Prime BBQ Smokehouse — Restaurant in Lemon Township

I was really happy to see a legitimate BBQ restaurant open in Monroe. I have visited several times since the opening, and I do see that the menu has been adjusted since the open clearly to accommodate some customer requests. I was once a KCBS judge, so my observations are based on a pretty tough standard.

On my first few visits there, I was very impressed with most everything I ordered. My first outing with ribs from them was excellent, with good bite -- none of that "fall off the bone" nonsense -- and a good smoke flavor. The pulled pork platter was also excellent. Brisket is among the most challenging things to do well, and I did find Prime's a bit lacking. We need to see a vivid smoke ring!

I personally think their sides are very good! The baked beans have a nice peppery essence to them, and I like the creamy mac and cheese. Texas toast on a platter is a nice touch. The slaw is creamy, which appeals to my pallette.

The restaurant is clean and very pleasant to eat in. The presentation of all food as served inside the restaurant is excellent, and I find the staff very friendly and receptive.

However, in the interest of completeness, I must say that on my last few visits that I have found the quality of the meat slipping noticeably. I had brisket twice recently that better resembled pot roast ... no robust smoke flavor, and quite dried out. I had ribs a few days ago and they were complete mush and overcooked. No tug or bite at all, and the smoke flavor that I was savoring on earlier visits was missing. These were all observed during the lunch hour. C'mon, folks, I know you can do better ... don't send out stuff out like that.

I recognize the restaurant is new and that the pandemic has presented big challenges, but I have also unfortunately seen too many BBQ restaurants get a strong start only to tail off in their attention to detail. I will keep going, but I do hope that they take these comments seriously and ensure that they consistently serve the best quality product to all their customers -- so that Monroe can boast having a great place to get good Q.

UPDATE Nov 2023: I'm very happy to say that the restaurant has really shown a commitment to producing an excellent quality product, with more diversity in the menu while still appealing to core BBQ pallets. The smoke flavor on the meats is very good and the seasonings are robust and well-balanced. The cleanliness and presentation are top-notch. The earlier inconsistencies seem to be long a thing of the past. Way...

This is a surprising place! Though it's a small establishment without much decoration, they served up some very tender and flavorful food. Our family got the rib tips, pulled chicken sandwich, sausage Po Boy, and some Mac & Cheese and Greens.

I'll start with the rib tips. For those who don't know what this is, it's that section of ribs that don't have the BONE, but have the cartilage. You're still eating around some inedible pieces, but it makes for a very tender hunk of meat. It tasted great with the standard sauce on it, but you get to add one of 3 sauces which are at the table. House BBQ is a little sweet, Carolina is like a honey mustard, and the hot BBQ sauce has just a little heat on it. While there isn't much of a smoky flavor to it, the way it's seasoned, you don't miss it too much unless that's what you're going for.

The pulled chicken sandwich was so tender and flavorful. Pulled chicken is a hit or miss kind of dish, and they did it well.

The Po boy was gone so fast, that sausage is delicious and flavorful, with the slaw being a nice, non-overpowering compliment to the sandwich.

The sides were not the star of the show. Honestly, I wasn't very impressed here, the greens lacked depth and the Mac and cheese felt under seasoned. But my picky 5 year old ate it; to each their own!

Staff was helpful and accommodating. The place is clean and inviting.

It feels like this is a great restaurant in the making. If they get a smoker and a larger dining area, I can see this as a great sit down restaurant. It's about 25 minutes away from us, but we said we'd probably make the drive to go again. Near the outlet stores, too, this will probably be our stop whenever we...

The food was excellent . I got pulled chicken and green beans. I shared potato wedges with my husband. He got spicy pulled chicken and collard greens. The bbq sauce was on the table. There was 3 sauces to choose from. A spicy sauce ,a mustard based sauce and a milder sweet bbq sauce. I liked the sweet bbq sauce. We went on a Wednesday around lunch time . When you walk in ,you order at the counter. They have a revolving menu on a screen above the cashier. The only problem was trying to read the menu . There was a lunch special and there was numerous items to pick from but it scrolled through too fast to be able to read it all . We watched it several times. It had many "pages" that it scrolled through. So it took a few minutes to get to the page we were trying to read. After glancing around to see if they had a paper version of the specials we finally asked the cashier what the lunch specials included. However , she went through it so fast ( she probably had to have it memorized) . The deal was you could get any meat with one side. WHEW! I suggest taking a photo of the menu page you want and then you can read it . 😉 Anyway, I would recommend this restaurant because the food is good . The green beans were very tasty. You get a good sized portion of pulled chicken which was very good too. It's in a little strip mall not too far from the premium ...