Another neat old ad from 1954, this one for the Tunnel Bar-B-Q, one of only two ads in the entire tourist booklet where the company is still in operation.
The Tunnel Bar-B-Q is a Windsor institution, make sure you pay them a visit some time soon. Like most things, if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. Our downtown businesses can’t survive without your support.
it has been a VERY long time since I’ve been here, I think one of the things which has taken me from this place is I find them extremely pricy? Is anyone else is agreement with me?
Although, like I said, it’s been a very long time, 7 years or more perhaps since I’ve been there…How is the food, and service in everyone else’s opinion?
I find their prices in order, all considered. My wife orders off the menu, which always has decent daily specials, but I always get the old stand-by – their full strip of ribs dinner. Granted the price of that dinner is a few bucks more than Swiss Chalet’s “full” rib dinner, but there’s no comparing TBQ’s ribs with Swiss Chalet or anything else around town for that matter. Plus you get a fresh breadbasket (not a tiny frozen roll), a huge honkin’ bowl of coleslaw, those famous TBQ sauces, and generally larger portion overall. ‘Ya gets what ya pays for.’ The service is above average. They always seem to have the same staff there, so they have their routine down. Best of all it’s one place downtown you *can* park right next to – for free. It’s in my rotation of favs, and like Andrew said – use it or lose it. The future of dining in this city is going to be all places like Applebees and Montanas if we don’t start supporting places like TBQ.
John is right. IF we don’t support our LOCALLY owned restaurants then we will be forced to eat at disgusting places like Applebee’s, Boston Pizza and the same cookie-cutter restaurants that will only locate in the borders of the city.
True, I find the prices a bit high but in this city ribs are expensive no matter where you get them from. However, I am willing to pay the money for such a long established restaurant. Try the Racksburger, great deal and very tasty.
Andrew thanks for showing a picture of what the restaurant used to look like. I always wondered if the exterior was original or not. Now I know.
i used to like going into their dessert area for take out, but changes in certain desserts has left me less than happy. more times than not i’ve had problems with things once i got them home and had to return them or throw them out.
the staff there though have always been so kind.
when i worked at the chicken court, they were always our competition.
I wonder why I haven’t noticed any advertisements from them anymore. Every week, I see Pepper’s and Coco Pellies in downtown advertising ther specials in the Windsor Star, but nothing from Tunnel BBQ. If they did and I didn’t recognize it, then maybe they’re doing something that just doesn’t stand out like Pepper’s and Coco Pellies. If something happens to them ,it’s because they didn’t do a good job of marketing themselves or paying attention to what customers want from a restaurant these days. The days of just passively running a restaurant in Windsor are long gone. Even the bars at night have promoters on the street that try to escort you to their bar and patronize their establishments with drink specials. They could even try something like a lunch buffet to get people coming back. If they go under, then it’s just poor management decisions. There’s many many ways they can reinvent themselves while keeping their historical brand name,
Noting how full the city owned parking garage on Goyeau is during the day and all the developers spending millions on small parcels of land in the downtown area has me now believing that downtown isn’t as bad off as it seems.
Have I eaten there before? Yes, but nothing really special there to make me want to return instead of trying something new.
Another good one is the United Grill on University E.
SBW – That’s the only other one that’s still open in my booklet. I’ll post that one tomorrow.
Everytime I’ve tried to go to the UnitedGrill it’s been closed. 🙁
Andrew, I think the United caters to the daytime mon-fri “bankers hours” traffic generated by city hall workers, etc. It’s shame because we’re going to need to start seeing places like that open during the day on weekends and such if we’re going to see families going downtown to spend a good part of the day. Remember that event that drew 16,000+ downtown and there we were tugging on their door in vain. 😉
Count me in for the “door closed” crowd. I agree that businesses have to step up to the plate and stay open later regardless if they are a restaurant or product -ased business.
David, TBQ’s is still in receivership and therefore ha very if any money left to advertise. I would like to point out that Pepper’s has horrible food. I have eaten there three times and each time the service was horrible and the food even worse. How do these places stay open?
ME, how does Pepper’s say in business? Easy, good marketing. They advertise specials in the paper each week.
As for TBQ, they should put a sign outside that says noon hour buffet $7–that’ll get more people inside. You know, I don’t even remember the last time a Chinese or other low cost buffet went bankrupt in Windsor, so buffets must be doing something right in Windsor. The only buffet that should go out of business is Casino’s Windsor $30 a head buffet, like WTF, that’s too much for a lunch buffet. I bet they end up with tonnes of food that goes to the wastebasket. I go to Vegas and I can get a buffet at a Casino for like $4 or a 18 oz NY Strip for $5. What’s wrong with the people running this casino??
