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45 reviews
El Cerrito, CA
"I literally love this place. I come in alot between classes and it's quiet enough where I can read and catch up on homework, but not too…" read more »
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My husband and I are on a low carb diet, so we thought this place would be right up our alley. We ordered oysters, pulled pork, beef brisket, and brussel sprout w/ turnip and bacon. Pulled pork was pretty good, but we've had better. Brisket was decent, except 1/3 of what was on the place was FAT. Gross! Overall, there are much better bbq places -- i.e. Memphis Minnie's. The bruseel sprout was very delicious, and it gets 5*s. When a placed named "T-Rex" can't meet our expectation for good meat dishes and we walk out saying "what a great veggie side item", we think it should be ashamed of itself.
Apparently they do not take reservation for a party less than 6.
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When I was pouting the morning after Women of taste because I didn't get to try the pulled pork sandwich from T-Rex, Mama Marie said, don't worry, we're going there for dinner. You see, after the little taste, she was ready for the T-Rex experience.
So I dragged my tired self into real clothes and drove alllllll the way to Berkley. We were seated quickly and a big sandwich passed by my face - yum - I was ready for some good bbq.
And it was pretty good. We got an order of ribs and an order of the pulled pork. We also got greens, cornbread and mac n cheese as sides. Everything was super yummy. The ribs were slightly better than the pork, as the pork had a lot of vinegar to it. The mac n cheese was not quite cheesey enough, but pretty good. The cornbread was amazing and covered in this maple butter sauce that was great.
Now T-Rex isn't bbq the way everett and jones is bbq. It's bbq in the same sense that Farmer Brown is soul food. It's very good, but it's not down-home bbq - it's gussied up, pricey bbq...and pretty darn good
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I LOVE this place!!!
The lay-out, the design, the service, the food!! This place ROCKS!!! One weekend I went Fri, Sat AND Sun, DAMN!!!
Their small plates ROCK!! Their meat is AWESOME!!! Their homemade BBQ chips are tasty! The deviled eggs, YUM!!!
This is a MUST y'all!!!
5 stars is for happy hour. Without happy hour, it's 3 stars. So a 4-star average.
Happy hour is FANTASTIC. It's weekdays 3-6 p.m., so that's an awkward time since I don't get off work until 6. But that's what PTO days are for. All beers are $3 (they have Rasputin on tap!) and well cocktails are $5. I only go for the Rasputin with 9% ABV, so who needs cocktails?
Unlike most places that have happy hour at the bar only, T-Rex opens up the whole space, so you can sit at a table or one of the couches upstairs. It's a very chill atmosphere, especially if you go Monday-Wednesday since there aren't many other people. If you sit at a table, you get waiter service, which I appreciated.
Not sure if the HH menu is seasonal, but the last time I went, the BBQ riblets with spicy cayenne sauce & pulled pork nachos were awesome. Could eat it every day. The brisket Banh Mi sounded interesting, but didn't deliver considering I could get something twice as big and flavorful for half the price in Chinatown.
As for dinner, I'm not seeing what the big deal is. I've had the brisket and ribs, and both were horribly dry. And, the BBQ sauce is like nothing I've had before, and not in a good way. It tastes off, maybe too much vinegar? I would recommend Bo's in Lafayette or Brick Pig in Berkeley before T-Rex for dinner. But HH is a definite must.
Been here a couple times for some company shindigs. The ribs are to die for. Great ambience, good drinks, good times.
I am always wary of all things "T-Rex."
Why?
Growing up, I had this friend, his nickname was "T-Rex." Looking back, that was probably a misnomer. You see, he wasn't named for his swift speed and attack prowess.
Putting it lightly, the dude was like 400 pounds.
Well, T-Rex decides to use my parent's toilet one day after school.
That poor poor toilet. It didn't stand a chance. It crumbled within 10 seconds of T-Rex sitting on it.
Let's just say I spent the next 3 months mowing lawns to pay for that stupid toilet.
Ok, on to the real T-Rex.
Epic, and I do mean EPIC bloody mary.
The mac and cheese? One of the better I have had.
For my main course, I had the BLT that was made with REAL bacon, you know, the thick kind.
After eating all that food, I was well on my way to being called T-Rex #2.
