Q BBQ & Tequila

Was about to review this, but I have found that this place is now closed. I am not surprised. I went here because they ran a Groupon deal (the first sign they weren’t doing so well) and the food was mediocre. Didn’t feel well after eating it either.
Hopefully an awesome restaurant gets put in its place.

Food: 2.5
Décor: 3
Ambiance: 3
Service: 3.5
Value: 3
Nothing particularly good here, not a surprise that they didn’t last.

«Meh» sums up Q BBQ perfectly. I suspect they only stay in business because they are in a prime spot with lots of foot traffic that doesn’t need to rely on repeat guests.
The idea of an tequila bar in old city with barbecue, outdoor seating, and lots of indoor space is brilliant, but Q BBQ fails to execute. I have been in 3 – 4 times and experienced slow service (both while empty and while busy) and universally unremarkable food. They also have an unfortunate tendency to be out of things — food items, beers, tequilas, etc.
It’s not all bad at Q, though. The tequila selection is decent, they usually make the margaritas strong, and opportunities abound for great drunken people watching if you can snag an outdoor table. However, with so many other great places in town, those upsides are not enough to draw me back

We stopped in here during a very busy time, but we had a great time. The draft beer list was great and the BBQ sampler and soft shell crab sandwich with homemade BBQ chips were finger lickin’ good! Even the waitress, thought busy as hell, always had a smile on her face and was super pleasant! (you know, the way good service should be!)
My friend had her birthday party here and they offered a nice $ 20 special that gave all-​you-​can-​drink well drinks and some cheaper beers and food specials. Not a bad deal!
I especially like the outdoor seating available in the front. All-​in-​all, I’d return here. They also have a special on Groupon Now!, if you like that sort of thing!

Went here on a Saturday night with a Groupon. More pub/​clubbish than bar (I like my BBQ with a hint of dive and Redbones will forever be my gold standard for urban barbecue places.
Meal started off pretty promising with decent fried okra (there were a few small pieces that were kind of a nuisance and the remoulade ran out a little too quick) and outstanding shrimp and grits. Got the Memphis/​NC/​KC sampler for a main dish and thought it was somewhat tasty once drowned in the sauces that were eventually provided I found there too be too much of a microwaved-​offtaste which is unacceptable. I’d go back but would stick to the apps and go elsewhere for a main course.

This restaurant not only taunts your taste buds, but it is in a quiet spot in Olde Town. Once you enter the door you get the sense that you have come home. With all of the dark, rich wood of an upscale Boston Irish Pub, this place sets you at ease the minute you cross the threshold.
The staff are prompt to tend to your every need and sensitive to know enough to leave you alone when you take an important call. You can ask for specific and personal nuances with your meal and you get exactly what you want with no attitude… only attentiveness.
Once the BBQ arrives that will be the focus of the rest of the evening. You will try — and fail — to figure out the intricacies of each layer of flavoring. Go ahead; see if you can figure out the base, the smoke, the rub, the finish. It is tough.
What I will tell you is that from the first bite until you hit the pillow you will drift in and out of being able to identify the fancy of the flavors you experienced at Q BBQ. And still you won’t really know, only get faint suggestions of flavor and hints of taste.
You want a real treat? Ask to talk with Tom Stewart — one of the owners. See if you can drag out of him any piece of what it is that sets his style apart from others. You won’t stand a chance. Like a good son of North Carolina he hides his secrets behind the mystery and manners of Southern life and Southern ways. His momma should be proud… slaw and BBQ recipes still intact. He won’t even share where he buys his fare to fix it all up.
I put a challenge to him that I know he will engage: «Give us something with bourbon and plums in the base; bourbon and prunes.». He can go wild on the rub and smoke, but let’s start with bourbon and plums. I know he can do it.
Head out to this place and just relish the food, try to decipher the flavors, and get all jacked up on culinary layering. It is a great place, with great people, and great food… you need to let food be a mystery every once in a while. This here is a good place to do that.

