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[TLK]

I have never thought of myself as a "BBQ Snob" but the Wife and I are in Florida for Spring Break and my FIL takes us out for dinner.  Monday is the BBQ Rib special ($11.95/rack) and he was talking it up.  I rarely order ribs from a regular restaurant because I know going in they aren't as good as what I can make at home.  So the ribs come and they were prepared as I expected....steamed w liquid smoke and then baked to cook in the sauce a little.  OMG these things were inedible.  But the FIL was loving them so I soldiered on and ate them with a smile on my face.  Wouldn't give the leftovers to the dog.  They were that bad.

Ok....rant over

[silverbullet]

I quit going out for ribs a long time ago. Just a waste of money IMHO.

Took my Grand daughter out to a buffet a few weeks ago. She grabbed some ribs took one bite & EEWWWWW. That was the end of that!

Guess Grampa's got her spoiled!

[MMike]

Was it a local non-chain restaurant?

[TLK]

Was it a local non-chain restaurant?

Miller's Ale House in N. Palm Beach

[Bar-B-Lew]

Was it a local non-chain restaurant?

Miller's Ale House in N. Palm Beach

They just opened one of them in Eastern PA within the last year.  I wasn't happy with the wings either.  I forget what I had the second time.  Only went that time to use the $20 gift card they gave me when I complained about the wings on the first trip before the card expired.

[Free Mr. Tony]

Ribs, even from good places, are hard to get right for the masses in my opinion. They just don't hold that well no matter what. They get dried out and old tasting much sooner than most other BBQ meat.

Sounds like in this circumstance that the prep was the main issue. My guess is if that was their special they were prepared badly AND held over. Bad combo.

The guy who has since passed that inspired me to learn to cook in general would call me when he was taking his ribs off the cooker at his restaurant. It was the only time I would ever get ribs. Otherwise I ordered the brisket sandwich or half chicken. To this day, best brisket I've ever tasted.

[WannaBsmokin]

I can completely relate. It seems no matter what you get at a restaurant, it's never as good as you make at home. We no longer go out for a steak, wings, ribs, and on and on. Tuff to find a reason to eat out. Even anniversary or birthday, a special cook is requested, even though she does the clean up. She like cleaning, I like cooking. Great team.....47 yrs and still going...

[mowin]

It's tuff finding good Q out and about.  There's a newer restaurant near me that people are raving about. They supposedly smoke everything with oak.
1st time there I got the pork belly wings, basically pork belly burnt ends, and wife got the ribs. Both were tuff as nails.  The Mac n cheese was nothing special. Corn bread was ok. 

Gave them a second chance and order the brisket platter. Requested the point, which they said was no problem. Dry, tuff and little flavor.  Dogs liked it tho.  Lol

[BigDave83]

I have some places near me in the summer that I will eat ribs and things at, a few suck. I go in most places especially through the winter when the bbq stands close up for the most part, knowing what I am going to get and order accordingly. I don't mind fridays jack daniels ribs but I think that is the glaze on them. There is a Smokey Bones about 30 minutes away and they are not to bad. The Girlfriend and some others that come around tell me what we make at home is better. I told them that is because they are fresh when we eat them.

[Canadian John]

 Almost everything we cook at home in one of our pits is usually much better tasting than restaurant food..Then there is the question of the food itself.. A profit has to be made to run a business. Low cost restaurant food causes me to wonder about the food
 
quality..Then there is the price, tips included..Yes I may be considered cheap but paying so much more for the same meal doesn't sit well with me..When people rave about how good restaurant meals  are, I question in my mind their ability to savour good food.

Not to say the food in all eat-out establishments is bad. It's that lots of them are Plain-Jane.  I am not a hermit and we do eat out, just not as much as some.

My thoughts.

[dk117]

we eat out about three times a week.  Even typing that is painful, it's just the reality of busy lives with kids.     We have a newish place, The Smokin Oak Vancouver WA.    Now I consider myself a great host, good cook, but not a chef.   I was however impressed with this place but not for the reasons one might expect.

