Pork Barrel BBQ

Really enjoyed the chopped pork, brisket, baked beans and slaw. Staff is friendly and competent. A lot of mediocre BBQ in the area, glad these folks are near my house!

So close to 5 stars except for the heartburn I got two hours after eating. I do not know if I ate too much or if it was too rich or if it was all of vinegar in the am sauce. Nonetheless the food was scrumptious. I had the 3 meat combo which included burnt ends, brisket and chopped chicken which came with two sides. My sides were cheesy grits and Mac and cheese. The sides were ok, but better than most. The corn bread was to die for and the meat was great. My favorite was the burnt ends with the sweet BBQ and tangy mustard. I ate almost all of it but then my stomach and gas shook the house and for the first time in my life I had to take a Pepcid. After that I felt much better but seriously I should not get indigestion from BBQ or maybe I really did eat too much. Oops.

I had the Three Little Pigs and my buddy had a pulled pork sandwich along with some fries he got from Holy Cow next door and I brought another friend (who had been trapped inside for five days after a blizzard) a Texas Beef Sausage sandwich with a side of potato salad. The food was good… not great. The friend I brought the sausage sandwich to didn’t eat it all (said he was underwhelmed), but I did have some of the potato salad which I thought was really good. I’d go back, but it’s just good… not great.

Have been here dozen times or so. Their service is always top notch, friendly for both families and solo, good beer, and solid food. My highlights are the smoked turkey, mac and cheese, greens (not veggie tho) and the chicken chili. I wish they would do a few more specials or variety mostly b. c i go too often. The mere fact that you can also order from the bar next door for Holy Cow burgers makes this place and all around winner. Glad its in the neighborhood and a big fan

Outstanding, as always. Quick service with food spot on. The pulled pork nachos, with cole slaw on top, is a meal on its own and a bargain during happy hour at five bucks. Four dollar craft cans are nice as well. All of their meat is tender and delicious. Great sides, especially the mac and cheese. You can’t go wrong with Pork Barrel.

Had lunch. sauce is not all that great. Very small portions for the buck$$ Choices for lunch special does not include fries… service is awesome and nice bar.

As good as barbecue gets in Alexandria. I have been 4 times and never been disappointed. Prices are very reasonable. Be sure to order the pulled pork and use the original sauce on it.

The best BBQ in the DMV! I am a BBQ snob because I was raised on the best BBQ on the planet, NC BBQ! So when I say this is good believe it. The sides are AWESOME! The atmosphere is great and the service is great. This is a BBQ destination! You definitely will not be disappointed.

This is some good BBQ. And the sides here are on point. The jalepeno Mac and cheese is on point and the potato salad is to die for without being too heavy.
They do lovely catering spreads and the service is excellent. If you’re craving BBQ stop here.

According to Google Maps, the quickest route from my home to Pork Barrel is 2.1 miles or 8 minutes. Thank God it’s not an inch closer or I’d eat nothing but. I haven’t tried anything I haven’t liked. I love that they have Cheerwine. I love that they have a full bar where you can pull up and watch a game too. The most wonderful time of the year is BBQ week though, when they participate by selling the sampler platter. If you ever wanted meat sweats, that’s the time to do it.

Great bartender and an excellent beer list. I ended up having burnt ends, a Goose Island Winter ale and a pulled pork sandwich and Mac n cheese.
The burnt ends had an outstanding flavor. They were slightly more fatty than I’m used to, but overall, outstanding with just the right amount of smoke.
The pulled pork sandwich is served on a potato roll and the portion of meat was large. There are 4 BBQ sauces, original, sweet, mustard, and NC vinegar. I tried them all and went with the original. Great pulled pork sandwich.
The Mac n cheese was super creamy and loaded with a melty cheese sauce. It had a very slight kick from the jalapeños. It was a nice side on a cool day.
Overall, the food, beer and service were very good. I’ll definitely be back.

Great pulled pork! The meat is tender and smoked to perfection. I had the Smacking Big Daddy and it was wonderful! Of course I couldn’t finish it. But it definitely left me wanting to come back for more at another time. I’m not a Carolina BBQ fan. However, I think this place may have changed my mind. I took away one star because the napkin and straw dispensers look like they have never been cleaned. The barbecue sauce containers look like they need a good wipe down as well. Overall, great food and great service! Thanks guys!

