Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

As a lover of smoked meats, once the decision was made to try Dinosaur Bar-​B-​Que, I was prepared to love it. Between its reputation as a barbecue mecca in New York, and a menu that sounded like a dream, (Grilled wings?! Pork Belly Sliders?! Take my firstborn and lets do this!) my expectations were high.
My partner and I were the first to arrive for a big birthday dinner (for her), and we were quickly escorted to a big table set up in the corner of the restaurant. The space is awesome. Its big, funky, and lots of space to stretch out. Our server quickly arrived, offered to get us drinks while we waited, and as our party arrived we soon began to plan our orders so that we could maximize the items tried.
Service: Our server was the best part of the meal. Super friendly, offered recommendations, and was attentive.
Food — Unfortunately, the food was inconsistent. Due to the size of our group, I was fortunate to try a number of items.
Wings: The wings were pretty great. Meaty, smoky, and the sauce (Korean glaze) was tasty. If I needed to crush some wings and was in the area, this would be a great option.
Sliders: The pork belly and brisket sliders were decent, but nothing memorable. Meat was a little dry.
Fried Green Tomatoes: Fair, nothing to write home about.
Deviled Eggs: Ok, though a little to liberal with the old bay.
Sides: Collards were excellent, Salt Potatoes were fantastic, BBQ Fried Rice was a big let down.
Dessert: Major props to the waiter who gave the birthday girl a free slice of chocolate pie. It was awesome.
Overall: While there were some hits, there were also some misses. I think at the end of the day Andy Nelson’s or Smoke does a better job, but I would be willing to give them another chance if I was in the area.

Came here for the first time.
The good:
The drinks
The service
The atmosphere
The greens with smoked turkey
The beef brisket
The steamed shrimp
The bad:
Everything else. The ribs were far from tender. The chicken wings were puffy (I like mine baked crispy). The Mac and cheese is not mentionable.
I was surprised that the restrooms are one pony shows. No multi stalls here. It was pretty clean, but an establishment this size should have more than one toilet per sex.
Final prognosis: I won’t be returning.

I tried Dinosaur on New Year’s Day, as our usual BBQ place was closed. Called in a takeout order. The woman taking the call was very professional and competent. I noticed they had a gluten free menu online, which I appreciate, since I have some friends who can’t eat gluten.
When I arrived, the food was ready and I was in and out quickly. Again, great service from a hard working staff.
The sides were really good. We tried the potato salad, whipped sweet potatoes, and carrots and raisins, and they were all really good.
The meat was good, but it comes with the sauce already on the food, on both the sandwich and meat plates. That was a shame, as their sauce isn’t good. It really took away from the food. The one hot sauce on the side was good, but whatever they use on all the food wasn’t. Blue Pit and even Mission BBQ both have better sauces. The sandwich roll wasn’t as nice as Blue Pit’s either, but their roll is really good.
I will definitely go back, but I will get the meals without sauce, so I can either use my own sauce, or experiment with other sauces of theirs.

