Rated the 7th best restaurant on Yelp in the year 2011, Phil’s BBQ is a must for everyone in the universe to go eat. (That includes you). Here’s what the website says:

For the past ten years, BBQ lovers across San Diego County have turned to restauranteur Phil Pace to satisfy a singular craving: mesquite grilled baby back and beef ribs, chicken and sandwiches. Serving thousands of customers a day from a diverse clientele of skateboarders to Bentleys, Phil has built his foundation on consistency, quality, freshness and friendly service.

“We thrive on providing each guest with the ‘Phil’s Experience’, which basically comes down to organized chaos,” laughs owner Phil Pace. “The biggest reason behind our success is our loyal customers who have supported us and waited in line for a taste of BBQ for the past twelve years.”

Since opening its doors in San Diego in 1998, Phil’s BBQ has served over one million pounds of BBQ sauce (enough to fill Shamu’s tank). Expanding from four employees to well over 100, Phil’s BBQ has become an employer of choice in San Diego. In 2007, after the smoke cleared from the original Phil’s BBQ location in Mission Hills, the restaurant relocated to a much larger space in Point Loma. Even with a change of location, the Phil’s experience and menu remains the same: long lines of anticipation, an energetic, friendly atmosphere, fantastic food, huge portions and many, many, paper towels.

Phil doesn’t come from a long line of BBQ connoisseurs. Instead, he created from scratch a top-secret recipe for BBQ rubs and sauce while taking his dad’s advice to only cook what he knows best and treat employees like family. Phil has been a pioneer of fast, casual dining since the opening of the first restaurant, giving San Diegans what they want – great BBQ. Taking care, satisfying cravings and supporting customers has always been #1. Because commitment to the San Diego community has been an intricate part of the journey, Phil’s BBQ has contributed over a quarter of a million dollars to local children’s charities over the past twelve years.

If the company description didn’t convince you, perhaps you should visit some review web sites of Phil’s BBQ. Phil’s gets a 4 1/2 stars on YELP. Excellent. Very very excellent. OBVIOUSLY, you don’t need to take my word for it. Physically go there and you’ll enjoy the 1 1/2 – 2 hour wait. Yum. If not, here’s a picture to make you hungry and mouth savory.

So who introduced me to this random place? Norman Tsai took me and Robert randomly one night last summer and I instantly fell in love with the greasy fat & bbq sauce. YUM! Ever since, I’ve been going as often as I possibly could.

Trip 1: With Norman and Robert –> Summer 2009

Trip 2: With Norman and Robert –> Summer 2009

Trip 3: With Norman and Robert –> Summer 2009

Trip 4: With Torres, Leah, Leandro, Alexis, Michelle, Austin, Ryan, and Victor (September 2009)

Trip 5: With Torres, Howard, Leandro, Alexis, Michelle, Leah, & Jordan (November 10th, 2009)

Trip 6: With Alexis, Leandro, Howard, & Torres (February 28th, 2010)

Trip 7: With Lauren, Torres, & Howard (April 9th, 2010)

Trip 8: With Tyler, Amy Tran, Earle, Leandro, Alexis, Torres & Howard (April 17th, 2010)

Trip 9: With Lauren, Howard, and Torres (April 25th, 2010)

Trip 10: With Sheena, Mimi, & Earle (FAIL!) (June 1st, 2010)

Trip 11: With Alex, & Tyler (June 9th, 2010)

Trip 12: With Earle, Sheena, Alexis, Leandro, Howard, & Michelle (June 18th, 2010)

Trip 13: With Torres, Leah, Brittney, Howard, & Leandro (July 8th, 2010)

Trip 14: With Alexis, Leandro, Joe, and his friends (July 24th, 2010)

Trip 15: With Earle & Tabula Family (July 28th, 2010).

Trip 16: With Howard, John Torres, Jonny, Ruby, Justine, Stephen (August 11th, 2010)

Trip 17: With Tyler, Earle, and John Torres (August 15th, 2010)

Trip 18: With Theresa, Tim, and Maivy (September 3rd, 2010)

Trip 19: With Earle (September 6th, 2010)

Trip 20: With Julia, Khoi, Leandro, Joseph, and Torres (September 11th, 2010)

Trip 21: With Theresa, Tim, and Jessica (September 12th, 2010)

Trip 22: With Michelle, Tiffany, Daniel, & Matt (October 3rd, 2010)

Trip 23: With Katherine, Leah, Leandro, Torres, and Howard (October 14th, 2010)

Trip 24: With Earle, Thiep, Andrew Ho, Howie, Jordan, Alexis, Leah, Leandro, Howard, Torres, Tyler, Victoria P., Jake, Kunal, Julia, Alex, Rosario, Germaine, Amy, Tiffany S, Matt O, Jonathan Chou, Joyce Wang, Lauren Coleman, Cindy, Rashika, Geetha, Matt Diamond, & Amul (October 29th, 2010)


Trip 25: With Theresa, Tim, and Jessica (October 30th, 2010)

Trip 26: With Earle, Theresa, Tim, and Andrew (November 28th, 2010)

Trip 27: With Alex & Lauren (January 11th, 2011)

Trip 28: With Julia, Alex, Tyler, V.Payne, Geetha, & Bee-John (January 14th, 2011)

Trip 29: With Jerick & Brian Vo (January 16th, 2011)

Trip 30: With Jake, V. Payne, Tyler, & Matt Diamond (January 23rd, 2011)

Trip 31: With Mimi, Tanya, and Earle (February 4th, 2011) [Lunch]

Trip 32: With Alexis, Leandro, Howard, and John Torres (February 4th, 2011) [Dinner].