A nice place to eat a weekend lunch. Good service at the bar. Football on the flat screens while eating BBQ and drinking a beer.

Not the best BBQ I’ve ever had, but they put out a few solid options that are good for a quick lunch or dinner if you’re in the neighborhood. The bar has a decent selection of beer and several TVs, so it’s a good place to watch a game.
The white chicken chili is the best thing on the menu, in my opinion. Usually I come for that. Otherwise, the pulled chicken and pulled pork sandwiches are good, especially with a heavy pour of the spicy BBQ sauce. Skip the smoked turkey and the spareribs. The sides are okay, not great. I usually go with the coleslaw, but if I was with a friend (and not trying to be healthy) I’d opt for the Pitmaster’s Nachos over any of the sides.

Tried this place on the recommendation of a friend and was very disappointed.
Service was awful. The person taking my order really didn’t get the menu and couldn’t answer any of my questions. Then when I needed ketchup for my 3 year old I had to ask someone behind the counter 5 questions in order to find out that I needed to walk across the restaurant to the bar to get a bottle for the table (when the ketchup was suppose to already be on the table). It wasn’t busy when we went and somehow it didn’t dawn on anyone behind the counter just to get the ketchup for us?
Now to the food: pulled pork was good as was the sweet corn and corn bread. Mac and cheese was ok but on the spicy side. Then the Texas sausage was awful, as was the potato salad. Potato salad was the worst I’ve ever had anywhere.
It’s a bummer because I love bbq but this place just misses the mark.

This is a great neighborhood place for meat lovers. There’s interesting selections of beer and apple cider but the cocktail menu is non existent. It is not a full bar.
The burnt ends were great, get there early if you want a lb. regularly on the weekends a ¼ lb is all that’s left by 7 PM. However their new chef now has burnt ends that taste like regular fatty brisket. Their regular brisket is very tasty though. I regularly pop in to order from the meat counter at the back. You can’t order ahead unless it’s a large, very large order. But you can always ask ahead of time if they have the amount and cut you want!
When you’re at a table or bar ask for the super secret sandwich menu! Their ahi tuna sandwich is AMAZING. I ask for it to come on the lettuce wrap option. I’m a fan of their sweet potato fries also :)
There’s outdoor seating options, booth seats, high tables, and the bar. For a game this is definitely packed by the locals.
Note: if you’re picking up weekdays around 5 PM double-​check your meat– sometimes it’s left over from lunch and the brisket can be way too dry with 0 fat on it.

This restaurant has a lot going for it: location, minimal competition for being the only barbecue place nearby, what seems to be a decent bar (my wife and I were only there for food, so I can’t say whether it’s actually good or not), and a menu with most of the basic barbecue fare. However, I just wasn’t impressed.
The restaurant space is quite large, but it lacks adequate seating, and the acoustics of the space is awful. It was only half full but very loud.
The food was only decent. I ordered a plate of pulled pork, burnt ends, mac and cheese, and slaw. It also came with a piece of cornbread, which honestly was the best part of the meal. Pulled pork was good, burnt ends were VERY chewy, mac and cheese was ok, and the slaw was pretty good (it had slices of peppers in it which isn’t what I’m used to being from the south). My wife had the pulled pork sandwich and creamed corn. The sandwich was actually pretty good, but the creamed corn was disappointing (it was more like a thin soup with whole kernels in it than actual creamed corn). All in all, what could be a fantastic restaurant that has plenty of opportunity only gets a mediocre review due to the fact that their food just isn’t that great.

