Phil's BBQ — Restaurant in San Diego

We were former Phil's lovers for years. When San Marcos location was open we went almost every week. Since the closest one is Rancho Bernardo we try to make it a special occasion to go to Phil's. Today we were celebrating a new job. Unfortunately this place has gone downhill! After todays visit around 1-130pm, I'm not sure if we will ever be back. Osiris the "manager" was rude and seemed to take it personal after we noticed the menu changed. We meant no offense we just noticed as we were ordering because we usually order the same things. But this already set her off. We took her bad attitude with grace and paid for our order. At the table we decided she seemed to take that as a personal offense maybe a lot of people complain. We understand what it's like to work in customer service and try to understand when someone is having a bad day. The food came out and most was good. I understand the colossal onion rings which used to be colossal in size and portion are just colossal in size but these are the times we are in. I took a bite if the Tri tip sandwich El Toro a classic favorite. The bun was burnt and had a full black crust across the entire bun about a finger nail width deep. This gave me a nasty taste in my mouth. I had my boyfriend try a bite and he agreed. Charred meat and burnt bread are two different things for reasons I shouldn't have to explain. We waited at the table as usually people walk up while your eating and ask if you need anything or how you are doing. I should taken a picture of it but I didn't want her to see me and then get made when we asked to have it remade. I could kick myself now. No one came by so my boyfriend took the sandwich to the counter. The "manger" was rude and took the sandwich to remake while my boyfriend was trying to explain what was wrong. After she took it back we could hear her yelling and complaining in the kitchen saying "I can't even!" This made me very uncomfortable this woman was acting immature and overly rude and loud. After the sandwich was remade she walked up and had attitude. She asked if it was ok now and I point at the bun and say no this is burnt (pointing to the black half of the bun). She was very angry. I said "no we would just like our money back ". She did give us our money back. When we were leaving heard her yelling to the kitchen people about the sandwich. I don't know what she said cause I was trying to leave but it felt like she was having another loud fit. We loved this place Phil's they always had above and beyond service. I have never felt uncomfortable or even dissatisfied with Phil's before today. But if this is who they are putting in management they must not be the same place. Maybe we are romanticizing the past. Sadly we came here as celebration and left with a horrible taste in our mouths figuratively and literally. I choose this place above Korean BBQ and I regret wasting the gas and...

Mixed bag. For starters this was mine and my fiancée’s first time at a Phil’s BBQ. We decided to come for father’s day to celebrate with her parents and I had heard of Phil’s before but never been since our time in SD. The wait was not bad (small line, less than 15 min) and we ordered the family meal and found a seat.

First off is the food. The food was absolutely delectable. I love BBQ food but rarely partake and am so glad we decided to try Phil’s. The ribs, the chicken, everything was prepared to perfection. The chicken was delicious and even the white meat was supple and not dry. The pork ribs.. exactly how ribs should be. The meat fell off the bone and it was everything I could have wanted. The sides were less exciting but good nonetheless. The only side I would say skip is the salad. After the BBQ portion of the meal was perfection it was saddening to have a salad that is worse prepared than one from home. This is the only portion of food where I felt they didn’t even try.

Now for service, this is where the entire experience falls flat. It’s clear that Phil’s isn’t about the service and is focused squarely on the food. At the counter like most places the tipping portion is incorporated into your checkout. It is what it is. But the worst part is that if you decide to tip, there’s no service that they provide you! Like what did I just tip for? I felt like I’m subsidizing their pay. There was a worker walking around but he didn’t provide any service for us and our table was constantly overcrowded with plates and napkins. I had to take matters into my own hands and started placing our used plates on empty tables next to us because we were running out of space and no one was taking them. I also took a lap to make sure we weren’t supposed to turn them in and didn’t see anything obvious.

Once our meal wrapped up we needed some to-go bags so I went and grabbed containers and bags from their apparent self-service area. No idea if i was supposed to do this or if someone was supposed to help us but point is there is no service once you order. So go in prepared to take care of yourself and your family.

Other than that the food is incredible. Come for the BBQ food, not for the experience or service. Even with the lack of service I will come back because the food...

I came here on December 1, 2018 with 3 of my friends at around 20:00. There was no one in line at the time I came in so it was great. I do not remember what I ordered because my friend did the ordering and paid for mine since it was my birthday at that time. All I know is I waited for about 10 minutes for the food to come out after ordering. I waited enough to checkout the whole place. It is large and spacious compared to the one I have been to (the one in Sports Arena). I love the restroom that they have inside. It is so modern and designed nicely. I also love their drinking fountain here. Tea is one of my favorite drinks and I loved the way Phil's sweet tea so I loaded up on that. The food I had here is great. I loved their beef rib, it was great and juicy. I love their sauce too. The potato salad was great too. The french fries were crunchy and fresh, but nothing out of the ordinary though. I do like their onion rings, but we all could not finish them. I did finish my meal and so did my friends. They all like their food. Probably the only critique I can give is the price since my friends and I spent at least more than $10 on ourselves easily. But you get great quality of food and good service. Overall, the food and the experience here was great. I like Phil's BBQ and highly recommend this to anyone who is in San Diego to try it out. It is great that they have one at this location. 5...