Ethyl’s Smokehouse & Saloon

Holy nachos of yummy delight!!! The nachos are the greatest thing ever. I don’t know what that sauce is, but is perfection! Summer volley ball is amazing since in can let the kids play while mom plays as well! Super family friendly. The only reason I give 4 stars is because I get so excited to get there and eat/​drink/​play and pull into the parking lot and CRINGE. There is hardly ever a spot and pulling down a car aisle causes you to BACK OUT of there is no open spots. I drive a truck and try to park far back, but I have a hard time even in the way back finding a spot, but I guess it’s worth it for such an awesome spot to go

This place is a little out of the way but I knew it was going to be good when I saw the parking lot had quite a few cars in it just after 11 AM. Honestly really good pulled pork (and I even forgot to order «burnt ends» can’t wait to try it that way), generous portions. The homemade chips were excellent.
My only complaint, and this is a problem with BBQ joints in general not just this one is the sides. BBQ is a great place to eat for people who do low carb, except you can hardly get anything low carb in sides. They did have an option of «steamed veggies» but they looked pretty bland.

The food is decent. My biggest issue with the place is how crowded it is all the time. It’s very loud and quite smoky. The sand volleyball court is a nice fun touch, but it’s not really worth getting through the crowd for me.

Love this spot. The outdoor seating next to playground makes it perfect for kids to keep busy and adults to get alittle adult time while they play. They have the best bbq in the area. Staff are friendly attentive and quick. Great place for everyone. They also have a sand volleyball court and leagues during spring/​summer.

Came on a friday night at 6:30. We got BBQ chicken nachos as an app and those were pretty good. I ordered a salad as one of my sides and all the lettuce was wilted and see-​thru. The server changed it out easy enough, but still disappointing. Our meal didnt arrive until 7:40. That just seems unreasonable for a place that does primarily bbq (pre-​made) and sandwiches. The pulled pork was ok. My bf got a burger which he said was good. The onion rings seemed like they had been sitting for a while.

I love this place. This is a great place to take the family for dinner. There is a playground for the kids and a guy who is really good at making ballon animals. The food is fantastic! The first plate I ordered was the chicken and ribs platter.
You will not go hungry here. Delicious!

I’m old enough to remember the building when it was «Bubba and Coy’s» and as a child we ate there several times and it was great. However, since it become Ethyl’s Smokehouse, we’ve driven by so many times and never chosen to eat there primarily because it had the look of a «bar» and we don’t normally drink, but we stopped in for lunch yesterday and we were pleasantly surprised with our experience.
We arrive right at open and were quickly greeted and seated. Now, it definitely does have that bar-​ish vibe — it’s fairly dark inside, the servers are dressed in attire that you’d expect at a bar, and has an area for a live band, though as we were in there at lunch there were tables and chairs in that area.
As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, I normally don’t mention servers by name as I’m horrible with names; but ours was Caitlyn (and I hope I spelled that correctly) and she was tremendous. She got to our table for our drink order right away and then gave us time to peruse the menu. We settled on loaded fries for an appetizer, I chose a Philly Steak sandwich with onion rings and my sister opted for the Prime Rib Sandwich with steak fries.
Our loaded fries arrived fairly quickly. They were very hot and frankly the portion size was overly generous compared to what we are used to at other places. They were fairly simple, steak fries with melted cheese and bacon. We opted for the sour cream on the side since my sister doesn’t care for it. Truthfully as long as they are hot it’s hard to screw up fries as an appetizer, but I’ve been places that have and this was not the case here. However, there were so many we barely got through half of them before our entrees appeared.
My sandwich was good sized and despite the fact that by nature a good cheese steak is messy, I was able to get through it without wearing any of it. I won’t say I haven’t had better ones as I have, but it was very good and I’d definitely order it again. The onion rings were also pretty good. My sister’s sandwich surprised us a bit as in lieu of being some «shaved meat», it was actually a whole slice of meat on her sandwich and a fairly good sized portion at that which horseradish on the side. While I didn’t specifically ask her about how good it was, I’m assuming she liked it as she finished it up well before I finished my own.
Our server was incredibly attentive throughout our meal; she actually hit that great spot by being attentive without being intrusive. Our check arrived promptly and even better was collected promptly as I really despise having to wait 5−10+ minutes for a server to make it back to collect a check when it’s ready.
All told, I’m sure by reading this, especially my comments about the food, you might wonder why I awarded 5 stars; and had if I was comparing Ethyl’s to a high-​end steakhouse I probably would have opted for 3 or 4 stars instead. But for what our bill was — $ 34.xx — for an appetizer, two soft drinks, and two lunch entrees, I’d put Ethyl’s in the same price range as places such as Applebee’s, 54^th Street Grill, or any other «sports bar» type of place and frankly I found their food and service far exceeding those comparable places, so I’m grading on a curve.

