Virgil's Real BBQ - Las Vegas — Restaurant in Paradise

My first visit to Virgil's and I would like to go again with a friend. I am a huge bbq fan and have tried almost every bbq place in town. I also grew up in the Carolinas and lived in Texas too , so I am pretty knowledgeable about regional tastes and favorites. Reading some of the reviews Virgil's seems to be a little inconsistent. I had a pretty good first visit , but it wasn't perfect like most places.

To start with I really like the decor and layout of the restaurant. It has 2 levels with a dance floor and bar upstairs , dining and bar downstairs , and an outdoor dining area with misters to help with the heat. I was seated right away and my waitress , Tonya , was very nice , attentive , and knowledgeable. She checked on me several times and when I didn't like one side item she replaced it. Also , they do a Locals Discount of 20% or a Military Discount of 10% , which is nice since it's a little more pricey since it is on the Strip.

Now for the food. I got the 2 Meat Plate with Brisket , Pork Ribs , Beans , Cheddar Cheese Grits , and Cornbread and a PBR Draft to wash it down. They also have 3 different bbq sauces and I tried each one on both meats.

Brisket was really good and smokey like it should be. Not moist , but not dry either. I liked the Jalapeño Mango Bbq Sauce on this the best. I would recommend the Brisket.

Pork Ribs were meaty and had a dry rub on it and they were okay. Not fall off the bone , but again in the middle of dry and moist. Again the Jalapeño Mango tasted the best on them with the Hot Bbq a second choice. I probably wouldn't get the Pork Ribs again.

Beans were pretty solid with bits of brisket in it. The only thing I didn't like was the pieces of onion in it. I would still recommend the beans.

Cheddar Cheese Grits , I love grits and I was so disappointed in these ! I took 2 bites and Tonya replaced them with Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy. The best Cheddar Cheese Grits I've ever had was in Laughlin , Nevada at Bumbleberry Flats inside the Pioneer Casino. Such a surprise being West of the Mississippi.

Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy. The mashed potatoes you can taste they are real , not in the packet , very good. The mushroom gravy is a little to dark and heavy tasting and overpowers the potatoes. If they were to thin it out a little or add a little milk or cream to thin it out it would taste better.

Cornbread looked pretty good , but nothing there. Little to no flavor and it looked like it had maybe tiny pieces of jalapeño in it , but you couldn't taste it.

Now with all this being said I've heard good things about their Fried Chicken and would like to come back and try it. I was also too full to have any dessert and I see they have Banana Pudding and Pecan Pie as they should being a Bbq place. My PBR was nice and cold on draft which I prefer. My meal after almost a $10 Discount was $40.71 which the discount basically paid for my beer. As I said it's more pricey since it's on the Strip , but I think it's a pretty solid place to eat and I would recommend you...

Let me preface this with explaining I have NEVER left a negative Google review in my life, until now. I’d never waste my time to bother complaining and I’m easy to please, especially with food. We came to Virgil’s for lunch on our last day in Vegas on Oct 3rd. Ordered the brisket sandwich and it was the grossest brisket I’ve ever had. It was rubbery and you couldn’t even chew it. Fat and gristle all throughout. Fries were cold and soggy. My husband’s burger was “average” but his fries were also cold and soggy. During the meal, our server never once came to check in on us and see how the food was. As nobody was coming, I ate approx half of the sandwich (picking out the meat and trying to cut around it) and half the fries as I had a flight to catch and was hungry with no time to go elsewhere after. My husband insisted we say something and he told our waiter who still never asked us how the food was. Waiter went to speak to manager who wanted to know how much of it I ate, so he grabbed my plate to go show her. Female manager woman came to talk to us. She was insincere and patronizing and said I should have specified how I liked my brisket (i.e. ask for fat to be trimmed off) The issue wasn’t the fat around it, the issue was the meat itself was disgusting, it was rubbery and tough. I also didn’t think I’d have to specify I’d like hot fresh fries, seriously! Basically she blamed me for poor food quality! After that she took 1/2 off my entree, and still charged full price on my hubby’s even thought he didn’t touch a single fry cause they were cold and old. Terrible food, poor service, manager with no customer...

I’d imagine the positive reviews here are from folks. Suiting from a non-barbecue state. We ordered the sampler and nachos. The only thing that was hot was the chicken and the nachos. Everything else was barley warm. The ribs were dry and had not had the membrane removed prior. The mashed potatoes had no flavor. The brisket was a joke, couldn’t pass the pull test, had white grease veins running through it, indicative of a long warm hold time with poor wrapping. I’ve made better pulled pork in my crockpot. The chicken was under seasoned. None of the meat products had the flavor of smoke. I wouldn’t call this barbecue. The ambiance is nice. However, the service is lacking. We sat 22 minutes before anyone asked for our order and the place was not busy. In fact, the servers, 4 of them continued to go in and out of the front entrance dancing and conversing while tables just sat and waited. I’m all for a good time in the workplace IF and WHEN the job’s basics are being covered. Our platter looked untouched afterward. The server came to check in on us after 30 mins of us both sitting there looking at a full table of unpleasant food. I told her most items were cold or old and that I didn’t enjoy the meal. She proceeded to grab the manager who informed me that he believes me when I say the food is cold but it isn’t old. Sir I’m from Texas and my family runs one of the most notorious bbq restaurants here, I know when I see old Brisket. Anyway he gave me 20% off. Thanks for that but is was unnecessary as I was still out $108 bucks with the only thing enjoyable being...