Trip 33: With Lauren, Bee-John, and Matt Diamond (February 25th, 2011)

Trip 34: With Rosario, Jake, Alex, Matt, & Lauren (March 12th, 2011)

Trip 35: With Earle, and Thiep (March 27th, 2011)

Trip 36: With Sandy, Bee-John, Pablo, and Kevin (March 30th, 2011)

Trip 37: With Adam & Jessica (TO GO) (April 21st, 2011)

Trip 38: With Sheila, Nick, & John (April 22nd, 2011)

Trip 39: With Daniel, Ryan, Robbie, Michelle, & Louise (May 1st, 2011)

Trip 40: With Leandro, Howard, Chou, & Torres (May 6th, 2011)

Trip 41: With Earle & Tiana (GLEE CONCERT) (May 29th, 2011)

Trip 42: With Alex, Rosario, Matt, Tyler, Jake, & Bee-John (June 8th, 2011)

Trip 43: With Annie, Jenny, & Nam (June 19th, 2011)

Trip 44: With Rosario, Lauren, & Geetha (July 4th, 2011)

Trip 45: With Alexis, Leandro, & John Torres (July 10th, 2011)

Trip 46: With John Cuellar, Kevin, & Tyler (July 29th, 2011)

Trip 47: With Robbie, Joey, & Michelle (August 4th, 2011)

Trip 48: With Tyler and Lauren (September 9th, 2011)

Trip 49: With Leah, Leandro, Howard, & John Torres (September 29th, 2011)

Trip 50: With Alex, Tyler, Chris, & Lauren (October 14th, 2011)

Trip 51: With Alexis (November 2nd, 2011)

Trip 52: With Henry, Sid, Adam, & Luke (November 13th, 2011)

Trip 53: With Bee-John, John Cuellar, Fernando, Joe, & Yonathan (December 11th, 2011)

Trip 54: With Earle, Thiep, and Triet (December 15th, 2011)

Trip 55: (SAN MARCOS): With Earle & Thiep (January 8th, 2012)

Trip 56: With Alex and Bee-John (January 21st, 2012)

Trip 57: With Tiffany, Daniel, Robbie, & Michelle (January 28th, 2012)

Trip 58: With John Cuellar & Claire Yang (February 10th, 2012)

Trip 59: With Amy, Earle, Loc, and Tyler (February 19th, 2012)

Trip 60: With Jonathan Chou, Cindy, and Nandhu (March 2nd, 2012)

Trip 61: With Brandon, Bijan, Elizabeth, & Paul [Encounter with Nicole] (March 6th, 2012)

Trip 62: With Melody, Tina, Yanette, & George (March 20th, 2012)

Trip 63: With Earle, Thiep, & Triet (April 1st, 2012)

Trip 64: With Lilly, Lisa, Chermaine, & Emily (April 7th, 2012)

Trip 65: With Adam Radtke (To-go) (April 29th, 2012)

Trip 66: With Pam Sran (May 5th, 2012)

Trip 67: [SAN MARCOS] With John Cueller, Claire, and Tim (May 13th, 2012)

Trip 68: With Katherine, Leah, & Jonathan Chou (May 16th, 2012)

Trip 69: With Theresa & Tim (May 12th, 2012)

Trip 70: With Dominique (June 2nd, 2012)

Trip 71: With Alex, Verena, & Tyler (June 3rd, 2012)

Trip 72: With Clifford, Avital, Brittany, & T.Saw (June 5th, 2012)

Trip 73: With Alethia, Nandhu, Ryan, Meagan, Anna, Vivian, Tien, & Thy (June 11th, 2012)

Trip 74: With Nandhu, David, Tran, Pauline, Jennifer (x2), Jenny, Fernando, Calvin, Vin, Megan, & Christina (June 19th, 2012)

Trip 75: With Katherine, Leah, Brittney, Alexis, Leandro, & Howard

Trip 76: With Earle, Joyce, Bijan, and Jessica (July 12th, 2012)

Trip 77: With Leta, Michelle, Nandhu, Brandon, Kayla, Sid, Bijan, & Clifford (September 16th, 2012)

Trip 78: With Victoria, Emily, Irving, & Aprille (November 10th, 2012)

Trip 79: With Jessica, Bijan, & Sid (November 17th, 2012)

Trip 80: With Truong, Karl, Emily, & Andy (December 14th, 2012)

Trip 81: With Teresa, Andy, Christian, Victoria, Natalie, Alan, Truong, & Karl (January 23rd, 2013)

Trip 82: With Teresa, Andy, Emily, Victoria, Mikey, Don, Alan, Jennifer, Karl, Joseph, Jen M., Neil, & Justin (March 17th, 2013)

Trip 83: With Teresa, Christian, & Jen Nguyen (April 5th, 2013)

Trip 84: With Neil, Jen M, & Ashley G (April 6th, 2013)

With all that said, Who wants to go to Phil’s with me next?!