So I have a few friends who went to school in upstate New York who rave for days about Dinosaur BBQ. I am kinda sorta glad I didn’t go here with them because I review would have been a little more biased (as to not upset them) but here goes…
First of all I was surprised by the sheer size of the place. I guess I’m used to tiny hole in the wall places, this restaurant is full on chain restaurant sized. HUGE. A friendly hostess will seat you and then your server will be there in a millisecond.
I’m gonna preface this and say although the service is pretty friendly, but they upsell super hard here which takes the ambiance of the place from a friendly bbq joint to a TGI Fridays, Applebees production. This might be the biggest turn off. They ask you if you want another drink when you are three sips in. They ask about and bring out dessert when you are still eating dinner. It’s weird that they are trying so hard.
About the drinks, we had the Austin Palmer ($ 9, Eddy Sweet Tea and lemonade) and the Donkey Punch ($ 10,light rum, 151, dark rum, and «tropical juice»). The latter drink was basically a rum swizzle and quite strong also tasty.
Then we had the wings, oddly enough my favorite part of the meal, GET THE KOREAN GLAZE wings. We only ordered three and this is my deepest regret in life. Those sweet perfect wings. I miss you.
We also got six creole deviled eggs, also quite good and the right level of cajun spice was on them. They were easy to just pop one after another.
For dinner we went with the custom ‘que and each had three meats on the plate and I can safely say that I have tried nearly every meat in here. So here’s my rundown:
Pork Belly-​sweet, melt in your mouth, pork belly. They prepared these fatty morsels correctly. Loved the thick slabs
Pulled Pork-​This is one of the driest pulled pork creations I have had in my life. I barely touched it, I do not ever want to eat this again.
St Louis Ribs-​The glaze on this is amazing.
BBQ Brisket-​someone needs to go to Texas and figure this out. The brisket was also dry. If you’re in Baltimore and looking for good brisket, head to Big Bad Wolf.
So basically out of a plate with three meats, I ate one.
Now, the sides here are PHENOMENAL, which is why I am going with four stars– and which is strange for me to say for a BBQ joint. I would come here just for a side sampler. The BBQ Fried Rice is a must get. It’s fried rice with bbq meat, and I want their recipe. Also amazing were their BBQ beans with a strong pork flavor, the MAC & CHEESE IS SOOOOO CHEESY and has this crust to it and I loved it. The turkey neck collards were just ok, you gotta put hot sauce on it, and the potato salad was just bland.
For dessert we got the key lime pie. It was ok and went well with the bbq considering they put it on the table while we were still having dinner, and all the whip cream melted until we got around to it.
I would come back here for those wings, pork belly and the sides, but honestly I know of several awesome Baltimore bbq joints that have better meat options. It’s pretty pricey ($ 19.95 for the three meat que) for bbq that lacks that moist tenderness in about half the meats they serve.

Decided to come by based on reviews with two other friends. It was a Saturday night with no reservations so we were told 25 minute wait. No biggie, we’ll get a drink. Took a bit to get a drink but as we received our drinks, the table was ready. Definitely less than 25 minutes which was a pleasant surprise.
Took a while for a server to come over. I believe the owner came over and asked if we’d been seen yet. He was going to get us a waiter and waters. We got two waiters and no waters. We again ordered waters and I requested the Gluten Free menu.
He eventually came back with the menu but by that time we were all ready so I ordered one of the sandwiches with no bun. Food came out and everything was great– except mine came with a bun. It was a while before he checked on us and then he realized that it came with a bun and did offer to take it back. I said I’d be fine and he asked if we were ready for another drink– I said we were ready for the waters we’d asked for.
If the food wasn’t great, this would have been 2 or 3 stars based on service. The guy was a character and funny at times but offensive at others. He wasn’t attentive and the bartenders were just ok.

Pulled pork was great, very moist and flavorful. Brisket was served with jalapeños, which I liked, but a bit fatty for my taste. Mac and cheese and coleslaw were enjoyable, but not amazing. Mac and cheese had old bay on top. Lots of spice in the meats too, which I liked.
Unfortunately, they egregiously forgot both the BBQ sauce and the cornbread in my to-​go order (a great slight!), so obviously the service is lacking. So I won’t be able to tell you what I thought of either of those things. Also, the price is approaching the border of outrageous. $ 18 for two small-​ish meat portions with two sides, no drink (and no cornbread or sauces). Should be more like $ 14. Good thing it tasted good, or the rating would be lower. There are cheaper local places in the area for pit beef etc.

This is a prime dining spot in Harbor East. I thought the ribs were great although the other meat options were less stellar. I got their family combo which came with the ribs, brisket and chicken, plus several sides. The corn bread was really dry but the other sides (mac and cheese, collard greens) were tasty. The wings were actually really good, in an Asian sauce with blue cheese dressing.
Great place to go with a group of people as it’s very spacious, and definitely get the ribs and it’s the best thing on the menu I think.