I really wouldn't consider this a BBQ place though. I would call it a restaurant that happens to serve BBQ.
Lipids.
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Dear T-Rex:
I've got to hand it to you. You are an upscale barbecue place in Berkeley, with damn good (if not truly authentic) barbecue, vegetarian options which would satisfy a PETA charter member, and a wine, cocktail and whiskey selection which makes my liver quiver in anticipation.
There's only one thing you are missing: A waitstaff who gives a fuck.
Sorry, but when you lose orders, require 20-30 minutes to deliver appetizers, and ignore tables for 30 minutes at a stretch, you are missing an essential piece of the dining puzzle.
And when those things happen and your employees act like it's all perfectly normal, well, all I can say is:
I'll miss the idea of you when you are gone. But I won't miss you.
Fondly,
Mike Z.
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I love the design of the restaurant as well as the menu items. The BLT that I ordered for lunch had bacon that only covered half of the sandwich. Since it was an $11 dollar sandwich, I thought this was skimpy. The flavor was great. The service was fair. I guess I was hoping for a better experience.
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After REI my buddies and I were hungry, so we decided to try somthing new. Boy, I will never eat at a restuarant unless I do some research before hand. What a poor excuse of a happy hour. $3 for a small ordinary chicken spring roll that wasn't even good, $1 oyster that were the size of a pearl, bbq ribs with the meat harder than the bone and dried french fries. 1 sate for good service. Sorry T-rex but you will never rob me again.
This is the worst excuse for BBQ I have ever tasted and I eat a lot of BBQ. Everett and Jones is just a few blocks away and, while not the most amazing bbq, it is infinitely better (and cheaper) than T-Rex. Go there instead.
At T-Rex the room is noisy, the service awful and the food disgusting. Every time I have gone they have either been out of what I wanted or gotten my order wrong. I have come here on several occasions trying to enjoy it because I truly do like the other restaurants the group owns.
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Sad to say, but the service here blows. Twice in the past couple of months, they have completely *lost* our order... something the waiter only figured out after noticing we were still sitting there, with no food, about 30 minutes after being seated. I blame those hand-held thingies they use to place the order. If this had happened only once, it would be a fluke... but it has happened to us at least three times and twice in succession.
Get it together T-Rex, please. I still love the food and hope to be back again.
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08/19/2006
I love T-Rex, as a matter of fact we're leaving to go to dinner there after I write this little… Read more »
How often do you get to go to get a burger cooked medium and you actually get it medium. For this simple feat they get 4 stars. The best burger I have had in a long while. Service was a bit slow so no five stars. Great food!!!!!
This place used to be soooooo good. When I first went a year ago, I raved. The service and food have gotten consistently worse each time I've been. Last time we ordered some of those delicious chicken drumsticks (9.00 for three mind you) and they were burnt beyond recognition. A normal upscale restaurant wouldn't have served those. Between that nonsense being served to me and their joke of a happy hour, I'm cutting you off, T-rex. I only see white old people in here anyhow, which doesn't really seem fitting in a giant east bay barbecue outfit.
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I know this is mostly a meatatarian BBQ restaurant, but I'm writing this review as a vegetarian. Yes, they do have a mini vegetable and starches menu, and I can do drinks and dessert here. It's just unfortunate that's it's so greasy.... and so mediocre.
I've heard good things about T-Rex before I actually tried it, and I'm a fan of the owners' other restaurant, Fonda's. My bosom buddy knows that I love mac 'n cheese, so she took me here to try it out. We sat at the BBQ bar and watched them make all the food, including the mac 'n cheese. It was large pasta shells in a shallow ceramic bowl, then a ton of pre-made cheese sauce was ladled on to it, then topped with a ton of cheese and plopped into the oven.
Their mac 'n cheese is kind of an acquired taste. It's not your typical mac 'n cheese with cheddar sauce; it's made with an assortment of white cheeses. It's good, it's unique, but it's not great. I don't even like it that much, but when I haven't had it in a while, I crave it, but when I finally get it, I can't even down half of it because it's so rich and greasy. That seems to be a common complaint among my friends pretty much no matter what they eat here; that it's too greasy. So prepared to have your arteries clogged. Oh, and they jacked up the price for the mac 'n cheese from $6 to $8. Blah!
