Prime BBQ Smokehouse — Restaurant in Highland Charter Township

So, let me preface this review by saying that a lot of Michiganders will enjoy this food. We waited to try this spot until there were a lot of positive reviews, because we have had such bad luck at every michigan BBQ restaurant we've tried. For me and my lady though Prime BBQ is another big swing and a miss. I can tell you 100% what the problem is, it's the smoker they're using and whatever wood product they're putting in it for flavor. If you drive around the back of the restaurant you'll notice something really big missing. There's no smoker, or pile of firewood. They're using one of these commercially available, indoor electric smokers. These smokers are terrible. Don't get me wrong, they CAN produce EDIBLE meats, with smokey flavor. The problem is that it's not genuine or good tasting at all, to anyone who's had REAL BBQ. Fortunately for Prime BBQ, Smoke street, and Famous Dave's, there's not that many people in Michigan that have had REAL Texas BBQ, so their customers have no idea what good BBQ is supposed to taste like. I love BBQ. Specifically Texas BBQ.

This restaurant experience just made me sad, because the smoke flavor you're getting on the final product is bad, all the way around. Even driving the food home in my car, (carry-out) it filled my car with a smell that definitely isn't BBQ... it actually smelled kinda like hot dogs. I had the 1/2 chicken and brisket. The chicken was a little under cooked, (it was technically "done") but it needed a little longer in the cooker to render more of the fats. Your brisket rub is pretty good, and the cook overall isn't too far off, but the smoke flavor is not good at all. My lady had the ribs and brisket.she said the Brisket was the worst she's ever had. She said the smoke flavor was disgusting, and she couldn't finish it. Her opinion was a little stronger than mine. Your ribs had no color on them, and she said they tasted like ham, which isn't real bad, but it's not how BBQ ribs are supposed to taste..

Also, no self respecting BBQ joint sells "rib tips". Those are supposed to stay attached to the spare ribs when you serve them.

The carrot cake was OK, although, not homemade, the peach cobbler was not very good. Just a plastic bowl half full of canned peaches for $5. The Cajun wedges weren't very "cajun", you gave me a lot of them, but there was no real flavor, the Mac and cheese was pretty generic, not bad, but not outstanding. There is no excuse for using canned green beans.. that's just lazy. Let me know when you get a BBQ pit, a stack of firewood. and someone to run it, like a pitmaster. Otherwise, I've seen enough. Service was fast and friendly. Your staff was working hard.

Edited. After speaking to the owner online he claimed they ship mesquite in from Texas, which is dumb, because Mesquite is not good for low and slow BBQ, it's great for grilling hot and fast, but they should be using oak, hickory or some combination of fruit wood I guess,(seems to be what every other Michigan BBQ joint is using) but if they wanted to make good BBQ they could switch over to Oak or Hickory, and the final product would be quite a bit better overnight.... still though the electric...

I was out on this side of town and had to eat immediately. My stomach was growling and it was getting ugly over here. I quickly located places to eat near me, and this place came up. I've never heard of it before and saw that it just opened? Plus, it was less then a mile from where I was at, which made it much easier to decide. (Plus, I wasn't in the mood for fast food.)

Pulling in, the place is in a strip mall and reasonably easy to find. There's a decent amount of seating here for up to parties of 4. You order at the counter and the menu's overhead. (it's also online.) They have fabulous lunch specials here which I got for $9.99. It's a meat of your choice (to many to list), Texas toast and one side. Plenty of side options to choose from, so I went with mac and cheese. Meal deal also comes with a drink, and fortunately they have fountain pop, which is important to me. They also have some canned options but who cares about that. LOL.

I saw that they also have larger meals for up to 10 people? I think it's like $55 or something. Sounds good if you're having a gathering and need to feed people. Prices here seem fair for what you get, and they have a decent amount of options.

Anyway, my food came out and it was FABULOUS. I loved my brisket. Mac and cheese was awesome as well, and the Texas toast was good as well. Portions were ample and filling. They have 2 BBQ sauces here. One's the house sauce and two others that I didn't like. I don't like the yellow looking BBQ sauce that's out on the market. I think it's a version of South Carolina's form of BBQ sauce? It's to vingerish for me. Anyway, the house specialty BBQ sauce was fantastic and really made the brisket taste even better.

Overall I'm happy that this place opened. I guess there's only one other location in the country and it's in Monroe Ohio. So, if you can, drive here and check it out. You'll...

We visited about two weeks ago. I got the pulled pork, mac & cheese, Texas Toast, and rice & beans.

The pulled pork and rice & beans were good, as were all their BBQ sauces. The Texas Toast was the typical store bought freezer kind. **The mac & cheese was not baked, just a regular stove top made kind. Mac & cheese is one of my "go to " sides but in the future I'll skip this side . **Edit 11.18.2024: I got an order via the 'Too Good to Go' app and one of my sides was mac & cheese. This one WAS baked and tasted/looked better than our initial visit. On our initial visit, I do remember the server mentioning that she was in the middle of making mac & cheese and it would be several minutes before it was ready. Now I believe that my first order of mac & cheese was just served freshly made and wasn't baked. Baking made a big difference.

Overall, good food. They are located in a small strip mall, so the atmosphere is pretty casual.

Get the app 'Too Good to Go' and as of this posting 11/2024, Prime BBQ is listed on it. The app lists businesses that sell food overages at a deal. Pickup times only at specific times of the day, typically at the end of the business day. I do pick ups from businesses and take the food to work the next day for my lunches.

Edit: the photo is from my 'Too Gppd To Go' app order on 11.18.2024. For me, it's enough for two lunches. The green beans were good but a bit salty for my liking. I'm going to guess that they're cooked in a chicken stock, which is very flavorful but just a bit too salty. The baked mac & cheese was definitely better than what I received on our eat in visit a...