Percy Street Barbecue

This BBQ was a great find off South Street in Philly! We ordered the skillet cornbread and the BBQ fries as appetizers. The cornbread was a miss for half the table but a hit for me! It had a nice kick, not too sweet and not too dry. It was just a little skillet worth though, not fully worth the price. The BBQ fries were great, fries with a cheese sauce topped with BBQ pulled brisket. I ordered the root beer ribs ($ 13) and a side of potato salad with a bacon vinegarette. Keep in mind that everything is a la carte. The potato salad was warm, and very very yummy!!! The ribs were good, great flavor, though I prefer more of a crunchy crusty top to ribs. You get a lot of ribs for your money… I should have shared them!
Service was top notch, as everything came out as ordered and the water stayed to the brim in our glasses. I didn’t give this place 5 stars… to be honest… because I’m from TN. So my par level for BBQ is a little off. I find the local BBQ joints are much better for the food. This place was an overall good experience. I’d go back to try something else!

We stopped in here for lunch one Saturday afternoon as we were looking for a good BBQ place that wasn’t too far from the Wells Fargo Center and was good for kids. This place fit the bill, and we were so glad we decided to give them a try! Reading thru other reviews on Unilocal,it seems like they recently changed their menu and maybe not for the better. Unfortunately we can’t compare, but I do know we really liked what we had.
Upon sitting down, they bring out a jar of cold water, and once filling up your glass, they leave the jar at the table so you can easily refill yourself if you want. The water was cold, so no ice needed in the glass. They also bring out thinly sliced carrots and some ranch dipping sauce. I also ordered their sweet tea, which was just right and not overly sweet.
We started off with the mac-​n-​cheese, and I sort of wished we didn’t just order one for the table. Nice cheesy flavor without the noodles taking a bath in cheese sauce. The bread crumbs on the top really made the dish for me. My wife and I quickly devoured up that small dish. For our entrée, I went with the chopped brisket sandwich and my wife went with the brisket platter with a side of German potato salad. I loved my brisket sandwich, and it was chocked full of lean, smokey brisket meat. It was a bit messy to eat, but no worries. My wife enjoyed her sliced brisket as well, and it came with this toasted bread and onion jam on top. I didn’t think I would care for it, but I gave it a try and it wasn’t too bad. You only got 2 sauces to dip in and one was spicy – actually too spicy for my wife. The sauces are served in little shot glasses.
As I mentioned earlier, we needed a kid friendly place, and they do have a kids menu here. The kids also get a coloring page and same crayons served in a little bucket. Food choices for the little ones include chopped brisket slider, mac-​n-​cheese, BBQ chicken drumstick, peanut butter, banana & honey, hot dog, or grilled cheese. All meals are served with your choice of french fries or chopped salad and also include an ice cream sundae. My kids said the grilled cheese and fries were good, and they actually ate quite a bit, which is saying something because they are picky eaters.
Although we were full, we decided to go for dessert. Since so many people seemed to rave about the key lime pie, I went for that while my wife took the pecan pie. While the key lime pie was good, I actually thought the pecan pie was much better, and it was actually one of the best pecan pie’s I’ve had in quite some time. I like it when my pecan pie has bourbon in it.
In short, we really liked Percy Street Barbecue and would definitely come back. Only slight downside is that it did seem to take a little while for the food to come out. For our lunch, we were there for nearly an hour and a half. If you find yourself on South Street and you like BBQ, check this place out!

nice concept. poor execution.
fun atmosphere. solid beer and whiskey menu. great tasting bbq sauces and sides. if anything, get the tender braised pork cheek. unfortunately, chewy ribs and dry brisket didn’t cut it for me. i’ll get my philly bbq fix at khyber pass or fette sau instead.

