City Barbeque — Restaurant in Columbus

City BBQ gets an unfair rap from local food critic snobs because it's a chain.

There are many chains that I'm not impressed with but I'm impressed with City BBQ and hope they never get bought out by a hedge fund or "equity group."

City BBQ is delicious and has a succulent smoked turkey sandwich that has me seriously thinking about ordering City BBQ for Thanksgiving. Best hot turkey sandwich I've ever had.

The Carolina pulled pork sandwich is spot on with what I enjoyed in North Carolina and is juicy and flavorful.

The beef brisket was tender, juicy, seasoned, and had just enough fat content that you wanted to pick at it right out of the container.

The fresh cut fries are legit. The collard greens with pork and green beans with bacon are delicious. The corn pudding can almost be a dessert.

City BBQ is also a good value.

Hopefully this chain stays in its Columbus lane and keeps their mission on what has brought them to the party.

Stay Columbus focused, maybe add Dayton but nowhere else. Northern Ohio is weak BBQ territory and Cincinnati is fixated on the Montgomery Inn so stay out of those markets.

Food critics can rag on City BBQ all they want - this chain has done more for BBQ in central Ohio than anyone else and they're a contributing reason why the Central Ohio BBQ scene has quietly entered the top 10 nationally.

I'd add photos but I loved the food so damn much I ate it before I could.

The one star reviews here are probably from cranky Clevelanders or Akronites who relocated to Columbus. They're...

Very disappointing!! This was my first trip to City Barbeque. I really wanted Cane's but they were 15 min away, and I saw that there was bread on the menu, so I went here. The website wouldn't allow for bread to be ordered with the chicken strips, so I went inside to order. It was pricey but I was excited about the bread, so I let it go. Service wasn't too slow but it was a little confusing because there were to go bags lining the counter and I wasn't sure where to stand to receive my food. Once I got it, the first thing I noticed (once I was already in my car, of course) was that I had been given french fries instead of the bread that was the entire reason I came here. Limp, under-done fries with no ketchup (because I was supposed to get bread). The chicken was just ok--no where near as good as I anticipated--pretty tasteless, and the "sweet city" sauce was just plain honey barbecue. Overall, expensive and disappointing experience. Next time I'll drive the 15...

1/26/23 - Never heard from management as promised. Very disappointing. If you look at the bad reviews they all have the exact same canned response from the "owner". Seems very suspicious.

10/19 update - still no response from management even though I messaged them as requested. What a joke. Basically if you have an issue and you let them know with a review they will reply as if they care but actually it's just a scam.

10/15 update- sent a message through the website as requested but haven't heard anything from anyone.

I got really sick after eating the ribs and coleslaw. My neighbor had it with me and he was fine but didn't eat the coleslaw. Called the store and they could care less. All they offered was a replacement side dish. Really???? I was sick for 2 hours with horrible stomach pain. I'm very...