Really delicious BBQ in a great location. Staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, especially our server Dave. Also a huge selection of beer.
We had the appetizer sampler, which was great if you’re a few people who want to try different things. The chicken wings and deviled eggs were my favorite.
For dinner, if you can’t decide, get a platter with a few meats and a few sides. I loved the ribs and brisket. Also really great French fries and Mac n cheese.
Peanut butter pie for dessert was a great end to a perfect meal! We will definitely be back.
Street parking was easy to find.

We were up in Baltimore for a friend’s b-​day. The gathering was happening at a bar and while we were looking for parking I noticed Dinosaur Bar-​B-​Que and pointed it out to hubby. Between 4 and 4:30 folks were heading out of the b-​day gathering. Personally this seemed like a really bad time to leave given it was Sunday and both Baltimore and Washington had played at home. We decided it was a good opportunity to try Dinosaur BBQ. I am happy to say it was good decision.
We chatted with our waitress who explained that Dinosaur BBQ is a chain based out of Chicago. This is currently the furthest south location. We got a dish with several samples. I was impressed hubby enjoyed the eats since I really do not think of him as a BBQ guy, but he gave them a thumbs up and even seemed to enjoy the corn bread. For our sides he picked BBQ rice and I got BBQ beans. The beans were alright, I doubt I would order them again. The rice was surprisingly good. We both enjoyed the BBQ items which included St. Louis ribs, bbq brisket, and smoked sausage.
Good experience — cool environment, nice team, and good eats.
On a side note, hubby and I both agree they should have nachos topped with your pick of bbq meat. With good chips it could be a darn good item, just saying.
Alas, there were no dinosaurs…

We stopped in before a movie, just a few days after they opened, and were quite impressed by how everything was already running as though they’d been open for months. The service was cheerful and helpful, the food was great, and the drinks were strong.
Our waiter was very enthusiastic about the food, but not in a scripted or corporate way — it was nice to feel the excitement about the food. D had visited the original Dinosaur up in NY a long time ago and was somewhat familiar with the options, and he says this one measured up nicely.
He tried the three-​option platter, with pulled pork, wings, and sausage; fries and salt potatoes as the sides. He wasn’t super impressed with the pulled pork — while it was tender, it doesn’t have as much great flavor as Andy Nelson’s. Both potato offerings were excellent, though.
I had the two-​option, with ribs and smoked jerked chicken; baked beans and cucumber salad as the sides. The ribs are very fatty, but easy to pick apart. It wasn’t a case where the fat hadn’t cooked down into the meat because they were cooked too quickly — they were perfectly smoked, they just had so much fat that there was a good amount left to still pick off. The chicken was delicious, still juicy enough but cooked properly. Of our barbecue options, these are the best baked beans — not overly sweet or gummy, with great spicy flavor. I was really happy to have gotten the cucumber salad — lots of vinegar helped cut through the rich meat and beans.
The key lime pie may have been the real standout, though — not too sweet, and no chemical taste at all — they definitely are using the fresh key limes that our waiter was proudly telling us about. Make sure not to miss dessert here, it’s worth saving room for.

Came here with friends for dinner on a Friday night. Overall, I’d give the food 3 stars, and the service only 1 star.
We got the Pick 3 BBQ platter with the half chicken (pretty good), brisket (really fatty), and the pulled pork (mostly fat). The fries and cole slaw were decent as sides. The platter was supposed to come with cornbread as well, but didn’t, and we had to ask for it, and then was charged extra for the cornbread on our final bill.
Service was abysmal. Waited at least 30 minutes before anyone came by to get our food order. Our meal came out completely wrong at first, with the wrong meats and wrong sides. At least the rest of our table got the right entrees. No one ever came by to fill our waters. We also ordered a beer taster, and not only were the beers NOT the ones we asked for, but no one could tell us which beer was which. Cocktails were weak, and overpriced for what they tasted like. See the above for the cornbread issue.
Seems like there are a LOT of kinks to be worked out.

