Urban Bar-B-Que

I ordered the soul rolls and they were so good! The real star in this dish was the chili dip they give you to dunk the rolls in. OMG flavor bomb! Go get them!

I wanted to love this place, but ultimately, was disappointed. The décor is nice. The servers were pleasant, polite and helpful. The food was less impressive. We tried the soul rolls and found that you couldn’t really taste the beef and onion inside. All you could taste was the fried egg roll dough. There were about 4 barbecue sauce options, none of which impressed. Annoyingly, the sauces were not on each table, but at a central location next to the soda machine. The brisket was tasty, I must admit, but the sides were nothing special. We tried the collard greens, cole slaw, potato salad (which was too sweet for me), cornbread and the chili. None of them were bad, but none of them were great either.

The ribs and cornbread were good, that’s about it. The brisket, tough, chewy and flavorless. Collards, soggy, bland and just plain horrible. Will not be back.

I am a huge fan of BBQ food!
My boyfriend and I were very excited for this to open. When it finally did we were nothing short of disappointed. I did give the extra star because the service was top notch! The staff was super friendly and on point.
The food was underwhelming– we spent about $ 40.00 for:
Side of Mac N Cheese
Side of Collard Greens
Order of Wings
Beef Brisket Sandwich
(3) Meat Platter (Chicken Sriracha Sausage, Pulled Pork, Brisket)
Side of Fries
Side of Slaw
The food was not that great– all of the sides were bland. Which is really disappointing cause I love collard greens & mac ‘n cheese when I get BBQ. The wings were small for the price but pretty tasty. I liked the brisket enough. The Chicken Sriracha Sausage was pretty tasty.
The sauces were tasty actually– but the ones that were suppose to be ‘hot’ and ‘spicy’ were not really that at all. They were tasty but didn’t have any kick to them.
We’re probably not going to go back from the underwhelming quality of the food and the price we paid for it.
I would say at least try it– there are items on the menu I haven’t tried and everyone’s tastes aren’t the same. But for this BBQ loving gal & her boyfriend– we’re going to sit this one out.

Nothing that I ordered tasted good, except for the bbq sauce.
I ordered the pulled chicken platter. When I got home, the chicken was simply chunks of dark meat chicken. I even hit into a piece of bone at one point. It was disgusting. And if it hadn’t been so gross, I’d complain that the portion was too small.
My sides were corn, Mac and cheese, and cornbread. None of these were good, either. About ¼ of the noodles in my macaroni were hard. The corn on the cob was in no way sweet. The cornbread had a strange flavor, that I just couldn’t put my finger on.
The only reason that I gave 2 stars is because the man who took my order was extremely friendly.
I don’t think I’ll ever try eating here again. There are much better bbq joints nearby.

Part 2 of review the Ribs edition
The ribs were very tender outstanding dry rub with mild smoky flavors. They had good color and I could see a smoke ring in the meat.
I did try the meat with the BBQ sauces and to me the ticker the sauce the better the flavor. To me they only have three sauces and I am not a big fan of all ot them, To me the thick sauces work better with the ribs.
The Tuesday special half off a slab is a really good deal out standing, You get two sides with it, I had the bbq beans and fries. My son loves the fries. I ate a hand full they were not bad and they were hot too.
The bbq beans were very good very flavorful. I liked then very much, I am going to give them beans a very high score
Overall:
This place is hot lots of people coming in to get their bbq on. Good location I hope this place last longer then its predecessor, the frozen yogurt stand.

Oh happy day! We really needed this great restaurant here. This is fast and yummy. I like the pork sandwich and the potato salad. But the best part is the root beer on tap.

I thought I would try it out since I live one mile away and am always willing to give new businesses a chance. I got a BBQ chicken sandwich and tried one of their sauces but was not very impressed. I thought maybe I would try the ribs another time but they are far too expensive. So, to be fair, I have not *really* given them a chance but I am hoping their other menu items are decent. Seems a little out of the price range of the average college kid though (UMBC is nearby).
Maybe there is something about that location. The last few businesses in that particular spot went under very quickly. It may be due to the end unit having the highest rent, or that the competition is fairly stiff. This is a medium-​low income area, so places like China Kitchen, Ledo’s, Subway will always win. We’ll see.