Many of their dishes are made with really unusual combination of ingredients. It may sound like a great idea and a bold concept at first, but upon eating, not so great. Like their salads for instance *shudder* Their fries are alright though, and the ketchup that they whip up for it is pretty good. They have an extensive wine menu and lots of other liquor, but their mixed drinks are pretty bad. A pina coloda at T-Rex tastes like over-soured lemonade.
So my conclusion on this place is: It's alright, I mean, it's really, really alright. It's overpriced and greasy, thus making it the kind of restaurant that I'd only visit once or twice a year.
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We ate here on a Friday night around 9pm. First impression, was WOW it was VERY NOISY! The place is huge. It has outdoor seating, lower and upper floor. Once we sat down, it did take about 15mins before our waiter finally came over to take down our orders. I ordered the Pulled Pork Sandwhich w/Apple Coleslaw and BBQ Chips and he ordered the Long Beef Short Rib which came with a Potato Salad, and we also ordered a side of the Corn Bread w/Maple Syrup and Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
I was so shocked so shocked that shortly after we ordered, our food came out. ALL OF THEM came out in about 5mins. I wonder if we had someone else's order? Or if they have everything all cooked and kept warm and ready to serve?...Probably.
Well it was definitely worth the wait because the food was delicious! The Long Beef Short Rib was definitely long! Good piece of meat, with good amount of fat on it. Didn't care much for the potato salad though or the apple coleslaw and I would love to have the BBQ chips freshly fried and not cold.
Would go again! $14 for the short rib, $11 for the pulled pork sandwhich, $6-7 each for the sides.
I've had the BBQ twice and I won't have it again. Good rubs, good technique, sauces don't work for me. Too citrusy or something. They do have some decent appetizers and the bar is a fun place to hang out. They have good beers on tap, a good selection of Scotch and the bartenders are nice, friendly, and beautiful. I always seem to meet interesting people there so I'll definitely keep going back. If it wasn't billed as a BBQ restaurant, I'd probably give it more stars.
In the throes of tonight's insomnia plague I decided to go on Yelp (again). While looking through my friends' reviews I took particular note of the fact in which many of them have adopted a particular term to refer to the special people in their lives ("the BF", "my beau", "the Ex"). I realized that the only recurring character I really have in my Yelp reviews is Sam's Mom, and I'm still trying to figure out what that says about me.
My first impression upon walking in here was, "Oh my, somewhere I can take Sam's Mom." She'll be a little disappointed that American Cheese isn't an option on their $11 burger (only gruyere, cheddar, and some other cheese that Sam's Mom doesn't eat), but will be pleasantly surprised to find that they also supply Heinz 57 on the table along with chipotle ketchup. The only thing is that I didn't look at the iced tea selection on the menu, and I get the feeling that this is one of those places that would only have passion fruit iced tea and not tell you until it's too late.
Once again, I'm really trying to figure out what this review says about me.
For normal people--I got the pulled pork sandwich ($11) and it was pretty decent, although the accompanying apple-cabbage slaw was vinegar-based. I like a creamier, dairy-based slaw to go with my pulled pork sandwiches so that it kind of plays against the tangy pork. The tangy vinegar just made too much tang, and you wouldn't think you could have too much tang, but you can. Whatever, it was still pretty good. It was really meaty, not too saucy as pulled pork can sometimes be. Not too saucy but really tangy. God, I should be banned from Yelp. The barbecue potato chips were great with a ton of added salt and our side order of fries ($6 makes a totally reasonable portion for 3 people) was well-done.
As far as beverages go, they have a pretty extensive and impressive selection of beers, both draft and bottled, but they were out of four of the beers we tried to order. Seriously, there were only three of us. It was a Sunday afternoon and the last day of the month, so maybe the beer trucks just hadn't pulled up yet. My friends recommended cocktails but then they both got beers and I couldn't stand being the least butch person at the table by default.
Prices seemed high on the menu, although I didn't get a look at the final bill because my friend treated me for helping him move his apartment for four hours. The food is totally worth four hours of hard labor, although I'm still not sure how I'd translate it into a tangible quantity like money. As a grad student, I have trouble with things like that.
Anyway, speaking of prices, I will most definitely visit again, and I curse the fact that I am TAing this term because I just discovered their 3-6 PM weekday happy hour with $5 well drinks, except their well drinks use crazy scheisse like Bombay and Jameson.
