Review Fri Jul 25 2008

Calvin's BBQ: Meh.

I have a serious love/hate relationship with the Armitage #73 bus. It travels near a lot of places I regularly visit, so I end up taking it often; however, it is irritatingly undependable.

During my last trip on the #73, I saw Calvin's BBQ, which is nestled on the corner of Stave and Armitage in a rather cute, dainty little building. I had read some promising reviews of the place in other publications, so I decided I needed to make a visit. I called my adventurous pal C and made a date to get some BBQ.

Calvin's has a nice back patio, where we sat among a small but steady stream of customers. We were given menus. We studied and made our choices (the cheeseburger for me, as I had heard glowing reviews, and the BBQ chicken sandwich for her). We waited. Many minutes passed. Finally, the unsmiling counter clerk who was doing double duty as a waitress came out and took our orders. She gave us one plastic cup of water. Just one. Perhaps Calvin's has a commitment to eco-friendly service. In the way that life works, what seemed like a million #73 buses floated past us in both directions.

I want to say that the food was memorable, but all C and I concluded was that Calvin's food was painfully average. My cheeseburger was pretty large and certainly passable; if I had cooked it on my electric kitchen grill at home, I'd be impressed with myself, but it wasn't particularly flavorful. C likened her sandwich to something she would have eaten in a school cafeteria. The location is great, the prices reasonable, but Calvin's wasn't as tasty as I had hoped. C and I parted ways, and I began to walk home, sated but a little unsatisfied, and hoping to digest the meal that was settling in my stomach like a lead weight. A bus passed, but I didn't chase it.

— Robyn Nisi / Comments (0)