Stopped by for a quick meal on a Saturday night. Staff was very friendly and the food was really good.

Stopped in just to check out the new place. Grabbed the Soul Egg Rolls and they were delish! The egg rolls were a little messy but yummy! The restaurant was clean and great addition to the neighborhood! I liked all of the drink selections (root beer from the tap and fancy tea with sodas etc). I hope to try more items soon!

It’s great to have a BBQ specific franchise in Catonsville. It’s not perfect but every chain/​speciality place can have room to grow.
Here’s what works:
BRISKET — as good as I have found locally. Great peppery bark, moist, good mix of fat and lean meat.
SAUSAGE: The chicken with Siracha was very tasty albiet the hot sauce could overwhelm some. The Chesapake pork means Old Bay and it tasted savory and not overwhelming.
FRIES: Crispy, decent mix of S&P. Good to dip in the sauce
Here’s what I’d like to seem improvement on:
SIDES: Mashed potatoes seem instant, beans are intense and would be good to mix some crumbled sausage in.
A FIFTH SAUCE: The hot and vinegar ones are not my speed. That leaves the Mustard «Yella» and the general «Red» — would like to see a thicker brown sugar sweet ption as well.
RIBS: Think about adding a dry rib with the sauced version.
I’ll be back but my co diner who is a Famous Daves and Dickeys fan wasn’t as impressed. Oh well, more for me :)

I live about a mile away from Urban BBQ and have been so excited for it to open! We were not disappointed when my boyfriend and I decided to check it out today.
The restaurant is very clean, the décor is very cool/​comfortable, and it smells delicious when you walk in. The service was very friendly and fast, as well. I had the two meat plate with Sriracha chicken sausage and brisket, with their «ranch beans,» collar greens, cornbread, and some sweet tea. My better half had the pulled chicken and brisket, with mac and cheese, potato salad, and a slice of cornbread as well.
The brisket was flavorful and tender without having too much fat and the sausage was moist, with lot of spicy Sriracha flavor and a nice «snap» to it. The pulled chicken was also moist and had a nice smokey flavor. All of our sides were really good, and I especially liked how the collard greens were super tender and had chunks of bacon in them. The cornbread was a bit dry, but delicious with juicy corn kernels throughout. The sweet tea was a bit to sweet, but easily fixed by cutting it with the unsweetened tea. Urban BBQ has a variety of sauces, similar to Mission BBQ; our favorites were the yellow BBQ and the spicy sauces. The portions of everything were huge and
I’m excited to come back and try some of the other menu items, especially the pulled pork with some of that yellow BBQ sauce.

Friendly staff and very meaty ribs. We shared a full rack and there was more than enough with the sides shared. We will definitely be back and welcome to the community.

This location opened just recently, so there may be some kinks that still need ironing out. Ordered a two meat platter (pulled pork, brisket) with cole slaw, Mac & cheese, and cornbread. I also tried all four sauces.
The meats were nicely smoked and they gave a good portion of each. Except, each had a sizable chunk of fat and both were room temperature at best. The sauces were all decent. I’m not sure I’d recommend the atomic one to anyone, but it was exactly what I expected from the name, so try it if that’s something you’d enjoy.
The cole slaw was good. The Mac and cheese was ok, but also room temperature. Each were served in individual styrofoam containers, which was ok for the cold, but I can only imagine what happens to the hot foods. The wait time implies your food would be somewhat fresh, so to get cold meat and half heartedly microwaved sides (and a slab of corn bread in plastic wrap from who knows when), is a little disappointing.
Lastly, though this may just be part of the newly opened restaurant, they need to get a better method of expediting down. There is a counter with two registers and a small space to pass trays/​bags to customers. Behind that, the window to the kitchen. The whole thing is about 6 ft by 2 ft. At one point of my visit, there were 8 full grown people back there. Total cluster and no one can figure out why they have more cole slaw for someone’s order than necessary. Because you had three people yelling into the kitchen about cole slaw maybe? Then, the bag gets passed to another two people who tag team checking your order. No one opens anything to check it, just eyeball the styrofoam containers. If one person were in charge of filling the bag, couldn’t that just be it? It seemed to be two managers (or maybe owners) involved, so again, possibly just because they’re training the new staff. And I’d rather that than get home to a wrong order. But I can’t help but think that added to the wait time and probably won’t be great for maintaining staff.
I’d try it again because it’s convenient, but not sure I’m running back any time soon.

