The BBQ Pit

The BBQ Pit is a treasure. It is an old fashioned family restaurant with a very modern touch. Their brisket is outstanding as is the coleslaw and the string beans. I have taken out and eaten in and always have a fabulous experience. I have even had Gus, the owner, cater gatherings at my house for 25 people. Everyone loved the food particularly the sweet potato fries.
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All in all. .. fair at best. My family was in the mood for some good barbeque, so we ordered the brisket and ribs and both were passable, but nothing that will bring us back again. And the service and wait time between our placed order and it being brought out to the table was totally unacceptable. Our server passed our table numerous times without any regard or concern to keep us updated. Even when leaving, the manager/​bartender didn’t acknowledge our patronage. Unimpressed

Went here last Saturday and the food wasn’t very good. My husband ordered the rib sandwich and it was just like McDonald’s, McRib! The brisket sandwich was tender and tasted ok but the sweet potatoes were over cooked and mushy. Not impressed and won’t go back. There are lots of good BBQ places out there so skip this one.

Don’t expect real bbq or the usual amount of food usually accompanying a bbq dinner or plate. Overpriced and non authentic bbq. Service slow and unfriendly. No southern hospitality at this establishment. Side of cole slaw about 3 ounces, very few rib tips and barely covered in sauce. You want real bbq go to the Southside of the city, north shore bbq is a slap in the face for bbq lovers. Owner or manager on the telephone the entire time I was at the establishment waiting for my order, could not find the time to get off of the telephone long enough to address my concerns over the price of the order or its contents.

Not sure what happened here but this place has gotten very inconsistent, and they changed something about Sally’s ribs and not for the better. It is missing its usual zing in the dry rub. Very disappointing. Guess it’s back to Carson’s, what a bumme but at $ 32 a slab, which is higher that anyplace in a 20 mile radius, it just doesn’t make sense.

I hate writing this review… But we’ve had some bad experiences here. The place is cute and has a nice menu. I love supporting family businesses, but I don’t think we will be back here.
From our experiences, it usually takes a while for someone to come to the door to seat you… Leaving you awkwardly standing in the front of the restaurant by the bar.
When we got seated, eventually, the first thing the waitress did was say hi how are you… Then complained how busy it was and that it was a bit overwhelming. We felt bad for her and didn’t want to ask for too much because she was so stressed. Our drinks came out quickly, but our food took at least 30 minutes. The proportions were huge, but I wasn’t nuts about what I had. My husband had the chicken sandwich, which he felt wasn’t anything special. It was about 12 a plate, but wasn’t any better than getting a sandwich at the hot dog place down the street.
I’m giving it 3 stars because it’s clean, nice decorations, parking is good, and we have been here with a better experience one other time. Unfortunately, we won’t be back.

Love this place, the best Bbq ribs and Greek salad! We have been going there for many years and it feels like family. We feel very confortable since we know everybody personally.

I’ve been coming here for years and the food is consistently good. Is it the best bbq in the burbs? Maybe not, but this place has some nice nuances that keep me coming back.
1) The homemade breadsticks. And they are never stingy about giving me as many as I want.
2) The greek salad. It’s probably one of the best greek salads I’ve ever had. The dressing is spot on.
3) The value. The portions sizes are good for the price you pay.
4) The bbq sauce. I’m a fan. I love this new trend for bbq places to have 20 different sauces to choose from. And by love I mean hate. No thanks. I’ll stick to the classic sweet and sticky brown sauce, and its good here.
5) The breadsticks.
6) The golf theme in the restaurant. I love golf and I’m not aware of many restaurants with a golf theme. It’s nice to know there’s a spot where I can go to catch whatever tournament is going on that weekend.
7) The owner/​host. Always welcoming. Always provides great service.
8) Did I mention I like the breadsticks?
Yup. I like me some BBQ PIT.

Consistently great food every time our family eats there. And the salad’s always so crisp and fresh; love it!

