iBarbque Express — Restaurant in Fruitland Park

My wife and I went out with friends yesterday evening and thought we would try some place new. Based on the reviews that I read in Yelp! we went to, “I Barbeque Express” on 27/441 in Fruitland Park. In full disclosure, we are big fans of the, “Oakwood Express” in Wildwood. We were seated at 6:30 PM, Saturday and the place was somewhat busy. Our server was a very nice gal by the name of Brandy and she took our orders for drinks shortly after we were seated. My reason for choosing to go to this place was the reviews of their beef brisket and what looked like great fried green tomatoes. First, service was very slow taking almost 25 minutes from the time we gave Brandy our order to the time we were served. Each of us ordered the 2-meat combo dinner plates. All of the online menus for this restaurant have never had their pricing updated so Yelp! lists this dinner as $13.99 while other sites list it as $15.99. Last evening the cost was $21.99. That would have been ok but what we were finally served was 2 ribs, 2 slices of beef brisket, one small cole slaw, one piece of corn bread and our second side was fried green tomatoes (which the menu listed as $1.50 upcharge but was charged was $2.00). As I mentioned earlier, I am a fan of the Oakwood Express and their ribs are lean baby back ribs served somewhat wet with bbq sauce on them. I knew that the ribs at, “I Barbeque Express” were center cut pork ribs and they would be different. The 2 ribs I got although tasty were very fatty, the 2 slices of brisket were dry, I suspect due to reheating, and the fried green tomatoes had so much breading on them you couldn’t really taste that tanginess associated with green tomatoes. I rate this restaurant as a 2 primarily due to Brandy our waitress and how nice and attentive she was during the course of our meal. Please be aware that there is also a 3.95% charge for use of a...

I give 2 stars because I have had the take out before and I knew it was good food. I really like the Mac and cheese and ribs. However, my experience as a dine in patron last night was a different story. More like a 1 star experience. At 6:45 on a Friday night we were told that both the brisket and the ribs were out...a bit annoying since that is what we came there eat but we were understanding and chose other items. I asked to look at the menu again and the waitress impatiently just rattled the other meats to me instead...btw I was thinking about changing my order all together to something like a burger at this point but was rushed and just chose a meat. 5 minutes after we were served though, our neighboring patrons were served brisket. At this point my husband was pretty upset because we would’ve gladly a few extra minutes for his meat of choice. Our server was not accommodating at all and didn’t even think to make the correction nor were any drink refills offered along the way. We did mention that we noticed that brisket was available to our neighbors but not us, but our waitress didn’t seem to care. Unfortunately this will likely cause us not to go there for a while. A shame really. We were really looking forward to a dinner out with the family and wanted to enjoy a local small business restaurant, however it came at a disappointment because of the service we received. Next time we go to BBQ it will be to one of the other popular local chains where I haven’t received such...

If I could give this place 6 stars I would! This family owned small business in a small town served up homemade food that you will crave!

We ordered take out: Rack of ribs. Wow! They came in a big pan, sliced and stacked on white bread. Yes, white bread! That’s backyard stuff right there!

Pulled Pork. Always amazing, I’d had this at my dad’s house before, I knew it had to be on our menu. So tender, perfect seasoning, you don’t need bbq sauces, but you can. I tried both was and was happy.

Brisket. This is usually a disappointment at BBQ joints. Not here! You can get it chopped or sliced, I am more of an originalist that likes Texas style sliced brisket. It stood up to the challenge! Nice smoke ring and flavor, plenty of juice, perfect tenderness.

Sides were Mac n cheese, collards, and baked beans. All three are homemade and you can tell! I make homemade Mac n Cheese and collards all the time, these were awesome! That flavor in those collards, nothing I could ever recreate! Beans too, slightly sweet, lots of flavor, the Mac and cheese was also excellent.

I got sweet and hot bbc sauce. Sweet was classic Florida sweet sauce, perfect. Hot was VERY hot! Be warned, I love hot so used it sparingly and enjoyed!

Not shown was a basket of okra. Oh so good!

Well done! See you again next week before we head back home but we will...