Really nice BBQ!!!
Kids play area with outdoor play structure & sandy volleyball court.
Food is cooked to perfection and the staff are all so friendly. And that’s saying something since we make it a point to drive 30 mins to get here. Hard to tell you what is good when the whole menu has been outstanding. Give anything a try, you will not be disappointed :)

Ethyl’s is one of those places you see from the highway, make a note to stop by sometime then once you do, you wonder why you didn’t before this particular visit.
I joined my coworkers at this establishment for our end of the year party. We made up a big portion of the people there and as the evening went on, it got even more packed which shows its popularity. I had won an appetizer so I picked the BBQ nachos and when they arrived, it was huge and the perfect size to share with 2 of my coworkers.
We had 2 waitresses tending to us and they were awesome and made sure our drinks weren’t dry.
The atmosphere was great, there’s plenty for kids to as there is a playground outside along with 2 volleyball courts that have players all the time.
Can’t wait to visit again and explore their menu a bit more!

As the BBQ Game in St. Louis has gotten better, my opinion of Ethyl’s is declining.
On a recent trip to Ethyl’s food was served that was almost inedible. The BBQ Brisket Sandwich and BBQ Pork Sandwiches have both gone downhill. The Fried Fish was just down right bad. Ethyl’s has seemed to take a turn for the worse. Maybe a new kitchen staff is in order…
Heavy emphasis is being placed on alcoholic beverages. Sticky, greasy table advertisements all geared towards adult beverages crowd each and every table. Clearly Alcohol has become King at Ethyl’s and BBQ has been put on a back burner. Not planning on returning to see if things improve.

Best BBQ place in town! Love their food– I’ve never been disappointed. The chicken is flavorful and juicy. The steaks and ribs are cooked to perfection. The BBQ Nachos are delicious and their wings are the BEST!
The atmosphere is family friendly but also a cool place to go for adults. They have outdoor sand volleyball, bar and even a playground for the kids. One of our favorite establishments to patron.

Mr D and I visited Ethyl’s as part of our regular BBQ Wed program. I had some concern because of the comments I read about tobacco smoke, but when we arrived, we did not detect it. It appears that smokers have been relegated to an outside area that you don’t walk through to enter the restaurant. So unless the wind blows smoke into the restaurant, it may no longer be a problem for us intolerant non-​smokers. Ms T did not accompany us on this day, mainly due to this concern. We recently walked out of Hobo’s at the VFW in St Peters because there was more tobacco smoke than wood smoke.
We agreed that our food on this day was a weak three stars. It was OK, but no more than that. We sampled brisket, pulled pork, ribs and chicken. I did not find a lot of smoke in any of it. The pulled pork was served as a coarse chop and was a little dry. The brisket was done, tender and also a little dry, but was OK with sauce. The chicken was overcooked. I know chicken needs to be done, but this was dried out and was not well seasoned. The ribs were OK, probably better than the other meats, but also not very smoky.
Bottom line, we are not going to drive the distance required for us to eat at Ethyl’s. If I were in the area at lunch time it would be OK, certainly better than fast food. All of the meats are very much alike; low on smoke; certainly cooked to doneness, if not beyond; somewhat dry, but not terrible and with OK seasoning. I prefer not to use sauce on barbecue and found that these were better with sauce. This all seemed like electric cooker or oven finished meat to me. It is probably not, but it just seemed that way due to lack of smoke and its texture. If I returned, I would probably choose ribs first, followed by pulled pork then brisket. I would not order chicken.
My slaw was bland cream style, needing some vinegar to perk it up. The baked beans were too oniony. Three stars over rates it by half a star. Not bad, not great and a little short of a solid good. Mr D and I agreed exactly on this, as did Ms T on my leftovers. But the photos look good, don’t they!

You know the food has to be good when it’s an hour wait for BBQ! So glad that we waited cause it was so worth it.
There were 4 of us and we all ordered the smoked meat platter which consists of brisket, ribs and pulled pork with 2 sides. It was amazing! I don’t care for ribs but these just fell off the bone and had a lot of meat on them. The brisket could be pulled apart with a fork. Everything was so tender and had a great smokey flavor. The sauce that’s on the table was so good I could have drank it! Not a fan of the baked beans but the baked apples were delicious!
Service was great and food came out quick;)) we will defiantly be returning soon!!! Love me so BBQ

Ethyl’s is a neighborhood restaurant, bar, and gathering place, but it’s close to the highway if you are traveling. The smoked meats are wonderful. They can be enjoyed on sandwiches, or as a dinner plate with sides. Service is usually prompt and friendly.
The corned beef is even smoked. Every March, for about two weeks before St. Patrick’s Day, they serve the corned beef with cabbage and boiled red potatoes. It is a delicious meal!
Weekends are normally busy and somewhat noisy, but that is expected and enjoyed by most of the crowd. If that’s not «your thing», go at lunch or on a weeknight. You can also get a daily special, which can be a real treat sometimes.

