Memphis Barbeque

So I was first introduced to Memphis BBQ when they handed out sampler sandwiches at the Crystal City 1K Beer Walk in January of 2012. Even served out of tin-​foil bins over sterno, it was very delicious — tender, juicy, and paired perfectly with cole slaw atop the sandwich.
In fact, I loved it so much that I decided to have them cater for my graduation that following May. Serving a family group of about a dozen, we ordered from their catering menu — which offered many options, priced per-​person, and gave a variety of entrees/​side dishes to choose from. We decided to go with one of the middle-​priced options and also added a large side of mac-​n-​cheese (obviously!). We were able to place the order over the phone a few days before we needed it for pick-​up and pay in-​person with a credit card (thank you Dad!) the day-​of pick-​up. (normally, they require a downpayment, but were very nice enough to waive that requirement for us). Upon pick-​up, we did have to wait a little bit, so the manager on-​duty added in a free order of hush puppies to apologize for the inconvenience. I have to say, they were delicious too.
Overall, I loved the food and am a bit saddened that they only opened up their doors AFTER I had moved out of Crystal City! But I’m sure I’ll be back soon.

I went here with extremely high expectations for great BBQ. But it was just okay. It’s difficult to describe, but you know great BBQ when you taste it. The spare ribs are tender and fall off the bone, but there’s something in the seasoning that’s missing.
Like most other reviewers, the hush puppies are really good… a little dry; so I’m glad they were served with butter.
The gumbo was pretty good for roux-​based gumbo.
The service was great and the prices were decent. They serve a lot of food at this restaurant, so be hungry or be prepared to take some home.

Service was great … Very friendly. Prompt. Took time to explain the menu. Anticipated our needs. Mita was great.
Food was fabulous … Ribs were perfect, fall off the bone tender. Heaps of food well prepared and came out promptly. We got the sample platter and it was all good.
Great atmosphere though it was an early dinner.

It’s surely a BBQ place. But i don’t think it’s good enough to have the Memphis name. =/​service was alright. Everything we had was smothered in BBQ sauce. Not so appealing. Ambience was good. Comfy chairs.
Try the other restaurants down the block befor you settle here
Complimentary hush puppies was good. Maybe best thing on the plate

We thought all of the Memphis Barbeques had closed up. I guess not. We’d always liked Memphis Barbeque and so we set up a lunch meeting for four at the branch in Crystal City. Our waitress was superb and just what we needed for a midday pick-​me-​up in good attitude. She was funny, got our jokes, and would have been a «gotta go back» excuse all in herself.
The food is barbeque and everyone enjoyed their meals. From ribs to pulled pork and chicken, to the grilled salmon, everyone rated their food «five Unilocal stars», but had to reduce the score two points to account for the uniformly unpalatable barbeque sauce. One comment was, «Oh, I wished I’d tried it first. Now I have to scrape this yucky stuff off my food».
The meat was smokey, tender, and flavorful — just what you should expect from a restaurant that has «barbeque» in its name. However, as noted by Collin, SAUCE is a large part of the barbeque experience — and Memphis Barbeque fails in this aspect. Personally, I prefer the vinegar and habanero-​based sauce prevalent in eastern North Carolina, and I was raised on tomato-​based sauce found almost everywhere else, so I know and respect good barbeque sauce where ever I find it.
Memphis Barbeque’s sauce is to «authentic Memphis-​style sauce» as Ragu is to «authentic Italian pasta sauce». Collin has the right idea — the meat is great, just get some decent barbeque sauces — or provide some diversity in sauces — not the bland, sickly sweet red syrup you gave us. For $ 18 to $ 20 for a lunch, they can afford to spend a little on decent barbeque sauce!
Our concensus was to order your food with the sauce on the side (or naked). My further advice is to bring your own favorite barbeque sauce. We’ll be back and armed with our own barbeque sauce!

