Phil’s BBQ – San Marcos, CA
Phil's Burger and Fries and Rings oh my!
For this review the UBR staff and guest reviewer Todd Polderman went to the newest, hottest restaurant in North County, Phil’s BBQ. This place is so popular that if you do not get there before 11:30 the place is packed and by noon there is a line out the door. We know what you’re thinking, a BBQ place for a burger? Well, the fact is they actually had one so it must be reviewed. The minute we walked in, it was utter chaos. This place was a machine-like, process orientated slaughterhouse and we felt like the nervous cow. I mean this place made us feel like we had a cheeseburger anxiety disorder. Once we had completed the gauntlet of placing our order we picked up our buzzer and only then can you select a table. In fact they had a big angry sign saying something to the effect “DO NOT SIT AT A TABLE UNTIL YOU ORDER YOUR FOOD!” The other thing is, our buzzer went off three separate times before our food order was complete. The weird thing is they have these table captain type people hovering around your tables. They were nice and tried to be helpful which begged the awkward question, do you tip them? Although they really did nothing for us other than take our plates (probably to ensure a quick table turn) they were so nice so we felt obligated to leave something. To finish on the restaurant environment, the décor is nice and they did have two TV’s within eyesight of us all. Oh yeah, the burger. The least stimulating part of this review scored a 2.4 on the UBR scale. It was cooked well but it just completely lacked in flavor and it was coupled with a lame presentation. This burger actually earned some ones on the UBR scale. However, like a redeeming knight in yellow fried armor, there were the fries. They were excellent. A courtesy mention goes out to our Associate reviewer Kristina who attended to check the BBQ offerings for possible future Hunter catering needs and she gave the BBQ high marks. Also joining us was our longtime friend and colleague Lynda who is one of those non-carnivore types that doesn’t understand that meat is proof God loves us because he made animals out of it. To sum it all up, go for the BBQ not the burger, go early and don’t expect a relaxing experience.
Todd and Kristina
Phil's Post Burger
