Virgil's Real Barbecue

After reading some good reviews of Virgil’s, I was really looking forward to trying it for myself last Saturday with a bunch of friends. Unfortunately, the experience was rather disappointing. First off, we had to wait quite a long time, despite having reservations. The food was mediocre at best, and somewhat expensive ($21 for the ribs and brisket combo which included only 4 ribs, a couple of slices of brisket, a little cornbread tart, and a couple of tiny-portion sides). For a place that claims to have traveled around the country to develop the best BBQ methods and sauces, it certainly didn’t show. The ribs were dull, overcooked, and were not served hot (possibly the result of sitting under the warming lamps for way too long). The brisket was also lifeless. Trying to liven up the meat a bit with the sauces on the table resulted in confusion. The bottle of sauce marked “HOT” was not so hot, and the bottle marked “MILD” had more like a medium hotness. The atmosphere was decent, but noisy. Overall, I’ve had much better BBQ, and I would not go there again, and I wouldn’t recommend Virgil’s to others.

I sat under a lamp that was filled with so much dust. My advice: don't look up. The food was generally salty and I was not impressed. BBQ's has better barbeque, which i never thought I'd say.

Fantastic Bar-B-Q. My friends and I go to Virgil's frequently and as hungry college guys, you bet we get our money's worth. Very large portions and the food tastes fresh and prepared well. My suggestions the pulled pork and have a house drink...amazing.

If I owned Virgils, I would require everyone to try their chicken wings. They are appetizers but you can make a meal out of them. They are whole wings and seasoned as well as anything I've ever had barbequed. Virgils is my first stop when I get to NY cause of these wings. Try em you'll like em.

I'm generally not one for writing reviews, but I had to say I thought the food here was disappointing. First off, the appetizers we got, the hush puppies and the fries tasted like they had been prepared hours in advance and kept lukewarm under a heating lamp. Then the meal I got, which was the two meat combo of ribs and pulled pork, was not to my taste. Dry and again, tasted like they'd been sitting around for a while. And up until today I had never had bad macaroni and cheese before, but, well, now I have. Thank God we had reservations otherwise we would have had to wait an hour for slow service and overpriced food. This is definitely not worth the hype.

Best in nyc by far. probably best this side of virginia, north carolina and tennessee. and try the lamb ... it's a shock to the senses ... one of the truly great places to "scarf" house beer is perfect.

We used this place on our last night in NY, we originally intended going elsewhere but could not find that one, so plumped for this one having been recommended by a friend. The place was full when we visited so it is safe to say the place must be of a certain standard. The food was plentiful and not too expensive. The nachos came on a platter big enough for three of us, so when the main course came, we struggled. Two of us plumped for the Pig Out to share and there was way too much. Ribs, pulled pork, brisket, sausage and I am sure there was more on there. A real meat lovers feast. The atmos. was good, no doubt helped by it being full.