Sorry, Sam's Mom.
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I know, I know... Is it a 3 or a 4... a 3 or a 4... a 3 or a 4.
Dammit, its a 3!
I am certain that this is not the last time I will update this particular review, but my sense is the 6 Yelpers and 4 SOs (Thanks for the abbreviation Ben P.) we had at the table will meet again ... somewhere else.
Don't get me wrong. The food is delicious. I mean really yummy. And, OH, this is my favorite... They have a great brown liquor menu that not many E. Bay locations can boast of. But, really, really, really... bad service. About 1/2 way through the night we were actually placing bets on whether it was going to be 15 or 30 minutes before our next waiter visit and the 30s kept winning. I have actually left places with better service before. But, I was meeting up with fellow Yelpers for the first time and one cannot be completely rude around new people (I guess, unless you are a waiter).
The only thing that kept this particular review (which again is more of service than it is of food, because COME ON - Corn bread in Maple Syrup, who are we kidding - THAT IS AWESOME!) out of the proverbial toilet... was the company.
It was my pleasure all around. Good times. However, just for those that were there... next time, I say we let him buy and deal with the wifey at home later. :-)
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08/09/2008
Back to T-rex.
In the opening chit-chat with our waiter we asked him how he was doing? He said that…
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There is always that thing you don't want to say, but have to. For instance you're going out on the town and your wife does look too fat in that dress.
You know it's going to cause trouble. You know it's a "Kobayashi Maru" (tm Star Trek). You're not going to make any Friends, and you're likely to make a few enemies. But you have to do it. So here it goes:
We went to T-REX the other night with a group of yelpers. It was a good night . New and old friends got together to celebrate life. Life is good. The Food was good. The drinks were good. Drinks were shared and Wine was poured. and it was good wine. What was not good,what made the Dress too fat looking, was the Service.
It doesn't Matter that the Quality of your Food is great even. That the Salad with feta cheese and Candied Pecans is savored. That your Crab salad is delicious and the Green Goddess dressing snaps you back to childhood memories of salads at home. That the riblets are so savory and the BBQ sauce is spicy and flavorful, without being over powering. That you can turn dry cornbread into a treat by covering it in Pure Maple syrup. That Flights of bourbon are fun especially with left over candied pecans from the salad. The dress looks too fat on you when it takes over a 1/2 an hour just to get served. And not just the first order, but subsequent ones as well.
And that? That just kills it. It makes it not fun. It makes going back a "Kobayashi Maru"
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Okay..... First off, I think this place is mostly awesome.
All their small plates and sides are phenomenal...... their drink list is terrific!
I loooooooooooove the booze flights. We got an irish whiskey flight that came with 3 really cool whiskies which were distinctly different that i've never had before. Awesome.
As for food, mac n' cheese is pretty damn good, curried cauliflower is great, the brussel sprouts and bacon stuff is terrific....... etc.
Now......here's what SUCKS
WORST OYSTERS I'VE EVER HAD!! I was eating off my friends dozen.. was about to get a dozen of my own....... but blech!!!!!!! They were super slimy and dirty tasting.... I don't want to even think about it. I love oysters....... but these sucked sucked sucked!!!
Ribs....... i guess they don't suck........ they just aren't that great. I've tried both the baby back and the other kind they have. Neither really did it for me. But they were edible.
Service wasn't astounding. It didn't suck either though. I'll give it 4 stars..... i didn't have any problems.... i got my stuff.... i'm not looking to make a new best friend anyways.
thanks t-rex......
sorry about the ribs and oyster things.
I'm an East Bay girl from conception. (TMI?)
In my 29 years of life I have not strayed from my beloved Bay Area. I love it to pieces. Though I pride myself in knowing a great deal about the East Bay I am always surprised to find the new places and see how they fit into the neighborhoods.
T-Rex is a prime example of a good fit. They are at the edge of Berkeley which gives it an older crowd than the college kids. The food is homestyle and non particularly healthy which works since not much of the food around there is either. It is a urban design with tv's upstairs and down so that sports fans can lounge in a hip dark wood yet bright environment. Yes, it gets pricey but it's just a hop away from 4th Street and that area is not exactly frugal. Mac and Cheese is thick and gooey and I heard great things about their Fried Chicken they serve on Mondays. It's on my "to try" list.
