Jethro's BBQ — Restaurant in Coralville

We visited on a Tuesday evening around 630. When we arrived, we were seated promptly and our waitress was very bubbly and always helpful. She made sure we were taken care of without being overly present during our dining experience. We started out with their smoked wing special which was buy 10 and get 10 free for $18. I thought this was an excellent deal with the wings being less than a dollar each. I ordered a 32 ounce summer shandy for $11 and my friend got the strawberry lemonade. For our main meal, we split the family platter, $33ish, which came with half a rack of ribs, 2 other meats, which we chose the brisket and the burnt ends. Both the brisket and the burnt ends were a $2 upcharge each. It came with 4 sides and either corn muffins or Texas toast, which we chose the Texas toast. For sides, we got Mac and cheese(2), coleslaw, and waffle fries. The Texas toast was good though a bit cool rather than hot. The mac and cheese was pretty good and I really enjoyed the coleslaw with its vinegar and onions. The waffle fries were good though not very hot either. The brisket was decent, cooked very well but lacked much smoke flavor or seasoning. The burnt ends were hit or miss with one of mine being good and the other being very over cooked and hard to chew. The ribs were some of the worst ribs I have had, being luke warm, over cooked and super dry. I could barely even chew the top layer of meat as it was so over cooked and dry. It seemed like they had sat under a heat lamp for hours. Most of the meat lacked any real smoke flavor so I think they are smoking their meats high and hot for speed rather than low and slow for the smoke as that flavor is not getting infused into the meat very well. The sauces had decent flavor but so watered down that ran all over my plate and into all my other food. The sauces are nothing to write home about. I really like the other Jethro locations in the Des moines area so very disappointed in this one so far. Based on this one experience, I would be very hesitant to go back and order anything bbq related but will do since I try to give the benefit of the doubt and they possibly had a bad day. I would go back for the wings if they had their special again and may try other things on the menu. The waitress was super nice and definitely recommend her service, a highlight of the evening. The cost of our trip was pretty pricey, especially since most of the meats were mid to poor...

I was really looking forward to Jethro's and was sadly disappointed. The best part of our dining experience was our waiter Kyle/Karl (I know his name started with a 'K' but now I can't remember). He was smiling, enthusiastic, attentive, and helped answer our beer questions: a true gem and the best part of our experience.

We stopped by Friday, June 2, 2023 around 2:30/3 pm and the restaurant was not busy.

We ordered the 1/2 Slab & Two Meat Dinner so we could try multiple things. The meal included: 1/2 slab of baby back ribs and 2 house-smoked meats, 4 sides, and corn muffins or Texas toast for $34.95.

We chose pulled chicken and the Carolina pulled pork, mac and cheese, cole slaw, baked beans, and onion rings. We ordered local beers priced at $8 each/pint.

I enjoyed the half slab of ribs and added the sweet BBQ sauce. Ribs were tender and fell off the bone which I love. Apparently, they are heavily smoked; my digestive system kept reminding me of that throughout the evening and into the next day. That's on me; my digestive system is finicky.

The pulled chicken though, was heavily salted and not palatable, so I moved to the pulled pork. Much better.

The sides were disappointing. I enjoyed the corn muffins, but the menu indicates all the sides are 'homemade.' Although the huge onion rings looked to be hand battered, they had no flavor or seasoning which was different that the description.

There's also no way the cole slaw, mac and cheese, and beans were anything other than what you can buy at any restaurant chain in America. Cole slaw was fine, but the same as everywhere else. Mac and cheese sauce was gritty and flavorless. Beans were tender, but again no seasoning or BBQ flavor.

The restaurant has only been open for a couple of weeks. Maybe some of these recipes will change? Service was great with Kyle, but other than him I didn't see many smiling welcoming faces. No paper towels in the women's room and when I kindly reminded the bartender I got a death stare. Again, the restaurant was not busy and I wasn't interrupting her.

I'd suggest looking for a local mom-and-pop joint if you're hungry for BBQ.

We don't need another overrated, overhyped restaurant; we need good quality homemade food. Happy to pay more for quality. I'd say hard pass on on the Food Network, entertainment news articles for Jethro's. It's why I chose it, but I probably...

Had a half hour wait which was a given with how packed they were. We had a party of 6 and waited longer than half hour and was patient. The waitress comes to us who i guess was the manager about 40 mins in and said they cant do the party of 6 because they had some wrestlers there. She followed up with saying that maybe if we waited another half hour but couldnt guarantee it because sometimes they like to sit and chit chat for that long after they eat. I guess she was more concerned with getting a bigger tip than to seat us because we had 2 kids with us and the grandparents. She did tell us that she could split us up and we'd be across from one another so 2 and then 4 kitty cornered. That made my daughter very upset and was the last i wanted to happen givin she has surgery the next day suffering from a stroke/anurism and just to be together. We kinda worked through it but during that time we waited another half hour or more and another party of 6 showed up, was seated and got food before us which then made the grandmother upset. I do apologize for that but where's the hospitality. I guess losing our business is worth it givin that they'll make up the money in tips the next day their open givin its around the college. Ps she did take off a small amount from the order but was also missing a part of the order. I didnt bother going back in just took our food and left feeling...