So, Urban’s moving up north, and one of the latest franchises just popped up in my neck of the woods. We were looking for a quick dinner fix, so we popped in for some ‘que to try.
The meats:
* BBQ chicken — Good. A little bit of smoke. A little char. Tender, juicy, with a healthy glaze of sauce. The sauce was tomato/​molasses sweet for the most part.
* Brisket — Sorry, but I like my brisket with some fat on it. You know — Texas-​style or what Mission calls their «moist brisket». This is really lean, and while fork-​tender a bit dry. Tastes like it’s been brined — plenty of salt — with a heavy dose of smoke. Requires sauce, so I went half-​n-​half with the red and the spicy. Not my fave, but if you like lean beef it might work for you.
* Pulled pork — hearty chunks and big shreds of smoked shoulder. A reasonable amount of pork fat mixed through, but again a little on the dry side. Served on top of a slice of Wonder-​style white bread, and best with Carolina-​style sauce.
The sides:
* UBQ Side Salad — A pretty hefty side salad with greens, ‘maters, cornbread croutons, bacon bits, shredded cheese, and chopped hard-​boiled egg. For a lighter appetite, this and a single meat serving is probably enough.
* Collard greens — Tender, seasoned with bacon or ham hock, served with a hearty helping of pot likker. There’s no hot sauce other than Sriracha (?!), so I dosed the greens with a squeeze of the spicy BBQ sauce. Which seemed to work. Solid greens.
* Cornbread — Tasty, sweet southern-​style with whole kernel corn mixed in. Kept on a steam table though, in plastic wrap. Result — welded-​together wrapping and cornbread ready to fall apart when you can pry it from the plastic.
* Mac-​n-​cheese — Decent enough example of soft macaroni mixed with a mild cheese sauce. Shredded cheese melted on top. Not baked mac-​n-​cheese, which I prefer for the browned and crunchy cheesy edge bits.
* Mashed potatoes & gravy — Eh. Kinda gummy, but made with real potatoes. Just been over-​mixed and kept warm for too long. Brown gravy that coulda come from a jar. It’d be nice if they left the spuds a little lumpy and doctored up that gravy with some shreds of brisket or pork.
Other — classic sodas (Nehi, Big Red, YooHoo, cane-​sugar Coke, etc.) in bottles. Pepsi products on the fountain (hello, Dr. Pepper). Bonus — Old Dominion draft root beer for fountain prices. Flavored sweetener syrups for your iced tea. All the wet-​naps you want. Attentive service at the counter and from the table bussers.
Verdict — chain BBQ, hit or miss. Would eat the chicken again, and would probably go for the ribs next time since they’re prepped with the same sauce. Skip the potatoes, get the greens. The mac-​n-​cheese could go either way. The fries are probably a good bet from looking at the basket on the table next to us. Not bad, not stellar. Good in a pinch.

Ordered 2 Meat plate with brisket and pulled pork. Brisket was smokey and tender. Pulled pork wasnt bad either. I thought the collard greens were better than the cole slaw. There is not much like it in the area. Once they get the engine running smoothly, it should do well.

Was there about 2 hrs after they first opened. Got the chicken. Was very moist and delicious. It came with sauce on it. Was hoping it was «naked» so I could try the other sauces. I’ll ask for it that way next time. Got the collards and beans as sides. Beans were very good. Collards could use some more spice, but still good. Hope to be going back soon to try the ribs.