Happy hour is great though it ends at 6 which is way too early. The bartenders can be a little slow and need to be flagged down more often than not.
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So, you know how you have this friend, and he's really fun to be around, and you've known him for years, and you really feel like you two should hang out more, but the problem is, your wife/girlfriend/master/life partner hates the shit out of him? And, complicating the issue, you can kinda see your SO's point of view? This friend has 5-star potential, but once you balance everything out, he's really only a 3-star guy?
T-Rex is sorta the same. [And, indeed, wouldn't be a massive waste of our time if I typed all that and then T-Rex wasn't the same? The intro paragraph would pretty much just be a waste of random 1s and 0s, floating in the ether, hoping for a meaningful existence.]
On one hand, the prices are reasonable, and the food is generally excellent. Riblet appetizers were fab. Chicken and mushroom crispy spring rolls were totally decent. Bourbon tasting flights came with decent pours for a very decent price. Beef brisket was good, if just a little dry. Ribs were good, even if the ratio of bone to meat was a little leaner than I would have hoped.
On the other hand, the service was horrible. Drinks took 15 minutes or more to come out, EVERY time we ordered. Appetizers took about half an hour. Food was a little more prompt, but by this time, we'd been working on the waiter for hours.
Oh, and can I just say: maple-syrup-soaked cornbread. Go back and read that again. Yeah, now read it a third time. Here, I'll type it again for you: maple-syrup-soaked cornbread. I happen to know everything there is to know about maple syrup. I love maple syrup. I love maple syrup on pancakes. I love it on pizza. And I take maple syrup and put a little bit in my hair when I've had a rough week. What do you think holds it up, slick?
Also: wifey and I happened to be hanging at T-Rex with the veritable creme de la creme of EB Yelp, and all of them were awesome, and I am fully convinced we need to do this again. And I would, like, so totally just name names and talk about how fabbo all their outfits and haircuts were, but I'm not 12 years old. If you were there, you know who you are. And, as far as I could tell, everyone left in good enough shape to remember who else was there without me doing roll call.
[P.S.: Yelp spell check suggestion for "fabbo"? "Fabio." That would almost work.]
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If you like Barbeque this is the place to go to! my mom had just come back from the south and didn't think we could fine barbeque that good. ha ha I took her here and it blew her socks off! not only that but the architecture of the place is fabulous! and our service was great too!
I've also been here late at night when everything else is closed. and it's just as good, if not better!
Wow, call me nuts, but I fail to see how this place has earned such a loyal and enthusiastic following. I started with a mixed green salad, which should have been a slam dunk considering the quality of ingredients; it was just marginal. Next up, the most vulgar, gristly sparerib I've ever tasted; I barely made a dent in the thing. The small bite I did manage was analogous to chewing a greasy rubber band. (But I mean, if size matters, you might be willing to overlook this.)
On the plus side, I did enjoy a bite of my friend's burger, which was quite delicious. I was also introduced to Hangar One, which I enjoyed. Our server was perky and chatty, which I found annoying after several interruptions, but my friend seemed to appreciate the attention, so maybe it was just me.
I really wanted to love this place, but other than a drink at the bar, I doubt I'll attempt the menu again.
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For the bar:
Not the most scintillating bar crowd, but it beats Pyramid! Excellent beer and cocktail offerings. Nice seating area. Pretty laid back. Helpful but easily-made-standoffish waitstaff. I was already tipsy* when I showed up here, so I suppose the more appropriate thing to do than review would be to book mark "to try"** I'm a fan of the food at Fonda***, so I'm guessing they put together a good brunch here.**** I'll be back.
*Which is to say, slightly less absorbant of important details. OK and also excessively opinionated and without that overrated quality called tact. But that's neither here nor there.
**again. I said "appropriate" - which I don't really do.
***Same owners, right? Or am I getting confused?
****One of those times when us mammal-meat avoiders can still fill up at a barbeque joint.
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Four stars for happy hour at T-Rex! $3 draft beers, $5 cocktails, and specials on food too. $1 Oysters, served on ice with two dipping sauces. Fries $3. Yummy BBQ riblets $5. And much more. Happy hour from 3 - 6pm Monday through Friday. Similar vibe to Fonda, just different type of food. Nice bartenders.