Nonsense. Pepper’s stays in business because of the bar tab, not advertising. What’s more, Peppers doesn’t have 60 solid years under its belt and therefore is not worthy of being used as a yardstick to measure up against downtown veterans like TBQ (or United, or La Guardia, etc).
Sometimes places fall on hard times because of changing market conditions. Right now market conditions downtown favour places that cater to a decidedly younger crowd than TBQ appeals to. I know you’re going to suggest next that they start serving mozz sticks, dusted wings, and $2 drink specials, right? 😉
If that were the case, then why does Pepper’s advertise different dinner specials every night in the Windsor star. They don’t take anything for granted and keep marketing and that’s why they continue to be a success.
As for Tunnel BBQ, no, not mozz sticks and dusted wings. Just a buffet and you’ll see the place starting to get filled up by the noon hour office crowd because there aren’t many reasonably priced buffets in downtown. But, $2 drink specials isn’t a bad idea either. They’ve got a few bars that cater to the older crowd in downtown–Coco Pellies, Beer Market, Whiskey Bar, and Honest Lawyer to name a few. The times have changed. Businesses have gotta cater to what the customers want, not the other way around.
What does Pepper’s advertising dinner specials in the Star every night have to do with anything? You always get fixated on one thing that has nothing to do with the topic and beat it to death.
Chanoso’s – great food, reasonable prices, good/friendly staff.
The Tunnel BBQ needs a major face lift if it wants to bring in new business. The owners haven’t put any money into the place in over twenty years.
John, you say Pepper’s stays in business because of the bar tab. If that’s the case, why would they be spending so much money advertising dinner specials in the Windsor Star?? Shouldn’t they just be advertising drink specials since you say it’s success is based on the bar tab? Pepper’s is a restaurant just like Tunnel BBQ. Pepper’s caters to customer’s needs and wants and that’s why they’re successful. Tunnel BBQ needs to learn and follow from Pepper’s example if you perceive that the current path they’re heading on will lead to their eventual demise.
Just as a side note, Pepper’s is short for Pepper’s Bar and Grill. When you cook something with a BBQ, you cook it on a grill. Tunnel BBQ and Pepper’s Grill are semantically the same thing.
I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m chowing down on pub chips and draught beer there.
Anything you like. Here’s their dinner menu http://www.peppersbarandgrill.com/themenu.html You can get Filet Mignon for $21.99. Half a rack of backribs for $14.99. Here’s the Tunnel BBQ menu. http://www.tunnel-bar-b-q.com/tbqdowntown1.htm They don’t even serve Filet Mignon there. Actually, Mozzarella Sticks and Dusted Chicken Wings are on TBBQ’s menu. But, they don’t post their prices online like Pepper’s, so I’m not sure how much the beer is.
No offense to Pepper’s but I doubt I would sit down there for a meal and order Filet Mignon. As for the Tunnel Bar-B-Q not serving Filet Mignon, why should they? What they do best is ribs.
Comparing Pepper to the Tunnel Bar-B-Q, is like comparing apples to hockey skates. One is a real restaurant, one is a piss-tank kiddie bar that sells food too.
David, I was just kidding. I won’t be needing the dinner menu. However I’m glad to hear they serve filet mignon. I can’t wait to see their picture here in 2068 as well.
Long live TBQ.
I have to agree with everyone…who wants to eat at Peppers, I never have, and unless someone else is paying, I don’t intend on it…LOL…David is right tho, it must be all the advertising that they do, where as I never see anything about TBQ. Then again, I’d have to agree with John, lose the bar, and the grill will sink!!!
I did recently (just before Christmas)… have lunch with a friend at East Side Mario’s. Wow, was the food there HORRIBLE. I ordered this pasta dish, and OMG, it was so DRY, and stale, it literally looked as if it was made the night before, and frozen. It was so gross, I told the manager then, I’d never return, and I haven’t. Which brings me to the real point, if we lose our family run restaurants where are we going to be able to dine, a place which actually serves hot and fresh, home made food? With food chains, like Montana’s, Peppers, Marios, the quality just isn’t there. I hope TBQ survives, and rebounds. I will definitely be going back in there to check things out!!