I had never heard of Dinosaur BBQ until we got word that one was coming to Baltimore. My fellow co-​workers were counting down the days until it opened so I knew I was going to enjoy it.
We went for a work lunch and I ordered the original pulled pork sandwich with french fries. The portions were huge and I ended up eating half of my sandwich and all of my fries. It was DELICIOUS. I could eat this every single day and not get tired of it. On a separate visit I ordered a side of the cornbread which was also super tasty!
I will be back… a lot!

As soon as I heard the name, I knew that this was a place that I needed to try.
When I think of Dinosaur BBQ I think of the Flintstones and Bam Bam. I can’t say I’m certain why. Maybe thinking that I’d get hella large portions as big as my hands will allow. I dunno.
It is located right on the corner of Fleet and Eden. Can’t miss it, large sign outside. The interior is large in size, with a great deal of tables. I think at times, this place can get a wee bit tight. I didn’t notice any happy hour specials, which to me is a total bummerization. I truly hope they fix this as time progresses.
Anywho, on to the food!
The menu was of nice size, it had great options from the cow, pig and the chicken. Even options for you veggie eaters. There were a choice of platters and sammiches and sliders. Honestly, I’m kinda bummed I missed those sliders… several people commented on the dopeness that is the pork belly.
I digress.
I tried the chopped melt which was the brisket, with bbq caramelized onions, pickled jalapeño, smoked green chilies and cheddar. The platter came with two sides, I got the fries and the greens.
When the food came out, it kinda reminded me of like a down home back yard bbq. It was a tri plate, and everything was just kinda slopped on, lol! The sandwich was pretty dang huge and stuffed. Upon first taste, yea, I fell in love. The mixture of the brisket with the jalapeños, and cheddar was awesome. The smokiness of the chilies kinda just took that bad boy over the top for me. I didn’t need to add a thing to it.
The fries were unremarkable IMHO and weren’t too warm. The greens were aiight with the addition of the hot sauce. Our server was on it, despite our large party. He was über helpful.
When I return, I’m coming for that pork belly, oh and that mac and cheese, wait and some beans too! Ha!

Meet a large group of people here for the first time and was impressed with the food selection as well as their specilty cocktails. The was plenty of room inside the resturant to accomdate large groups, allowing room for other parties throughout. Was surprised by the size inside, due to the location of the resturant itself. The area is already a nice area of the city, but they are building more which is going to make it steller if more shops open up. Parking is limited, but right around the resturant there is some street parking that is free after 6pm during the week.
Ordered the White Lightening Lemondade, watch out cause its got moonshine and one drink will get you feeling just right ;)! For food, I got the half chicken Jerk flavor with collerd greens, mac and cheese with a cornbread muffin. The sides were amazing, mac and cheese had a little kick to it and the greens were seasoned and cooked perfeclty. The chicken was soooo tender, it fell off the bone. Next time I go back I want to try one of their sandwiches since I am not big on BBQ.
Service was good, server was very knowlagble abou the menu. It was a little slow getting our checks however, the group did grow as time went on and he split them for us. I was very impressed considering the party was at least 10 people! Not sure if this is something they do all the time.

I had been wanting to get to this place since it opened and im glad I got the chance! The wait staff was phenomenal! I went with a sort of large party and they were able to split all the checks, keep all of us in order and entertain at the same time! I wish i could remember my waiters name, but all i remember is he refers to himself as the hot blonde! haha!
I started the night with a small plate of wings and a beer flight. The wings were flavorful and the beer flight gave me a chance to taste a few options that they had. The flight was four small pours for $ 6 which wasn’t bad at all. For my meal I was going with typical BBQ fare, ribs, mac and cheese and collard greens! I was not disappointed with anything on my plate and I will be back for more.
As far as décor its a little random but random in a good way. They are still pretty new so hopefully they come up with some happy hour specials to get the after work crowd in there.

