TV Restaurants

What Happened to Tunnel Bar-B-Q After You Gotta Eat Here!? (Windsor, ON)

You Gotta Eat Here!, Season 1 Windsor, Ontario

Current status

Closed

As of October 2026, Tunnel Bar-B-Q has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, 2014.

What the source shows: The University of Windsor's Southwestern Ontario Digital Archive record lists the Park Street East restaurant's years as 1941 to 2014, and Deadline Detroit reported its sale to the university and a September closing. How we decide a status →

We have not confirmed map coordinates for this address yet.

What happened after You Gotta Eat Here!?

The 2012-09-21 episode of You Gotta Eat Here! (season 1, episode 23), as summarized by TVmaze, had host John Catucci visit Tunnel Bar-B-Q in Windsor, Ontario; the summary names no dish. The restaurant stood at 58 Park Street East, across from the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, according to Deadline Detroit and the University of Windsor's Southwestern Ontario Digital Archive. The TBQ company's timeline page dates the family business to 1941, when it opened as Tunnel Lunch. In an article whose date was not shown on the page read, Deadline Detroit reported that the restaurant had been sold to the University of Windsor and would stay open through the summer before closing in September.

The archive record lists the restaurant's years as 1941 to 2014. Fox 2 Detroit reported on 2017-07-17 on a pop-up serving Tunnel Bar-B-Q food at Beau's Grillery in Bloomfield Hills. The TBQ.ca website, with a 2026 copyright, now sells sauces and spices.

The episode You Gotta Eat Here!, Season 1

Episode 23
Aired
Title: Coastal Waters, Tunnel BBQ, Chez Claudette · What was featured: Barbecue restaurant; the episode's specific dish was not confirmed

Synopsis (tvmaze.com) : The host helps prepare Québécois comfort foods at Chez Claudette in Montreal. Other stops include Tunnel Bar-B-Q in Windsor, Ont.; and Coastal Waters Restaurant in Ingonish, N.S.

Also in Season 1 You Gotta Eat Here!

Season 1: 37 of 78 still open · 6 renamed, moved or under new owners

All 26 Season 1 episodes →

All 296 TV restaurants in Ontario →

Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources we checked 5 references

  1. swoda.uwindsor.ca https://swoda.uwindsor.ca/node/1882
  2. fox2detroit.com https://www.fox2detroit.com/mornings/tunnel-bar-b-q-pop-up-at-beaus-grillery-now-open
  3. origin.deadlinedetroit.com https://origin.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/tunnel_bar-b-q_windsor_s_best_known_restaurant_will_close_this_summer
  4. tbq-ca.myshopify.com https://tbq-ca.myshopify.com/pages/about-us
  5. api.tvmaze.com https://api.tvmaze.com/singlesearch/shows?q=you%20gotta%20eat%20here&embed=episodes
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Record ygeh-067 · checked by Cal Marchetti.