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This is a fine place to go for B-B-Q and my reasons:
1) it's clean!
2) it's good
3) it's kid friendly
4) the staff has a good attitude
5) early evening is key for a choice of seating
6) a whole lotta food!
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sheesh, it's fine and dandy here.
I have only been here during happy hour, but it's a nice place to spend an afternoon. lots of laid back folks and their pupps.
Home made bbq chips are good!
DO NOT GET THE OYSTERS.. unless you try them first. ask what kind they have.
cocktails, beers, al the necessary rations.
acme bread!!! haaayyy!
so yeah, this is my opinion.. see you there!
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You might think that I'm crazy to keep going back to a restaurant that I really hated two years ago, but: (1) I like barbeque, T-Rex is conveniently located, and it always has open tables; and (2) I respect Lalimes and was confident that they could get their act together. My recent experiences have been a lot better than the nightmare time that a large group of us had in 2006. There's a semi-human host who greets people who come for dinner, and the staff more or less has its act together as far as getting diners their food and drinks. The barbeque is good, and it seems to me that the prices and portion sizes have been adjusted a bit -- I no longer feel like I'm being ripped off.
I went with a friend for lunch this week, thinking that we could try the outdoor garden that's open only for the noon meal. The garden area was sealed up with a chain-link fence and a lock, but there was a helpful sign to the effect that one could order outdoor food in the actual restaurant. Same food, same prices. This sounded OK, and we went for it. Even though we said that we wanted to order outdoor burgers, our server punched in our orders as indoor burgers ($10 instead of $5). However, a discussion involving cheese and bacon clued us in to what had gone wrong, and we were able to correct that particular error.
We ended up with two "outdoor burgers," an order of fries with chipotle ketchup, and a couple of beers. The outdoor burgers were grilled indoors over a wood fire, and they were quite good. I ordered cheese and bacon with my burger -- which is something I almost never do -- and loved the result. We loved the fries. I ordered a Trumer Pils, which is brewed down the street, and thought that it was clean and fresh, but pretty boring. Next time I'll have the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout.
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09/11/2006
I've been here 4 or 5 times, and I've never loved the place. There's always something wrong. We… Read more »
I am soooo proud of myself. You see, I just made up the word 'quadrumvirate' to describe the four restaurants that have a hold on me and my similarly situated in the Albany-Berkeley hood, only to find out that the word quadrumvirate not only exists, but it means the same thing I intended it to mean.
Oh, you loathsome Latin flashcards... now I can see that you weren't a complete and total waste of time - you didn't thieve precious moments of my childhood for nothing 100% of the time - - just 99.8% of it.
The quadrumvirate - all owned by the same company - consists of T-Rex BBQ, Fonda for tapas, Jimmy Beans for your coffeeshop experience, and Lalime's for Mediterrannean French. I must say, I find the whole thing nefarious. I don't think they said "Hey, let's make really good BBQ, tapas, coffeeshop breakfasts and California cuisine!" Instead I think they studied the oh-so-easy-to-read psyche of this demographic and plotted to create a group of restaurants that would ensure that every single time we go out to eat, we end up at one of THEIR establishments. Smart, but creepy. Like that Megan's list guy who read your online profile and then re-created himself to seem like your personal Mr. Right. OK, go cancel that account, and then come back to me.
Here are the things that I've gathered about us, based on the fact that these four places are very successful: we fancy ourselves to be a somewhat sophisticated and hip bunch, we really like that whole "60 is the new 40" thing, we don't like to put on airs - frankly because we can't afford to. Yes, we have some money, but not real money. We would very much like to have real money, but since we don't we're smug about how money does not bring one happiness - to achieve happiness one must eat overpriced BBQ with bourbon or have tapas - excuse me - "Latin American small plates" with cocktails. In other words, we'll pay more than a meal is worth if we think it's authentic, if the ambiance (read: lighting) makes us look good, if we get high ceilings, staircases, dangly lights, and lots of polished wood. And if, when you squint, you just might be in a restaurant in *clenched teeth* The Citteh.