The Tunnel BBQ owners need to start investing more money into the operation if they want to compete with places like Pepper’s. The place looks old and dirty, which is no surprise since the owners haven’t renovated the place in over twenty years. The Tunnel BBQ also has to spend more on advertising to let people know they’re still around. Maybe the Tunnel BBQ could get together with Pepper’s and a few other places on a promotion campaign to get more people to spend money downtown because what’s good for Tunnel BBQ is good for every other restaurant downtown.
Old and dirty?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiz68/675268719/
I think it looks very attractive from the outside. No graf/tags or building maintenance issues. The windows, facade, and canopy are perfect.
The interior is somewhat kitschy, that’s no secret, but well maintained and *never* dirty.
I would suggest any money spent on cosmetics given the perfectly acceptable state of the place now would be wasted money.
And can we please stop referencing Pepper’s like it’s a real restaurant. Next thing you know people will be claiming Applebee’s is a good neighbourhood restaurant.
I thought we were all on the same page here supporting downtown businesses, Andrew. 😉
What is that white stuff on the facade of Tunnel BBQ,John? Is that stucco?
As I remember, Pepper’s has a concrete facade with glass block and copper awnings. I wonder if it’s the original facade?
Pepper’s Facade http://www.flickr.com/photos/97568133@N00/1362866783/
I think that the Pepper’s Building (Ex-Birks) is original.
Also I think it’s likely limestone vs. concrete.
Calling out the Tunnel Bar-B-Q because of a skim coat that was probably put on the exterior 30 years ago is simply stupid, and seems a little bit troll-ish.
I’m not sure what delight you get out of some of the comments you post here, but please use some sense, comments like the one above are simply meant to provoke a reaction. When you troll it simply means you have no vaild points to add to the discussion.
My wife and I usually go out weekly to eat somewhere around town, and kiddie bars that happen to serve food are not high on the list. There are real restaurant option available in this city, and I choose to eat at, and support the ones that make food their #1 priority, not the ones who’s weekend evening activities help to shitify downtown, like Pepper’s.
One final note about attemps at trolling… All that does is stifle the discourse over here. People get fed up with dealing with such stupidity and simply stop contributing to the discussion, and I think everyone can agree that the discussion over here is generally pretty interesting and adds to the experience.
The food at places like Peppers is incidental.
Applebee’s is not a neighbourhood restaurant, it’s you neighbourhood bar. (I get a kick out of that kind of marketing).
As for buffets, they are the devil and have killed more Canadians early than some wars have. Places that serve buffets should be heavily taxed like cigarettes. Nobody needs that much food. A buffet at a place like Peppers is just cruel.
Well put Andrew!!, I also personally think TBQ is a fine looking place, why change it, and moderize it? Why ruin a great thing?
Why change it and ruin a great thing? I dunno, as long as you’re putting your money where your mouth is and they’re providing what the market wants, keep it. But, you wrote you haven’t been there in years because it was too pricey and and the header morale was if you don’t use it, you lose it like the place was in some kind of trouble. If it is, then I don’t think it has anything to do with downtown, as other establishments are having marked success. I know what the place is about. I’ve been there before and I wasn’t impressed with the overall package. It’s been there since 1954 and I think everyone in the city has been there and knows about it, knows what it’s about, and pretty much have casted their vote with their paycheques on how they rate the place, what sort of value it offers for their money, and whether they’d return. So, it doesn’t matter what anyone says about it at this point–it’s just feedback on whether they should keep doing what they’ve been doing. If it’s successful, don’t change anything because it’s reputation will keep past customers coming back like the OIshi Sushi Bar or the long lineups at the downtown Tim Horton’s. If not, then the only way people are going to come back is if they believe it’ll be different from their last experience and whatever that experience was.