Stopped in here for a late lunch at the recommendation of the receptionist at my doctors office. She said they would have a great hellfire sauce to cure any winter time cold! It turns out that’s not the only great thing to come out of this great old city kitchen. The fish tacos and mac n cheese I had, and the rib combo my boyfriend had were to die for! Not only that; they have $ 3 margaritas on Mondays which allowed us to spend a little extra on a flight of some really awesome tequila. The bartender really knew her stuff which made it even more enjoyable.
Will be back for sure

If you’re ever in need of hugs and fried okra, Q BBQ & Tequila will help as long as you’re in rad company.
The BBQ french fries are kind of awesome in that they’re french fries, but coated in BBQ seasoning, so they’re completely primed to be dipped in ranch dressing. Yeah, you heard me. That’s the midwest talking: BBQ rub + ranch dressing on French Fries. Eat ‘em up.
The guacamole is fine. The chips are great, and it’s really fun because they’re basically puffed up crunchy grease bombs… so whenever you take a bite, aim properly and you’ll squirt your date with some chip oil. That’s totally sexy.

My man-​friend had eaten here previously and couldn’t remember anything wrong with it, so when a friend of mine had a bad breakup, we decided to bring her here. Any place with tequila in their name can’t be all that bad, right?
Wrong. So very, very wrong.
We made a reservation for 6:30 last night, a Saturday, and walked in to find the restaurant about ¾ full… But we weren’t able to be seated for our reservation until after 7pm. Empty tables be damned, apparently. The man-​friend went to the bar and after more than 10 minutes finally came back with our two waters and a beer. He said that the bartender seemed to be extremely frazzled and attempting to serve the people sitting at half of the bar stools all at once instead of working on one party at a time. Fast forward, and we’re finally seated by a waitress as another server comes and takes the chair that I’m about to sit in to use at another table. Annoying, but at least there were 4 chairs for the 3 of us.
The three of us chatted for a bit, and started to realize that the aforementioned waters and beer were all but empty and it was pushing 7:30, we had been seated for over 20 minutes and the most interaction we had gotten from staff was them running into us trying to get to other tables. Not once did a server come over to greet us, ask to refresh our drinks, or to even say that s/​he would be right with us. It was like we didn’t even exist… So we got up and left. The guy that took my reservation tried to get us to stay, and got a manager… Who happened to be the frazzled bartender that took forever to serve 2 waters and a beer.
The place wasn’t packed, and we saw at least 5 servers, which begs the questions — why is service so bad with that many staff?, what would it be like if it would have been busy?, why bother taking reservations if you can’t/won’t honor them?, and why in God’s name is the bartender the evening rush manager?
We won’t be back, even for the tequila.

Wow. So I know I’m a single woman, dining with two kids. And I know we didn’t order any booze, just food. But whoa. Waitress attitude much?
Worst service I have experienced in a while.
Both of the special requests my kids made (no onions – nothing complicated) were ignored. Lots of time waiting for everything. No offers to refresh drinks while we waited, and I could see her across the very empty place, just chatting with the bartender.
Food wasn’t bad. But we will not be back.

So I’ll paint yall the picture…
As far as BBQ places go its it was good. Q BBQ didn’t blow us away by any means, but it was good for a large group to sit around and have a decently priced/​portionsized meal.
The highlight of the night was the pulled pork french fries. We had a large group so we ordered two. One came with lots of BBQ sauce one came with way too much seasoned salt and little BBQ sauce. It’s easily fixable since there are BBQ sauces of all sorts on the table (it’s just a note to the inconsistencies).
Wings (Hot and Honey) we good. Nicely fried but not lots of sauce :(
Cute thing on the menu was the «Famous Hellfire Wings» cannot be returned (pic uploaded). Cute.
After wings and BBQ pulled pork fries I was good with the order of two fish tacos and a side of cheesy grits. Tacos were very good. I was very impressed with them. As for the cheesy grits — they too were good but the portion size for the 4 $ charge is embarrassing on their part. Seriously, they came in a ramkin.
Other members at the table order combo plates that were full of food. Enough to take home. Everyone seemed happy with that portion size.
One thing to note missing from the menu: BISCUITS!
Drinks were good. Bartender was able to change and modify drinks to our wishes (more spice).
I’d come back with a disount/​coupon again. Also check in on Unilocal and you’ll receive 25% off (cannot be used with my
gift cert).

