Lil’ Mickey’s Memphis Barbeque

This is a great little mom and pop BBQ joint smack dab in the middle of chain restaurant row. It’s a small, transformed Taco Bell building that isn’t much, but the food is the star of the show. I have had the GIANT pulled pork sandwich in the past which is filling and tasty. Today I tried the smoked turkey and was pleased with the true Memphis style BBQ taste. It’s not Pappy’s or Sugarfire, but it is closer to me and high quality BBQ.

Lil, Mickeys is a great home style place for BBQ. Really great meats, tasty sauce, good prices and the owners are normally there to chat and help. The building was a Taco Bell and the inside is decorated with BB King posters and photos. But mainly it is just good BBQ at a good price and friendly service. And the fries are good and crispy.

The ribs are to die for. They are superior to every bbq place I’ve tried in St. Louis area. Their bbq beans and slaw are excellent too. The beans are sweet with large chunks of meat. The touch of what seems like mustard in the slaw gives it an excellent balance. Pulled pork is great too.

For a mom and pop location they have great pulled pork and they’re sides which are often not given much consideration were delicious have been there three times and each time same great quality will be back!!! Keep the rib tips warm.

Pretty good bbq :-) The sauce is on the sweet side and they have very few sides to choose from but the pulled pork and rib tips are amazing. We have gone here numerous times and everyone we have encountered has been pleasant.

This place puts Sugarfire to shame. Real Memphis BBQ and not a chain joint like the other. Some of these reviews are fabricated or an attempt to stump for the chain joint. I have eaten there a lot and never had a rude experience. For real BBQ, go here. For chain food, go to the other.

OMG– just left and the younger lady at the counter was awesome– please keep her as the face– she was soooo pleasant! I am upgrading my previous rating. Oh yeah — the bbq was also delicious!
Way to go with making a great hiring decision– she said please, thank you and you’re welcome!

Bleh. I don’t get the appeal.
Firstly — the rude woman owner. What the fuck? Do you want me to return to your place of business? Yes? No? Because after today, it’s a big fat NO.
Do. Not. Want.
I was attempting to order a sandwich of pulled pork and I wanted a side of coleslaw. She was like «can’t you read?» And pointed to the menu where it said that ONLY the pork shoulder sandwiches come with coleslaw on the sandwich.
What the actual fuck? Was that attitude necessary? Hell no. What if I KNEW it had slaw on it and I just wanted extra slaw? HUH? Jeeeeez.
And coleslaw ON the sandwich? Sounded weird but it might be good. Only it wasn’t…
The slaw looked like a potato salad. It tasted bland and had a celery flavor to me which I really disliked. It was runny and soaked the bun. Soggy bun is a major cockblock in my book.
After ordering, I couldn’t seem to locate the sauce anywhere… I looked all over the counters and no sauce. Huh, that is odd, no sauce in sight! Well, my question was answered when I discovered that my sandwich had loads of sauce drizzled all over the top. Although using the word «drizzled» is being too gentle. This was more like poured… a waterfall of BBQ sauce. I prefer to dip my meat into the sauce as I eat it (yea I am weird I know) and also I just cannot digest that much BBQ sauce. As in, I will become physically ill if I eat that much.
Based on the attitude I got from the woman behind the counter who I can only assume is the owner, I decided it would be best not to ask for a less saucy sandwich. I did NOT see anywhere on the menu a note about the sandwich coming with sauce on it. Maybe it is written down somewhere, but I didn’t see it. Oh well.
I get the impression this is a «eat what we serve you or go fuck yourself» type of place. Yeaah.
& only like 4 something sides to choose from as well?
The meat itself was smoky and delicious, but not even good meat could make me want to return to this place.
Sorry y’alls, but this was a huge miss in my book. I don’t even care to go back to give it a second try when the folks at Sugarfire down the highway are so much friendlier and make just as good if not better food.

Brian M’s UYE December 8. The woman who runs it and takes orders is an incredibly unpleasant person.
I got brisket. No sides. It was OK. Somebody spilled a beverage. That happens. What the hell?
She came over to make sure we cleaned it up. I don’t cotton to that kinda stuff from owners/​proprietors.
We had a good time and wonderful discussion. The food was A-​OK. But that woman was mean. And I will not give her my money again.
Thanks, Brian, for a look at more barbeque!

Real deal bbq! The sauce is a little sweeter than STL bbq sauce but in the best way. True Memphis style! The pulled pork w slaw was my favorite but the ribs and turkey were tasty. Highly recommend if you’re willing to overlook aesthetics.