Huge portions. Definitely the most meat I’ve gotten for the price. The gyro platter was great and potato fries fantastic. The Greek salad used iceberg lettuce, but had great dressing. Wouldn’t recommend the NY strip burger. Server were extremely attentive and super friendly. We’ll definitely be back.

Nothing fancy, just a good old fashioned BBQ joint. Been here many times over the years, never had a bad meal, and now that we’re back in HP, plan on going a lot and getting delivery as well.
Can’t go wrong with the baby back ribs and the sweet potato fries are some of the best around.

Just plain old, good barbecue. We bought a truckload of food for our family and nothing went to waste!

How is this place still open? Came here 2 years ago and told myself I’d never be back. Tried it again recently as a friend who just moved to the area wanted to try it… And same old garbage. The décor is horrible and the food is worse. Ribs were dry and tough. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

When the check arrived, I politely pointed out to the waitress that she had not subtracted the $ 5 coupon that I had given her when we sat down. She stared at me as if she had no idea what I was talking about. I then pointed out that she had charged me $ 8 for my glass of wine, though the menu listed it as $ 7. Again, she looked at me as if I was being a jerk by pointing this out to her. This is the second time I have had to point out a mistake on the bill in this restaurant. In addition, when the owner came by to take the corrected bill, he made no attempt to find out what the problem was or to apologize, even though he had observed the entire interaction with the waitress.
The food is OK but the place is very tired and depressing. It needs a makeover and more importantly, the staff needs some customer service training.

I love to order take-​out from here. The food is great, the portions are generous and when I go to pick it up I usually end up getting a dessert because they have delicious home made fresh that day desserts… chocolate cake or apple pie. I love to get the gyros salad. My husband likes the BBQ ribs or chicken.

Great ribs and chicken. We ate in and loved it! Gus, the owner, is a very warm host. Always greets you with «make yourself at home.» Try the Greek Chicken Salad. He makes and sells his own dressing. Great for carry out and they deliver!

I had to edit a portion because I decided gyros should not taste like this. I thought it was interesting how they serve and cook them, but, in this case interesting is not good. The gyros were preformed and clearly came from a frozen box. If you can’t give people real gyros as they are supposed to be, take them off the menu. I believe they tried to compensate by giving plenty of good toppings, but the meat was not nearly up to par.
Commencing old review:
The sweet potato fries were awesome! It was also nice that there wasn’t an upcharge for choosing them. There is a charge if you want a regular sweet potato substitution. My kid date had the burger, which comes with waffle fries. Also great.
The space inside is limited. They do a lot of carryout and delivery business also. I think they only will deliver if you live in Highland Park ($ 4 charge)
This was totally different than going to Real Urban bbq, which is likely their big competitor in the area. RUB is more casual… more rushed… like the Chipotle of the bbq world (not a dis) where you have far fewer options, and it’s all mass prepped so they get your food out quickly.
They serve alcohol here, and it’s a much nicer place to sit and relax. You have table service and white linens, and the noise is a very tolerable level. It’s a really nice atmosphere, likely due in part to the owner Gus, who, as it’s been mentioned, is a super nice and friendly guy. The server and hostess I saw were also very smiley and sweet.
I really don’t think the prices here are really higher than Real Urban’s. The portions are totally different, so it’s tricky. Let’s compare the kid’s burger, at $ 7, with milk (or juice) and fries included. This was a regular sized burger, which may equal two mini sandwiches from Rub, at $ 3 each, plus another side of fries at $ 3 (or was it $ 2?). Using the more conservative $ 2, BBQ Pit still comes out cheaper at $ 1 less before even calculating the juice. That’s just one example, and it’s not very scientific. I’ll need a food scale to do better than that.
Gyros sandwich plate was $ 10. It included coleslaw and your choice of regular or sweet potato fries. I was satisfied with the price, though I used a $ 4 off coupon, and my total somehow came out to $ 18 even? That’s very fishy. I know what the local tax rate is, and I shouldn’t have paid more than $ 15. Hmmm… didn’t get to see the before and after bill… hmmmm…