After doing the ghost tour my husband and I were looking for some quick eats. The menu looked good so we decided to give it a try. Despite being 9:30 on a Sat night, in Olde City, we were seated immediately. The waitress was attentive and gave great suggestions. She suggested the pulled pork over the pulled chicken. I ended up getting a platter with both, but she was right that the pork was the way to go. The cheddar grits that I got on the side were so good that I could dive head first into a vat of them. My husband got the chicken quesadilla, which was delicious, but he decided we had to come back again so that he could have the pulled pork.
The sauces were delicious (the waitress suggested the sweet and again she was right) and the organic cider on tap was light and enjoyable. We took a piece of pecan pie home. It was a joy.
The best part was the Unilocal deal, which I had no issues using.
I’d go back.

Quick facts:
— Salads are HUGE!
— Margaritas $ 6 for the classic, and they rather small
— Friday night is $ 10 all you can eat pig roast
— BBQ is great
— Their salsa is yummmmy!
There is outdoor seating and their front opens up so even if you are inside you get the joy of the outdoors. I am used the getting margaritas either in a margarita glass, or in a tumbler, but here they use much smaller glasses, so I wasn’t a fan of that.
The food tasted really good, the salad that I got was HUGE and loaded with stuff, it lasted me another 2 days. The menu itself had so many options with bbq and texmex items. The bbq sandwich, they did right and put coleslaw on it — kudos to them!

On a nice Saturday in March we decided to go to Q. We had a Groupon and so we only ended up paying about 15 bucks for what we purchased which wasn’t much but that was more because nothing on the menu really popped to us.
We ended up purchasing some wings, a crock of mac n cheese, and fried okra. Every item was underwhelming. The wings were fried which for a BBQ place just doesn’t make sense to me. The mac n cheese was the best tasting item of the three we purchased but still paled compared to honest mac n cheeses I’ve had growing up in the south. The fried okra was just heinous, still slimy, and just lacked overall seasoning. I bought a beer, some IPA, which just tasted off– buttery in fact– which is normally a sign of offset beer that somehow swallowed a strand of wild yeast during the brewing process which most likely isn’t Q’s fault but it sort of added to the mediocre experience.
The waitress was great, sweet, attentive, and always around if we needed her. If it wasn’t for her, our experience would have most likely been a star.
Do you want the truth guys? Alright, I guess I’ll give it to you straight up.
I won’t ever come back. The end.

Smoked rib BBQ Taco for $ 2. WWWOOOWWW. Grilleed outdoors on a classic drum style BBQ with all t he fixings. uuummmm
Granted it was 2 O clock in the morning and I would have eaten anything that didn’t have a pulse, but that“s beside the point. I even negleced to check out the interior of the restaurant since the outdoor seating was so amazing.

Like tequila? Q might be for you. They’ve a fair tequila selection, though their bar somehow ran out of Patron XO Café on my last visit[1].
Plenty of natural light can shine in thanks to a skylight and wall-​to-​wall windows on the porch side. Flat screens ensure diners can watch the latest reality TV from any seat in the house.
Friendly service, but AWOL, and it wasn’t even busy[2].
Cooking was a mixed bag: Their pulled pork BBQ sandwich wasn’t bad, a bit sweet, topped in cole slaw and doused in their homemade Q BBQ sauce. The BBQ fries side was fine. On the other hand, my three «traditional street tacos» were scary. They came full of onions, but not enough cilantro. The beef inside was dry and the soft taco skins got soggy, disintegrating quickly. Perhaps I’ll mix things up and try their pork, chicken, and fish offerings next time.
[1] Not even my fault! From the dregs of their last bottle, we poured a few half-​shots, then shot some other tequila. One day, I’ll find that receipt and tell you what it was.
[2] Good thing we drank enough to not care.

