Restaurant Review : City Barbeque in Western Hills area

Isn't barbeque great? Something about the smell of it cooking, the taste of it of course, AND the feel of it. Barbequeing feels good. Grilling out feels good. Having barbeque cookouts is a fun time. Just the thought of barbeque is bringing a smile to my face. *City Barbeque does that too.

I was excited when this bbq joint came to the westside of Cincy not too long ago. This was my first time there (just went back tonight, actually). It is just a bit pricey. The first time I went, I ordered it to go. Next time we dined in to ensure that the food was as fresh and hot as possible.

This is the view from the parking lot and a close-up from Glenway Avenue. 

This is where all those huge bbq smoke machines are. (Is that what they are called?)

All Smoke No Mirrors.

This is where you enter.... WARNING: You will eat lots of delicious, Southern bbq food. Not good for the thighs but great for the tummy!

On to the food....

PJ ordered a smoked chicken breast sandwich. He is a chicken breast kinda guy. Any restaurant he goes to... if they have a grilled chicken sandwich on the menu, he is set! This chicken breast is smoked, not grilled though.

What did I have? Well, I ordered the pulled chicken with white bbq sauce which unfortunately and surprisingly didn't taste like anything... not any sauce like I was expecting, no flavor, no heat. I wanted to like it though. The sound of white bbq sauce intrigued me. I just wish the chicken was drenched in the white bbq sauce. It just tasted plain. (Eww... blurry picture alert!)

We also got some sides - do you guys know what hushpuppies are? If not, well I'll tell you... as long as you promise to keep it on the hush. Pun thoroughly intended. Man, I'm knockin em outta the park today! Yeah, there wasn't a point to that, I just wanted to make a joke about hushpuppies! I'm cheesy, I know.

Cornbread was not hot at all, so not very good. I'm sure it could be so much better. Hushpuppies taste like hushpuppies, no surprise there. Just fried cornmeal batter. I do love them though... that fried crunchy goodness! 

PJ liked his sides. Baked beans with bits of brisket in it, which we both thought were scrumptious. PJ liked his macaroni and cheese but I didn't, it wasn't as cheesy as I like my mac n cheese!

A view of all of our sides.... so much food!

We tried all of the sauces: the original, sweet, and brushfire. I liked them all. I did like the heat from the brushfire sauce. PJ likes the sweet kind alot. I wouldn't say these were the best bbq sauces I have ever tasted, but very good. I saw bottles of their bbq sauces lined along the sides, you can buy them for $3.99 a bottle. I was tempted.

This place is pretty amazing. The first time, the male cashier was overly attentive and polite. Almost to the point of uncomfortableness or awkwardness. But still, a great effort. Better than the extreme alternative.

Fast forward to Friday night... we actually ate here the other night for dinner on a Friday night at about 9 PM. We dined in this time, since I knew that last time my food wasn't as hot as I wanted. No pics, but I just wanted to share our experience with you since it literally just happened a bit ago and I had drafted a post about this restaurant, so I figured I might as well share an updated, more recent experience. I ordered the Texas smoked sausage on Texas Toast since they were out of hoagy buns, with 2 sides for an additional $2.99. I tried to order cornbread, but they were all out.  So I ordered hush puppies instead, and baked beans with brisket. My sausage was good... I don't really think I needed Texas Toast, but it was still nice to have and had nice grill marks on it. It came with some vinegar slaw which I could have done without. It didn't add much to the sausage sandwich. My baked beans with brisket were good, and PJ enjoyed them too. I do like the bits of brisket in the baked beans. It adds a nice touch. He said he would go back to ordering those again next time. My hushpuppies were also good, like always. 4 fried hushpuppies, more than enough for me! I obviously couldn't finish all of my food! I had wanted to try the banana pudding, but we were so full. I had some leftovers to take home! PJ ordered the smoked chicken breast sandwich, like last time. He liked it better this time. It was a very plump piece of chicken breast. His sides were the cheese and bacon fries. He joked and said "this is real quality cheese", which obviously he was being sarcastic. But I still liked the cheese, even knowing it was a fake kinda cheese. Like a cheese wiz but not really. I don't know how to describe it. But I would order them next time as my side! He also ordered the macaroni and cheese, which he liked but I wasn't too impressed by. Both got our usual Dr. Peppers. It was an overall good date, with plenty of food for about $20! I had 3 hushpuppies, most of my sausage, and some baked beans left :) I did end up eating most of PJ's fries so that's why I had so much of my own food left over! "It's my birthday weekend, so I can steal food from my fiancee if I want to"... you know that song, right? "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" REMIX!

Fast forward to the very next day.... yes, we went back the very next day on Saturday for lunch. We wanted to save a bit on money, since the night before we had dropped about $25 for the dine in experience. This time the bill came to about $17 since we did take out, and didn't order drinks, and only ordered one side each. I tried the pulled pork, which was delicious! It was so tender. Not dried out like I expected. And not served in sauce like I expected, like at Montgomery Inn like I'm used to, but it didn't even need the sauce because it was so good. But we did get a cup of each sauce. The cashier also gave us a cup of some brown sauce... I still am not sure exactly what it was... maybe hot sauce? Maybe a different kind of bbq sauce that I didn't know about. But it was pretty good. I don't like to ask the cashier for the cups of sauce though, because the sauce in those cups are cold. I like to pour my own sauce from the hot sauce chafers they have out. PJ got his usual smoked chicken breast again. I saw a sign that their chicken breasts are Amish... which I like to buy when I am at Kroger so that makes me feel good about the quality of their products. He loves those baked beans so he got those again, and I got my hush puppies. He also tried the banana pudding which he said was just ok.... (I didn't, I don't know why I didn't get a bite!!).

So I didn't have a great experience with my meal that first day, but my second (and third) experiences made up for it. PJ said he wants to come back here all of the time, to try so many different things. And I agree.... they have so many side item options! And I have now tried the pulled chicken, pulled pork, and the Texas smoked sausage. I like the idea of a bbq place with pulled chicken and pork sandwiches, and good ole Southern bbq side items. I really want to go back and try the pulled chicken sandwich again, with white sauce, as well as their ribs. And their different sides... right now they are offering a smokehouse chili, and smashed potatoes that I was so tempted to try but I can only order so much, ya know! I can't wait to try that banana pudding, since I didn't get to, as well as their peach cobbler. Talk about Southern comfort food!

*I don't really know the true technical spelling. Their website says both City Barbeque, and City BBQ.

P.S.  Is it bad that I went there on Sunday by myself for lunch, too? I get stuck in my ways sometimes! Hey, if it aint broke don't fix it!


Hmmm... wonder what we will have for dinner tonight? lol.


Peace, and bacon grease!