RD’s Southern BBQ

Been once, and enjoyed it! A touch pricey for some options.

Awesome food. Friendly staff. First time here and I will definitely be back for more. Shared the po’boy catfish sandwich and a small pulled pork poutine. Catfish was light tasting, fresh and tasty. The fries were yummy, thick cut, fresh and the pulled pork and sauce were the best I have had (been to Memphis bbq and this is way better).
Going to try their other location as they have gumbo there and a bigger selection on the menu.

Rds restaurant itself was very excellent. The atmosphere is very comforting and the mood is relaxed. As to the food, they all are lovingly prepared. The bbq wings, sandwiches and salads are my favourite. I’ve tried them numerous times and they never let me down. The food is cooked fresh and time is took into it. There are just so many southern dishes worth getting. The sauces they use for the food are top notch. High quality experience. I’ve always had a very satisfying and memorable experience when I go there.

Great little place to fix your need for some Bar-​B-​Q. Their sides fit very well with the mains, (the ones we could try) they were out of beans and a few other staples.
Service was slower than expected but they apologized several times to make us feel it wasn’t the norm. The brisket was delicious and the ribs were cooked to perfection. I would have enjoyed having some extra sauce for our meal but because we took our meal to go that wasn’t an option. We will certainly return and give them another try in the future.

I was looking for a place InBrampton that had some decent wings, when i came across the Unilocal review for RD’s. I thought… Wow, 100 reviews and a 4.5 start rating that’s pretty good. Pictures of pulled pork, beef brisket and others made my mouth salivate… i told my girlfriend this is where we were going for dinner.
She had a po boy catfish sandwich, which was surprisingly light and very flavorful. I had a half pulled pork, half beef Brisket sandwich which was worth the drive to Brampton alone. The Mac and cheese as well as the coleslaw was also delicious… And i was blown by the size of cornbread given. Prices are extremely reasonable, and staff were extremely polite. It showed that they took pride in their business and believed in how good their product is.
I’ll have to try the Mississauga location for specific food items only sold there.

Definitely worth the drive!!! The macaroni is to die for. …the BBQ mouthwatering… hush puppies FANTASTIC… but the service. .you can’t get better!!! See you soon!

I’ve had some incredible barbecue in dives in the southern states and even big chains, but despite giving RD’s a try more than once, I just can’t call them a good BBQ place despite the surprising amount of rave reviews.
The people there seem nice enough but I’ve had to wait for over 20 minutes on each of my two or three visits, even when calling in advance.
The food simply isn’t good. Maybe I’ve had some bad luck there, but more than once??? The ribs were dried out and flavorless and slathered in BBQ sauce in an effort to make them taste like something — except the sauce wasn’t good either. The fried foods were just greasy and disgusting.
Honestly, we made an effort to try and get through as much of the meal as we could just to not have felt to have thrown that money away. This all pains me to say because I love to support independent business. I’m glad so many people like it and wish them well, but I’ll go to a Montana’s location or Memphis BBQ in Woodbridge for my BBQ in the NW GTA.

Felt like I was back in New Orleans. Po Boys & Jerk wings and really good… wings are spicy. They ran out of ribs, will have to come back. Small place but steady stream of peeps coming in… A true hidden gem

The food is so bomb! Everything is made fresh to order so naturally it’s worth the wait. Big daddy is highly recommended for the hungry Man
Mac n cheese is on point
Ribs are bomb
Good corn bread
And the pulled pork poutine is something else

Man I absolutely love this place. Their po boy catfish is beyond amazing… the softness of the fish matched with their sauce and bun is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! *drools. Just thinking of it makes me happy hehehe… and I love their mac n cheese. The food takes a bit long but let me tell you, I’m an impatient person and I’m telling you ITS WORTH THE WAIT!
Personally I love this location better than their Hurontario one.
If this was useful than you’re welcome :) if you don’t try it… YOURE MISSING OUT!!! (Sorry for screaming, I’m a passionate Unilocaler… and I love this place!!)

I felt like I was at ribfest!!! :) the ribs and pulled pork were amazing! Considered my favourite ribs now! I was very impressed with the service and quality/​taste of their food. The restaurant itself is in a small plaza. It’s a very small location. It’s nothing fancy but the food makes up for everything :)

First time here. I just literally left and took the rest home. I got the macoroni and cheese, BBQ chicken wings with jerk sauce on the side and the Po’ Bo sandwich (Fried Cat Fish Sandwich) and corn bread. It was Delicious! The mac and cheese was decent 3 or 4 out of 5. Pobo sandwich 5 out of 5 and the corn bread was decent 3 out of 5. I would definitely come here again. I ate in and the lady serving me gave great customer service and recommended the Pobo Sandwich to me. It was my first time trying cat fish and I was skeptical, but thank Goodness I did. I enjoyed it, and would order it again and again. Yum!
I recommend.