After being turned away from several places where we hadn’t made reservations, we walked into Q where we could be seated immediately. Being from NC, I was psyched to find a BBQ sandwich topped with slaw… authentically Carolina-​style!
The pork was in larger chunks than I was used to for pulled pork, but it’s reassuring to know that you’re eating real meat, which was good quality (no gristle). You have your choice of 3 sauces to add: Carolina (vinegar-​based, so my choice), BBQ, and Sweet. For $ 9 total, I also got Fried Green Tomatoes on the side — the breading was a little too thick, but the tomatoes themselves were tasty.

Painfully slow, forgetful, awkward and near-​absent service with sub-​par food is the makings of a place that is going down the gutter, and fast.
A pulled pork sandwich that is made up of more pulled fat and gristle than actual pork — was one of the worst sandwiches I’ve had in recent history. The only reason I attempted to eat it was that I was starved. famished. (ah, the things we do in the name of an appetite!) And I knew better than to complain because after surveying and tasting my friends’ dishes, I found that if a kitchen can’t even get a handle on making a quesadilla, then there really is no hope for improvement.
Besides why go here for bbq when we’ve got Percy’s, Smokin’ Betty’s and Ron’s Ribs?
This place has prime real estate and it’s a shame that it is wasted on yet another establishment that serves crap at the hands of a clueless and useless waitstaff.

REALLY wanted to try this place since its opening, so I was pretty excited when my friend agreed to come here for another friend’s birthday dinner and drinks. Good selection of beers on tap AND variety of margarita flavors, how can this night go wrong? Uhhh… you can only order happy hour drinks at the bar… HUH? The waitress can’t just walk to the bar and order them? I wouldn’t have mind to sit at the bar for the happy hour special then grab a table, but we already sat down at our table.
Then our waitress misheard quarter rack for half rack? I know I’m asian, but. heck… even my friends looked at my plate weird when I got it. Honestly, I should’ve stuck with the quarter rack bc the ribs were dry. OMG… I love ribs and I’ve never had such dry ribs in my life. All the sauce on the table couldn’t save it. Also I tend to like my rib sauces thicker, the sauces on the table were as liquid as H2O. Another thing I noticed with the ribs, they didn’t cut the extra chewy meat from the back. Anyhow, I could only eat 5 and left a whole rib, A WHOLE RIB untouched, on the plate. I’m asian, I was taught to eat everything on my plate and clean the bones. I just couldn’t do it and ask any of my friends bc I can eat. Thank god my shock top made my experience a bit better.
My friend ordered a gin and tonic, nothing fancy. It tasted weird. Turns out the bartender was fiddling with something and put half tonic half seltzer — at least that’s what the waitress told us. I really don’t think I’ll be coming back to this place for the food… possibly for the beers on tap if I’m in old city. I’d rather drive out to lucy’s smokehouse for AYCE bbq or Famous Dave’s… Now that’s a BBQ.

In honor of Thanksgiving it’s time to review a turkey. And this is a turkey that commits complete and utter sacrilege to BBQ!
My First Friday crew and I chose Q as our after gathering because it Olde City was so packed to the brim that it was the only spot that we could find a place to sit down for drinks and food. the wooden décor looked promising, it had a decent TV setup for watching sports, and the thought of eating some delectable barbecue became quite enticing. But in the end it was just plain awful food wise.
When it comes to ordering BBQ, pulled pork and mac & cheese are usually the go to staple for me. I generally find that you can tell a lot about how a BBQ joint prepares their food by the effort that they put into their pulled pork (a good pulled pork recipe involves some serious preparation after all!). And when it came down to it Q’s pulled pork sandwich was just complete and total blasphemy! When I wasn’t biting into bland and overcooked pieces of pork, I was biting into fat and gristle. Rather than bring out the BBQ flavor that usually screams epic taste, it felt like they were liberally using the sauce to cover up the horrible quality of the pork. And for the extra kicker, they put coleslaw on top to add another disaster onto the mess. Who does that? I’d comment further on the mac & cheese, but honestly it was just pretty uninspiring.
I’m tempted to give one star for the shameful disgrace of BBQ. but it did have well rounded drink selection. They had a seasonal Flying Fish on tap, and a good selection of Tequila (at least they got part of their name right!). and the margarita selection did look pretty delectable and reasonably priced. But while it did have some pluses, I do have a hard time taking a places that horribly butchers half of it’s namesake seriously.