BBQ King Smokehouse
| Address: | 125 E Calhoun St, Woodstock, IL 60098, USA |
| Phone: | +1 815-338-3477 |
| Site: | bbqkingsmokehouse.com |
| Rating: | 4.4 |
| Working: | 11:30AM–10PM Closed 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–12AM 11:30AM–12AM 11:30AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 8
MI
Michael Walton
I do bbq myself and love good bbq. I LOVED this bbq. This place ranks up there with Smoque, Fat Willys and Green Street Meats in Chicago. This is amongst the best bbq in Illinois. These folks know bbq. I had half a rack of their St. Louis. My wife had the brisket cheese steak sandwich. We also ordered a side of the fried potato salad. The ribs were not broasted with overly sweet sauce cooked on the ribs during this process where the meat falls apart losing flavor and texture like cheap chains. BBQ King Smokehouse does traditional bbq. Its high quality bbq and meat. The brisket sandwich was delicious. The ribs were tender with very light smoke. It had the perfect bite. The spice rub used fresh spices as you could taste the various levels of flavor, rather chain bbq that use a mass produced old rub that has lost depth. There were three sauces at the bar, where we sat. I tried two. The sauces were fresh with great layers of flavors. I liked the original best. It wasnt overly sweet. It was balanced and offered balanced flavor to the ribs. It did not cover the pork flavor with sickly sweet, fake smoked grocery store bbq sauce that you see at other cheap bbq places. The beans were great. The fried potato salad was one of the best potato salads Ive had and my wife tried to find out what was in the sauce. So good. The coleslaw was good. It was better than most bbq places (in those sad white paper cups) but t needed something to match the quality of the other food we had. Salt? Tang? A little onion for depth and carrot for sweetness? Im not sure. Also, the restaurant has a great vibe. Its a cool bbq place with great drinks. You can order at the bar, which we didnt know. You order at the counter and they bring food out. We had great service at the bar. No problem. There isnt a waiter or waitress. If you want this waiter/waitress service, then sit at the bar. This place is a find. We randomly found it on a drive to Wisconsin after I started searching on Google for bbq on our route. If you know good bbq, then this is the place for you. Well be back.
MI
michelle halford
What happend to the king? BBQ King used to have the GREATEST BBQ. Their Carolina Gold and the potato salad was just AMAZING but, now, everything seemed to have changed. What happened? Dont get me wrong, its still good BBQ but, thats it .... good bbq. I thought I just got a "bad batch" a couple months ago but this last order was the same as the "bad batch" that I got so, something is going on in the castle and its not good. Maybe I was spoiled before with the way everything was made but its what I fell in love with and is what kept bringing me back. Nothing compared to how it used to be made. I went to other BBQ places and they fell flat compared to BBQ king, which is why he was the KING! Now BBQ King is on par with those other places. Oh how I miss the old king ... where did he go? Please bring the old king back. The way it used to be, back to the BBQ King that I fell in love with!
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Stephen Field
The previous poster is not correct. The sauce is not Carolina vinegar based sauce. It is tomato based and I do not care for it. The sauce almost has a meet sauce/sloppy joe taste with sugar. I cooking the ribs some of the sweetness goes and caramelizes away but I still dont car for it. It is an acquired taste. We had ribs/brisket/pulled pork/wings. The chicken wings are outstanding. I will come back for that reason alone. The ribs were cooked well its the sauce that got in the way. If your from Texas the brisket aint from Texas and I wouldnt get again. The pulled pork was good. There are not a lot of BBQ joints west of 31. Ive had much better BBQ in my travels. The Texan in Algonquin has better sauce but is need of a huge face lift. Its basically the only BBQ in Woodstock. Bring your own sauce and its a great meal.
MI
Mike Langworthy
Overpriced by far for what I ordered! I got their signature Philly sandwich type of thing and it was pretty good but it wasnt $13 good... the most they should charge for the size of that was 7 Bucks I think. I mean I expected your standard 5 or 6 inch roll like a Philly steak sandwich but this was small - enough for a kid menu. I ate and I was still hungry so I finished all my fries and coleslaw just to feel satisfied. The corn bread appetizer was served cold and Ive never had cold cornbread so I took 2 bites and decided I needed to take it home to warm it up later. If theres any flavor in it I didnt get it because it was cold. Lastly, no manager or anybody came by to ask me how my meal was, asked me how I liked it or anything. I was the only one eating at the time so its not like they were overwhelmed.
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Lisa Oswald
First of all I will say the meat was very tender but thats where it the good review stops. Expensive($25 for 2 sandwiches) which wouldnt have been so bad if the food was good. The bbq Original & the Peppered sauce is vinegar based, no other sauces available. Personal preference here, I do not like. If it wouldve been advertised as vinegar based, I wouldve known not to use it. There was so much oil in the meat that the bottom of the bun literally disintegrated. The french fries were ice cold. If the waitress had bothered to come back to the table, we wouldve sent them back. The "coleslaw", I really have no idea what was in it but it certainly was not coleslaw by any means other than it had cabbage in it. Had such high hopes it would be better based on previous reviews...
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Ryne Luecht
You better come on an empty stomach or you might have leftovers for later. I had the pretzel bomb sandwich and sampled the brisket. Guys it was so good I was drinking the juices left behind from the brisket out of the cup it was so amazing. The restaurant had a very big and difficult list to choose from because they all sounded soo good I would have bought all of it but wouldnt be alive to tell you about this place literally on the outer edge of the woodstock square near an Iconic Filming location for Groundhog Days car crash scene.
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Jonathan Stassen
Love the bbq! High prices, but it makes sense for the quality and quantity of meat which are fantastic. Great craft beer selection. Nice environment. Often bring out of town guests here. Be sure to leave tab open when you order food, they like to close it so they can charge the tab minimum of $10 at the bar. It feels shady to me. Would love to eat here more often if the food costs were more reasonable and there were more honesty around the tab minimum.
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Dan
Love this place! We go up to Woodstock a few times a year to buy farm supplies for my rooftop chicken coop in Chicago, and stopping at BBQ King is now a tradition. Its a small, cozy restaurant and there is sometimes a wait for a table. The BBQ is excellent, with the brisket, smoked sausage, and baked beans being truly standout. They have a full bar (unusual for bbq places) with a very good beer selection and it is a good place to watch sports.