Ribs.  St. Louis dry rub.   Tasty as I usually do baby back and sauced.
Pork.  Honestly kind of mushy, not to my liking. 
Brisket.  Again tasty, a tad inconsistent on the three times I've been there.  When it was fresh I'd call it very good.
Sides.  Meh, nothing memorable.
Cornbread.  WOW amazing.
Sausage.  Probably the best I've ever had.

You'd think the ribs, pork and brisket would be the headliner, but really nothing I couldn't exceed at home.   Cornbread and sausage are what keep us coming back, and the great ambiance. 

DK

[elenis]

we eat out about three times a week.  Even typing that is painful, it's just the reality of busy lives with kids.     We have a newish place, The Smokin Oak Vancouver WA.    Now I consider myself a great host, good cook, but not a chef.   I was however impressed with this place but not for the reasons one might expect.

Ribs.  St. Louis dry rub.   Tasty as I usually do baby back and sauced.
Pork.  Honestly kind of mushy, not to my liking. 
Brisket.  Again tasty, a tad inconsistent on the three times I've been there.  When it was fresh I'd call it very good.
Sides.  Meh, nothing memorable.
Cornbread.  WOW amazing.
Sausage.  Probably the best I've ever had.

You'd think the ribs, pork and brisket would be the headliner, but really nothing I couldn't exceed at home.   Cornbread and sausage are what keep us coming back, and the great ambiance. 

DK

We have City BBQ and Dickey's BBQ Pit around here BBQ chain wise. Both aren't the best, but Dickey's makes some really good sausage and they have fried okra and the like. City BBQ makes this horrible for you (and delicious) corn pudding stuff. Both of them are nice when I don't have time to fire up the smoker or when I want brisket. My wife only lets me do a brisket or two a year. Usually only when we have enough people over to eat an entire brisket.

[Bentley]

Was it Dizzy Dean that said it's not bragging if you can do it? 

I think most of us on this site are at that level when it comes to BBQ & cooking in general...the majority of what is served out there is far below what we can produce!  Many have never had that level of BBQ!  I think it is why many of us when folks will tell us this is some of the best BBQ they have ever had discount it, as our own BBQ may just seem average to us!

I have never thought of myself as a "BBQ Snob"...

[LowSlowJoe]

My worst ribs ever, were at this little road side stand in my home town. The guy had a little trailer setup out in front of this newly painted restaurant , the parking lot was freshly paved, sidewalks freshly done, etc... sign said something about future home of 'restaurant name'...    I'd driven by there a couple times before, curiosity got the best of me so I turned around and went back.  The guy was telling me he'd battled with city hall for over a year to get the restaurant up and running, said he was deep in debt and still hadn't been able to open.   So, I ordered some ribs...  he left the trailer for a bit, went inside , then came back out a while later with a styrofoam box... in it some ribs and a couple sides... I get in my car and drive away to this park I was going to... I open the box, take a bite... and half the bone actually fell apart as I bit it, the brittle bone fragments got into my mouth with a bite of the meat... OMG, I was disgusted. I could not get the taste out of my mouth, the bone was like disintegrating and was almost like a gritty powder consistency.  I've never ever had a rib that was any worse.  I didn't have the heart to go back and tell the guy just what I thought of his ribs. I don't know if he ever has gotten the restaurant opened up, but I began to wonder if someone at city hall had already tasted his food and decided it would be best to never let him open.


Second worst was from a different place in the same town. They put so much dry rub on the ribs, it was like literally 1/16th inch thick.  It tasted OK and the texture wasn't horrible, but wow... one bite of ribs required about 8 ounces of liquid to wash down all the rub that was on the rib.

  Having said that... and while I can usually cook better than most any BBQ place I've been too, there is one place in my home town that does a great job , and... I honesty can sometimes enjoy a overcooked fall off the bone rib slathered in sauce rib, as long as the bones not falling apart.   I haven't been for a long time, but I used to actually enjoy ribs at Chili's... but then I liked their Chili even more.

[Kristin Meredith]

LSJ it is funny that you would say that you use to enjoy the ribs at Chili's because my worst experience, by far, was at a Chili's in Pasadena, Ca about 16 years ago.  Decided to spurge and have the ribs.  Could not even get through one rib.  It tasted like creosote -- and heavy creosote -- to me.  I have not been able to even think of eating one there since then, although Bent says I should try again just to rid myself of the horrid memory!!!