It’s hard to find a good bbq place in toronto but here’s a pretty decent place for ribs, the beef brisket was kind of chewy but still tasted alright… decently priced and generous portions, comes with a side of coleslaw for $ 12 (¼ ribs and beef brisket)
Limited dining and probably better to take out from here
Also got the Mac n cheese which was very good, very cheesy and quite heavy

You would think you’d have to travel downtown #Toronto for good BBQ. NOPE! #OnlyInBrampton can you find the best BBQ joint with years of experience, a family-​run restaurant dishing up a variety of BBQ & Creole-​Cajun cooking, and straight up good food * you have to check out @rdsbbq * go say what’s up to the friendly family and check out their amazing menu. We were able to get some amazing ribs, cooked perfectly with a beautiful smoke, pulled pork and some coleslaw which had a nice bite. We missed out on the mac and cheese and cornbread * which sells out fast. Get your fingers sticky with some good BBQ
It’s definitely a #RicksGoodEats
#BBQ #ribs #pulledpork #beef #summer #foodporn #fingerlickingood

Well that was much better than expected! When u walked in it was not a pretty place but it was packed so I knew it has to be good! Got a full rack of ribs, wings, mammoth poutine and Mac and cheese! Fed 4 ppl for $ 50 ! So good I liked the Mac n cheese the best! Yum ! Will go back! Def order before going if getting takeout

I came for a UYE in a cold, cold evening.
«How does the chef learn to cook like this?» I thought. «It tastes really like, I don’t know, good Southern food that I can eat in the States.»
I ordered ¼ rib and pulled pork with medium sauce ($ 12.50). Holy yum yum! They tasted rich. The sauce was very thick and smoky. It reminded me of Bull Eye Original BBQ sauce but thicker. The ribs were slow smoked to tenderness. There was not much fatty issue on the ribs, yet the meat was still moist, just not so soft and juicy that the meat fell off the bones, but it was still very easy to rip.
The pulled pork was just sensational. The meat was from good part. It was cooked to soft yet still had a rich meat taste. The medium sauce was made for this pulled pork. The flavour sipped through the fibra and saturated the finely pulled pork. It was finger licking good, I tell ya.
The décor of RD is simple. It is a hole in the wall. It is maybe 5 steps from rundown, but I don’t know if the style is intentional or not. I like the jazz posters on the wall, and the jazz music in the background.
The people were great, too. We met the chef, you know the guy on the front page of RD’s website. He was so laid back and friendly. With him, and the music, and the BBQ meat, I wondered where my glass of rum was. [Sigh] Good times indeed.

I came here for a UYE organized by fellow Unilocaler Ryan F.
My order: beef brisket and ¼ rack of ribs plus a side of beans. I thought the ribs were pretty good, but I’ve never been a huge ribs fan in general. However, the BRISKET, wow, OMG! This was the best beef brisket I ever had. The sauce had a nice smokey/​bbq flavour to it. I didn’t have bread with my order, but when I finished the brisket and had so much sauce left, my friend was kind of enough to spare her bread. Eating this white bread with sauce was absolutely delicious! It reminded me of an awesome sloppy joe.
I also tried some Mac N Cheese and some hush puppies (corn fritters). The hush puppies were fried perfectly but the Mac N Cheese, this was delicious. I’m not sure what kind of cheese it was, but it seemed a lot tastier than cheddar. It felt like fancy Mac N Cheese.
Overall, I’d give the food a 4/​5, however the owner and the chef are super super nice and chill. I literally felt like family there. They were very patient with our big group as a few of us arrived at 6:45 and we didn’t really order until 7:30. Whenever we asked questions, they were happy to answer and also joked around with us.
It was a great experience and because of the super chill owner, I’ll boost it up to 5 stars. :-)