Barbeque is all about taste. It’s a truly transcendent food — devoid of bias in ambiance, décor, table ware and service. A good pulled chicken & pork sammich doesn’t have to be served with anything, let alone anything special. There’s just purity in it.
I’ve been to Memphis BBQ twice now, and have attended one of their catered events. I cant say it’s the best BBQ in the region, but it’s good ’nuff for Crystal City. It’s simplistic, and a real treat when you consider the status of Barbeque in and around the District. Make sure you request the hush puppy starters — arguably the best thing on the menu.
I’ve had the pulled chicken sandwich, the pulled pork, the baked macaroni and cheese, and the Memphis dry rub ribs. The only thing that didn’t really wow me was the ribs, with the exception of the brown sugar, they were rather flavorless. I really like the pulled chicken here. (Big ol’ potato roll bun, lots of sauce) Hit it with some hot sauce and you’ve got a real knee slapping adventure in your hands.
Now the service here is spotty. The wait staff doesn’t really know the menu well, and I was constantly being told «we’re out of that». Both times I dined in the restaurant the service was spotty, absent and generally hard to be happy about. Now honestly, I really don’t care. My favorite meat busting, gut exploding, sauced induced coma destinations were in buildings that should have been condemned; staffed with pit masters that understood the craft of the flame, and very little else. My only compliant, as it is with all BBQ — I wish the food was better. But like they say in the city, it’s good enough for Gub’ment work.
Despite its obvious flaws, Memphis BBQ is a very nice place — a real oddity in good meat charring. Nestled quietly on 23^rd street next to Legal Sea Foods, Charlie Chang’s and Chili’s, rest assured that it’s a popular tourist destination too.

I came here on a Thursday evening, thought I would give it a shot…
Being a party of 4, we tried to sit at one of the booths at the window because we wanted to stretch out and the place was more than ½ empty, but the snobby hostess said that was only for larger parties. The booth sat empty for most of our meal except towards the end when they sat a 3-​top there.
The food is bad. The Jambalaya was not edible. Despite having supposedly real crab in it, it had an unpleasant taste. The ribs are nothing special. The salad was unmemorable. I was able to fill myself by scarfing down hush puppies, which were good but only when hot — they turn to rocks if you left them get cold. Soft drinks were flat.
Not worth a visit.

My family and I were quite disappointed with our overall experience here. The waitress was lacking in personality and they added on a 20% gratuity after tax (yes we were charged gratuity on the 9% tax) for a party of 5 – no notice in the menu and server only informed us when she brought the bill.
The dry spare ribs were really smokey tasting, but lacking flavor otherwise. Brisket was chewy and also had smoke as the dominant flavor. Prime rib was passable, but my brother preferred it with the horseradish rather than the au jus even though there was dry rub already all over the meat. pulled pork was also chewy and needed more bbq sauce to have flavor.
The mac and cheese was good, as were the onion rings. The corn was crunchy (not crisp – crunchy) but at least flavorful. Baked beans were good. My sister-​in-​law liked the sweet potato fries. Slaw was average. The hush puppies by far was the best thing we had there – crisp, hot, and flavorful.
Besides the hush puppies, the one good thing was that the tall (23oz) beers were only $ 6. I don’t think I’d recommend this place unless you’re just going for beer and hush puppies.

We went here for the second time this past weekend.
Our first experience–
Mid-​week, like a Thursday. It had recently opened. There was a pretty good crowd in there for being a weekday. Service was good but not memorable. We laughed for a while about the ‘upscale casual’ description on the website, but it all made sense when we first stepped into the restaurant.
When we sat down my first thought was «wow, those hush puppies look good. I want some.» and then was pleasantly surprised when they came as our pre-​meal bread! They were delicious! Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside (although a bit dry) with bits of jalepeno for some color.
We ordered the ribs and the bbq brisket. The brisket was just okay. It was a bit dry and could have used more bbq sauce.
The ribs though– A-​MAZING! meat fell right off the bone. Tender, juicy… delicious!
So we had to come back. This time we brought my parents to end an otherwise perfect Sunday! We called ahead because we had our dog with us. They said she could come if we sat on the patio, she was on the leash and she was well behaved. This dog is well behaved, and she was an angel! Curled up in a sunny spot and slept most of the time.
The hostess and wait staff were wonderful to us! They even brought out a bowl of water for the dog. (and kept our ice teas filled up… which is major bonus points in our family)
We started with the seafood gumbo. I thought it was really good. The sausage had a bit of a kick without being overpoweringly spicy. If you like really spicy gumbo– don’t order this one. I thought the flavors were well balanced.
Then everyone got ribs and I got a pulled bbq chicken sandwhich. The spare ribs and baby back ribs were all really good. Not as spectacular as we remembered from the first trip, but really good.
The bbq pulled chicken sandwich was decent. It came with coleslaw on top, which the waiter warned me about but I didn’t understand what he was saying until it came. So I did some diligent de-​coleslawing and enjoyed the sandwich. Although, the ribs were still better.
I loved the creamy, thick mac & cheese. and the shoe string fries were really good (esp when dipped in some extra bbq sauce)
The corn is drenched in butter, so don’t pretend it’s healthy. But the zucchini looked good, although I didn’t try it.
As if we hadn’t all gorged ourselves enough, we couldn’t resist splitting an ice cream sundae. The ice cream was smooth and rich and tasted homemade.
The place has their act together. They gave us wet-​naps in Memphis BBQ packaging and really seems to know who they are and what they’re trying to accomplish. Felt like all the consistency and benefits of being at a chain without it actually being a chain.
I know this has been a really long review but I really enjoyed the day with my family and though Memphis BBQ rose to the occasion of finishing our day on a really high note. I appreciate their excellent service and recommend people give this place a try.

