Phil’s Bar B Que

Always a great go to place. food always good. Place has been there forever so building looks it but don’t let that turn you away. Great food at good price.

This place is fantastic! They have good BBQ and the chicken wings are awesome. They are big and meaty and you really get more than a pound. Recently they’ve been having a band in the back room. Banjos lots of fun music. I don’t know our waitresses name but she’s amazing. She is working this room by herself, 2
30 or more people and we haven’t had to ask for anything!

If you are looking for something classy keep moving. I didn’t know what to expect walking in to this place. I did wonder, being a taller guy, if I’d fit under the low hanging ceiling. We were greeted quickly by a friendly young man. We both ordered the pulled pork dinner, corn, fries, and dinner salad. I highly recommend the Italian dressing. The pulled pork was phenomenal. The fries were hot. The sauce was great. They do serve the sauce warm. The corn on the other hand seemed to be soaking for quite sometime. I’ve ate at many BBQ places this was definitely above average.

First time yesterday… half Baby back ribs… very small… didn’t care for the sauce… why do they smother the ribs with sauce and not serve it on the side like everyone else? Ribs should be able to stand on their on for flavor… add sauce as you like. Here you have no choice.

Went to Phil’s this past weekend while on a trip to St.Louis. Great Ribs!!!

I love eating here, the pork steaks are delicious. This place is the same type of BBQ that is expected when your at a picnic. If your looking for a simple family run BBQ place this is it!!! I will say the staff are friendly however I noticed they need to keep their conversation about business matters down where customers cannot hear them. I also noticed I was the only customer eating. The business is outdated inside and I believe the owner needs to be willing to change and remodel and get rid of family who has no idea of running the business.

I haven’t been to this place in probably 10 years. My grandma and my mom went here just a few months back and said it was horrible. I know this place was a must visit years ago, but those days are long gone.

Huge disappointment. Went in Saturday night at about 8:00 p.m. There were more staff than customers — only four customers, counting ourselves. The atmosphere is kinda dank and the décor is dingy and cluttered. Our waitress was super friendly and very attentive.
Our sides were just OK, nothing special. The BBQ sauce itself was *very* good. We both got pork steaks, and they were very overdone — dry and tough, and hard to cut. They should have been fork-​tender. No smoke flavor, either. When we paid, and were asked «how was it?» I was honest and said I was disappointed, and told them about the dry, tasteless, tough pork steaks. The young man’s reply? «Really? That’s all I’ve been selling all night, and no one’s complained.» Not even a feeble «sorry ’bout that.»
When the customer doesn’t like what they’ve shelled out their hard-​earned money for, money that could have been better spent elsewhere, you don’t dispute their opinion — you offer a heartfelt apology and maybe, just maybe, you consider that your food could have been better. I think the owners should consider that there’s a problem with their food, as evidenced by the sparsity of customers on a summer Saturday evening.
Although I live just a few blocks away, and have been several times (but not in a couple of years), I won’t be back. There are better places with better food where I can spend my money.

I’ve been going to Phil’s for close to 30 years. Not as much the past 10 years and only a couple times the past 6 months. After 2 bad experiences, I won’t go back. On our most recent trip our group ordered the ½ BBQ chicken, the pulled pork and a Pork Steak. The chicken was very small and dried out. The pulled pork was basically dry and quite stringy. The pork steak was OK only.
This is no longer St Louis style Bar B Q. Since the kids have taken over the restaurant, the meat is smoked and only dunked into the sauce just before serving. What we’ve experienced the past 2 times has been over cooked meat that they attempt to drown in the sauce. St Louis Bar B Q, and what Phils used to cook is an open pit cooked piece of meat that’s then put into the sauce and allowed to simmer for several hours till it’s served… and it’s usually very tender.
I’ve always enjoyed their Baked Beans, though this time one in our party got a strong taste of maple syrup and sweetness in hers. Mine was fine. Maybe they’re not bothering to stir the ingredients. The potato salad is uninspired. I can get the same from the store. The spaghetti is good. That was always a funky addition to the Bar B Q I always liked, it’s still good. The cole slaw is still the pickle relish based style they’ve always had. A little tart for my tastes but others seem to like it.
There’s a lot of awards on the walls from 10 — 30 years ago. At one time Phils was the place and getting a table on a Friday or Saturday nite usually involved a wait. Not anymore. The food has gone downhill badly and is no longer worthy of the drive from where I live. Sad but sometimes things change and not for the better.

3 Stars? 2 Stars? you people need to go away! Seriously hipsters and foodies need not apply here. Just leave take your ceviche, your steak tar tar, your rosemary smoke infused what ever and go somewhere else. If you like meat, I mean good olé fashioned sitting in the BBQ sauce meat you’re in luck! If you are looking for some peppermint crusted shitaki crusted ribs GO AWAY! Seriously the pulled pork sandwich is great! The chips and salsa (yeah I know that doesn’t make sense) are awesome. The actual restraunt looks like it will fall in on you after you eat your sandwich, but who cares it’s good St. Louis style BBQ! Like I reiterate hipsters and foodies need not apply.