First one there for lunch. Hostess was friendly. Waitress was to the point and seemed annoyed that a customer was there in her section.
Got the brisket platter for lunch. 2 sides and a good portion of brisket. The brisket was so dry, i almost choked on it. The mac and cheese was ice cold, and the beans were luke warm. This place is always busy, but I left scratching my head. Won’t go back for the food, it is not good. But there is lots to do here. Games, volleyball, playground. Maybe i’ll come back to drinks.

OK, we went here with some friends last night to grab a bite to eat. The service was good from our server, but with the e exception of that, things weren’t very good.
I’ll stay with the cocktails since that’s what we started with. The drinks were slow coming out and since we were sitting at a high top in the bar area, it was obviously NOT the server but the bartender.
We ordered dinner and another round of drinks while we were watching the Blues game on the TV above the bar and then the tender decided that it would be fine to change it an put the Florida game on for one patron who was sitting at the bar nursing a beer. I tried to catch the bartender to let her know that we were watching the game, but she was obviously aware of that because she would conveniently avoid eye contact and move to the other side of the bar. There were 4 of us, or billwas over $ 200 for drinks, food, etc.
I’ll move on to the food. I ordered a smoked meat platter because the really touted their BBQ. The brisket was dry and way overcooked. The ribs were overcooked and for some reason, all of the rob bones were broken into pieces; I’m not talking about the individual ribs being separated, but each rib was broken into pieces. The pulled pork was cooked literally to mush and was just plain bad! I will say the Cole slaw was really good though. My wife ordered the Prime Rib. The beef was obviously NOT Prime, and my wife literally couldn’t hardly cut it with her steak knife. Prime Rib is supposed to be Prime beef as indicated by its name. This was obviously some old steer frome somewhere. It was horrible!
After dinner, we shot a couple of game of pool and had another cocktail. The story on the cocktails here is the pour is really light! I couldn’t even taste the alcohol in my drink. My wife was drinking Chardonnay, and the wine glasses were really small… I would imagine that they’re getting at least 6 glasses of wine from a bottle.
There are two pool tables here and the location is such that the foot traffic from the smoking area is so constant that one has to wait for people to stop walking by in order to shoot from that end of the table.
There are to many really good restaurants in O’Fallon to waste your time and money on this place, so don’t go here if your expecting something tasty and a decent pour in your drink!

Asked for the wings flappers only & the waitress said they won’t do that. And the last time she asked she got in trouble. Then ordered the special (pork steak) it was dry and over cooked. Waitress never came back to ask how it was or I would have sent it back. Got tired of waiting so ate about half. When we finally got her to take our plates she still didn’t ask. Our table got filled with plates & cans & Bottles to the point we had to ask her if she could take some. She only took the plates & left the mess. It seems everything I order is always over cooked.
Maybe the manager should check on the tables once and a while.

I came to Ethyl’s during a work trip out at the Ameristar Casino Resort. It came highly recommended by many people to have their ribs. We had called about 6 hours earlier and made a reservation — thought it’d be no problem. We walked in and there were 4 people ahead of us waiting to be seated; mind you, the actual restaurant was not filled, many tables were open. We all waited there for 10 mins while multiple young waitresses just kept passing up without greeting or acknowledging us. As time went on, there were about 15 people then waiting to be seated. Slowly but surely they got us to a table.
Upon being seated, my friend went to pull her chair out and there was literally a cup full of left over soda or some sort of liquid sitting in the chair. It was bizarre. No one helped us clean it either. Upon looking around to grab something to wipe it up ourselves, I realized that every single table that was empty had dirty plates on them. I grabbed a handful of napkins from a dirty table and wiped it myself. In the meantime, my friend had found a waitress and asked her to clean it up. She quickly apologized and rang out a rag with water and cleaned it up. We thought she’d return with a dry rag assuming now the entire chair was drenched in water, but she didn’t — so we thought just forget — and took our napkins from our table and unwrapped the silverware and cleaned it ourselves.
Onto the menu — our friend who was dying for ribs (they’re specialty) ordered a half rack and the waitress said «I’m not sure we have anymore — I’ll have to check». At a ribs speciality restaurant? It was bizarre. Food was on the floor, things were sticky. I ordered chicken tenders with apple sauce and baked potato soup. Loaded in cheese and bacon and the pepper shaker apparently went array in the kitchen because it was hardly eatable.
During my meal, I got up to use the restroom. Careful people — I understand they have a sand volleyball court outside of the restaurant and have fun events, but literally, I almost fell due to all the sand sitting on top of the tile. Used the restroom and while washing my hands, I kid you not, 2 of the waitresses barrel in the bathroom, one balling in tears, crying about how her boss yelled at her and she doesn’t appreciate being spoken to that way, especially after all that she does. I thought I was in a bad reality TV episode. I left there quickly and probably won’t ever go back again although I’m in the area often. Maybe it was luck of the draw that my experience was below par — either way, lots of things to work on there. I did see a younger man who seemed to be the Manager-​On-​Duty just standing around spinning a lanyard with keys on the end like he was a lifeguard staring at the tables, not lending one hand at all. Everything just seemed very weird and not aligned. They’ve most certainly got some work to do there.