Greag new place in harbor east. Both times I’ve dined their i had excellent servers.
The set up is nice ans open, good flow from the bar to high top seating and back to low tables and booths.
The drinks were nice well made and i dont think they were too over priced. Ive tried the austin palmer which but my favorite is the «lemondade» that bad boy had moonshine in it. If you have to go to work the next day you only need to drink 1 lol. Special note they dont have a happy hour set up yet so no special deals you’re paying full price all night.
The food i was really happy about the quality of barbecue. Ive had the deviled eggs which were delicious. The ribs, tender good seasoning. My absolute favorites though are the pork belly and brisket sliders. The pork belly was crispy on tbe edges soft in the middle with a korean glaze that was a nice surprise. The brisket was tender and this place had the nerve to know what tiger sauce was and put in smack on tbe sandwich. Any place that does the home work on how your location likes barbecue is good in my book. And shout out to that mac and cheese. I dont eat everyones mac and cheese but ill get that again. They must have used a lot of sharp cheeses but it wasnt over powering it was really well made.
Safe to say i will be heading back to this place especially if they get their happy hour off the ground

Had pretty high expectations for this place as I’ve heard so many good things about it… heard great things about the BBQ in Syracuse and the one in Brooklyn too.
Maybe I ordered wrong, OK, I definitely ordered wrong, 1., because it wasn’t even on the menu and 2., because it was awful and stupid expensive, but I got a bloody Mary. Why? Because it was Sunday morning. Duh. So anyway. It was pretty much just tomato juice with a meat rub rim and no vodka. Although the olive was a nice touch, it was NOT worth the $ 8.
The goods and the bads:
Pros: the ribs were good. The location is great. The décor is legit. They have a good selection of beer.
Cons: the brisket was REALLY fatty. If you like that kinda thing, get the brisket. But I like my meat more lean. The Mac-​n-​cheese was cold. blah. The fries had great flavor but were cold also. blah.
Maybe it was just bad timing, but I think Mission BBQ is better.

The overall experience was great. The waiter (Anthony) was awesome. The food was good and the atmosphere was awesome. (Even though it seems to be a Bills bar)
I’ve heard many people talk about this place and its cult following. I was very excited to go, but it didn’t live up to the hype. Don’t get me wrong, it was good but there was a lot of hype.
We had the family platter and the appetizer sampler for 2, which was plenty for the 4 of us.
The ribs were the best thing I had there. We also had the brisket and chicken. We also had the Mac and cheese, collard greens and French fries. I’d recommend all of them except the fries. Way too much seasoning.

Rochester native here. This is the 4^th Dino Bbq location I’ve been to. GET THE WINGS! Not the best Dino location but this should be a crowd pleaser as well. Good for groups and families.
My usual order is the buffalo wings with honey bbq sauce, the upper wings were as large and meaty as the wings I’ve come to know and love, but the lower wings were a bit small. GET THE WINGS!
Ribs were awesome with the smoky flavor and plenty of meat on the bone, but I would prefer to add more sauce to them. The tables have two bottles of sauce in addition to hot sauce. Cornbread was dry, which was a bummer. The boyfriend enjoyed his shrimp and the sauce that came with. Sweet potato was blended very well, not lumpy. It was sweet because of the sugar and nuts.
Was way too full to order any dessert, but I would if I had any space left in my stomach. I would go back here for sure.

Deelish… deelish…deelish.
I recently came here for take out lunch!
Upon entering Dinosaur BBQ the awesome smell of BBQ takes over your nasal passages. It wets your appetite and makes you hungry for everything on the menu.
Located on the side of the restaurant, The Take out menu boasts a little something for everyone. I indulged in the pick 2 que. I got the ribs (bone sucking good) and the briskets (tender, juicy and not wholly fatty). For the sides I got the collard greens with turkey meat (savory and not over salted) and the salted potatoes (salty and good). The 2 sides and 2 meats run about 16.97. Not bad for the amount of food you get. The only thing I didn’t like was that they didn’t have the deviled eggs on the take out menu. Wait time for food wasn’t too bad either.
Can’t wait to come back and dine in.