIL!!!
My friend and I went last night only to find a closed restaurant and notice on the door that they are behind on their rent.
Why wasn’t the website updated?
So yeah, looks like Phil’s is no more.

This place is awful. I went here a few months back (twice– apparently didn’t learn the first time) and I will never return. The food had very little flavour and tasted old. I have eaten at many genuine barbecue shops and this doesn’t compare. There is no love put into the food, it doesn’t taste slow roasted. I would not recommend eating here. I really don’t understand all the positive comments, maybe paid family members– ha ha

I took my husband here for his birthday as he was craving BBQ. He loves ribs. We arrived early and were disappointed by the limited beer selection on tap. I ordered a cocktail instead and was shocked by how small it was. As for the food, we both had ribs and tried the fries, potato salad and slaw. All the sides underwhelmed. The ribs had a good flavour but were dry and fatty at the same time. Everything was a bit one note and unremarkable. We went next door for some pints afterwards and regretted going to Phil’s
We spent 80 dollars on dinner and left disappointed.

I was disappointed. I live nearby, and I *wanted* to love this place … but try as I may, I couldn’t convince myself that this place is anything more than mediocre.
I had:
— BBQ Beef Brisket sandwich — the highlight, it would have garnered a 3.5 on its own. The meat was decent, but considering the way the place is presented, I did expect much more. It was tender-​ish, and not smoky
— Hush puppies — I’d never had these. I was excited. Instead I got some really stale-​tasting cornbread that were as hard as bird droppings. Sigh.
— Cachapas — this sounded exactly like something I’d love. Yet the taste just did not come together.
— BBQ Beans — dammit I love me some meaty beats. And yet again, disappointed. The beans were not very meaty tasting — hell, they tasted about as bland as my first attempts at cooking. Hell I didn’t even finish these, and I’m a bonafide fatty.
So yeah. I really wanted to like this place. And I likely will visit again to try the ribs. But my first experience was pretty subpar.

Cool place. No fuss and has a small menu — go there, order your good and that’s it. No much point in spending a lot of time hanging around — it’s a simple place. I really appreciated the decoration (jazz themed) and the music — all jazz. Pretty awesome and gets you in the mood to appreciate the good food. Worth a try.

I have been wanting to try the BBQ for some time now and was passing by today and found a parking spot nearby. It was past the lunch time rush, so it wasn’t busy, but I wanted a sandwich to go anyway.
Although I love pulled pork, the brisket was calling out to me today. It was great. Wonderful smokey flavour with a good crust. Super moist with just the right amount of fat.
I wish that they had baked beans as a side, but I took the fries which were OK. Next time I will try either the potato salad or cole slaw.

I like Phil’s. It’s a no fuss kinda place.
I stopped by here for a Saturday night dinner, and the place was busy, but we were still able to get a table without reservations no problem.
The ambiance is nice — very typical for that kind of place. Before going there I didn’t know it had been on a restaurant makeover show, but having watched a few in my day, it really does look like it has had a professional makeover — the décor and the menu really reminded me of something you would see on a Gordan Ramsay show (post makeover, of course!).
The menu is small, which I appreciate — the main courses are ribs (large or small), chicken, pulled pork, or brisket — and you get to choose 2 of 4 sides (i obviously went with the fries and baked beans, unhealthy options are the best!).
I had the pulled pork, but I did get to try the ribs, and I REALLY wish I had got them. The pulled pork was great, but ribs are just… so much better. The fries were nothing special, but the baked beans were AWESOME! There was some kind of meat baked in — maybe pork — which meant that every few bites were extra delicious.
My only real complaint about this place is the drink selection — since my options were limited to 4 beers, I went with water. I’d love to see some craft beers show up here!
Overall, my first new neighbourhood experience was a good one, thanks to Phil’s!

Excellent petit restaurant du coin de Collège et Ossington. Si vous aimez le style BBQ à l’américaine, alors c’est ici qu’il faut aller si vous êtes dans les parages de Little Italy ou de Little Portugal.
Le restaurant, monté et géré par monsieur Phil, s’est spécialisé dans la cuisson particulière de certaines viandes. Vous y dégusterez en toute simplicité un ‘pulled pork’ ou un ‘beef brisket’, en sandwich ou en plat. La qualité y est constante et le service excellent. Si par hasard Javier est de service, vous serez traités comme des rois.