Having tried Percy Street BBQ on South Street, I was looking forward to the outpost in the Comcast Center — the bastion of corporate lunches. Having read the Unilocal reviews, I knew that I should be expecting mainly sandwiches — consisting of BBQ chicken, pulled pork, or brisket. Sides are offered as well, including Mac & Cheese and collard greens. Unfortunately, my after-​work visit was disappointing. Perhaps the timing was the reason (read: after work and not during lunch) … though I arrived three hours prior to closing.
Having visited Mike’s Steaks several times — I have spied on Percy Street’s operations from a short distance. They carve and chop your meat to order, which is a nice touch. Unfortunately, on my inaugural visit, they were already out of BBQ chicken and pulled pork. I knew the Comcast iteration of Percy Street did not offer pork belly, so I had already settled on brisket — so no matter to me. However, I was picking up dinner for the GF so I felt bad — I knew she would’ve preferred the pulled pork or the BBQ chicken. Alas … it was not meant to be.
They were also out of jalapeño cornbread. I understand that the prime hours are likely during lunch, but if you’re open until 7PM — it kind of stands to reason that around 4PM, you’d have most offerings. But I digress (do I? do I really?) … on to the meal!
Chopped Brisket ($ 7.99)
Served on a Liscio’s roll, the brisket was chopped to order. There are no lean, fatty, or mixed options here — they simply give you what is apparently available. And trust me — this version was extremely fatty (I prefer mixed). About ¾ of the brisket was quite good — smoky, tender, delicious. However, the sandwich had entire squares of fat which were completely inedible.
I asked for the ‘Old Faithful’ BBQ sauce, which had a tiny bit of heat and a subtle sweetness that was inherent in every mouthful. You can add pickles, onions, coleslaw, or jalapenos as toppings for free, but I wanted to taste the pure, unadulterated brisket. Cheddar, provolone, or pickled green tomatoes are extra.
In any case, I was sorely disappointed with this sandwich — and my stomach was angry for the rest of the night.
Mac & Cheese ($ 1.99 when ordered with a sandwich)
Since I ordered the brisket sandwich, I was able to get a side of Mac & Cheese for $ 1.99 (rather than $ 2.99 on its own). A steal right? Not at all! The picture above is deceiving — I should’ve placed it next to the sandwich itself for comparison’s sake. The diameter of the entire side was 2 inches at most — on a good day. The height of the container was about an inch. Not worth $ 1.99 — and I’m normally down to pay most anything for a good bite of food.
And this wasn’t it. Don’t get me wrong — it was passable and the GF was a fan (but then again she loves Kraft Mac N Cheese — sorry boo — cat’s out of the bag!). It was creamy enough and the top was crusted with toasted breadcrumbs. However, it was fairly one note — and one bite. Maybe two.
Overall — the Comcast Center’s version of Percy Street BBQ missed its mark for me. Mainly due to the extreme fattiness of the brisket sandwich and the relatively high price point for what constitutes a side. It’s a good thing Center City Philly doesn’t have many BBQ options — or Percy Street would be obligated to reconsider their pricing of certain items, as well as their quality.
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to Fette Sau in the near future …

The smell of real BBQ hits you when you walk in. Excellent sign. I went for the brisket sandwich with hot bbq sauce, coleslaw, and jalepenos. My stomach was pissed, my face was sweating, my mouth was burning… and all was right with the world. This was a damned good sandwich.
I have only tried the brisket so far, but based on that experience I will definitely be back. Brisket is one of the most difficult things to cook, but these guys seem to do it well. I’ve had brisket at «great» places in Texas, and this was handily tastier than I had a multiple places down there. I would rather get it as a platter than a sandwich, but for the price, the speed, and the portability of a sandwich, it’s tough to beat.
For a lunchtime sandwich, this is a definite 4* establishment, not a 5* because you’re comparatively paying for it ($ 8 for a sandwich, $ 1 for a can of pop) and my 5*s are reserved for «holy crap this is amazing» and /​or «holy crap this is amazing… for the price.» Percy falls into neither category, but it’s still well, well worth checking out.

Delicious! I wasn’t expecting it to be that good after seeing some of the reviews on here, but the pulled pork I had was spicy and tender, and the side of collard greens was great too. My friend had the bbq chicken sandwich and a side of pinto beans, and she liked her food a lot too. The food court in the basement of the Comcast Center is nice too! Sunny and clean. I was very pleased with the whole experience.

I was pumped when this little takeout spot opened in the Comcast Center. They changed their menu a few months back to offer more platter options and less «sandwich» options. I usually get the chopped brisket platter (with pickles) and a side of collards and slaw. They give you plenty of food! It’s a bit on the pricey side (usually about ($ 10 – 12) depending on whether or not you get a drink, but definitely worth treating yourself once in a while.

Out of all your choices at Comcast center, Percy Street gives you something delicious and different. I don’t eat BBQ that often for lunch, especially in Philadelphia where hoagies are king.
The menu is simple, you have either sandwich or platter of pulled pork, brisket, or chicken. I like that; not complicated and stick to what is good. Sides range from cole slaw, beans, mac-​n-​cheese, cornbread, collards. I ordered the brisket platter which comes with cole slaw, either beans or collards, and a slice of cornbread. It was a healthy platter, when I like something I can put it down but I was full by the end. With a drink, my total was $ 11 which isn’t too shabby for Comcast dining.
The only con I see is that they do not give you enough BBQ sauce. It was about half of a shot class which didn’t cover all my brisket. I ended up mixing a lot of my platter together so I was fine, but would like more sauce.

