John Brown BBQ — Restaurant in New York

This place has amazing food. I've had take out from here a few times but one Saturday evening i physically came here with my family. We sat in and dined.

When you walk into the restaurant the registers are to the right. Someone took our order immediately. They have a great range of items on the menu. The restaurant has multiple tables and an outdoor space with a roof. You order your food, pay, take a seat at the table and wait for your name to be called. The person at the register was nice, patient and informative about the menu. Our food came out quick and hot.

The food is consistent every single time. The meats are ordered by weight, quarter, half, full, etc. Burnt ends are a MUST. I get them everytime. They have an excellent taste and are juicy. The brisket is also a must try. Really tender, great flavor. The ribs are meaty and hold a very smokey flavor, excellent. The corn bread is delicious. Not your typical corn bread. This one is moist, has corn pieces and is sweet. Its also scooped into containers because it is not those dry square kinds. This is outttt of the world amazing and different then what I've had my whole life. The mac and cheese is delicious, creamy, good flavor and not too cheesy. They put alot of fresh cracked black pepper. The baked beans are really good and also include burnt ends. So it feels like a two for one. The beans are tender, have a great bbq flavor and are cooked to perfection. We tried the french fries and they are fresh, crispy and salty. Very good. The meal typically comes with sliced white bread as well.

During this visit my husband ordered himself a beer. I had a Margarita. The Margarita wasn't the best. You can taste the lime flavor mix so its not made with fresh limes.

There are a few other menu items i have tried here in the past. Chicken sausage was one. It was good, smokey. I have also had the pork belly. It was the perfect amount of meat to fat ratio, loved it. The cole slaw was also good, creamy, seasoned perfectly and the cabbage still had texture which is great.

The restaurant itself is really clean. All tables were cleaned off immediately by a women who was maintaining the front house. My husband sees her every single time he picks up take out and during our dine in session she was there. She's always ensuring everything is cleaned. She also came by with plates and napkins a few times. I saw her stopping at each table asking everyone if there okay or need anything. She's a true gem, this place is lucky to have her.

The tables are set up like picnic lunch tables. The decor inside is simple but perfect. Above the registers they have the restaurant name tagged in spray paint, typically NYC art, love that.

This place is beautiful. The food is amazing and the service is everything you would want. This place isnt cheap BUT its worth it. I will continue to support them. Give this place a try, you wont...

Being from Kansas city I have tried probably 30 to 40 different places accross the KC area so I feel if there is one food I can critique its KC BBQ.

Surprisingly the burnt ends were quite good as its not easy to make. They were the best outside of Kansas City and are the only reason I won't give them lower ratings. Unfortunately it goes down hill from that.

The sauce is not good in my opinion. It's so thick and uncharacteristic of KC... It has zero tanginess and tastes more like tomato than most ketchup. I can tell they used fresh ingridients and put care into but it is absolutely not KC style. Maybe you'll like it but just know it's way different in KC

The Cole slaw was boring, certainly not bad but by certainly not a tasty delicious side like I was expecting.

The fries were very good

The ribs, my my, I think they forgot to take them out or something, they were SOOOOOOOOO LOL over cooked it was embarrassing. They were dark brown when any KC or tradional BBQ rib will be covered with some pink. It was so over cooked I had an entire layer of char on the bottom that peeled off the entire half slab of ribs. What I don't understand is upon detailed tasting I can tell they season and prepare the ribs very well, so I don't know why they cooked them to the point the bones would just break apart like it was a piece of meat. It's just unacceptable. Just look at my picture it's way too brown.

To summarize I don't understand what happened alot of the recent reviews compain of inconsistency and my expirience reflect that. It's just crazy that a place could make very good burnt ends yet completley mess up ribs. And while many non BBQ regulars may love the sauce as someone from KC I don't want anyone to expect the sauce to be like that In Kansas City. I give it three because of the authentic atmosphere, and other reviews that prevent me from giving a fair 2 star rating...

Definitely my favorite barbecue in LIC; if not my favorite in NYC definitely top 3 NYC barbecue spots; and probably in my top 10-15 all time. It's a neat, cozy spot with a unique atmosphere. There's a section with TVs for watching sports near the bar, but most of the inside eating area and the nice backyard patio are free of distraction, great for eating and talking with friends.

Ordering by the pound/half pound/quarter pound for some items can be an adjustment for some rather than predefined portions, and I still usually order a little more than I'll actually eat, luckily barbecue is easy to take home. They have delicious sides, the cornbread is a musher softer wetter corn bread than the drier more solid ones you may be used to, but my wife and I love it. Also the collard greens are amazing.

They do take reservations for larger groups, I would probably not recommend a group larger than maybe 8 or 9 though to be honest, just the way the place is laid out it would feel tight, unless your party would be willing to split into tables of 5 and 5/6 and 6.

The burnt ends are the best thing on the menu, in my opinion. They also have regular house BBQ sauce and a ghost pepper infused...