We went to Phil’s BBQ today after finding out that sadly, our favourite place, Highway 61 has closed down back in July. I had heard a lot of good things about the place, however, after reading the reviews here and other places, I wasn’t so certain I wanted to try it but the boyfriend convinced me and so we went.
The place was nice, it smelled smokey and delicious in there and the service was pretty good. The waiter was quick, almost too pushy (I got a bit of the «order already, I ain’t got all day» vibe from him) but overall not too bad.
We got served within a reasonable time period (about 15 – 20 min.).
I ordered the ribs, in fact most of us did, except my boyfriend who tried the pulled pork.
The food: the ribs had a nice bark on them, the flavour was definitely there. Smokey, not too overwhelming, and not oversauced. The fries were light golden brown and crispy and fluffy on the inside. Big too! Very nice. The beans were amazing. That’s the main thing I’ve heard about and they did not disappoint. They were smokey, had pieces of meat in them, just sweet enough and melt in your mouth. Delicious.
Now the negatives (mostly about food): the ribs, aside from the flavour were tough. They were not fall off the bone in any way, they were very chewy and hard to get through. It’s too bad really because otherwise they would’ve been very good.
The sauce was slightly too acidic for my liking, but that might be a personal preference. I like a good sweetness balance to my rib sauce.
The potato salad I got as another side was disappointing too. The chunks of potato were huge and undercooked. There was not much else aside from the big pieces of potato in the salad and it was a bit bland.
My boyfriend’s pulled pork was very stringy, chewy and oversauced. Disappointing as well.
Overall, when I go to a BBQ restaurant and the beans are my favourite thing on the plate, that’s a bit sad. A lot of places can do good beans but not everyone can do good ribs and meat.
I don’t think I will be coming back to Phil’s, sadly and will have to keep looking for a replacement to Highway 61, RIP.

Friendly service and fantastic food! I stepped off College Street and felt like I was in a little NYC BBQ Shack! The service was fantastic. We sat down and immediately were served by a friendly waitress.
The food arrived and we were blown away! Fall off the bone delicious ribs. The brisket was incredible too! The chicken was okay, but I came for the dark meat anyway.
I’ll definitely be back to this little BBQ joint at College & Ossington!

Phil’s was featured on the Food Network’s «Restaurant Makeover» a few years ago and I’ve been going to Phil’s on a regular basis ever since.
Highlights:
–The smell of apple wood smoke is the first thing that hits you as you enter Phil’s and it gets you salivating.
— Pretty much everything is slow cooked in a smoker. And when I say slow, I mean over night slow! So what you get is fall-​off-​the-​bone tender and incredibly delicious.
–I have tried pretty much everything on the menu. The ribs, the chicken, the pulled pork, the beef briskets, the beans, and corn bread. They are all tasty and portion sizes are very generous. My favourite item on the menu remains the BBQ Combo which is a dish that gets you chicken, ribs AND beef brisket!
Tips:
Expect to do a load of laundry after visiting Phil’s because your clothes will smell like apple wood smoke.
Bottom line:
Food: A
Service: A–
Food presentation: A–
Atmosphere: A
Prices: B+
Recommended? YES!

Phil, I still like ya, but lets start putting a bit more focus into the quality control side of things okay?
I usually get take-​out when in the need of a quick pulled pork sandwich fix. For under $ 10 after tax, its a good deal and I wish I could give it 4 stars but the consistency has not been there to do so.
On the side you get to choose from fries, coleslaw, or potato salad. The fries are pretty consistent. I’m not normally a fan of thicker cut fries but they manage to make them well and with just the right amount of crispness. I tried the potato salad a couple times but the quality changed and last time ended up throwing most of it away, almost seemed like the mayo was going off or something.
As for the sandwich itself… The meat has never been an issue and I do like how they give you the 2 different sauces in the little containers so you can decide what flavour to spice your pork with. But today, I swear the buns must have been sitting out for days or something. I mean the thing was rock hard around the edges and most of the top even to the touch so the people in the kitchen should’ve been able to tell that when they sliced it. The thing was the driest, crustiest, stalest bun I’ve potentially ever been served a sandwich on. Luckily I had hamburger buns at home and was able to make the switch but really, that shouldn’t ever have to be my responsibility when I’m ordering food from a business.
If I was basing the meal on todays experience alone, it would’ve been a 2 star review but I’ve eaten enough of these sandwiches to know that when done right, they are one of the best things west of Ossington on College Street.
Let’s just try to get back on the ball more consistently, okay Phil?

Four of us were originally planning to try Hadley’s, but it’s apparently closed, so we walked down the road a little bit to Phil’s.
A little more expensive than what we had originally planned, but we were hungry and it looked fairly busy so we went in.
I ordered the pulled pork with fries and coleslaw. The service was 2.5 stars — quite slow and not very friendly. But there was only one poor waiter for a moderately busy evening (not packed but steady).
When the food arrived it looked great. The fries were an A, thick and nicely seasoned, but the coleslaw was freezingly cold and had a lot of vinegar that it was almost drowning in. The sauces on the pork were great but the meat itself was meh. Dry and overcooked and I kind of expected more from a place that boasted about barbeque quality.
I’ve had much better pulled pork made by friends and have also tried it at pulled pork fests where it’s soft and fresh tasting.
Anyway, I don’t know if I’d go back for the price, but it was. okay.

