3.5 stars .. solid service & nice atmosphere. The...

3.5 stars .. solid service & nice atmosphere. The flavours were just lacking... is it weird to give the best nod to the vegetable in a BBQ? Also, Anthony S is right about the neighbourhood... do NOT keep walking east along Queen St at night. Sketchy might be an understatement

My thoughts and consideration about BBQ come from a very passionate group of restaurateurs and pit masters I befriended a few years ago in Dallas. It could be a regional thing but to them, good 'Cue' stand on its own and doesn't need any of the soppin' sauces those northern Tenn folks do to hide their meats. That sentence comes with heavy twang and a heavier dose of passion.

So I came to Carbon bar to sate my rib craving and I left a bit puzzled. For starters, the restaurant made great use of the former Electric Circus space... it has an amazing tall ceiling that just gives a flare to the room. The seating is quite comfortable and thank god their AC works (heat wave that day). Two little drawbacks about their room. One is their table arrangement. It's comfortable and normally I wouldn't say anything but today was really apparent on how close the next table is to you. I smelled the neighbouring table BO and it was not ... pleasant. It was incredibly distracting and wanted me to vacate the restaurant ASAP. The second thing was that we were constantly reminded we had another table coming right after us so we only had 2 hours for the table. To be honest, the neighbouring table wanted me to leave after 30 minutes but the 3 reminders (phone, hostess, and then another wait staff) was a bit much. I do get it that this is a business and tables turned = a successful night. So go get that dollars Carbon... maybe not just beat me over the head with it.

So the really great waitress here helped us and suggested we get a snack of Korean Fried Cauliflower to compliment the Pit Master Platter for 2. She thought it would be more than enough food. She was right on both accounts. The KFC was great and totally see why it is their number 1 snack that has been there since day 1 and that the Pit Master is definitely enough for 2 people.

Korean Fried Cauliflower (KFC) - Oh yes, this is the must do when you're here. Light crispy battered cauliflower that is just hot from the fryer and they perfectly coated (not too much... not too little) with a Korean influenced sauce... it felt like it was a combination of sweet, heat, and a touch of fermented sourness. Im guessing a modified gochujang sauce. Loved this one 5/5.

Pit Master Platter for 2 - It looks damn impressive but it just fell a bit flat on some things... mostly from flavour and serving temperature. It comes with a lot nice things - brisket, ribs, deep fried chicken thigh (deboned), fries, pickles, with 3 sauces. To summarize the flavour issue, I felt they were scared to season the meat to stand alone and rely more on the sauces that sit beside the meat.

The best thing I felt were the ribs .. it wasn't dry, had a good tender chew (its actually not a good thing when it drops off the bone too easily), and had some flavour but it was moderately warm. 3.5/5

Brisket was very tender but it lacked flavour... we had to use the sauces for sure. It also felt like it was served just slightly above room temperature. 3/5

Chicken was very moist and nicely fried up. Great crisp edges on the crust and not oily. It just missed seasoning in the crust... no salt or pepper to season it up. This one was served hot so it was good to eat. 3.5/5

Fries were served unsalted (or super lightly salted) and cold. This was a disappointment and though you could use the sriracha mayo to bring up the flavour, eating cold fries wasn't so good. 2/5

Overall, it could be a great bbq place if they upped their seasoning and rubs and served their food hot. I think the service is good here and not a bad place to enjoy good food. It could be a clear 4 star if they just tweaked those. I'm heading to Stack and Barque to see how the rest of Toronto compares to my Dallas memories.