Since the weather was trending sunny and hot for the August long weekend, my family (including the little ones) and in-laws decided to try out the Scarborough Rib festival that was happening in Thomson Memorial Park (located around Lawrence and Brimley). I came here before and had my regrets about the food last time at the park ... but my in-laws really wanted to try the food here.

Food Rating: 3/5

Atmosphere:
It was very hard to find parking. We had to find an inner neighborhood area and the citizens were watching us carefully not to block their driveway. The entrance was a long pathway through various small shop vendors selling their wares. Once we got through the vendors, we arrived at the main gate with request of a donation fee for entrance. The gate area was filled kid games and rides. My daughter was so excited to see the rides. Eventually walking pass the games area, we arrived at the large field of rib vendors. The area was filled with people, loud music and smoke from the grills.

Food Comments:
There were10 ribbers from across North America at this year’s event. Firing up their grills this year were Bibbs BBQ, Blazin BBQ, Camp 31, Crabby’s BBQ, Gator BBQ, Hawgs Gone Wild, Horn Dawgs BBQ, Jack the Ribber, Sticky Fingers and Texas Rangers.  There were other non rib vendors selling drinks, snacks, and fried desserts.

From my online researching, found out that Camp 31 won the People Choice Award (Ribs) back in 2015 and that Sticky Fingers wont the Rotary Judges Choice Award. In addition, Camp 31 won this year Judges Choice award. From the research - we bought some grub from Camp 31, Sticky Fingers and Crabby's BBQ. From Camp 31 - I bought the Grand Slam combo for $30 bucks. Got 1/2 rack from Sticky Fingers ($14) and my SO got the Beef Ribs with sides from Crabby's BBQ (unknown $).

There were long wait times for the various vendors (15-20 minutes). It was confusing to look at the signs of the vendors and see when and where they won their awards.  Firstly, I swear to never get chicken from any of the vendors again. They were totally dry meat and flavourless. As for the ribs, they are all precooked in an oven and marinated with lots of sauce on a reheating grill. The wet sauce ribs were okay in taste but not the greatest ribs I had. I enjoyed the sides (beans and coleslaw) from Crabby's BBQ. The ones from Camp 31 were just horrible.

Would I come here again? Probably not for the food. Glad my daughters had a good time on the rides :) 


Food Photos:

Elvis was here

So many people