I have eaten at the BBQ Shop once in my life, and it was about 8 years ago. I don't recall it blowing my skirt up at all. So today, I had a customer in from out of town, and I made my usual "Take the Customer to Central BBQ" trip to Midtown......
....Central BBQ is closed today.
I was a sad panda. So after a few f-bombs, I realized I was close to another high-praise BBQ joint, so I drove down to the BBQ Shop. They looked busy. That's always a great sign.
Well, after having to point out for the 3rd time that 8oz glass of tea was empty, I began to notice there was about a 75%/25% ratio of disgruntled-to-happily eating customers. Of the 25% people eating, they seemed pretty well satisfied. The rest of us were getting EXTREMELY upset that it was taking upwards of 45 minutes to receive our food. I took this opportunity to apologize to my customer, and let him know that my typical choice would've had us full and out the door by now. The full building reassured us that the food would be good.
When they finally dropped our plates in front of us, this is what we saw.
It looks like they took bland, overcooked dry rub ribs and dusted them with rub for the "dry" option and freshly slathered on (good) sauce for the wet portion. The meat was mealy, and it all just fell apart from the bone. There was no differentiation from meat, gristle, and those weird little cartilage pieces in spare ribs.
I think the only thing I can praise today was the BBQ Shop mild sauce. The hot sauce had WAY too much vinegar. The beans were OK, and my chopped meat was bland. I will not be going back to the BBQ Shop. Today was utterly terrible. Poor service, crappy food, and a complete letdown. Even the waiter was about 1/2 arsehole and 1/2 DILLIGAF.
Maybe I'm wrong about the place, and I hit them at an unexpected rush they just couldn't well accommodate, but I don't care. I will continue patronizing Central BBQ, where I've always eaten a fine meal, in very quick time, and with extremely friendly service.
....Central BBQ is closed today.
I was a sad panda. So after a few f-bombs, I realized I was close to another high-praise BBQ joint, so I drove down to the BBQ Shop. They looked busy. That's always a great sign.Well, after having to point out for the 3rd time that 8oz glass of tea was empty, I began to notice there was about a 75%/25% ratio of disgruntled-to-happily eating customers. Of the 25% people eating, they seemed pretty well satisfied. The rest of us were getting EXTREMELY upset that it was taking upwards of 45 minutes to receive our food. I took this opportunity to apologize to my customer, and let him know that my typical choice would've had us full and out the door by now. The full building reassured us that the food would be good.
When they finally dropped our plates in front of us, this is what we saw.
It looks like they took bland, overcooked dry rub ribs and dusted them with rub for the "dry" option and freshly slathered on (good) sauce for the wet portion. The meat was mealy, and it all just fell apart from the bone. There was no differentiation from meat, gristle, and those weird little cartilage pieces in spare ribs.
I think the only thing I can praise today was the BBQ Shop mild sauce. The hot sauce had WAY too much vinegar. The beans were OK, and my chopped meat was bland. I will not be going back to the BBQ Shop. Today was utterly terrible. Poor service, crappy food, and a complete letdown. Even the waiter was about 1/2 arsehole and 1/2 DILLIGAF.
Maybe I'm wrong about the place, and I hit them at an unexpected rush they just couldn't well accommodate, but I don't care. I will continue patronizing Central BBQ, where I've always eaten a fine meal, in very quick time, and with extremely friendly service.