Food is okay. The people that work there are the problem. Very rude. No customer service skills. They seem to be resentful towards the people giving them money. Won’t be returning.

Holy smokes — if you haven’t tried this place, then you’re missing out. Just had take out sampler that I brought home to the family. Wow! Amazing BBQ. You won’t go anywhere else in St Louis once you’ve eaten this. Hands down, best BBQ I’ve had here. And I’ve been to every BBQ place in town.
Good job Sir!

If it were not for an UYE (Unoffical Unilocal Event) I would have never discovered Lil’ Mickey’s Memphis Barbeque. It is way out of my hood and comfort zone. I’m a city man and it takes a lot for me to adventure past 270 let alone cross a river and out in to never never land. However, it was well worth the drive.
LMMB is basically a true mom & pop business. Robbie works the counter and Charles is in charge of the kitchen. Robbie comes from a long line of bbq maters from the Memphis area. In fact for those of you who watch the Food Network, her cousins are Patrick and Gina Neely. She also has various other family member who own different BBQ restaurants through out the Memphis area and down in to the state of Mississippi. I think it is safe to say, that bbq sauce is their family blood.
On my visit, I enjoyed a extremely tender Beef Brisket Dinner with two sides. I always judge a briskets tenderness by being able to remove a bite with a plastic fork. If I can cut it with using the side of a plastic fork and no knife, that is a tender brisket. They did cover a portion of my brisket with sauce, I guess that is the Memphis way. I’d prefer it with no sauce at all, so I can add it as I see fit. However, they know what they are doing and I was totally fine with the way they served it up.
For my sides, I choose french fries and cole slaw. The fries were your typical fries from a bag and they could have been fried a little crisper. The cole slaw was very unique and different, I am not positive, but I detected a touch of mustard in the dressing which added a nice twist.
I am glad that I got to experience Lil’ Mickey’s and would recommend it to any one who lives in the St. Peters area. Just be aware that the lady behind the counter can be a little gruff. She means well, but she definitely is not a Miss. Congeniality. Remember, you’re there for the BBQ, not the hospitality.
When: December 8, 2015
Why: UYE Luncheon

Great bbq with a huge side of attitude from the woman working the counter. Seriously… if the brisket sandwich weren’t so damn good I might never consider going back again based on the «service.»
Showed up for a UYE with a group of fellow Unilocalers on an average weekday. We were the last to arrive and the last to order but that wasn’t a problem. I went with the brisket sandwich and added a side of baked beans. The brisket was perfectly smoked and relatively lean as brisket goes. Lean + brisket may sound like a bad combination (and it usually is) but not this time around. The meat was tender and moist. This is a place that believes sauce belongs on barbecue. Personally, I think the better the meat the less sauce you need. I was glad that my sandwich wasn’t downing in sauce because I liked trying the meat both with and without sauce. At the end of the day, I didn’t really have a preference so I suppose that is a pretty positive statement about their sauce. The beans were good and I enjoyed the chunks of meat in the bowl but they pale in comparison to the baked beans at Bogart’s — the standard by which I measure baked beans at barbecue joints.
Now for the attitude… WTH! I suppose you don’t need to treat your customers well if your food is amazing and the line has been around the block for years, although most of those places do treat their customers pretty well. My point is that the food is amazing but people are not busting down the doors to get it. It might make sense to treat your customers a bit more courtesly. Fix that issue and this will certainly be a 5-​star barbecue place.

The rib tips were great. The lady behind the counter made me want to turn around and leave. Seemed like she was irritated that I was there. The fat guy in me said in my head, «Just say sandwich,» when she started waving her hands around saying, «What do you mean rib tips?! What kind? Sandwich or Dinner?! You gotta say what kind!»
Considering it was lunch and was my first time there, I just stared at her for about 4 or 5 seconds.
So I’d give the food a 4 and her attitude a 2, which balances out to a 3 review for me. Plus it was $ 16 just for me. (I still tipped her $ 2.50. I have no idea why.)

I love how the lady behind the counter is called many things, grouch, crabby, aloof, not a people person. She is all the above. LOL. But the food is the star and your interaction with the grouch, crabby, aloof, not a people person person is limited.
I ordered ½ slab of St. Louis style BBQ ribs. They ribs were very tender and served «wet». While all the rage is now the «dry» ribs I will forever be a wet guy. I want my sauce on the ribs when served. As I looked around the table there was some interesting food but I liked mine more. The ribs came with two sides, potato salad (whipped), and slaw. The slaw had some heat in the taste. I really liked the slaw and spice it came with. The potato salad is your basic yellow mustard potato salad they has been whipped to a smooth consistency. I have always liked this style of potato salad reminds me of my Irish grandmothers potato salad.