I actually really enjoyed my experience when I was first introduced to it; I liked the fact that the owner was present and serving at the restaurant.
I found the food absolutely divine! The Cachapas actually sent me on a mission back to the location however this is were the tale takes a darker turn for me.
I looked up on the website what I thought was all the information I would need however what I failed to find out is that this location closes for several hrs between lunch and dinner and this information is not easy to find either. needless to say I was incredibly dissappointed when I finally arrived at the restaurant to find out I would have to wait about an hr and a half for it to open again! This info should be right on the main page of the website or at least readily available to customers because that literally was a ridiculous waste of time that could have been saved by sharing a little info with the public.
Other then that the location itself is hard for me to get to and there is NO parking. I’m not a fan of having to pay for street parking to eat at an establishment.
Overall I really did enjoy the food quality, portions and price as well as the service but there are a few things they need to work out for it to be a reliable BBQ option for me

Phil: why are you so hit or miss?
I love pulled pork sandwiches. L.O.V.E.
I’ve been to Phil’s a few times as it’s a stone’s throw from my work. However, each time I’ve been for the pulled pork sandwich it’s always different! Grr. I’m not a fan of inconsistency. On my most recent visit the sandwich was perrrrfect. loaded with that delicious pulled pork, just the right amount of sauce all on an UNsoggy bun, even though I took it to go.
My previous visit yielded a completely opposite result: soggy bun, little to no sauce resulting in dry pork. Dislike.
Phil’s is like that bad boyfriend you keep going back to. I’m sure I’ll go back even though it could be a detriment to my taste buds. Please work on consistency, Phil.
Honourable Mentions:
— really yummy bbq sauce
— delicious redskin potato salad
— in-​house smoked meat

If you’ve had real American bbq, you will be disappointed with Phil’s. I’ve been to Phil’s several times because it’s nearby, and I secretly hope it will be better each time. There aren’t many places in TO that do bbq right, but that should be a reason to try harder.
The ribs are the best thing on the menu here, mostly because the chicken and brisket are overdone and dry. The smoke flavour is there, but it’s subtle and doesn’t make up for the texture (this applies to everything here). All the sides are all standard issue.
The quality could be excused somewhat if the value for money wasn’t so poor. For a light lunch you can get away with a small sandwich and fries for about $ 8. But if you’re a hearty eater and come for dinner, you’ll have to spend some money to get your fill here. If ribs aren’t your thing, don’t bother with the plates of brisket or pulled pork: get two sandwiches instead, it’s the same price but you’ll have more food.
I see many highly positive reviews, and I can only guess that most of the people who come here haven’t experienced much bbq. The service is warm and friendly, but given the quality and prices, there are better alternatives.

I came here with a couple of my friends with high hopes. I was looking forward to the pulled pork (looove pulled pork).
We ordered a capchapas ($ 5.75), plate of the pulled pork ($ 15) & ribs ($ 16.50) with all four sides (each plate comes with 2 sides): potato salad, coleslaw, fries and baked beans.
All the sides were all fantastic. The potato salad was just slightly creamy had a bit of dill, which did it for me. I really like dill. Coleslaw was more of the vinegar-​y type as opposed to the creamy version. It was light so it balanced the meat (as much as it could). Fries were thick, perfectly fried — crispy not greasy. We all loved them. The baked beans were cooked with meat (I think it was pork…) so there are chunks of meat in it — delicious.
I wasn’t too keen on the capchapas — just not my thing though my friend liked it. It’s a savoury «pancake» with corn with melted mozzarella cheese in the middle.
As for the meat… the ribs and pulled pork were both good but it doesn’t make you drool for more. The ribs were a bit dry so not as juicy as I anticipated. The BBQ sauce was its saving grace. It was somewhat the same for the pulled pork. It wasn’t tender and juicy but also a bit on the dry side. I added a bit more of the table BBQ sauce (both the hot & regular, the hot BBQ sauce wasn’t really hot at all) for a bit more flavour.
Overall a «meh» experience. Maybe it’s better on the weekends when there’s more turnover? I came here on a weeknight and it was pretty empty.

My beef brisket is acceptable… but for some reason after finishing your order over the phone the lady goes «will you want a plastic bag?». I always say ‘no’, because I don’t want to be nickel and dimed for a fucking bag. Give me a bag for free! Phony bologna bag tax. You could order $ 200 worth of food and she’d still ask you if you wanted to buy a bag. Oh, and if you say NO to the bag… you have to carry loose cutlery, two containers of sauce, napkins, and your box of food. Give me a free bag, Phil you cheap bastard.

Gotta love Phil’s… The pulled pork sandwich is amazing (the only thing I order.) And the sauce is equally as delicious! At like, $ 7.99 for a pulled pork sandwich + fries, you really can’t go wrong…
Also, their «hushpuppies» are definitely worth a try. I think they are just deep-​fried cornbread balls… so good. The honey mustard-​y sauce they come with is also worth mentioning.
4.5 stars in my books!

Phil’s had been highly recommended plenty of times by my southern BBQ loving friends, so I figured it’s about time I checked it out.
I ordered the pulled pork sandwich, which was DELISH, and they have great BBQ hot sauce, that you can purchase to take home.
As an appetizer we got Cachapas, and let me tell you, it was incredible. Its basiclly a corn pancake with melted cheese, and for an extra $ 3 you can add a meat of your choice. We skipped on the meat, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted in my life.
Extremely friendly service, laid back atmosphere, and overall great experience.
Apparently this place gets crazy busy and is known to have a line up, but when we were there on a Saturday at around 8:00pm, we got a table right away.