Hells BBQ — Restaurant in Bristol Township

I have been wanting to try Hell's BBQ since they opened because the Facebook pages for my area all rave about how great the food is. Hell's BBQ is only open 3 days a week (open weekends), and sometime they're closed on the weekend due to having a festival event. The good news is that if you follow their Facebook page, they post when they're open and what the specials are. I started following their Facebook page a few weeks ago, and finally stopped by for the first time. WOW! I'm glad I did. I stopped in on a Saturday and couldn't believe how good the food was. The next day on Sunday, I brought my significant other (who is not a big fan of BBQ to begin with) and she thought the food was amazing. I was worried about consistancy, but that's two days in a row it was great. The following weekend we both tried it again, and once again, it was an amazing meal. The first day I tried the pork sandwich, mac n cheese, and brisket eggroll. The second day we tried the brisket grilled cheese, brisket philly, and sides were mac n cheese and beans (and brisket eggroll mmmm). The following weekend was the two meat platter that we shared with the mac n cheese, beans, and cole slaw (all KILLER sides!!). The food portions are really good for the money. The service is great and the food is prepared fairly quick. I know BBQ is a very personal taste thing, like most things we eat. What pizza I like, you might not, what BBQ I like, you may not, etc. But, I do like me some good BBQ. I've tried places around the Oswego/Yorkville/Naperville area's and most are just 'meh' and the rest aren't worth going back to. When I travel I like to try local BBQ. Some of the best BBQ I've had so far is in St Louis, and Hell's BBQ in my opinion compares to St. Louis BBQ such as Sugarfire and Pappy's.

I'm really suprised there's negative reviews for this place. I'm guessing it was just an off night, or possibly someone who works in one of the other restaurants they mention and is just bashing Hell's BBQ. Maybe it's just their taste buds didn't like it. But like I mentioned, people have been talking for quite some time about how great Hell's BBQ is. This place is definitely...

So you can tell right off the bat that this is somebody's passion project. They care about the food in this restaurant and it shows. The brisket egg roll is insane, their tacos were awesome as well, and their sides are fantastic. These people know flavor.

I'm going to be a little critical here because I really love this place and want to see it turn the corner on the meat problems. Overall the food is good to great, but the meat needs a little more love. But GO AND TRY IT OUT. I know these folks are going to dial it in and it will be one of the best in the suburbs. And they are SUPER NICE PEOPLE THAT YOU WANT TO SEE THRIVE!!!!

The meat is not quite there, but some minor tweaks could fix: When you serve pulled pork you should have a drippings tray and dunk the meat before you serve it. This works on the flat of brisket too. When serving brisket, fix the flat and the point slices. The fat from the point will help with the drying in the flat. Dial up the smoke on your brisket with moisture, pepper, and/or changing the wood (this tastes like maybe cherry wood vs post oak which is king for brisket). Burnt ends are from the brisket vs the rib tips. I asked for burnt ends and got a cracklin from the rib tip.

Having said that... The smoked sausage was some of the best I've had in the North. I think they inject them with awesomeness and love.... Wow!

Summary: Sides Mac n Cheese- 3- a little doughy Elotes- 4- pretty darn good Brisket Egg Roll - 6 out of 5- call the fire department... Rib tips- 4- needs a little more smoke Brisket- 2- needs smoke, pepper, moisture, smoke, but the cook on the meat was good. Pulled pork- 3- Just dunk it. Smoke it. Baked Beans- 5- Fantastic, add a sausage or some brisket to it. Sausage- 7 out of 5- Great smoke & flavor

I'll be going back because I think they are so passionate things will only get better!

Keep your passion because your flavor profiles are there. Just need to get those smokers to treat...

My husband and I are complete foodies, especially since we both have been in the restaurant industry for 25+ years. There are no really great BBQ places around here, so when we heard about this place and based off the reviews, we were excited to give it a try. This place is tucked away, and in our opinion, not in the best location. When we walked in the door there were only 4 people inside eating and there were 4+ girls behind the counter standing around. It was decorated cute for the holiday, besides that, it is small inside with a few tables. We ordered a 2 meat combo with brisket and pulled pork, a large mac and cheese, 1 pound rib tips, a large Mexican corn, a banana pudding and a cognac bread pudding. The price tag was $98.19 and it was NOT worth the money. I will start with NOTHING was seasoned or had flavor. This is BBQ and it should be oozing flavor. The pulled pork was dry. the rib tips were sliced too thin and very boney. The brisket was cooked perfectly, but again had ZERO flavor. The mac and cheese was over cooked and mushy. The Mexican corn...well, I should have known better than to order it here. The coleslaw that came with the 2 meat meal, again it lacked flavor. The 2 rolls that came with the meal were not fresh. The banana pudding was very thin and runny. The only good thing was the cognac bread pudding. This was the only thing we did not throw away. They have 2 sauces; hot and regular. Both tasted the same and the "hot" was not. Overall, this was very disappointing and whom ever is back in the kitchen or in charge of this place, should rethink the quality of food they are putting out and the manor in how they are cooking this food. We should have walked out right after we walked in once we noticed the lack of customers. We will continue our search for real authentic BBQ. Too costly...