Little Mark's BBQ & Grill — Restaurant in Vernon

Wow, oh wow! These guys are back and even better than before! If you were a former patron, you definitely need to go back. If you've never been, I can easily say that this is the best BBQ in the region. I went with my son on day two of the reopening after a many year hiatus (we missed you dearly). It was a great experience!

The front of the house staff are super well organized, with a very pleasant demeanor and perfect timing. If I hadn't of known this was the day after their grand opening, I would swear these folks had been working together for years. One of the best opening week performances I've seen in a very long time. I honestly went being a bit skeptical having experienced the hype of Rocking Horse when they opened up, but being very disappointed as there was pretty much zero presence of the proteins ever spending time in the smoker. Not so here at Little Mark's! The items we ordered had that trip down memory lane smokiness that told you you are home. Damn, it is so good to taste and smell again!

Lea promptly and pleasantly greeted us and took our order of the sweet and spicy Cajun chicken wings, a bowl of the chili, an order of the fried pickles and a half rack of the baby back ribs that had a huge side salad with a tasty balsamic vinaigrette dressing. While we waited, we looked at the decor, which is pretty similar to the last restaurant that was there. It's nice enough that it didn't need changing. The seats and tables were replaced (yay for no wobbly tables)! The place was quickly filling up (we got there around 4:20), but the staff were keeping pace. Our food came out in a very reasonable time and there was plenty of it! I'm so happy that a lot of the items from the old place were the same if not better. The food was hot and the ingredients are definitely fresh, especially the salad. The flavor is off the chart great and you definitely feel like you're at a proper smokehouse down south with the presentation.

The only thing that wasn't super great, and it's definitely a nit pick, is the corn bread was a bit dry and there was no butter or sauce to counter the dryness. It's honestly a minor thing in the grand scheme of things.

We left feeling super pleased and thankful that we finally have a great place to get fantastic BBQ without having to drive up to MA. Thank you guys for coming back and giving us an amazing dining experience!! ❤️

P S. Apologies for pictures with the trays not full. We couldn't wait and dug in before I remembered to take...

I'm local so I figured I'd give these guys a shot. Never had them when they were open years ago, so I can't compare there.

Parking was limited/odd and we had to park behind the hotel. Atmosphere was a nice, modern country feel. Open, a bit loud, but in a good way (unlike Rocking Horse). Service from our server Alexis was wonderful.

The food left quite a bit to be desired. Appetizers are insultingly expensive ($12 for fried pickles and $12 onion straws?! $12 for garlic bread?!). We got the burnt ends and the Korean sticky ribs, which had okay flavor but were very dry. Had to cut with a fork and knife and add BBQ sauce. Not tender. The Mac and cheese was creamy and cooked well, but lacked flavor and salt. The mashed potatoes had literally no salt whatsoever, but a good consistency.

For the mains, we got the prime rib, baby back ribs, and a chicken wrap. The prime rib was divine. One of the best I've had. Great smokiness and flavor, juicy, and seasoned well. The ribs were, again, incredibly dry. Nowhere near fall off the bone. Had to use a knife to get the meat off. The wrap was really good and thick, but wraps are hard to mess up.

Overall I'd give a 2/5 for pricing, 3/5 food, 4/5 atmosphere, and 5/5 for service. I'll try them again, but judging by the majority of the reviews, they really need to figure out how to not dry out their meat. If they can figure that out, the flavor is there (minus the Mac and cheese and the potatoes), the prices will be...

Since the relaunch of Marks BBQ, I can see why they closed the first time. Arrived at 4:50p and was seated within 2 minutes of walking through the door, which was awesome, but waited 15 minutes and another 10 minutes for water. waitress was very polite and easy to talk to. The couple that sat behind us started drinking early in the morning and were sloppy drunk by dinner time. The male half was trying to impress his date by ordering the hot bbq sauce but couldn’t handle it and was coughing obnoxiously loud with zero effort covering his mouth. It is the establishments responsibility to say no more alcohol when they have trouble talking and cant comprehend what’s going on around them. Needless to say he had food on his chin and hands from it flying out every single time he tried to take a bite. Our burnt ends appetizer took 45 minutes to come to the table. They had a very mild smoke taste and were cooked in the oven and were anything but what a burnt end is suppose to be. There was no skin cap which leads me to believe they just use a pork roast which is not a burnt end. My wife enjoyed the salmon and I had the meat sampler, which the ribs and sausage were pretty good, the pulled pork was mediocre. Overall it took 2 hours from entry to exit and were sat within two minutes of entering. 6 out of 15 stars isn’t that bad. But maybe motivation to do better than...