This was a fun little place with good atmosphere and tasty food. I like trying local eateries, but you never know for sure just how it will go. Ethyl’s is it bit of a way from our house, so we hadn’t been to it before. However, the reviews seemed to support a try, and i have to agree with them. It’s got an old time gas station motif, with servers dressed accordingly. Overall, a nice bit of kitsch that adds interest to the evening.
We started with the queso kettle chips, which I think is considered one of their specialties. Tastee! A nice big platter of fresh kettle chips covered with queso cheese, pico veggies, feta (an interesting but pleasantly agreeable surprise), and a lot of jalaps. Now normally i will pick off the peppers. However, I tried one of these and they were pretty mild. So I kept them on and enjoyed the flavor with only slight heat.
My smoked pork steak was nice and firm-​yet-​tender, not fatty at all, and did have a pleasant smokiness to it. It was basted in their smoky sauce, not dripping in it. Good deal. For sides I asked the server for ideas, and she (Jessie) suggested the potato salad because it is a warm style. I took the plunge and was quite pleased with the result. Savory flavor that got the extra comfort factor from the warmth. My other side was roasted apples. Think of apple pie filling, but without all the sauce. I must say, having it «roasted» style rather than like Cracker Barrel’s fried apples with all that filling goo was a plus. Just enjoy the apple and spices!
The wife got the brisket platter. Some of the leanest brisket we’ve had. Quite tender, too. Nice smoky flavor again — not overbearing. Personally, I like my meat to be BBQ saucy, but my wife prefers the dry with just a little dip in sauce. So she got what she wanted, the platter coming with a bowl of sauce on the side. Her sides were roasted apples and baked beans. Baked beans were good, too. Of course, a BBQ place better have good baked beans, so that test was passed.
Fun evening amidst the gas station setting, watching all the people and families enjoying themselves in a casual atmosphere, with friendly staff. We ate early on Friday, getting there about 5:30. By the time we left at 6:30, there was a line to eat. Must say something since the joint was jumping.

So I officially dig on this place now that I have been back a few times for dinner after my initial lunch trip. Their smoked chicken is soooo delicious, especially in the harvest salad, but I also enjoy ordering it by itself. Their coleslaw was too sweet for both myself and Sean… we both agree that BCD has the absolute bessst ever coleslaw, though, so I guess we are really picky when it comes to our slaw.
The macaroni and cheese at Ethyl’s is freaking tasty. It’s still not as good as the Shaved Duck in my honest opinion, but there is still something about it that makes it good. And call me crazy, but this is one instance where I really prefer frozen to fresh. When I was a kid, I used to chow down on frozen mac n cheese dinners on nights when my mum didn’t feel like cooking, and Ethyl’s mac n cheese IS frozen (per the waitress we had the other night) and it just so happens to taste like a very specific brand I enjoyed as a child, but they no longer manufacture it. So this is a great nostalgia-​inducing sub for it.
Did I mention I love the music here? On a recent trip, they played several songs off of a playlist I have purely by coincidence, and Sean remarked last night that they were playing a bunch of songs on a CD he just burned. (yeah, we’re old school, we still do that whole CD burnin’ thing, mostly because my «new» old car stereo does not have an AUX port yet…)
Service has always been great. It was strange and funny because we ran into our waitress who we had here last week the following day when I went to the galleria to buy something. Turns out she has two part time jobs.
Love the atmosphere here. Some have remarked it is smokey but trust me, I can’t stand smoke of any kind, and I did not find Ethyl’s to be smokey whatsoever. Maybe in the very back patio near the sand volleyball courts, they allow smoking, but I didn’t see a single person smoking in the dining area indoors where you first walk in or otherwise. So yeah, just sayin’. I see lots of bikers come here too, which is cool. I will probably ride my motorcycle here too once I get it.
Just an all around cool place, with good food, music, service, and atmosphere. No one will judge you here. ;) Have fun and be yourself. And did I mention it’s affordable? Finally another place out here that Sean and I can both agree on, yay!
Addendum: the only really ‘odd’ thing about this place is that they do not have ANY beers on tap. Repeat, ANY. Which is OK for me, but some may be disappointed by that. They will bring you a chilled glass though, which is nice!