Was there supposed to be a review of T-Rex in here somewhere? Please super poke me next time I get tangential. Skip the hot dog - very meh - skip the entrees because they are way too expensive for what you'll get. Instead get one of the sandwich items, like pulled pork, brisket or a hamburger. Just because the menu says you'll get BBQ chips with your meal, that is not necessarily so. You can also have the slaw, the french fries or the overly-mayonnaised but still good potato salad, for the asking. I wouldn't call any of these dishes four star - but they will probably satisfy that BBQ craving if it hasn't grown strong enough to pull you through the forcefield that keeps you in that two mile radius of your home. If I was a drinker - I'd probably give it another star. They have lots of cocktails, wines and beers, and they have an entire leather-bound volume dedicated to whiskey.
But on second squint, this is just not looking like the City...So listen here, you tyrannical quadrumvirate of grills, you gang of four cafeterias, go learn to make five star BBQ...until then: LET MY PEOPLE GO!
Note: In the time it took to write this review, they screwed up my new word by adding a "partner" restaurant: Sea Salt...a 'sustainable' mostly seafood mash-up cuisine of New England and California. It's like chemtrails. God help us all... ummmm, feel like kumamotos on the half shell tonight, Honey?
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Delicious but expensive. Great bbq sauce, and get this... they have ice cold bottles of Dublin Dr. Pepper! Not that crap with HFCS, I am talking SUGAR, baby!
I'm giving it a four-star review even though I don't eat red meat or pork, and that's (a) good if you're a veggie and (b) possibly bad if you're a meat fan since I haven't tasted the meat. Basically, if you're a fan of mac and cheese, yummy spicy potato chips, mashed potatoes, or pulled pork (so I've heard) you should come here. Oh, but you have to like creamy mac and cheese, not the kind that's chewy. I have to say, I've heard the hot dog is JUST ok, not great. There's also happy hour menus, and a fun brunch.
Stopped by here last night to see what all the hype was about. The downside on this crowded night was that we were seated at a table right next to a party of 8 --five of them being children between the ages of 2 and 4.
No problem...we were "sports" about it...the place was extremely noisy as it was, so it would all be fine if we just had a pitcher of beer to drown out the toddlers.
The Crispy Mushroom Chicken Spring Rolls were great as an Appetizer, which arrived 5 minutes ahead of the pitcher of beer. Hmm. Not good when you have a 3 year old crawling on your back while you are munching on your appetizer.
Things were better for the main course. The Flat Iron steak was served "medallion style", juicy and grilled to perfection. Halfway through dinner, our server informed us that our table with the "Taz- Devil" kids was buying our pitcher of beer as an apology.
All in all, great food. Just don't go here for a relaxing night. The atmosphere is noisy and very "kid friendly" before 8pm.
If the server was nicer, my experience would've been better. I had the fried oysters which were pretty standard. My friend had the ribs with cheese grits and greens. The Grits tasted like melted cheese (yum) and the greens were tasty too. The corn bread was drowning in syrup- WAY too sweet.
Prices are fair. Parking is tight. People are aight.
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I was underwhelmed, to say the least. I just moved here from Atlanta, so I guess I'm a southern girl with high expecations for BBQ. Everyone in my office has been ranting and raving about this place, so I decided to give it a shot. Below, kindly find, the good, the bad and the bottom line at T-Rex Barbeque:
The Good
-Great atmosphere
-Nice waitstaff
-High meat quality ( I had the Beef Brisket, my BF had the pork shoulder)
-AMAZING Cornbread w/ syrup dessert thing
The Bad
-Deviled egg appetizer was $5 and it was basically two boiled eggs cut in half
-You don't get side dishes with your order, just a "garnish" of watery potato salad. It's very a la carte.
-Mac n' Cheese was $8 (we didn't get it, but it looked good)
The Bottom Line
-T-REX is pricey. It's a fancy schmancy BBQ place, if you're looking for a down home meal, go somewhere else. But, if you want over-priced fancy stuff with no side dishes but a great atmosphere, go here.
I wish I could add another half star for the conrbread, but I can't. :)
1. Major improvements since opening.
2. Much better service.
3. Food is still ok--some flaws.
4. Prices are a bit too high for the qualitly.
5. Brunch was pretty good, but service was m.i.a. and cost was $$$
6. Parking is easy.
7. Cocktails are good.
8. BBQ should be much better.
