Bar Q BBQ in Stamford

The other night my boyfriend and I dined at  Bar Q BBQ in Stamford CT.

“Bar Q is a barbeque melting pot of sorts – Nashville meets Kansas City, with a whole lot of mid-west hospitality and a touch of New Orleans soul. Utilizing wide plank wood from floor to ceiling, a cowhide clad wall, and photos of our bountiful farmland and the people that keep us moving forward, the space nourishes the American spirit. Pit-smoked barbeque, Southern favorites and down home cooking is in the form of appetizers and tasting plates, for noshing, sharing, or to build your perfect meal.” (from website)

The restaurant certainly lived up to its description. The decor was fun, southern and welcoming. The staff was absolutely wonderful and friendly.

We started things off with drinks. You know its a good restaurant when Jeff orders a Bud Light and the waiter says, “Are you sure? We have a bunch of beers on draft,” and Jeff quickly changes his order. I went for the Huckleberry Lemonade. You know I had to get a drink that contains my new favorite vodka. I altered their drink just a tad getting half club soda, half lemonade to make it less sweet.

My boyfriend and I were there to experience their “family friendly offerings.” On Wednesday’s Tony the Magician is there to entertain you while you wait for you food. He certainly had Jeff and me entertained. On Sunday nights they offer a family style dinner for the price of $50; you get your choice of 3 Snacks (appetizer), 5 Grazin (BBQ) items and 3 fixins (sides).

After reviewing the menu and asking our waiter what he would recommend for our snacks we chose the honey chicken and waffles (which came recommended by everyone) the fried green tomatoes and the fried pickles.

We tasted everything but knew not to fill up because we had a lot more food coming our way!

The Beef Burnt Ends came highly recommended by our waiter and by the manager Eric so we got those. The St. Louis Cut Sticky Ribs and the Memphis Dry Rub Baby Back Ribs also came highly recommended by the waiter and Eric so I told Jeff to order those and they would be all for him. We also got Grilled BBQ Shrimp and Sliced Beef Brisket.

For our sides the Mac and Cheese was another recommendation so we obviously had to get that along with the Sweet Potato Crumble and the Fiesta Corn Bread.

I sampled everything but the ribs, those were all on my boyfriend. The shrimp was delicious and smothered in a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce that gave it wonderful flavor. The beef burnt ends and brisket were cooked perfectly, they were moist and tender and tasted great on their own or dipped in the Bourbon BBQ sauce they had on the table. I dipped a piece of the Beef Burnt ends in the Bourbon BBQ sauce and did a little dance while saying MMM and Jeff said to me you know something is good when you do that little dance while saying MMM out loud. Apparently that’s a thing I do but haven’t realized it!

My boyfriend said the ribs were phenomenal. His favorite were the St. Louis cut sticky ribs. He said the meat just fell off the bone and the flavor was really smooth.

As if we hadn’t had enough to we also had some sides to try. The Mac and Cheese lived up to its hype! It had the perfect noodle-to-cheese ratio. The corn bread was great and went well with the maple bourbon butter that they had to go smeared on top of it. I will be honest I was looking forward to the sweet potato crumble but it just didn’t do it for me. I wanted to like it but I think it was just too sweet for me, I guess I am more of a savory person when it comes to how I like my sweet potatoes prepared.

Our waiter was impressed with how much food we ate for it being a family style meal. Unfortunately we did not save any room for dessert but the options looked really good.

We had an absolutely wonderful evening at Bar Q BBQ and will definitely be making a trip back there again. Next time we will probably bring more people with us so that we wont have to eat all that food to ourselves again.

One observation I made that really impressed me was how hands-on the manager, Erik, was. I noticed that throughout the evening he was walking around to different tables checking in and seeing how they were enjoying their meals. At one point he approached our table to see how we liked everything and immediately noticed we didn’t have the maple bourbon butter for the corn bread and ran back to the kitchen to do that. I have seen enough Restaurant Impossibles to know that Erik met his expectations, Robert Irvine would be impressed.

Bar Q BBQ has great quality food and is definitely a family friendly restaurant. If you are looking for a change of scenery I highly recommend checking this place out.