Black Dog Smoke & Ale House — Restaurant in Urbana

I have never written a review before although as the consummate travelling salesman, I use the reviews a bit and am always skeptical of course. But during my last stay in Urbana Il, I happened upon this place and feel compelled to write my first review it was that good! I was frankly surprised that one of the best all time bbq places was in Urbana. I went online to look for a place to have dinner and I kept stumbling across this place at many of the review sites and it was highly rated on all. It was a Monday night and many of the reviews said the place is always packed, get there early, there would be a wait etc. etc. So I decided to try it. The place is as advertised and now let me throw my two cents in. I had the ribs and burnt ends. I got there on a Monday about 6 or so local time and there was already a line for tables. The place is small. There is a blackboard when you walk in and seating is such a premium that you must sign in at the board before even taking a bar stool, which is what I ended up doing. I waited maybe 5 minutes and got the end seat at the bar. Just before I sat down, another single sat in the bar stool immediately to the left. I mention this because he is the reason I decided to write the review quite frankly. I sat there, ordered my food, made my choices based on the other reviews. Obviously burnt ends are a premium at any smoke house and they go quickly, and here they were rated highly so that was an easy choice. They were excellent. They offer a variety of sauces also. The bartender recommended one. For my second item, it was not such an easy choice but I'm glad I did choose the ribs. The guy next to me overhears my choices and he starts nodding as he's eating "good choices". I said its my first time here. He said you're in for a treat. Then he began telling me more. He said he was from Texarkana and moved to the Urbana Champaign area about 2 years earlier and just loved the place. He said he hesitated eating any BBQ in the 'north' until he couldn't stand it anymore and just had to try it. He commenced to eat his next 83 meals here in 71 consecutive days! By the time he told me this incredible thing, I was in the middle of eating my food, which was downright delicious. They sold out of burnt ends by 7 while I was there. The ribs were regular front ribs, St. Louis cut, but the best thing about them is that these ribs can be eaten wet or dry. The dry rub is awesome, the ribs have a bit of texture to them, which is my preference. I do not prefer rubbery boiled off the bone texture ribs. And frankly anyone can make baby back ribs tender, put a nice rub on them and then cover them with a variety of sauces. These were perfect ribs. The guy went on to say there are so many more menu items that are as good and I can't wait to try. I was so inspired by his story of eating there 71 consecutive days I asked the guy if I could quote him in my review and I promised him that I would indeed write one. He said sure. Check this place out. If I read this review I would certainly think that I owned the place but if you don't believe me, see for yourself. The owner apparently picks the hogs and the chickens very selectively, organically fed or grown or free range whenever possible (chicken), supposedly grass fed beef, and as I said hand selected hogs. Ownership is not willing to expand due to concern over compromising the quality. For that we can be annoyed or thankful. I choose the latter. Black Dog Smoke and Ale house. I hope the guy that sat next to me that day, I believe it was Monday August 5th, reads...

Black Dog Smoke & Ale House has two locations, the other is in Champaign, IL. This is the ORIGINAL. If you were to casually drive by this place with your car windows up, you'd probably no have a clue what this place was...until you saw the groups of people hanging around outside waiting to get in. That's right...WAITING TO GET IN! The food is of such high quality that people literally stand around waiting longingly for a table, or even a seat at the bar, just for the chance to eat. No matter when you plan to eat here...it WILL BE BUSY...and that's a good thing. If the food's good enough that people will stand in line just waiting for the chance to eat it (when there are two other BBQ places less than half a mile north and south of this place...one is on the same road), you know you won't be disappointed...just plan for extra time for your lunch or dinner date...it will be well worth it. If you can't wait around...CALL IT IN and PICK IT UP AT THE BAR! If you need to call in a lunch order you can start calling around 10:45am or so...but not earlier.

A couple tips for you: If you are meeting others at Black Dog, DO NOT write a name and # in your party on the list until all of you have arrived. If you say 4, but only 3 of you are there...you will be faced with a choice...get seated with 3 or wait for #4. If you seat with 3 and your orders have been taken...#4 can sit with you, but MAY NOT be allowed to order. It's nothing against #4, but with such a tight space and such high demand, they can't mess up the flow for even one person. If a person is going to be late...find out what they want in advance so it can be ordered when you order your food. Your friends will thank you; and Black Dog will appreciate you following the rules. :-)

If you have never tried their burnt ends (of brisket)...you should be ashamed of yourself! Your ears are either not listening to the shouting going on, or you always get there too late. These come out at the beginning of lunch and dinner (11am and at 5pm) and THEY DISAPPEAR FAST! Do yourself a favor, and get an order of these, at least once... How will you know when they are getting low??? If you start hearing a number and the Ends being shouted across the restaurant (in a call and response fashion): 10 Ends...7 Ends...5 Ends... ...86 Ends. This is the count down. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL 3 Ends, because 86 will be coming VERY SOON. When they hit 86...say Goodbye. Rarely do they have more during the time you are there...but it has been known to happen.

2.1 If you are standing in line waiting around for the rest of your party and you start to hear this call and response (and it's for what you planned to order)...go to the bar and order a take-out order quickly. ...

My wife (Linda ) and I had lunch here on Saturday Feb. 8th, 2014.I had the full rack of spareribs w/fries and beans and she had the pulled pork platter w/cornbread and twice-baked potato casserole...We also tried the Texas Caviar appetizer (excellent).!!!!The ribs and pork were smoked perfectly....fries were hot and crisp.....and the food overall was just fantastic.....I'm picky about BBQ having spent many years living in the Dallas/Ft.Worth Metroplex......I've eaten at Sonny Bryan's Original BBQ in Dallas on Inwood Rd. and Angelo's BBQ in Ft.Worth on White Settlement Rd. Gates and Sons BBQ and Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City......these are all well known BBQ restaurants nationwide and I'm happy to say that Black Dog in Urbana blows away the Kansas City restaurants and will run in a dead heat with anything that I've ever had in Texas. Now don't get this wrong ...it's not exactly what you will get in Texas but it is every bit as genuine BBQ as you will ever get.....My wife and I have attended the Memphis In May World Champion BBQ festival in Memphis several times and this BBQ at Black Dog resembles a Memphis /Carolina style of BBQ rather than Texas beef ribs/brisket cooked over mesquite/oak wood.......In other reviews someone mentioned the wait staff being grumpy or hurrying you along with your meal......This was NOT our experience ...our waitress was prompt ,friendly and very helpful with our order.....we had a great experience with a 25 minute wait to be seated at almost 2 P.M...We will be back.........maybe next Saturday.............with hearty appetites........................Hey, it's only a...