The Backyard Smokehouse Toronto — Restaurant in Toronto

Massive Disappointment

When I first visited this place in July 2022 - I thought I had the best barbecue platter in the city. We ordered the triples platter for two. It was delicious with great portions and plenty of sides and sauces for two. We couldn't even finish half of the serving and enjoyed plenty of leftovers.

When we visited again yesterday to celebrate my birthday - it was nothing like our last visit.

We came to eat at around 7:45pm - when we ordered the same triples platter the server said they were already sold out of brisket. Okay no issue. We ordered the beef back ribs, short ribs, and sausages.

5 minutes later she comes back to tell us that the short ribs were also out. We could apparently get a "double serving" of the beef ribs instead.

When the food came out, we were underwhelmed with the portions. There was much less meat than last time. Felt like we were served more bones than meat. The "baked beans" we ordered this time looked and tasted like Hunt's canned pork and beans. You can see the difference in colour and texture in the two pictures.

I wish I was joking but it gets more ridiculous. They are a barbecue restaurant with no barbecue sauce....They served us ketchup as dipping sauce. (The red sauce in the container) We asked the server again if they had barbecue sauce because we thought maybe they just made a mistake. She went to the back and it seemed like they were trying to figure something out, then she emerges a few minutes later and serves us the same thing. She agreed that it looked and smelled liked ketchup but she was apparently told that this was their barbecue sauce.

The description for the platter included cornbread. We asked about the cornbread and only then did the server tell us that they were also out of cornbread so they "doubled up" on the other bread they served. Great...so we got more plain sliced bread as substitution. Only after this platter was served did we even remember that we ordered drinks because that was the only time they arrived.

If we arrived here at 8pm and they were already out of 2/4 barbecue protein options....then what did they serve the rest of the night if they were open till 11pm...?

Honestly, if they hadn't done so well and set such high expectations previously...then I wouldn't have been this dismayed. I have literally told others before that this was my favourite barbecue in Toronto.

I hope this restaurant's owners figure out a better way that they can adapt to inflation and rising food costs for their sake...however I think this would be the last time for us. All the weird cost-cutting substitutions have been a total...

A friend and I were looking for a decent smokehouse to try out and after being a big fan of BBQ spots, decided on this place.

When we got to the front, we were met by the host. He didn’t seem there and he smoke really low, to the point you could barely hear him. They sat us down near the window with other guests. The atmosphere was quiet and nice which we like. We were met by the waitress who seemed rush and didn’t introduce herself. She dropped off some water, took our order and disappeared for the rest of the evening.

We settled for “The Experience” where you get 3 salads, 2 sides and 2 entrees. Our food arrived in batches. We tried the salads, the Caesar salad was pretty good but the macaroni salad had way too much mayo and had no taste in it. The Cole slaw was pretty bland as well.

Our 2 sides showed up later which were macaroni and cheese and curly fries. We had ordered the baked beans originally but they didn’t have any left. The macaroni and cheese was cold and bland as well. The cheese was pretty much cheese sauce mixed with the macaroni with a little bit of garnish. Tasted very “out of the box”. KD tastes better than what was served. We eventually had the server take back our Mac n Cheese and had they make a new one that was much warmer and tasted a bit better than the previous Mac n Cheese order. The curly fries were good but there was barely any actual curly fries, just bits of bent fries.

Eventually we had the mains come out, we ordered the lamb shoulder and the braised biscuit. Both of our entrees arrived cold. The braised beef was very dry but was decent in taste. It was quite decent in portion size though. The lamb shoulder was portioned extremely small, maybe half a cup of meat? Compared to the braised beef portion it was small.

I was surprised to find there wasn’t much dessert items. Only choices were vanilla and strawberry ice cream or sweet bread. Since we had “The Experience” it included the ice cream. We both ordered strawberry and it was quite good. An OK end to our night

We had to order water for the table as the server just disappeared and didn’t show up until the end of our meal. We left an abysmal tip for and abysmal service. Other than the place looking appealing, that’s all it was. The food wasn’t up to par with my expectation for a smoke house. The only thing we liked were the Caesar salad and the curly fries. The braised beef was OK and so was the shoulder but the portion sizes and lack of taste turned us off. I give this place a 2 star. It has for improvement in all its categories and I hope they do better...

My boyfriend and I came to the restaurant a few days ago for the first time after reading mixed reviews we decided to give it a try.

Shortly after being seated, our server came to get a drink order when we asked for the drink menu she told us that they didn’t have their license yet and they were unable to serve alcohol, which is strange because this location has been open for a few years now.

We ordered a half a rack of ribs with a side of mac & cheese and curly fries. She informed us that they were all out the curly fries so we ordered regular french fries and a brisket burger. When our starter Caesar salad came we both instantly loved it. Perfect amount of dressing parm with a little hint of lemon juice. After taking a few bites, I noticed a big black hair in the bowl!!! We let our server know And she apologized and took it away.

Once the rest of the food arrived the portions looked OK and everything looked pretty good but we were disappointed yet again. The mac & cheese looked incredible, but had zero flavour and tasted like a very watered down cheese whiz and had a floury consistency. The brisket on the burger was dry and we got sweet potato fries instead of regular french fries which we didn’t mind but still not what we ordered. Halfway through the meal, our server brought a replacement Caesar, but we were so turned off. We couldn’t eat it. We would’ve left, but we both felt bad as we had both already ordered and still wanted to give it a try. I’m wishing now that we did.

We looked over into the kitchen and noticed that none of the cooks were wearing hair nets, which would probably explain the hair in our food. I worked in the service industry for several years and I totally understand that things happen, but to not have a manager apologize or check out our table or comp a drink (wait, they don’t have drinks) or something to show a gesture was really off putting and the kind of customer service that will not be bringing us back or recommending to anyone considering trying this spot out for the first time. Save your money and go...