My single dinner at BBQ Pit:
+ Two of the delicious garlic breadsticks served before we even ordered
+ Half an appetizer order of solid onion rings
+ A tasty if over-​cheesed Greek salad
+ A half-​slab of near-​perfect baby back ribs
+ Five large, plump, perfectly grilled shrimp
+ Half of a pile of awesome waffle-​cut fries – with skins!
+ Several forkfuls of my wife’s shoestring sweet potato fries
+ A bottomless glass of Diet Coke to wash it all down
+ Several hours of stomach discomfort, simply from overstuffing myself
But this is the kind of place at which to splurge. I’m glad that they have a ribs/​shrimp combo because I was very interested in both. $ 22.99 for the combo gets you a LOT of grub.
Everything was really good, except for the sauce served on the side. It was too sweet and tasted like a bottled sauce, even though I know that they make their own. The sauce on the ribs tasted different; maybe they’re the same but the cooking alters the sauce in combination with the meat? Who knows. Anyway, sauce is pretty important at a barbecue joint, but overall everything was so good that it didn’t bother me. All I really used it for was to dip my fries and shrimp anyway. And frankly, both were good enough to eat unadorned so I used very little sauce.
We brought home half the onion rings and half the waffle fries. I can’t even imagine how I would have felt if I had finished everything.

this is a small family owned place, but the food is good!
they give you bread which comes straight out of the warmer! delicious!
I got beef brisket with fries and coleslaw. YUMMY! I’m a big fan of smoque so im picky with my brisket, although this brisket isnt the same as smoque, it is one of the better briskets i’ve had. My bf got the pulled pork and it was tasty! he ate it all up before i could ask for another taste! the fries were nice and crispy and the portions are generous! next time i think i may try the gyros =]]

We were heading to a get together in Highland park the other day. We hadn’t eaten because there was supposed to be great food waiting for us… well we get a text just before we get there…“Food is gone”
Scramble time. Unfamiliar with the area we drive around looking for something quick and easy… So I stumbled upon the BBQ pit. We ordered a couple of burgers cooked medium rare, The skirt steak sammich medium rare, and a Brisket sammich. All came with cole slaw and waffle fries. Burgers were huge and tasted phenomenal. I think the skirt steak might have been the biggest… most perfectly cooked skirt steak I’ve ever eaten. With the amount of food we got the Brisket sammich turned out to be a nice lunch.
all in all I paid $ 40 which isn’t too bad considering the amount of food we got. The hostess was really nice, and we got our food to go in 15 min.
It’s close to the train stop too, so I can pop off and grab some when i head down to the city.

Came with some friends and family. It is a small place, so you sort of have to look for it, but when you order your food, you will be glad that you found it! We got the ribs, Greek salad, sweet potato fries, and cheeseburgers along with some beers, and EVERYONE was happy. The barbecue sauce was so p my alley that we took home a few bottles (they sell it on-​site). I think that this place is the best place to go and relax with some good old-​fashioned baby back ribs. We got lucky the night we went, and there was live music that made it even more enjoyable!

Surprise, surprise, surprise. Who would have thought there would be such a good BBQ place in downtown Highland park? This place is top notch. I never venture beyond Michael’s, but last night i went the extra block. Boy was i pleased. So pleased i devoured the whole slab of ribs. I fee it today, but who cares when they are that good.
$ 15.99 gets you a full slab of ribs, with a massive sweet potato on the side and coleslaw. But what makes this place good obviously are the ribs. The ribs were really tasty and the sauce they lathered them with was excellent. I sampled the regular baby backs and the honey coated baby backs as well. Both were delish.
I did not taste anything else, so i am only giving it 4 stars until i taste the chicken and some of the other items. Coleslaw was average. If you are in the area, give it a try. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Excellent bbq and the chix kabob pita was excellent too.
Good call on the sweet potato fries w bbq sauce!