Virgil's Real Barbecue

Coming from the south and living in the city i've looked hard for good and authentic bbq restaurants; i was told this was it. wrong! The ribs tasted like liquid smoke was poured over it and the chicken lacked seasoning and flavor.

As a bbcue connoisseur AND after hearing RAVE reviews, I was anticipating a "finger-lickin'" experience. I took my 10 y.o. daughter, who's also a bbcue connoisseur, (we test dry rubs, marinates & sauces constantly) for her birthday, after seeing The Lion King, and we were extremely disappointed. The Kansas City sauce was bland, the brisket wasn't succulent and the sides were okay, at best. Even my drink, which was recommended as the special, was just "okay." My daughter and I follow bbcue circuits, etc. and am extremely "particular" about our bbcue. Therefore, if you step into this "arena" your game needs to be TIGHT & RIGHT! And Virgil's was not!

I used to love love love the food and service at Virgil's. We should have know that something was not right when on a Friday night, we ordered and in less than 5 minutes we had our main course on the table. Normally people would think that was great service. As did I ... at first. The truth of the matter... it really meant that out main courses were prepared earlier and then just sat around until it was ordered by unsuspecting diners. The food was dry and warm (not hot and moist), it lacked the usual flair of flavor and texture that Virgil's food has. It was a disappointment for us. Our waiter was not very helpful after we explained our un-happy situation. He looked at us and the dishes and told us in a very lackluster voice "You should have told me sooner" , That was a truly un-acceptable response by any wait staff. The combination of the attitude of the wait staff and the almost un-palatable food, I would be hard pressed to return to this once favorite.

Highly recommended, great for lunch during weekdays, staff is really really cool. Food is excellent. Everything I and my friends have eaten has been top notch bbq. I recommend they join the Times Square Alliance to reward Times Square employees with some discount. Excellent beer selections.

My mom and I were in NYC, 7/27 - 8/2, and we enjoyed Virgil's so much we ate there twice! We're from a BBQ state (Texas) and we thought the brisket and ribs were some of the best we've ever eaten! The servings were healthy. The service was great and our food was in front of us in mere minutes. We truly loved it! I thought the warm chocolate chess pie with 'real' whipped cream was perfect! I would recommend Virgil's to any and everyone. I'm glad we found it!

We ate here after we arrived at our hotel in times square, a little bit of a lineup and we were told to have a drink in the bar and they would call our name... 5 min later we were seated upstairs. I had the chicken and ribs and i'll tell you one thing.. truly the best i had in my life! The starter soup i had (can't remember what it was!) was to die for! Waiters were cheerful and pleasant and always checking if things were ok. Would definitely recommend this place to everyone!

If you have never had real barbeque before, Virgil's is good enough to give you some idea of what you've been missing. The food is good across the board, but stops just short of great. If you're on the fence about whether to try it, you should know that they serve a large selection of excellent beers, some of which are microbrewed exclusively for Virgils. If you're in Times Square doing the tourist thing and don't want to waste time on the subway, then I definitely recommend it--especially given the slim pickings of the immediate area when it comes to decent places to have a meal.