Um, no. Pretty much everything about the experience was Meh. But it was meh in a random, unfunny, and confusing way. We beat happy hour and had giant beers for $ 5. We were seated by a humorless hostess. The TVs were showing CNN. The server, something-​Trina, was a recent visitor from one of the former Russian eastern front countries which doesn’t truly jive with barbeque from the western front of Tennessee.
I’m a KC boy, born, bred, and fled, and find Memphis & KC bbq pretty close. This stuff was ok, not bad, but not good. There is no love in this food. Had the mac&cheese, slaw, beans, and onion rings (pathetic, small serving size, and super greasy). We split the brisket (tender) and full slab of dry ribs (ok).
The service was spotty, the hush puppies came near the end, and the waitress didn’t have a firm grasp of how much food was coming versus how much food three men can consume. I’ll say that catfish fingers, four sides, a full slab of dry ribs, and a plate of brisket is a perfect amount. I can also say that I’ve never again visit this place as this chain-​in-​the-​waiting is destine to be a tourist trap for the culinary challenged in Crystal City. Go to Ted’s and have some real food served by real people who know and care about the food.
My go-​to bbq joint in town is Rockland’s (DC and Alexandria) and they’re local.

We were headed to Charlie Chiang’s and discovered that it was closed except for deliveries and carry out. Memphis bbq happened to be beside it and so we decided to instead go there.
Service was good, and I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with mac and cheese. It was quick, and good enough while also quite filling. I had a hockey game to play in later and during the game I contemplated throwing up the bowling ball mass of food that was rocking about in my stomach as I skated up and down the ice.
I managed to not hurl though, and I mentally noted that if I go back to Memphis BBQ that I should plan to take a nap afterwards. Or at least not participate in any sporting contests.
Not the best bbq or mac n cheese. but if you find yourself there they’re both good enough for a meal.

i liked the hush puppies that they gave you in the beginning, instead of bread. i probably ate too many of them… oops.
we ordered new orleans style seafood gumbo. i wanted something soupy, and thought this would be more soupy but it was a REALLY hearty soup. so if you want SOUP, this is NOT it. but still very tasty.
also ordered a full slab of the ribs, wet. pretty damn delicious. i honestly like my ribs falling off the bone a bit more, but it was flavorful and really meaty. plus you get two sides. we got sweet potato fries and fried corn. i thought the fried corn would be something else, but it just taste like normal canned corn with maybe some butter and some other flavors added into it.
service was good. sweet tea wasnt sweet enough to be considered southern sweet tea. overall decent BBQ place for nova. i feel like nova really lacks authentic BBQ so if you have a craving, its not bad. but definitely does not do good BBQ justice.

Well, the food reminded me of Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack, «…and tell the cook this is low grade dog food. Sheesh, I’ve had better food at the ballgame, you know? This steak still has marks from where the jockey was hitting it.»
There are two ways to do BBQ: the right way and the Memphis BBQ way. The food was mediocre at best, the service was horrendous, and our server… well, she missed a few spots while shaving.
Seriously, we went there for a quick lunch and ended up waiting 20 minutes just to order. 40 minutes after that our food was finally delivered. Having waited an hour for our food, we were now rushed, and forced to devour our food as quickly as possible. Overall, it was just a bad experience. I cannot in good conscience recommend this place to anyone.

