Riverfront Barbeque & Grille — Restaurant in Augusta

Went here for lunch with family. Decided to try the ribs because I love BBQ ribs. Worst mistake in my life, the ribs were cut before cooking making them dry overall, but especially where the ribs were cut. They were dry as bone, and the meat itself has a disgusting mushy texture with no flavor to them. At first all I did was ask, I didn't need to because I knew they were cooked as individual ribs pre cut from each other. I mean, who serves a full rack of ribs already sliced separate to begin with? Then when the server was overly confident that the ribs weren't cooked like that (when a server is overly confident without having actually watched how it was cooked, you get a good understanding of how these people are going to act) I asked her to bring out the chef so I can ask myself. Well, the chef decided to think I'm clueless about cooking because when I brought up how dry, mushy, and flavorless they were I asked when they were cooked and how they were cooked. I asked if they were cooked the day before or longer and if they sliced them before cooking, he said "They are fresh and cooked as a rack, they aren't sliced first" Then I asked "If that's the case why do they taste old and have a mushy gross texture, and why are they dry where the cuts are? Ribs don't get dry and mushy like that when freshly cooked and cooked as a full rack." Then the chef wanted to question my culinary skills. Big mistake, I've been working as a cook on and off since I was 16. I might not enjoy being in the kitchen as a profession, but I could easily run circles around the incompetent chef that works here. So after some heated words exchanged by both parties I walked out without paying. I WILL go back here again sometime, and it will be to give them a second chance. But when I come back and the ribs are inevitably disgusting still, expect an even longer more detailed review with names of...

I'll start by saying the staff here, from my very short experience, is extremely polite. I'm basing this review on the food alone. I've never had bbq in Maine, although I was born and raised here and love bbq. I recently traveled to Texas and Tennessee and experienced the bbq there. With that being said, and I'm saying this as politely as possible, the food here just isn't good at all. The bbq sauce tastes more like marinara sauce than anything. To push this even further, we got penne pasta for one of the kids and I truly thought the container that came with our food was the sauce for it because of both taste and appearance. There is nothing southern about the mac and cheese. We spent so much money here on food and I'm so disappointed. The fries, cornbread and sausage are decent, but nothing I'd expect to come out of a restaurant like this. The garlic bread was burnt and didn't taste like garlic bread at all. I gave the Hush Puppies a chance and immediately spit them out, then I looked to my husband, who was born and raised in Texas, to see if maybe my Maine taste buds were reacting negatively to them just because the taste was unfamiliar, but no. He definitely confirmed that I wasn't being deceived by my own mouth. It's extremely disheartening that we were told we'd be pleasantly surprised and we weren't at all. People think the food is good because it's Maine and there aren't many choices. Bbq is different than the usual McDonald's, KFC, Applebee's, ect. so people taste it and it's automatically better than the other options. Even if I hadn't had bbq in another state I'd still think this tastes terrible. I wish it had been a better...

Whenever I travel I like to have bbq in that place. There are 3 things I always order from bbq restaurants. I order their brisket, bbq beans, and Mac and cheese. Unfortunately all 3 were below standard. Their brisket was dry and lacked seasoning. It had little to no taste. What made the brisket the least bit enjoyable was their bbq sauce which I appreciated but it lacked a certain level of sweetness that bbq sauce should have. The sauce added a savory factor to the brisket and pairing it with the sweetness of the cornbread made a decent combination that was enjoyable. Their fries were EXCELLENT. Crispy and well seasoned. I wish I could say the same for their brisket and Mac and cheese. The Mac and cheese tasted like something out of a box. Very bland. I needed to add salt. The beans were maybe the worst bbq beans at a restaurant I’ve ever had. There was no bbq flavor and the color of the beans was very....”pale” I was expecting the color to be darker which signifies they’re cooked longer. It was bland and had more of a raw tomato flavor. No good. I took one bit and left them alone. The staff was very polite and welcoming but I will not return. It’s just not the taste I’m looking for. To be honest 4 1/2 star reviews are deceiving when people who are used to a low quality of food. Trust me if you want authentic bbq this place is not the worst but it’s certainly far...