Mighty Quinn's Barbeque

I'm going to preface this with: I grew up in the South and at any particular moment at home I'm less than 15 minutes from a half-dozen or more BBQ places. I've been to more BBQ joints across the US as I travel for work than I care to count.

For NJ, this BBQ isn't bad. I've certainly eaten much worse smoked meat in the Northeast, where options for BBQ can be few and far between.

Portions are okay for the price. I had pulled pork and brisket this trip.

Flavor wise their BBQ is average. If you're not picky on what style of BBQ you prefer or if you didn't even know there were different styles, then this place is perfectly fine. They dust their servings with rock or sea salt, not sure which, which I'm not a terrible fan of. If they'd just added it to their seasoning rub before the smoker it probably wouldn't be necessary. Hopefully it's not an attempt at "fancy" BBQ because it doesn't end up that way at all. It ends up making some bites too salty while others desperately need more. You don't eat "fancy" and expect half the mouthfuls to be "meh" right?

The house sauce tastes like a traditional Carolina vinegar base except without nearly the spice level typically present. It's not there to stand out and accompanies the meat generally unobtrusively. Way to go on this one actually, most chain places focus too much on the sauce and serve bad meats. The table-side pour bottles could use downsizing though. Or, if they want to lean into their vibe a little more get a stitched leather band to aid in grip.

The pulled pork was very good. Their sauce and the pork work very well together. It has the right amount of mouth feel and you get just that touch of pork sweetness in with the right amount of fat. Some places can't even get pulled pork right, and this place hits it out of the park.

The brisket is, unfortunately, not as much as a standout. It isn't dry which good, but there is no bark to speak of and the smoke penetration is poor with no real smoke ring evident. Heart of Texas brisket this is not. It ends up being on the sweeter side when paired with their sauce, which is fine if you like that. If they maybe doubled their precooking seasoning coating it would stand out more. As it sits it's an okay, uniformly savory and safe menu item.

The mac n cheese is uneventful. It adds a nice creamy flavor and additional texture between forkfuls of meat. I appreciate the thicker cheese sauce.

It's an above-average result for a BBQ chain. Good work whoever runs this place.

Edit 6/25 - spelling and grammar corrections