The exterior is nothing special, typical Crystal City look. Right when you walk in though, the hostesses are really cool and friendly, especially the one from Florida. Ambiance of the place is decent, a semi-​ok bar area, and then a mix of booths and tables. Lighting gives it a jazz like mood in the room.
As for the food, I have had the Memphis baby back ribs on both occasions and liked it more on the first occasion, but still thought the overall flavor and taste were terrific. The meat is not that tender, but not that rough either, so it definitely is not fall off the bone, but you do not have to rip at the bone like a manic either. As for the other food, instead of bread before the meal you get hush puppies, which are the best ones I have had, my only other hush puppy experience is Long John Silver’s. The sides are fantastic as well, I thought the sweet potato fries were crisp and flavorful and the coleslaw has some unique flavor as well.

Okay I have to preface this by stating I’m not a huge BBQ fan. I don’t eat pork or beef so I can’t comment on how the ribs and brisket are. I’ve been to this restaurant twice in the last couple of weeks. It’s right around the corner from where I live, so I’m sure I’ll visit again.
The first time we came it was the first day they had changed the menu. The waitress wasn’t quite sure what was on it either. I also did not get any hush-​puppies on this visit for some reason. I didn’t realize that we were supposed to get any until I read up on the restaurant later on. I got the pulled chicken sandwich (this was one of the new items apparently) and the onion rings. Sandwich was tasty (comes with coleslaw on it which apparently is a Memphis BBQ thing, I scraped it off no big deal) but the onion rings were awesome.
Food came fast, glasses were refilled promptly.
The second visit — Went on a Saturday at 7:30pm. Plenty of open tables, no wait. This time we were served the hush-​puppies, which were quite good. I don’t even want to fathom how many calories are in those things but they are sure tasty. I ordered the same thing. It was good enough the first time, and since I don’t eat beef or pork there isn’t a huge selection of other options. Sandwich was quite a bit more saucy this time. Onion rings were good.
I teetered between a 3 and a 4 on this review and decided to round up. Overall, I think this restaurant is a good addition to Crystal City. It’s still very new and I think some of the kinks with the service and menu will work themselves out over time.

After months of renovations to the former Mackey’s and anticipation Memphis BBQ is finally open.
They bring you free hush puppies as a starter with every meal, these have a little bit of a jalapeño flavor but aren’t too spicy and are hot and fresh. These alone almost sold me on this place but on to the main course. I had the spare ribs with the dry rub (you can get that or the wet ribs with the sauce on them) and your choice of two sides (I chose BBQ beans and fried corn). The ribs were tender, not too dry, and had very little fat. The rub was interesting and a little sweeter than most dry rubs I have tried. Also ask for some BBQ sauce on the side if you want a little sauce on them. I enjoyed the ribs and would get them again. The BBQ beans had a sweet, smoky flavor and included a little bit of onion and bell pepper. The fried corn isn’t fried in batter, instead it’s corn cut from the cob and fried. It goes well with BBQ and I recommend it.
The service is very friendly here and if you have friends who aren’t big BBQ fans (is that even possible?) the burgers looked pretty good too. The prices are a little expensive but that’s typical for Crystal City. I also wish they had fried okra available as a side and they didn’t seem to be considering it when I mentioned the suggestion. This place doesn’t quite match the BBQ on Beale Street but it’s more than good enough for a meal in Crystal City.

My family and I went to Memphis BBQ for dinner tonight and we should have known we were missing something when at 5p. m on a Saturday night the place was nearly empty and they were already out of mac and cheese. What kind of BBQ place doesn’t have mac and cheese on a Saturday night?
The ambiance is a little confused with sports on the flat screens, romantic lighting, blues playing and leather benches… just pick a vibe. When I think true Memphis BBQ, I think fun and relaxed, yet this place almost bordered on stuffy. The hostess was really nice, but our waitress was practically a mute, barely speaking to us once we ordered.
The hush puppies were worth 4 stars, so we had high hopes after those came out. It was pretty much downhill from there. I ordered pulled pork entrée (with 2 sides) and my step-​daughter ordered the pulled pork sandwich. For some reason, I did not expect a humongous pile of super saucy meat on a plate (even though, I guess that’s my own fault for ordering that), so I ordered a bun so I could basically build a sandwich. It was just TOO saucy for an entrée and not what I expected. I ordered the sweet potato fries and was really disappointed to find them doused in cinnamon. If you’re going to do something kind of out-​of-​the-​box like that, at least mention it on the menu so those of us who hate cinnamon can avoid it. The baked beans were mediocre. The onion rings were in a similar batter to the hush puppies, so they were good.
My step daughter liked her pulled pork sandwich (cole slaw on top) and onion rings and the man liked his brisket with baked beans (same «meh» reaction) and regular shoestring fries.
Definitely nothing to write home about.
I think what made the experience go from 3 stars to 2 was sitting next to a nice young family who had apparently been there before and had a bad experience so the manager went totally out of his way to make sure they had everything they wanted and also picked up the entrees for them before they even looked at the menu. At one point, there were 2 waitresses at their table playing with their cute baby while we had empty glasses for the 2^nd time. Come on. Yes, the baby was cute, but instead of making people happy who had a bad experience last time, you could also try to make the people who had never been there before have a decent experience, don’t ya think? Find a balance.
Hope it improves, but it doesn’t look good.

