Ritchie's Smokin' BBQ — Restaurant in Harlem Township

*Update 6/8/24- Per the request I received via the reply to this review, I called and the person I spoke to was so thankful that she was able to speak with me. We discussed the situation, she apologize repeatedly and assured me the situation has been resolved. She also offered us a free meal to be used when they reopen. I am so glad that we both took the time to reach out and come to an acceptable resolution. I am looking forward to our next meal! *

On Sat, May 24th at 6:45pm (they close at 7:30) my husband and I ordered our meals at a walk up window. We had to ask for a menu as there is not one posted on the window. There was no in door dining, but they have nice picnic tables set up along side the building. We were told they would let us know when it was ready, not sure how they were going to do that.

At 7:15 we still had not heard anything, so I went back to the window to ask how much longer. I was told that they were waiting on the mac and cheese to heat up; as they didn't have any hot because it was so close to closing time. They said 5 more minutes. Does it really take more than 35 minutes to heat up 2 side orders of mac and cheese??

At 7:25 I returned to the window again, as we hadn't heard from them. I asked what is going on, where is our food? The response was "she just gave it to you!" Excuse me, obviously I don't have it or I wouldn't be asking. 2 of the staff members stood there trying to figure out where our food went. Once again I was told that I had received it.... umm not! After discussing it among themselves, they thought they finally figured out that they gave it to a person in a Jeep. They proceeded to tell me this person looked like me and was also named Jennifer, so they gave her the food. Well not only did this person not look like me, the name on our order was NOT Jennifer.

At this point, I asked for our money back. I was beyond mad and could not believe how the matter was being handled. A different staff member stepped in and gave me back my money.

After over 50 minutes, we had no food, no apologies, and nothing but RUDE service. We were angry and disappointed! A little over 2 years ago, we had them cater our wedding and we were very happy with them. I understand the owner is out at the moment, it is sad that his team allowed this to happen and then handled...

Im late to post as we had our dining experience approximately a month & half or so ago but would like to share anyway. There were 2 adults and 2 kids in our group & MY 1st time ever eating Ritchies, we spent right around $100 or so with 1 dessert and 1 pup cup added to our meals. I asked for my sandwich with no onion or green pepper and it was loaded with onion. They did offer to replace it but we had waited long enough for our food I opted to pull onion off myself. The (brisket) meat was VERY dry and tasted old,my Son said his sandwich was "ok" but definitely not like original Ritchies Brisket. The loaded potatoes were definitely not worth the money for the size & the Mac n Cheese was not only small portions but taste was mediocre at best to the adults in our party,I gave mine to the kids. Our personal opinions were that it's over priced,SMALL portions & sub par food. The service was friendly (2 ladies 1cook & 1server around 3p or 4pm) & the place was clean hence the ONLY reasons for even giving 2 stars but definitely won't be going back. Friend of mine ordered (to go) cpl weeks after our experience and wasn't told they were out of 1 of the main courses she ordered until she picked food up then she got home & see's the order of Mac n Cheese literally looked like soup & food she did get was not good PLUS she had to find something for her spouse to eat since she was missing 1 meal. She said overall it was a waste of money & definitely did not compare to the old Ritchies. Like I said these are just personal opinions of a few consumers. After hearing all the hype of this place for so long in the past then to actually try it was extremely disappointing. Wishing this place the best,small business is hard especially when trying fill...

It's kind of an odd place as barbecue joints go, as they do not serve barbecue ribs. Just barbecue pork and barbecue beef brisket. I've had several of the plates and they're all pretty good. The barbecue pizza was pretty good too, especially with extra cheese.

Sometimes they have cheesecake too but it's just commercial cheesecake and nothing real special. I've had it a few times, and while it was good as cheesecake go it was nothing really special.

I tried the barbecue nachos one time and thought they were sort of average. Sounded like a good idea but it just didn't work out real well. YMMV.

The cole slaw is good, as are the baked beans. The really special treat though is the cornbread. It is absolutely delicious.

The three-meat platter is pretty good if you're really hungry. It comes with both beef and pork and your choice of a Polish or brat. If you're less hungry, one of the cups is a good choice. It comes with barbecue meat, cornbread, coleslaw, and baked beans in layers in a cup.

The place is only open Wednesday through Saturday. Overall, good tasting bbq and sides.

Incidentally, a couple times I was there later in the evening and they ran out of cornbread. You really want to experience their cornbread so maybe you should go there a little earlier in...