As someone whose favorite barbecue is my own, it takes something pretty special to measure up and make me turn my head. Happily, there is such a place, and it is right in the heart of Del Ray at that. Their pork is tender and has a subtle smoke flavor, not too heavy (it could be a bit stronger, in my opinion… I am curious what kind of wood they use) and it makes for one hell of a sandwich. Most of my visits to Pork Barrel are at the bar — I am there at least once or twice a week… it’s the best bar in Del Ray for sports — and the bar menu offers up a trio of pork sliders which are out of this world… my favorite way to take it in.
They also make a mean brisket and their chicken is also really tasty. I haven’t tried the ribs but I have dined with folks who have and their reaction indicates that they are a must-​try. I have tried the sausage a few times, however, and have never quite liked it, for reasons that I just can’t put my finger on. As with most barbecue places, obviously the pork is the way to go, either in a platter-​pile or a sandwich. If you are in the mood to nosh on something on the snackier side, you can get nachos, piled high with pulled pork and sauce and my, oh my, they are tasty.
Pork Barrel’s side dishes are hit or miss. The baked beans and the (spicy) mac & cheese are perfect comfort foods and will surely send you straight into the food coma if you are not careful. If I get sides, that is usually what I go for and am never disappointed. The coleslaw, however, I really don’t care for, and the potato salad is kind of meh — great sins for a barbecue joint, to be sure, but ones that are forgiven. There are plenty of other things to order instead. And, oh yeah, the cornbread is deadly… probably the best thing they offer.
Like I said, I usually go there and sit at the bar, watching baseball or football and it is a perfect spot for that. The beer selection, like everywhere in Del Ray, is out of sight, with a tower of taps offering up fresh local brews and a bottle/​can list that ensures that you never have to order the same beer twice. The bar menu offers up a few items and specials that you won’t get at the restaurant counter. They also provide a menu from Holy Cow (the affiliated, and amazing, burger joint from two doors down) at the bar and my favorite combo is to get a pulled pork sandwich (or sliders) along with Holy Cow fries.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention the sauce. They offer four different varieties of sauce — NC vinegar, SC mustard, sweet, and their original, which is a slightly sweet, slightly smoky, slightly spicy sauce. All are outstanding. Half the fun of ordering fries is dipping them in the various sauces.
Despite the fact that we are in Virginia and Virginia is supposed to be in the South and the South is supposed to be where the good barbecue is, there really is a dearth of barbecue places in this area. Some of them, like Dixie Bones in Woodbridge, is among the best that you can find anywhere, while others like Boss Hog’s in McLean are… well, not that great. Holy Cow, I find, is closer to the former and, the further along they continue, the better they get.
That I can walk there from home in less than the time it took me to type this review, that is both dangerous and wonderful. Fortunately this place seems to be a hell of a success and they should be sticking around for quite some time.

I don’t write reviews often but after my experience here I had to say something. this was my second visit to the restaurant after a first lackluster visit. My hope was that they would impress me the second time. Boy was I wrong.
First of all the food was average. The ribs were mostly fat and the pulled pork was average at best. Now I wanted to try the brisket, chicken and sausage. But they were out hours before closing time. This would under most circumstances have been annoying but what I saw next I found upsetting.
When we first sat down at the bar we were asked for our drink orders twice before we ordered and then started looking over the menu. When we ordered after just a few minutes the bartender took our order walked to the register and waited a few beats before returning and telling us they were out of everything we had ordered except the pulled pork. Now this would seem like a simple slip up by the bartender. But it was not.
I saw the bar staff perform the same move over and over. They would take an order provide drinks so they could open a tab and then return surprised that they forgot they were out of most of the main items on the menu. The goal it seemed was to make sure the customer was locked down before dropping the bad news and acting as if it had slipped their minds. I finally got annoyed and started telling those who would sit near me before they ordered of the shortage of menu items only to see the bar staff try the same stunt.
Disappointed with the food but upset with the behavior.

I’ve been here several times. Especially last year when I was going through a massive bbq kick… probably in all 15 times. I’m surprised I haven’t dropped a review yet.
For starters, I love their bbq and mac and cheese. They have a huge selection of beers and root beers. They offer beef, pork, and chicken entrees. Usually I get the beef bbq. I’m more partial. Their beef sausages are decadent. The cream of corn is hit or miss. Last visit it was a hit.
They have a nice lunch special where you can get a sandwich, soda, and one side for $ 7.95. Tuesday is my favorite day of the week to go since that’s their half off a half slab of ribs after 5pm. They’re so damn good.
Service is solid. Never a time I have not had good service.
I’ve met the owner a couple of times. Bill is a nice guy and we chat about St. Louis when I roll in. He is from there originally, and I moved to DC metro from there. His love for the Cardinals does show in Nationals town.
Good place to bring your family since it offers up picnic table patio seating outside.