Sticky Lips Pit BBQ

Sticky Lips catered a wedding I attended last weekend and the food was terrible. The woman that delivered the food didn’t leave any serving utensils. The sterno chafing flames burned through the foil pans that the food was delivered in. The food tasted like sterno. The pulled pork was dry. The grits were gooey. The corn bread was dry and crumbly. The chicken and the corn did not impress. There is NOTHING good to be said about the meal. It was awful but the worst part of this is the disappointment of the bride and groom. They looked forward to having Sticky Lips at their wedding.
If you are considering Sticky Lips for catering beware. The food is not good!

I’m disappointed. We’ve been to Sticky Lips many times over the years, especially the Culver Rd. location, and have always had a great experience. We were there last night and it was awful! We waited an hour for our food and once it arrived, it was cold. The server brought our drinks and never came back until she delivered the cold food. We asked the manager what the hold up was on our food, seeing that the dining room was not busy. He said they kitchen was slammed. The server delivered our food and never came back. We had to flag her down to ask her to bring our check. I’m really disappointed Sticky Lips! Not sure if we’ll be back.

Plain and simply, we were wowed! We’re from Buffalo, so when we’ve made the trip to Rochester we’ve often stopped for BBQ and now we have a new favorite! This was our first time here and we were impressed with the great ambiance (heavy on the WW2 era magazine covers and local ol’timey décor, big wooden booths, 40’s music) and friendly fast service.
Then comes the food: FAST is an understatement. I’d say we had food in 5 minutes after we ordered. We were totally impressed. Does that mean it was not made fresh… well, isn’t BBQ supposed to be cooked all day — low and slow? Of course! So I wasn’t surprised that the food was ready and waiting for me to arrive and gobble it up.
We ordered ribs, brisket, and chicken. All were juicy, perfectly cooked, and lovely. The chicken and the ribs were ordered with the dry rub, which we fell deeply in love with. Unique and intense, it was amazing. Salty, perhaps, but in a good way. We dipped it into several of the BBQ sauces on the table and our personal fav was the hot and spicy one. The cherry was sweet and ok, the All American, was also pretty good. The brisket was so tender that I cut it with a fork. Not heavy on the smoke, but rich in good beefy flavor. Honestly, I’m usually a veg-​head these days, and wasn’t even in the mood for all that meat, but I fully enjoyed this meal. It reminded me that meat can be really worth it, in the full-​on foodie sense, sometimes. I will still be limiting my intake to a few meals a week, but I’m NOT giving it up fully if this is what is available.
Being veg-​leaning, I was really impressed with the extensive options for vegetarians on the menu and was tempted by several of them. The «Sides Plate» (which is an AMAZING option that more restaurants should be offering) and the «Veggie Sticky Plate» were calling me, but when in a BBQ joint, my foodie instincts just take over and I must taste everything!
Now to top off my experience, the sides were delicious. I adored the chorizo grits. Because of this I saved them for my last bite, meaning, they had the honor of being the last thing I could stuff into myself after all that wonderful food. They were the last taste I wanted on my tongue: creamy, cheesy and just a hint of chorizo spice. Mmmm. The beans were made from scratch and filled with bits of fresh jalepeno. Very good. The mac-​n-​cheese was creamy and cheesy. The Cajun corn was buttery and very spiced, almost overly so, but I personally didn’t mind.
One member of our party ordered the «Sticky Icky Plate», since we were in Roch-​cha-​cha and he felt he «needed» a garbage plate while here. He enjoyed it, but thought it was missing potato salad and heavy on the mac salad, which he’s not as fond of. The flavor, however, was good and spicy with almost a Cajun feel. Unique and delicious.
With the huge and impressive menu, we can’t wait to return and try more of this great BBQ place. It is definitely our favorite of the BBQ places in Rochester.

I’m not quite sure where to begin because the only thing good about this trip was walking out the door and driving back to Syracuse.
When we got there, we had no problem finding a parking spot but once we went inside, there were about 15 people waiting for a table who had no clue where the hostess was. We were finally seated 10 mins later (there was apparently no wait) and our waitress appeared to be attentive but that’s where the «good» ended. We placed our appetizer order of Baked Mac and Cheese which came out at the same time our food came out, about 30 mins later. I anticipated the Mac and Cheese would be somewhat flavorful but it was bland, albeit cheesy.
Our entrees were lacking as well. My fiancé’s burger didn’t come with the advertised toppings even after the waitress verified them when he ordered and my collard greens were cold. I dared not ask for a change as I didn’t want to inconvenience my waitress anymore than I apparently had.
We quickly ate and packed up the remaining food to take home but asking for a takeout box and check seemed to also frustrate her. We paid and left which again was the best part of the visit.
Not sure why people say this is better than Dinosaur and their Cherry Bomb BBQ sauce could give you diabetes.
To sum up the visit in one word: terrible.