On what has been one of the coldest weeks in recent memory a group of fearless Unilocalers decided to have a get together (Unofficial Unilocal Event) to basically get together and have some great BBQ.
Walking into RD’s you can already smell the wonderful food. It’s that wonderful smell that takes you to another place whether it be summer time or the smell that reminds you of fond memories with family in a backyard or a celebration in an open green space for a nostalgic great time like a picnic. For me it brought me back to driving by smoke houses on Wears Valley Road near Sevierville, Tennessee.
Yes that smell is all you need to know about how much work and effort is put into the quality of this food. I often mention but it goes without saying that smell is connected to taste. What you smell is what you taste and in this place the mere anticipation of what you can smell will already get the juices flowing. This place RDs could make money of just bottling up that scent and making it available for your Glade Plug In devices and such.
This place is 100% Ron Swanson approved. If you don’t know who that is, look it up and watch Parks and Recreation… because it’s a funny show and Nick Offerman is the man.
The menu consists mostly if not all of BBQ and the types of sides that go with it. While I didn’t try any of the sides I had my chance to since our party ordered a lot of food and we shared among us.
Being the greedy bastard I am when it comes to all things good I had ordered 2 dishes this fine evening. For my appetizer I ordered the catfish Po Boy sandwich which was 8 dollars. I saw this on the menu and I simply had to have it. HAD TO HAVE IT. The one time and only time I’ve been to New Orleans for an extended weekend I ended up eating this sandwich 3 times because I loved it so. This was 21 years ago and change. Catfish is something you don’t commonly see on any menu where I live so yes I will order this just for nostalgia’s sake.
The sandwich was very good and also very generous. The breading was crispy and not too overwhelming. The bread was fresh as were the garnishes but overall it was what I had wanted. I had added some of the Scotch bonnet/​ghost pepper homemade sauce on the sandwich and I swear I had died and gone to heaven. Hold on I still have my main to eat before I leave this world…
…I had ordered a half rack of ribs and beef brisket as well. This was 21 dollars and came with a small side of coleslaw. The slaw is very creamy which I really like. I am not fan of vinegary cole slaw, only creamy and this was great. The kind that if added to your sandwich would definitely lubricate it. The ribs were given in 2 quarter pieces since the server thought I had ordered a quarter rack so they just added another quarter to make a half (4 and 4 bones = 8). The ribs were of a good size, I’m assuming they were side ribs and they were meaty and had some weight to them. They seemed a little dry but the sauce countered that. The sauce was done right… of course to the point where they stick. I would have liked them maybe a little juicier but smoked for an extended amount of time is the method so they come out drier than what I’m used to making at home. The meat here is smoked slowly and sauced after.
The brisket is also slow smoked and sauced as well. I was given about maybe 6 or 7 slices of brisket drizzled with a very smokey and tangy sauce. This can only be described as the beef version of bacon for how much I enjoyed this. Again a little on the drier side but again slow smoked and sauced.
The tastes are great and I can only eat and order so much. Other dishes ordered by our party were dishes with pulled pork, a mammoth poutine topped with pulled pork, and various sides such as slaw, mac and cheese, baked beans etc.
The staff and owner are very down to earth, friendly, personable and proud to be serving what they are serving. It’s obvious that they are no rookies when it comes to the art of cooking meat.
Their menu has larger combination type or family type portions as well. They also offer a catering service for large parties etc and offer local delivery. Molson Canadian and Corona is offered as beer.
RD’s basically has what you need to fulfill your meat cravings during a time when I don’t want to BBQ outside. This is an open all year kind of place so you know what, open all year means go all year. This is a gem in the western GTA no doubt.
I will have different items when I return next time but so far, so great. All around it’s is 5* experience. I originally gave them a 4 but this is one of the very few times I will round it up.
By the way they are opening another location in the Hurontario and Derry Road area in April we were told…

BBQ in the middle of Winter? Why the hell not, I said, as I participated in a UYE organised by Ryan F., driving out to Brampton on one of the coldest nights! Actually, it was the best.decision.ever. as the food at RD’s made me believe, albeit briefly, that it was Summer!!!
I’ve had RD’s bookmarked for the longest time, but never found a reason to be in this area. So glad I ventured out ’cause I finally had a chance to experience what all the amazing reviews were all about.
The «Skinny» (ha ha!) — Since we went as a group, I was able to taste a bit of everything, including some Hush Puppies (corn fritter apps), Creole Rice (yum!), Cole Slaw (it was a side for my Shrimp PoBoy), Bake Beans, Mac & Cheese, Mammoth Poutine (oh my lord, mammoth is no exaggeration!), Catfish PoBoy, Pulled Pork, & Beef Brisket.
(I think the only thing that was on the table that I didn’t sample were the Ribs + Big Daddy. I’ll save that for my next visit!)
Everything was delicious! And although I liked my Shrimp PoBoy, I’d say that RD’s standout is DEFINITELY the BBQ, re: ribs (probably, but I never tried), brisket, & pulled pork. So if you’re a first-​timer, I’d go with the BBQ meats!
Owners were down-​to-​earth, very friendly, patient, and knowledgeable about their food. You could tell — & it shows too — that it is their passion and I love going to places like this!
While we were there, owners told us that they are opening another location within the next few months in the Hurontario/​Derry area, so great news for people like me who live in ‘ssauga!

This is one of the reasons that I love Unilocal.You hear about hidden gems through reviews and they happen to be right in your neighborhood. I finally decided to head on down the infamous RD Southern BBQ on Kennedy and Queen. I almost passed by it as it was in a small strip mall north of Queen St. Parking can be a little hard because of some limited spaces in the mall.
I was greeted by the father and son team who runs and owns the restaurant. I opted for «Dean’s Bad Habit»…Pulled pork and Beef Brisket on a kaiser with BBQ sauce… Plain and Simple. I also had a side of cornbread (which I am sucker for). The seating is seat yourself and they bring it to the table. The sandwich is freaking huge!!! It was like a pound of BBQ goodness and homemade bbq sauce. He also gave me a side of coleslaw and hot sauce to try out as well. The sandwich was succulent and very tasty, not to mention eating a sandwich that was as big as my head.
For the first time ever. I ate the coleslaw… I hate coleslaw. I’ve always disliked it… but RD’s coleslaw I would order that in a second. it hit all the right notes for me. They also do a special on Fridays of Cajun cooking and it is served till its gone (Ettoufee and Jambalaya).
The staff and the owners are awesome and the food is just as good. If your looking for a BBQ experience that will remember… just think of RD’s Southern BBQ in Brampton.