Rocklands Barbeque and Grilling Company — Restaurant in Washington

Update. Great kids menu Allie and friends rocked our hungry world for under $20/ person.

First timer here... I was Hungry. Typed in BBQ "top rated"; sort by distance: Rocklands showed up with 600+ 5* reviews, seemed like a safe bet. Oh myyyy that was an immediate awesome choice. Will be back, maybe even tomorrow.

First moment we walked in it was already an awesome ride with a big smile greeting. This friendliest guy was not at all thrown off by an immediate question of what was his favorite dish was. He didn't blink an eye and responded back with his three meat platter and ribs. His partner in crime Allie also had some helpful recommendations of the winter stew and collard greens with pulled pork.

Did I mention they had whiskey? Like 12 types of bourbon and whiskey. Really great red 🍷 wine. Draft 🍺 beer

The food came out very quickly and everybody was just super friendly.

Each of us was very happy with our own dishes. It was really good to taste different textures and authentic flavors. The meat Was Juicy and had a really good flavor of balanced seasoning and good quality ingredients. The collard greens were perfectly tender but not overcooked. Very juicy. The stew was very chunky and you could really taste each ingredient without a mess of a sauce. They had a very versatile selection of sauces anything from sweet and tangy...

The food was okay, but everything arrived heavily drenched in sauce - in my view, good meat tastes great without sauce; covering your dish in cause indicates a lack of confidence in the quality and flavor.

(For context, I'm from Texas, Texas bbq is my favorite style of brisket, and I was a big fan of the Hill Country Barbeque before it closed its DC location.)

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I ordered the 3-meat platter (chicken, brisket, and pulled pork) with sides of mac & cheese and Texas corn pudding (like a pureed version of cornbread, sorta).

The chicken - despite being drenched in barbeque sauce - was very dry. I would not order the chicken again.

The brisket is thinly sliced and more akin to Kansas City, Missouri barbeque. It was okay - not bad, but also came heavily soaked in lots of sauce. The flavor was not bad but nothing remarkable.

The pulled pork was probably the best of the three, but I think only because it wasn't drowning in barbeque sauce.

The mac & cheese was fairly average. Didn't taste homemade. Not bad but also very generic.

The Texas corn pudding had good flavor and texture. Pretty good.

Food portions were okay (probably fairly standard for the DC area, which is to say, not as much as you'd expect to get for what you're paying), but that's just the norm...

Ordered the 3 meat platter and doubled down on the brisket + pulled pork to go. While sitting waiting for my name to be called, i noticed the dine in group that had ordered after me was already being served, so I got up and stood by the counter and waited more than a few minutes to be noticed and asked about my food. It, apparently, had been sitting waiting for me for more than a few minutes.... no name called at all... anyway.

So, i went ahead and sat at the table to finish my beer and try a sample of the food i had received. Crimes have been committed. To my great shock and surprise, I found very thinly sliced, (overly!) sauced brisket with HEAVY grill marks. To the point as to where what should have been deliciously moist brisket, had been turned into leather Jerky. I had hoped this was just an oversight, but when brought to the managers Attention I was told the brisket is cooked earlier and then just heated up on the grill and that this edible crafting material was acceptable and up to their standards. Who on earth, grills cooked brisket. It's sociopathic.

The pulled pork was average.

Also of note, decent sides and Only 1 BBQ sauce, branded hot sauce is...