Phoebe’s Bar-B-Q is a hole-in-the-wall takeout joint on South Street in Fitler Square, full of big flavors and an unabashedly gruff staff befitting the tagline “Ribs With Attitude”.  Known primarily for their ribs and rotisserie chicken, they also offer most of the menu items in sandwich form.  The brisket sandwich is a definite winner, but the pulled pork disappoints and the rib “sandwiches” are total failures.  Not the ribs themselves are bad — in fact, they are quite delicious — but the audacity to call a platter of hulking bone-in ribs on sauce-soaked white bread “sandwiches” is misleading at best and deceitful at worst.

Nonetheless, the brisket is a real treat.  A smokey, saucy stack of tender, flavorful meat on a dense New York Bakery kaiser roll, the sandwich holds together in the hand, and flakes apart in the mouth.  The roll becomes increasingly more saturated with sauce with each bite but avoids becoming too soft or mushy, maintaining a moist and chewy consistency till the end.

The pulled pork sandwich misses on three levels: the meat is less-than-juicy (not quite dry, but not quite succulent); it is served in large pieces, not shreds; and it is surprisingly mild in flavor, falling well short of expectations.

Sandwiches are served with an adorable (but too small) side of crunchy cole slaw and your choice of Phoebe’s famous hot or mild sauce.  And though there is no rotisserie chicken sandwich on the menu, we frequently build our own chicken sandwich with the bits we pull from the platter.

Phoebe’s Bar-B-Q
2214 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146 (Google Map)