Q Barbeque - Midlothian, Virginia - 17-Sep-2014

[Bill]

Out on work related travel and needed to grab some lunch. Looked at my GPS for a BBQ place and Q Barbeque popped up (the GPS has a barbeque option under food, how handy!). I had wanted to try this place out since it was owned by Tuffy Stone, one of the Food Network BBQ Pitmaster guys.

I stopped by the Midlothian, Virginia restaurant on Wednesday, 17 September. Ordered my favorite thing to try, the pulled pork sandwich with a side of baked beans. To wash it all down with, I had the Blue Mountain Brewery Full Nelson IPA. That came to $13.16, including all taxes. ($5.50 for the sandwich, $2.00 for the side of baked beans, $5.00 for the IPA, and the rest was taxes).

The restaurant looked neat and clean, not a lot of folks inside, but I was probably rolling through after the main lunch crowd and eaten their fill and gone back to work. It didn’t take long for my order to arrive at my table which was good as I wanted to get back on the road.

The pork sandwich was good; it was moist and flavorful, lots of good “porky-ness.” I was a bit disappointed that there was no smokiness at all. But looking at the menu again, it did not say anything about being smoked. I guess I can’t complain too much? I did not see any bark in the sandwich at all and could not tell if any sort of rub was used. I also did not note any smokiness walking from the car to the restaurant.

The baked beans tasted like the standard canned pork and beans. Nothing special there. Sorry Tuffy…

The local craft brew, the Blue Mountain Brewery Full Nelson IPA was a good choice. Could have downed another bottle or two, but I had to continue driving. I will definitely look around for this at the local beer retailers. I appreciate that Tuffy is supporting the local Virginia craft brewers!

Would I go back? Probably, but I would use my GPS barbeque option to seek out other BBQ places.

[Huskee]

That's how they get you, "pulled pork". Ha! There's a restaurant that's quite a novelty tourist-trap kinda place where I live and they advertise BBQ, smoked, etc. I bought their pulled pork sandwich and I thought the exact same as you, it was good, moist, but not smokey. Except they advertise it as smoked pork, they even have a picture of the butts in the smoker ion their website. I'm guessing it's equally the electric indoor smoker's fault, and some of the underinformed "pitmasters", when I'm used to the taste from a stickburner...I'm spoiled.

[Bill]

Yeah, I prefer some smoke in my pork. I just "assumed" it would be there, my bust for not closely reading the menu, lesson learned.

[j_keegan]

This is an older thread, so I'm updating with my recent experience. Went to the Q BBQ in Short Pump, VA today as I was in the area on business and had heard it referenced here. I liked that they seem to "get" BBQ in general (plenty of barbecue event awards around, their menu offerings included "burnt ends", etc.), but it definitely felt like a chain restaurant. If I'm going to a mom and pop BBQ restaurant that's unique, I'd expect a whole different experience than I would with a chain - but for being a chain it wasn't bad.

I ordered the "Two Meats" plate. Selected ribs and burnt ends as my meats, and sides of collard greens and onion rings. Food came quickly and all looked well-cooked and well-presented. The greens and onion rings were good. The burnt ends were the best of the two meats, and I enjoyed them thoroughly, though they did have a bit too much salt for my taste. The ribs lacked any significant essence of smoke at all and were (IMO) over-sauced - I prefer minimal to no sauce. Though they were cooked to a good level of doneness (came off cleanly from bone and had proper tender/chewy balance), they didn't shine and fell a little flat in the flavor department. I enjoyed the ends more than the ribs.

They offered three sauces on the table and though sauce isn't my thing usually, I tasted each just to see. Of the three (Original, Sa-weet, and Hotzing), only the Sa-weet had any real enjoyable flavor to it. The other two were forgettable. Disappointed that there wasn't a Carolina sauce as an option.

All in all, not a bad experience for a chain restaurant - the food was decent, not great. I wouldn't mind going again, but certainly wouldn't clamor to go.

I think I agree with what other people have stated on the site though. Saturday I cooked ribs in my backyard all day - and they were great. You just won't get the same experience in a chain restaurant like this, and you shouldn't even expect it. That being said, those burnt ends were still pretty darn good...

[RonB]

I live 10 min from the Midlothian location of Q. We went shortly after they opened and were not impressed. Then we went back a short time later to confirm and were still not impressed. I wanted a good place to go when I didn't feel like cooking, but Q is not the place for me, (sorry Tuffy).

Since joining The Pit, I haven't been impressed with any place I've gone except Franklin BBQ in Austin. And that's not doable for lunch...