Phil's BBQ, San Diego, CA

So one weekend, my friends and I decide to do a daytrip down to San Diego to visit one of our friends from Junior High. It was quite an adventure. I was basically walking around San Diego like a tourist with my camera going everywhere. The place we ate first was the famous Phil's BBQ. Everyone I know in the San Diego area tells me I need to eat there and now I know why. Onto the food!

The Onion Rings (Large Order)

Golden Brown Onion Rings

These things were awesome. With a light onion taste and the sweet taste that comes from it being mixed with the batter makes this a winning starter. There was a couple different sauces at the table to try these with like Ketchup, Malt Vinegar, Tapatio and as such. I actually prefer them straight up with a pinch of salt.

BBQ Beef Ribs (Small Order)





BBQ Beef Ribs with Macaroni Salad and Potato Salad

These things were so good I had to take 2 pictures of them. The meat comes clean off the bone. I wish I had taken an after photo. Although I was told my friend's Large order wasn't as tender as mine. Mine were freaking delicious. It was at 2nd rib I realized I was getting full and I should probably stop but I just kept going. The tangy sweet flavor of the bbq sauce mixed with the natural beef flavors especially with the meat around the bone, it was definitely satisfying.

Pulled Pork Sandwich


Slow cooked Pulled Pork Sandwich

I didn't order this one, but my my friends did and I sampled a bit of it. It is definitely worth a try. The pork is so tender, and there is a good amount of fat in the meat. Apparently one of my friends brought one back home with us and said it was still good the following day. I should try that next time.

Baby Back Ribs



Half-Rack of Baby Back Ribs

The baby back ribs weren't as good as I had hoped they would be. All in all, they were pretty good, and I was expecting them to be fall-off-the-bone like the beef ribs were, but they weren't quite there. It was a little bit on the dry side that day so I didn't enjoy them as much. I didn't have the drive to finish them so I actually brought half of the half-rack home with me.

Conclusion: All in all, this place was definitely good. Although it wasn't as perfect as I was hoping it would be, i was still very satisfied with the beef ribs that I got. Once again though, because it IS slow cooked bbq, the quality does vary a bit by the batch you get. Just a fair warning for people that go and tell me theirs didn't fall off the bone or they did. Definitely worth a visit when you're down in San Diego, but you might wanna pick a off-peak time to go since it DOES get crowded there.

This restaurant gets an A-Rank.