I have had a lot of Memphis style BBQ, mostly during the dozen or so trips I’ve taken to Memphis. So I had high hopes that someone, somehow might eventually bring good BBQ to Arlington. After mediocre experiences at Red Hot & Blue and Old Glory, I was finally pleasantly surprised by Authentic Memphis BBQ.
The food was terrific — flavorful and well-​seasoned … but not doused in sauce. The service was also outstanding, especially for the Crystal City area where good service is truly hard to find (with the one exception of Chick-​fil-​A). I came in with a party of 35 (!!!) for lunch but they had us all fed and out the door within an hour and a half. Pretty impressive turn-​around for lunch, if you ask me.
The servers were both polite and efficient and the management exceeded my expectations as well. I called Alan, the manager, before my arrival to verify that their BBQ sauce was indeed gluten-​free and when I arrived for lunch, Alan came by to introduce himself and assure me that my meal was safe and that he would personally be supervising its preparation. He wasn’t kidding — I had no ill effects from cross contamination, even though their kitchen is probably rife with hamburger buns for all those pulled pork sandwiches they serve.
Bottom line: Memphis BBQ offers great food, outstanding service, and is extremely accommodating to their customers, including people with food allergies. I will definitely return whenever I need to feed my BBQ addiction.

If this is authentic Memphis BBQ, then I’m not a fan. For the sake of Memphis, I sincerely hope that this is not the case. Having roots in Texas BBQ, I recognize that there’s an inherent regional bias. Namely, my preference for brisket so succulent and tender that it falls apart in your mouth. At Memphis BBQ, however, the briskets were so dry and chewy that it felt gnawing on soft beef jerky. The spare ribs were flavorful but was neither meaty or juicy as the menu described. Again, I’m thinking a soft beef jerky almost. About the only thing I enjoyed was the appetizer sampler that included onion rings (good), pulled pork egg rolls (novel), brisket enchilada (inventive), catfish tenders (the best item all night — this had the «melt-​in-​your-​mouth» texture plus great batter), and chicken tenders. While I have issues of authentic Memphis BBQ being mixed with Tex-​Mex cuisine, I’ll let this one slide.
«And what’s the deal with the waiter?» I appreciate the enthusiasm but you’re working at a BBQ joint, not Capital Grill. Our waiter exuded a pretentious attitude generally reserved for the French. He referred to Cindy as «lady» as if this was a formal dining room and I was wearing a dinner jacket. He referred to Mahi Mahi as dolphin fish (which it is) but … why?!
Day 6 of opening. Bottom line: I’d rather eat at Famous Dave’s. Heck, I’m thinking the Chili’s around the corner might have better ribs. And cheaper.
[Original Visit: December 10, 2011]

We went to Memphis Barbeque for the Grand Opening. With the months of construction, we had high expectations for this place. Unfortunately, I think it adds to the collection of generally mediocre restaurants in Crystal City, and we currently can’t find a reason to go back.
We got the beef brisket and the pulled pork entrees. Both came with two sides, so we sampled the macaroni and cheese, onion rings, coleslaw, and southern-​style fried corn. The meats were generally okay, though for brisket it was not the melt-​in-​your-​mouth tender I expected. Flavor was decent. The sides were small and not quite to our expectations– the corn was the best one (and how can you mess up corn?). Mac n cheese had no flavor, and the coleslaw had too many flavors going (pickle and herbs don’t mesh well).
Of course with the grand opening some mishaps in service were to be expected. We waited a while at the hostess station, and there was no real introduction to the restaurant or the menu. However, the food came out very fast (all pre-​cooked, I assume) and everything was hot.
I’d like to think we’ll try this place again in a few months, but I’m not sure we have a compelling reason. For the price and the portions, it just doesn’t quite add up.