UYEs are a great way to meet up with some fantastic Unilocalers while trying out something that I know I will never go out of my way to try. This is the case with this restaurant for me. I work about 20 minutes from here but live in the opposite direction and about 35 minutes away, however, thanks to Brian M’s UYE invite, I made the journey and was rewarded with some scrumptious barbeque.
The place is somewhat small but they had enough room to accomodate 7 people in a luncheon group together. There is only counter service here and you get your own drinks and refills. I also noticed there seemed to have been a drive-​thru but I am not sure if they use it or if it was there prior to the Barbeque restaurant occupying the space.
The woman at the counter had a bit of an attitude but the food was quite delicious. I ordered a brisket dinner even though I am breaking my rule of not getting it at any new BBQ places I visit because it tends to ruin my experience. However, I am really glad I did because their brisket was good and I was not disappointed from the first bite down to the very last. The brisket dinner consisted of a 5 oz thick cut brisket, 2 slices of white bread, and 2 sides. I picked coleslaw and potato salad for my sides but they were nothing to write home about. The meat was quite exceptional which is the most important thing. There was only 1 type of sauce which is pre-​added to your meat but I liked the flavor. I normally would pick a spicier variety if I get a choice but it wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet that it worked well with my brisket. In my opinion, a well-​prepared barbeque shouldn’t need much sauce anyway, if any at all.
Will I come back? Yes, I liked it enough that I would but with the location, it might be a while. I do recommend this place for fantastic barbeque if you are ever in the area or just happen to be passing through.

I ordered a half rack of ribs. Ribs are so tender they fall off the bone when you eat them. There is only one sauce, but it is great. Mild but has some spice. Sweet but not over powering. No mustard. Slightly smoky. Sauce has all the best flavor without really picking a particular style. The baked beans are very good. They have some nice sized pieces of meat in the beans, looked like pork and some sausage. The potatoe salad was not very good. It had a starchy blended consistency. It was homemade but I didn’t like it. No real flavor. The ribs were so good that I still got to give them 5 stars. Get fries and beans and it’s a 5 star. I’ve had a ton of ribs and these are top notch!

The food here is always good. The meat is tender and the sauce is fantastic! My coworkers and i often get take out here for lunch. The pulled pork sandwiches and rib tips are awesome. My only complaint is that the older woman who works here can be rude at times. But that hasn’t stopped us from coming here because the food is just that good.

Mr D and I kicked off the New Year with BBQ Wednesday at Lil Mickey’s in St Peters. We found a nice little place, clean and bright in a refurbished Taco Bell. They told us they had been in business for nine years and in this location for three years.
Mr D and I each ordered a half slab of their spare ribs and I added a chopped pork sandwich. Portions here are very generous, in fact the sandwich is a giant of a thing. This food really is served in a style true to some of the older places in Memphis, true to their moniker. The ribs had peppery and garlicky rub that I liked. The meat was properly done, tender but not mush. It had mild smoke. I liked the ribs. They are cut apart and served with a dollop of sauce across one end of the ribs.
The sandwich is a generous layer of yellow coleslaw on the bottom and a big layer of chopped pork on top. All of that is ladled over with their sauce and is on a very large bun. This would be a bit messy to try to eat as a sandwich, so I removed the bun top and ate it with a fork. I should have ordered it as a platter. Their slaw, although bright yellow with mustard, is not over-​flavored with mustard. It is creamy, sweet and tangy. It also has some sweet pickle relish incorporated. I would judge their sauce to be a little sweeter than typical Memphis, but it had some nice spice and good vinegar to balance the sweet. Though sweet, this is definitely not KC sauce. On this particular day, I found the chopped pork to be just a little stale. I understand this can vary at any place from day to day, especially a small one. The slaw and sauce hid that pretty well.
I enjoyed my meal very much as well as the leftovers. On a return, I would certainly get ribs and ask for sauce on the side. I would probably get chopped or pulled pork as a platter rather than a sandwich, just because I don’t need to eat that huge bun. Serving this way (with sauce ladled on) is definitely something you will run into in Memphis, but I would ask them for sauce on the side for a sandwich or platter. They do put a lot of sauce on.
I also had potato salad, which is very simple and almost mashed potatoes. I always eat slaw and potato salad together and these worked well together. This is really pretty traditional barbecue. It is not one of the new, trendy, creative competition places that are opening so often these days in St Louis. It reminded me of eating the food and Ms Paynes in Memphis. This is blue collar barbecue. The people were very nice and it was a good experience. I always am looking for simple, honest places like this.