Another delicious dinner. I was a tad disappointed with my Coleslaw. It was pretty dry. But over all quite good.

We never go to the Culver sticky lips, but was in the area and decided to give it a shot. We don’t go there because 1. No bar 2. Only serve bottled beer and wine 3. Beer selection is nothing special, they only carry one Belgium beer (stella) 4. The other sticky lips seems a lot cleaner
I really wanted to give this place a good review, because I love the one in Henrietta so much.
We ordered our food and literally 5 minutes later it was brought out. I ordered the cajun chicken sandwich and he ordered some platter full of meat lol he really liked his, but my chicken was rubbery and tough. I had a couple people try at the table and it was inedible. They took it back, no questions asked, but I didn’t order anything else. I ate my sides which were the mac salad and the chorizo grits. They were good but didn’t seem fresh either. Every meal that I’ve ever had that came out within minutes of ordering, has been terrible. It doesn’t seem like it was made fresh for you and it doesn’t seem like any love was put into the dish. We won’t be coming back to this location, but we will be going to the one in Henrietta, I love it there.

*Disclosure: I’m neither on the Sticky Lips side or the Dinosaur side, just an out of towner that KNOWS good Q’.
Walked in and was totally impressed with the atmosphere. Love the layout, it’s like an old repurposed house. Warm and inviting. Some great old magazine covers circa 1940s ish. Great jazz music to match the décor is piped through the restaurant. I’m sure I heard Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, and Pops himself, Louis Armstrong. I had a great feeling about this place.
We were quickly seated and our waiter was warm and pleasant, though he did seem preoccupied. Fair enough we all have those things in life. He did do a fantastic job, seemed knowledgeable about the history of the place and the menu.
Ahhh if only the food could have been as good as the atmosphere. I can tell A LOT about a joint from the pulled pork. So we ordered the pulled pork. First thing I did was check for a smoke ring. It was there, but not impressive. The flavor was totally lacking. No smoke flavor, no pork flavor. I strongly suspect they foiled too soon, thus «steaming» the flavor out of the meat.
The sides.
Mac and Cheese: flat with no character. Could have been any Mac and Cheese from anywhere.
French fries: Soggy and limp, decent flavor. Maybe hotter oil on the deep frier?
Cajun corn: I had so much hope for this, unfortunately the «cajun» seasoning gave it a canned corn taste. Pursue this, cut the salt back and increase the cyanne.

The respective fans of Sticky Lips and Dinosaur BBQ are like the Sharks and the Jets, they can really vicious with each other over who’s got the better goods I fall squarely on the Sticky Lips Shark side of the debate.
The sides, the various smoked meats, the vegetarian options for the non-​meat eaters, the beers! Everything here is done right.
Among my fav-​o-​rite things are:
Cornbread (can I order 47 pieces of that instead of a meal?)
Grilled drumsticks — these are HUGE.
Fried green tomatoes. Holy heavenly.
Any of their brisket options.
ANY of their sides.
The Jane Russel dinner plate — pulled pork and brisket.
Their mashed potatoes — can I have 70 lbs of that delivered directly to my fridge at home? I’ll remove the shelves to make room.
Service is usually very prompt and speedy, and when it’s slow it’s still pretty fast! Everyone is always friendly.
Somehow whenever I come in on a whim I’m always wearing a white shirt, which sucks, because their various BBQ sauces are amazing. I love the cherry BBQ one. Ahhhhh, can we buy bottles of that? I’m really asking. I don’t know if that is a thing. The food is always cooked well and is hot when you get it!
This place is also fantastic for groups because it’s an enormous space (as is their other location) and it’s a boisterous place, so you don’t feel like you’re making a scene if you have a few beers and kick back with friends in a noisy manner. They also have such an extensive menu that there is really, truly something for everyone here.

So I have to give these guys 5 stars whoa the food was amazing! The meat sauce on the nachos were delicious, that’s not all the jambalaya made my heart warm! It was so I thin all the right places! I was so pleased! Furthermore the service was excellent this place made my day! I would strongly recommend giving them a try they even have really good sauces. It doesn’t sound great but the cherry bomb sauce I think was great!

