Brothers Barbecue Palisades — Restaurant in Town of Clarkstown

After hearing good things about their first location in New Windsor, I was excited to go here this weekend. Unfortunately it was the first and last time I'll be there.

The short version: Very slow service Fatty/inedible sandwich meat I had to remove myself Overcharged us with extra drinks we did not order.

The full story:

The problems started after we were seated. 15 minutes of waiting and nobody had even come by to take our drinks order. We had to flag down the hostess, who then took our order herself. No harm, no foul, right? New place, hiccups are to be expected. Then the food came out, delivered by who I assume was our waiter even though it was the first time he'd been to our table.

I ordered a brisket sandwich and the amount of fat still attached to the pieces of brisket was extreme. I had to disassemble the sandwich to remove the extra fat and then reassemble the sandwich. Pictures attached, in case you think I'm exaggerating.

The food itself was decent. The 4 small slices of brisket for that barely created a single layer on a hamburger bun felt a bit on the cheap side, but it still tasted pretty good. Not sure what I think of a brisket sandwich that comes with no sauce of any kind, but they have (I think store-made) barbecue sauce on the table to add at your leisure.

We got asked by two different waiters how our food was within a 5 minute period. It would've been nice to get that attention before our food was brought out. The second waiter brought us our check (neither the hostess that took our orders nor the waiter who brought our food out) and it had extra drinks on it that we had not ordered. Fortunately getting those removed was easy enough. But it was only easy to notice because we were only two people who only ordered a soda and a water to drink. Was it an accident? Malicious? Don't know, don't care.

I'd like to believe our poor experience was a one-off as they iron things out, but the food was lackluster enough that I don't care to find out.

P.S. This is a very minor thing, but the bathroom garbage was full and overflowing with used paper towels onto the vanity. I know this happens once in a while, but for a newly opened restaurant I'd expect this not to be an issue in the middle of a Sunday. We're not talking about...

Honestly i'm very disappointed in choosing this Brothers' location for tonight's dinner outing. I have always been a lover of the location in Ramsey, which I have eaten at numerous times with family and friends. This one particularly is no comparison to the quality over there in Ramsey. The server we had was genuinely the best part of the entire experience!

Moving on to the food, my friend and I ordered appetizers (Fried Mac n cheese balls, cheese fries, and smoked wings w/ flavors golden bbq and chipotle cherry bbq). The cheese fries are phenomenal and highly recommend. The wings were good as well. The golden bbq did not taste like a honey bbq as it was described to be by our server, however the chipotle cherry bbq was a really good and different flavor combo I would say is worth the try. But the fried mac n cheese balls were absolutely awful. They were dry and lacked all flavor that the actual Mac n cheese as a side had.

For an entree we did the 3 meats plate (meats: pulled pork, brisket, and smoked chicken) w/ sides of Mac n cheese, collards and candied yams. It was okay. The pulled pork at Brothers has always been my favorite that I order there and never fails to disappoint. The brisket was good as well and very tender and juicy. The smoked chicken I would not order again as it wasn't juicy at all and lacked flavor as well. For sides the Mac n cheese was fantastic and the candied yams were good. They were not as sugary as others I have had at other places and taste similar to a sweet potato (full transparency: I have never liked yams growing up due to how sweet they are so they might not be up to some of y'all typical yam standards if you like the candied part lol). The collard greens were very very salty and I didn't take more than one bite. Even with adding some hot sauce and all that, just was not good at all. Genuinely some of the worst ones I have ever had, at a Brothers' location as well as in general.

Overall if you're gonna go I genuinely recommend taking the ride if possible to the Ramsey location and making the experience more...

The best thing I can say as a manager and customer service food expert is that the ambiance , music in the Palisades Mall location a well as the cornbread was great beyond that much work must be done to accomplish the reputation and accolades the new jersey location has garnered from my understanding ! Our server was ok but we arrived a 2 hours before closing so I guess we didn't deserve the same attention as the earlier patrons? So my family ordered quite a few things or we tried to? my wife ordered the burnt ends I ordered the collard greens, so we thought but we were later informed that they were not available, so some guy tells me I would like the string beans as a alternative and they are just as good as the collard greens,and my wife was told the sticky ribs would be a great option for her replacement"NOT" In either case the food was overall mediocre the sauce was just sweet syrup void of flavor my daughters Mac ând Cheese was cold! Hot on top Cold on the bottom and this was confirmed by another server whom kindly stuck his finger in the dish right in front of us!, I will say that the meats were cooked/smoked well but even they lacked seasoning and flavor but beyond that paying for a party of 5 my expectations are little higher than normal. My grandson did enjoy his cheese burger and fries. Rachel the Manager did try to resolve the issues but when I'm standing up and leaving is not the time to try and rehab a bad situation you already got my money! Food excellence, Integrity, Open communication and attentiveness are key to a successful launch of another location keeping the original concept intact not" we do thins a little different over here" well different is not always a good thing and in this case get back to the basics the Real Brothers would appreciate it rather than demolish their dream! Having grown up in New York , Traveled the world and a resident in many states in the southeast this is not BBQ at its best! But with the right people in the right place you can turn this establishment around...