Once was a great place to eat. Went here June 29 at 810pm. The service was fine but the food and sauce were awful.

I had heard wonderful things about this restaurant and had high expectations when I visited with friends recently. I found the food to be lacking in taste and quality (the barbecue sauce is just a step above ketchup), greasy and the service was just okay. I certainly won’t be going back.

The BBQ was ok, but nothing to really write home/​yelp about. I feel like there are better places in the area.
The whole place had this kind of weird funk to it. There were low ceilings, phonebooks, and old stuff on the walls. There were trophies on a shelf from the late 80s that I’m sure haven’t been touched since the late 80s. That just kinda made it feel like a weird area to eat food in.

Hi, I am a tourist from OC, CA & this BBQ was recommended to us despite poor reviews.
Toasted raviolis for appetizers were great. Pork steak with beans & spaghetti as sides were super filling too. I care only about the food and thought the food was great. Beans way better than Busch’s baked beans. Spaghetti sauce had BBQ sauce mixed in.
Dark? Yes. Old? Yes. Good food? Yes. What more do you really need from a BBQ place?

Bottom Line — I love that Phil’s is still around, but with so many other and better porksteak and bbq palaces and shacks around St. Louis… well, you know.
We used to go to Phil’s when I was a kid and I remember thinking — even back then — that although Phil’s smelled great inside… the Rotarians and Lions and Kiwaneses (sp? haha) made much better porksteaks and bean plates. If you want the best Hoosier porksteak plate… go to Pennie’s. That’s right… Pennie’s…but don’t mistake that for an all-​around endorsement of their bbq. It’s just that their head-​sized porksteak plate is amazing…

I’ve been to Phil’s twice, and that is two times too many.
The first time I got a pork sandwich. There was nothing noteworthy about it. It was just kind of there.
The second time I got the ribs. Terrible! They were tough, and the bbq sauce the were smothered in reminds me of Maull’s somewhat. It just didn’t work. A complete waste of money.
A previous review said something about this place being like eating in someones basement. I concur with this assessment. Its beyond a simple hole in the wall establishment.
They serve pizza here too… what the heck??? I haven’t tried it… the waitress raved about it and said the owner is largely Italian which is why it’s on the menu… I was considering trying it for the heck of it, but after my second trip I don’t think this business deserves any more of my hard earned $doll hairs.

Finally I went to visit Phil’s Bar B Que. After many years of driving by I went last Saturday. Phil’s Bar B Que is one of those Bar B Que places that has some age on it. 50 years of age.

As you pull into the parking lot there is a small sign and neon sign so you know it is the right place.
As soon as I entered I was greeted with very friendly staff. The place is very spacious and has sports memorabilia among other items that adorn the wall.
Menu is simple and easy to understand and our waitress was very courteous to answer any questions we had about the menu. I picked the Pork Steak with two sides. BBQ Beans and Spaghetti.
Food arrived. WOW!
For some people in St. Louis they simply do not want their meat in sauce some of them do. Phil’s Bar B Que is an open-​pit style Bar B Que with their own «Secret» sauce that the meat sits in to keep the meat tender.
Phil’s Bar B Que reminded me of the days when I would go into the country and visit with my Grandparents and my Grandpa would cook pork steaks on an open pit on a hot summer day.
Bar B Que in St. Louis has changed. There is a lot more choices. I give two thumbs up to Phil’s. I enjoyed it. The atmosphere was pleasant and the food was good.

I like a chewy baby back rib, and Phil delivered.
It’s a dismal dining experience, though. Be prepared.
Handmade potato salad was plain, but fresh. Also had spaghetti as a side. A freakin’ side. A change of pace is nice, but I don’t think it compliments the ribs.
Order
½ rack baby back ribs
potato salad
spaghetti w/​red sauce
sweet tea
Sweet tea on menu!
I’d go back. But there’s better dive BBQ in STL.
–jc

I want to like this place because the staff is welcoming and hospitable. I was invited out to try some BBQ and found myself in a small and dark basement like restaurant. This place has been around for a while, there’s gotta be a reason — good food, right?
Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for BBQ or I can’t differentiate between good or bad BBQ, but I wasn’t impressed at all. I ordered the ½ baby back ribs that was drenched in sauce and really… there was nothing special about it. It was OK the first couple of bites that I had gnaw my way through but after that it got old real quick.
They DO have a real good black eyed bean dip :)

BBQ here is ok, it didn’t live up to the hype i’ve gotten from several south siders I’ve heard rave about the legendary Phil’s. I ordered the half slab of short ribs. The meat wasn’t falling off the bone and didn’t have a very robust rib taste. Catered ribs pretty much sum up the quality of these ribs. As another reviewer mentioned, w/​o the sauce there wouldn’t be much taste to these ribs. And even then, the sauce was mediocre and also fell along the lines of a catered taste.
That said, I do appreciate the length of time this place has stayed open, and enjoyed the greasy spoon vibe, so I’d be willing to go back to see how the pork steak pans out. It better be cooked right though, because there’s nothing like a poorly cooked gummy pork steak to permanently blacklist a place for me.