Consistently great BBQ.
I live the brisket here. And their house BBQ sauces have a wide variety of flavor and heat.
The Mac n cheese is awesome. Extensive menu and large beer list.

Quite possibly the best bbq ribs I have ever had. They were fall off the bone tender. I had the pork ribs and 2 of the beef short ribs and they were prepared perfectly!!! I ate there on Sunday August 9^th on the patio. Great bbq.
Unfortunately I ate at the other store 2 days later on the 11^th and it was awful.

The dry rub on the ribs was a little salty but nice to order dry rub, and add the juice later. The table had all the sauce options to add to your plate, and I love options. My friend got the BBQ chicken, which was nice and tender. A good place for quick BBQ, pretty standard, can’t go wrong, type of place. Stick lips is a staple to Rochester, and favored by many, always a top pick for me for some BBQ ribs.

We chose Sticky Lips’ Culver Rd location on an early Saturday evening due to the fact that their other location and a competitor (the one on the falls) had over 1 hour waits. We walked in and our party of 4 was seated immediately.
The service was on point. Server was warm and friendly. Bussing service was efficient and kind, as well.
We started with the «Pig Wings,» a deep fried pork rib slathered in buffalo sauce and served with celery and bleu cheese dressing. Fantastic, but one was enough. The meal was great, with one exception. The dry rub was way too salty. I’m a huge fan of salt, but the amount of salt in the rub overpowered the sweet element and the meat itself. Overpowering enough to dock a star and prevent me from finishing the meal. Also they were out of all chicken on the bone. To be expected at a BBQ place but still disappointing.

I’ve come here a few times, and every time the food disappoints.
It’s not like they have horrible food, it’s just that the food is just OK.
I used to love their BBQ chicken, but the last two times either I or someone ordered it, it has been tasteless
Their BBQ sauces are so sugary! To the point that the other stuff they add in (like cherries, or even mustard) get completely overwhelmed by their sweetness.
Last time I went, I ordered their fried green tomato BLT, and was left unimpressed. It wasn’t bad, the bacon was good and crispy, but the fried green tomatoes just didn’t quite deliver to make this an interesting sandwich. It was greasy and crunchy, but little else.
Their sides have never been great, with the exception of the grits, nothing to write home about.
I am especially disappointed at their black beans. they taste like bad minestrone with black beans added to it. If only it was good minestrone.
Frankly, if I don’t go to Sticky Lips again, I won’t miss it, although it seems to be only place where you can get a large table rather quickly, w/​o much of a hassle or a long wait. I just hope I find one thing I like so I can order it every time we have an «event» or get together there.

Delicious bbq with great customer service. This place is hoppin, little elbow room, they are popular! Parking lot around the corner isn’t too bad. I’ll be back

Sticky Lips is one of the best-​named restaurants in the USA. It’s named after several of my girlfriends, including the current one, especially the current one. She reads my reviews avidly, so… (waves)… unfortunately (for meat-​serving establishments, but fortunately for her health and for the health of animals) she is a Vegan, so she won’t be enjoying these Sticky Lips anytime soon. But I will continue to enjoy hers.
What to get: Brisket Sandwich, Corn Bread
What else: Mash & Gravy, Cajun Grits
If this place gave everyone food poisoning, it’d be Sickly Lips.
BBQ is not something that Rochester is really blessed with. Marty’s Meats is the best of the best, while Dino BBQ is overrated and that’s where it ends. However Sticky Lips is a real BBQ joint, and serves up delicious smoked meats and sauces at both locations. This is the original location and the one I always come to.
If this place served Russian food, it’d be Hammer-​And-​Sickle Lips.
My food-​tour-​partner always gets the Cajun Grits. She loves Grits and says that they’re some of her faves. I like the Mash & Gravy, we both love the corn bread, and most of all, we adore the Brisket Sandwich. It’s big, it’s competitively priced (closer to $ 5 than $ 10), it’s tender, juicy, properly cooked and smoked, and slathered in delicious smoky BBQ sauce. I can’t recommend it any more highly.
If this was a Star Trek-​themed diner, it’d be Spocky LIps.
A lot of their other products are overpriced, such as the platters, but that can be said about most BBQ places outside the South. The Brisket sandwich steals the show and won’t murder your wallet either. And yes, your lips will get very very sticky. No I’m not talking about when you go on a date with me, silly. But yes, that too.
And if it were frequented by exotic dancers, it’d be Strippery Lips. If it were a comedy club, it’d be Snickery Lips. If it were a candy shop, it’d be Snickers Lips or Skittles Lips. If it were a hipster food spot, it’d be Sriracha Lips. And if it were a by-​the-​hour motel where you go to perform an*lingus on people, then it’d be Stinky Lips or Sh***y Lips, depending on who you were going there with I suppose.
I was going to say something even more controversial and offensive, but I decided not to brisket.