An efficient little place, where you can get in and out within 5 minutes during lunch hour.
The plus is, that the food is amazing. I tried the spicy BBQ chicken sandwich with a side of Mac n cheese. The chicken was soft, the BBQ was perfect and the sandwich bread was awesome.
Great place for any bbq fan who doesn’t want to get his/​her shirt dirty.

You’re in or around the Comcast Center. You need lunch. Your options are thus:
–Food cart. Cheap, crappy, guilty-​pleasure food which can be good or completely gross. Also– generally speaking– the dirtiest filth this side of Mickey D’s.
–Hot Tamlaes. This is what I would suggest, but it is a bit of a mood food.
–Going into the Comcast Food Court.
Down the stairs there lies a seedy corporate food court. Sushi, lobster, and BBQ all live side-​by-​side here. Percy Street BBQ, one of my favorites restaurants in the city, has opened a satellite locale here.
If you are expecting their succulent pork belly, knee buckling ribs or juicy chicken, move along.
10 bucks.
A sandwich.
A side.
A drink.
I had the brisket. I have to be honest, and I think there is no easy way of putting this– the sandwich was cold. It was good. Very good even. And cold.
The mac n cheese was mac n cheese. Reliable, tasty, predictable. You know.
Next time, I try something else. But you could do a lot worse than this spot.

I decided to pick up dinner here for myself on my way home. 6pm is the way to go — I was the only customer! I ordered the chopped brisket sandwich with a side of coleslaw for $ 10. The sandwich stayed hot all the way home on the bus. I loved the roll — it was perfectly chewy. And the meat was delicious! Especially with pickles woven in. You really can’t taste the horseradish mayo though, which was a bummer. Coleslaw was good — crunchy and not overly doused with mayo, but I should have gotten the mac ‘n cheese.

I was pretty disappointed on my first trip to this Percy’s outpost. I really like the main restaurant on South Street and was excited to try this closer to work sandwich version, but it just doesn’t compare. I went with the brisket with cheddar, horseradish mayo, and pickled green tomatoes. The idea of this sandwich is delicious, but it just wasn’t executed well. First, it was cold, and then the vinegar taste of the tomatoes pretty much overpowered everything else. I couldn’t really taste horseradish, and it’s a big sandwich, but wasn’t cut in half. The mac and cheese was tasty, with a nice crumb top. I just wasn’t that into the sandwich and therefore did not finish it. The sweet tea is good too, and no complaints about service. $ 10 for a sandwich, drink, and side is definitely a good deal, but I won’t be rushing back.

I’ll certainly try this place again, giving them some time to get it all together, but my first trip to the new Comcast Center Percy Street Barbecue was a disappointing.
First, the space itself. This little place is not in the food court proper, with a walk up counter — but is a tiny spot enclosed in glass a few steps up from the seating area for the food court. The space is tight and awkward. Not intuitively designed, everyone just walks around getting into each others way. I was there around 1PM today — so, the lunch crowd had dissipated some — so, maybe 6 customers there — but we were all awkwardly running into each other, moving around awkwardly trying to find an appropriate place to stand and wait for our food. But, in the end, it was relatively fast, and the food was hot.
I ordered the Pulled Pork Sandwich Combo with a side of collard’s and the sweetened iced tea. First, the collards — while the side was small, the collards were well seasoned and cooked nicely — very tasty and satisfying, except that they were gone in three bites. The pulled pork sandwich was substantial — on a long roll, it was a nice sized sandwich packed with pulled pork. The bread was tasty and fresh. However, the pulled pork was pretty much identical to when I attempt pulled pork in my crockpot. It was mushy-​tender, some level of seasoning, but not even — not a lot of a trace of sauce (would have liked a choice of sauces, but didn’t see that option). But, from the first bite the one thing that was there in great abundance was SALT. Wow, was this ever salty. I am a Southerner — I can handle my salt. .. but, this was just WAY too salty even for me.
The sweetened iced tea was okay — the right amount of sugar, but really brewed very weak at least for my taste.
As for the staff — they were friendly, personable and helpful. The place seems well organized behind the scenes and flowed nicely — something other places could learn from. But, the reason I made the walk today was to try the barbecue. For that reason, right now at least, they only get two stars.

Good quality brisket — id rather have more sauce options and BBQ sauce on the side.

This is a great addition to the Comcast Center Marketplace.
I had the sliced brisket sandwich combo with collard greens.
The sandwich rocked my socks. The meat was tender and not over seasoned with a nice smoky taste. The addition of the cheddar cheese and pickled tomatoes was also excellent. I didn’t really get much ‘horseradish’ out of the horseradish mayo, but it didn’t detract from the sandwich. The roll had a decent texture too.
I’d eat one of these almost every day.
The only negatives I saw was a long wait time during the lunch rush. Although my order was perfect another nearby customer’s order was misplaced and he had to wait another 10 minutes. If I had to get back to work quickly, that would have been very upsetting.