People *are* coming back though, David. Maybe those people aren’t flocks of 19 year old Americans hoping to meet the girl of their dreams thru a drunken haze at a bar that in 5-10 years will lose its novelty, change ownership, and operate under a different flag until the cycle repeats itself again, but that isn’t what a proper sit down restaurant is all about. And TBQ’s woes are not so simply boiled down to your easy terms. There’s a great deal more. First you have to consider that they’ve lost a huge chunk of the older crowd U.S. patrons who used to come to Canada especially for dinner at TBQ. The exchange rate and post 9/11 issues are to blame for that one. You’ll quickly point to the bars drawing American crowds at night but I’ll save you the trouble…. raise the drinking age to 21 and Ouellette will dry up so fast your head will spin. Secondly, TBQ doesn’t serve dog food – their ribs aren’t prepped then quickly heated back up again on a grill, and they are quality grade meat, not whatever the wholesaler has cheapest. Ditto for all the dishes. There’s a huge difference between sit-down restaurant food and pub food. Don’t get me wrong there’s a time and place for pub food but it’s a whole different ballgame. Thirdly, it’s no secret that downtown as a whole has fallen on hard times. Housing has been torn down to make way for developments that never paid back. Districts like the Norwich block torn down and replaced by a broken dream that doesn’t give jack back to downtown. Sprawl has drawn people out to the borders and away from the core, along with their income. Now we are losing Tureks, a fine downtown camera merchant, the latest victim of this malaise. Most of downtown is either existing businesses struggling or vacant (and yes there are some bar successes, but we need diversity too). Some downtown merchants bailed and re-located – like Veterans Plumbing – but I respect the ones who are sticking it out and supporting their downtown. Finally, I find it distasteful that the two people on this board who are the first to piss and moan whenever a fallen downtown institution is featured by Andrew, citing how terrible Windsor is for watching such-and-such die, yet here you are on the cheerleading squad over TBQ being on hard times when it least needs that kind of stupid talk.
Very true John – and just to add to that, it’s places like the TBQ that make a city. There are many things that add to the quality of life of downtowns, arts, entertainment, libraries and museums are all keys. Another key in my opinion is long term viability of downtown landmarks, places like ye old steak house (closed), the Top Hat (closed) and TBQ all add to the downtwon scene. Maybe their interior decor is dated, but the quality of the product that ends up on your table is what’s important.
The fact that there is a place that hold so many memories is still there bodes well. We need places that hold memories and were the scene of memorable family events. I’m sure there are countless Windsorites who can look at TBQ and say I remember when… I went there on a date with my wife before we were married… or …We went for dinner with grandma and grandpa… or …my parents took us to TBQ after (insert event here)…
Places like the TBQ make a city unique, every city in Canada and the USA has a place that makes the same food as Peppers, shit there’s a dozen places in Windsor alone that makes the identical fryer and grill food as Peppers does. Crapplebee’s and Montana’s and Moxie’s are all the same too… there is nothing unique about any of them.
People look at Peppers and say “I remember when that was Birks”, no one says “remember that great meal we had at Peppers on our anniversay?”
In some ways I wish our drinking age was 21. The biggest problem in my opinion facing downtown, is the need to change gears and stop trying to cater to foreign children who wish to use our downtown as their personal toilet. An emhapsis needs to be placed on attracting quality retail, and marketing the area to the people who live here. Despite what Larry Horowitz claims, the answer doesn’t lie in another monolithic school building. But that’s another post for another day.
Stupid talk eh? OK, John, I’m curious. How many times have you patronized Tunnel BBQ in the past year. Tell me the truth now. 1, 5, 10?
David all it would take is every reader of this website to go once a year and I’m certain that the extra business and support would go a long way.
That’s a fair question, David. It’s like people who say “Save the CBC” but secretly listen to Doug FM instead, right? Same kinda thing. I get your point. 😉
I’d say in the past year maybe six-eight times? We’re about due, thanks for the reminder. Time to punch out a new hole in the belt again, thanks alot….
Nice… I’ve been twice in the last year. As I said, though, it only takes one visit from even half of the daily visitors to the site a year, and everything would be great.
It’s rough out there right now, I know money is tight, and the economy is crap. The first thing to get cut are the nights out for dinner. I think it’s going to be a very rough year for our small local businesses, the small independants will need our support now more than ever.
Indeed, as stated above, places like TBQ make a city unique. When I was getting set to move here back in the early 90s–I had more than one person say to me “Go to TBQ”–we’re talking people I knew back home…a legacy like that is worth preserving.
And what the heck is this talk about the place being outdated–is it? I am in my early 30s…am I already that out-of-touch with the times? I wouldn’t consider the place even remotely “outdated”–what makes it so? Is it too brown? Is it the dogs playing poker? Seriously–the place is clean–what do you want–plasma TVs? The Other Place on Dougall was a real gem–darkly lit and so outdated it was classic–I miss that place.
another place that would give the TBQ a run is the SMOKE&SPICE southern BBQ on Ottawa street they have a $7 dollar lunch special is is really good authentic southern BBQ and they make their own sauce just like TBQ