Living in Rochester and working in Buffalo, I am constantly asked (or told) the following — «you live in Rochester, you must go to Dinosaur all the time.» My answer is always to laugh and say, «First of all, Dinosaur is a Syracuse thing. 2^nd of all — that is where people from out of town go because that is all they know. Finally — why would I go there when Sticky Lips is a Rochester original and blows Dinosaur out of the water.» They just stand dumbfounded and stare at me.
Sticky Lips is awesome — especially the one on Culver. I go in all the time, but I hadn’t been in a fair amount of time since Memorial Day. Get whatever you want, its all amazing. I tend to get a plethora of everything. This time in I got pulled pork, brisket, a ¼ chicken, ¼ rack of ribs, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, and corn bread. It was all so good, I just kept eating. I didn’t quite finish it all, so I had the remaining small portion a little later in the day.
There are 4 sauces on the table to choose from as additions, they are all great. I like the original the best but the one with a little heat is great also. If I am having a pulled pork sandwich I like to add a little of the mustard to it.
The service is always very good, it can get a little busy and crazy in there, but they are all working hard so you have to appreciate their effort.
So the next time you are in Rochester, skip Dinosaur and venture out to Culver and Atlantic, and have yourself the best BBQ in Rochester.

This place was great! We heard from a few friends that we had to make the trip to Rochester to try Sticky Lips. So on a beautiful Sunday afternoon we took the motorcycle there.
It was very easy to get to. We were hoping to sit on a patio, they did sit us I think on the patio, but the windows were all enclosed with plastic. Not sure if they just have not gotten things ready for the nice weather? Anyway– our server was nice, and they have a great menu. Lots of different choices.
I had the Memphis belle platter, which was ribs, beef brisket and I chose Mac and cheese and mustard coleslaw as my sides, my husband had the platter that came with pulled pork, brisket, and he chose baked beans and Mac salad.
WOW! So much food, and for the price! Everything tastes great. We had so much leftovers to take home and have for dinner that night, and we were stuffed!
The only things that I took away 1 star for was: their cornbread was not ready yet, so we didn’t get to try that, and I wish they had their BBQ sauces on the table so you can add it as needed.
We can’t wait to to back.

So let me preface by saying that I am not a fan of barbeque. I find it messy and just not really to my liking. My daughter was in Rochester yesterday and I asked her to pick a platter for my hubby, the P38 combo along with a side of catfish strips. The sides for the platter were mac n cheese and bbq beans. I did not plan on partaking.
Food arrived. Hubby had already retired for the night and I must say all smelled wonderful –save for the fish dish which I will not eat.
I found the mac n cheese to be somewhat bland however the rest was kick ass! The beans were tasty and delightful! Cornbread, well, hubby never found out that some did come with the meal. The chicken and ribs were surprisingly good! Not sloppy messy like some bbq’s that I encountered. The cherry bomb sauce was a great choice. Portions were huge even with my tasting extractions.
I anticipate a real visit in the not too distant future and perhaps a re-​evaluation of my reluctance to eat barbeque.
I’m docking a star for the lackluster macaroni and cheese. The greens would have been a much better choice. As they say about hindsight…
My daughter, while waiting for the take out, did manage to snag a table. Loved the décor however not so much her stupid chicken sammie. Again, I reiterate, this is BBQ.

I’ve been to both locations a number of times and though this one is much closer to home I prefer the layout of the other, though it is always jammed. Rumor has it that they plan to expand the Culver Road spot and that would be nice.
Since there is no place to wait we were glad to immediately get a table early on a Friday night. Though we were on the first floor, which can be cold in winter given the proximity to the front door, it was not too bad.
After having reviewed the other location I was not going to review Culver Rd since I figured they are about the same but this is the 2^nd visit here where the food was not as good as the Henrietta joint. The corn bread was dry as were the pork ribs. Also the ½ slab I got was a weird cut and contained a lot of small pieces — I thought I was at Applebees and got the Riblets! There was a lot of cartilage in this cut. Felt like I got short changed. My partners slab was more standard and her beef brisket was very good but again a bit dry. When they do their smoking right it is moist and flavorful and there is no need for sauce. So a bit disappointing and thus just 3 stars.
Service was prompt and once we ordered the food it was on the table in under 10 mins.