Growing up on Texas BBQ, I know what great BBQ is, and sadly the beef brisket here was disappointing. The texture of the meat was mushy and overcooked (with chunks of fat) and except for a sweet BBQ sauce, it was generally flavorless. However, the roll was good.
I also ordered a side of mac n’ cheese, and it tasted like the stuff my elementary cafeteria used to serve.
But it’s still early for them, so hopefully they’ll get the kinks worked out.

The South Street location’s food just blows this place out of the water– it’s almost hard to believe it’s the same owner.
Stopped in here for a Monday lunch date with E and the line around 1 o’clock wasn’t bad at all. He got the turkey and I went with the pork shoulder with no cheese (there wasn’t any ham on the menu, but this pork shoulder has the same ingredients as the ham I read about so I’m not sure if they changed it from ham or if it was smoked pork shoulder all along).
The pork shoulder was pretty fatty, as one would expect from pork shoulder I suppose. I picked out a lot of fatty chunks and dug in. The bread is «meh», it’s quite chewy and has a texture resembling that of a frozen, reheated soft pretzel. Some folks might not mind (like the kind of folks who think Subway sandwiches are great because of the bread, maybe?), but it violated a cardinal rule of sandwich-​craft in E’s turkey sandwich. When you bite into the ‘wich, all the squishy fillings come oozing out the sides.
The flavor of the pork sandwich was pretty unexciting (I’m sure it would be much better with some cheese but ohmygod the heart attack) and E wasn’t thrilled with his turkey. The avocado component was more like a purée than slices of avocado and it mixed in with everything else in an unappealing way. Plus it looked really gross all squishing out of the sides like some Evil Dead special effects. I noted that the smoke flavor in the meat is a little too over-​the-​top and kinda tastes fake, like they boosted it with liquid smoke flavoring.
Man, we really did not enjoy these sandwiches. I’m glad we skipped out on the sides! Go to their South Street location for some whole smoked chicken and forget the Comcast Center shop even exists. Stuff is like crack.

When you place your order here, they request that you leave your first name and last initial, so they can call it out when your food is ready. I wonder if they also did this to secretly stalk their customers’ Unilocal reviews after hours. I’d say this is probable.
This li’l lunch joint is cute and convenient, but even though all the ingredients come straight from its mother restaurant down on the actual Percy Street, some of the flavor and quality is lost in its travels to Comcast and its transformation to sandwich-​form. My chopped brisket still had its smoky flavor but was drowned out by too much barbecue sauce and some pretty unexhilarating bread. The mac and cheese was decent though it could be cheesier and they don’t give you a whole lot.
The $ 10 lunch special (sandwich, side, soda) is a pretty good deal quantitatively speaking, definitely enough food for at least two meals. Service is friendly, though the wait to receive your order can be lengthy. I doubt I will be having desperate cravings to rush back here, but I suppose it is another lunch option to add to the queue.

The opening day rush was handled pretty well. There were scores of people in line at the peak of lunch hour, but the ordering line went pretty fast. It took about ten-​fifteen minutes to get the sandwich, which is longer than ideal, but not unreasonable considering the number of people served. The staff put on their A game for opening day; hopefully, they’ll keep it.
The brisket sandwich itself was tasty (though easily inferior to DiNic’s). The side of collard greens was small but good (it was not at all greasy, so apparently not the traditional side of collard greens some might expect at a barbecue joint).
Overall, definitely one of the better choices for a sandwich in the Comcast center.

Percy Street’s new express location in the Comcast Center Market rocked its opening day. This location only serves sandwiches and sides. There are a few sandwiches available: chopped brisket, sliced brisket, pulled pork, boneless rib, smoked turkey, and smoked ham. There’s also a set of classic BBQ sides to choose from. For $ 10, you get a sandwich, a side, and a can of soda. This price seemed well in line with everything else in the Comcast Market.
I opted for the Sliced Brisket which was accompanied by sharp cheddar, horseradish mayo, and pickled green tomatoes. I partnered it with a side of mac & cheese and in case you were wondering, a can of sprite. The can of sprite was definitely the weak point in this meal. The brisket was delicious, super tender and lightly seasoned, with a great smoky flavor. The mayo, cheddar, and picked tomatoes complimented it to create an almost perfect sandwich. The bread was good, maybe not the best available in Philly, but very good for the sandwich. The side of mac & cheese had a nice crusty top and a rich, buttery interior.
This is the place that the Comcast Center has been waiting for. It will be joining my regular rotation of lunch options.