Is Joes Barbecue better for lunch or dinner?

3kidz4me · Post by **3kidz4me** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:31 am

Can you get the same ribs for both lunch and dinner? We would rather go for lunch but didn't want to miss the good ribs. Thanks!

smilesfromMN · Post by **smilesfromMN** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:06 am

Great question. We would like to go there for lunch as well (we'd like to stay in Coral Bay area for dinner). I guess I just assumed that you could get both lunch and dinner there. As an add on question... are there specific lunch & dinner hours (meaning a time between that they aren't open)? If we can't get lunch there, how early can we pick up dinner to go? Thanks.

stjohnmay2003 · Post by **stjohnmay2003** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:28 am

I think the food is the same but I think it's a lot busier at dinner time. I've eaten there twice, both times for lunch and we sat right down and didn't have to wait long for our food. I've heard plenty of stories on this board about people going for dinner and having to wait a long time.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:13 am

Don't forget that you can phone your order in ahead of time also--cuts down on the wait. I don't have the phone number handy, but can post it when I get home if someone else doesn't get to it before then.

Randy in MD · Post by **Randy in MD** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:02 pm

One other point not mentioned yet has to do with the mighty portions served up at Uncle Joes. Your meal can be lunch AND dinner if you time it right...

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:35 pm

As promised, phone for Uncle Joes is 340-693-8806. Yum!

3kidz4me · Post by **3kidz4me** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:45 pm

liamsaunt wrote:As promised, phone for Uncle Joes is 340-693-8806. Yum!

Thank you and thanks everyone for your help!

nascarfan59 · Post by **nascarfan59** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:28 pm

We always like to do it for lunch. A combination of ribs and chicken will get you a couple of meals and a few snacks. Of course we are litght eaters but it worked out great and it is gooooooood!

ScottB · Post by **ScottB** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:30 am

We must of really hit this place on a bad night. This place has received rave reviews on this board for a long time, and my wife & I couldn't wait to try it.

We ordered the ribs, and brought them back to the condo so we could eat them by the water at sunset. Well, I mentioned this in my trip report, and I'll say it again, the ribs were average at best. They were chewy, and not tender at all. There was some sort of weird cartiledge running through each rib, that you had to fish out of your mouth. Flavor was very good, but the meat quality was poor.

Someone had mentioned that Joe himself was not on the island, and this might of been the cause of our negative experience. Believe me, I know what good BBQ is, and this was not even close.

Sorry to be the negative on this post, but I tell it how it was.....

promoguy · Post by **promoguy** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:54 am

ScottB, you didn't hit it on a bad night. The ribs are at best average but taste good because of where you're eating them.

On our first trip years ago, I was amazed at that great looking smoker he had outside so we bought rib dinner. My gut feeling is that they are parboiled and then put on the grill for finishing. If they were truly grilled all the way through or even smoked that cartiledge wouldn't be there.

I remember someon posting about the great home made sauce. Not so, after I saw him walking down the street with two five gallons of commercial stuff.

I'm do a lot of smoking of ribs and if lazy grill, so like you I do know a bit about BBQ and this really isn't it.

I will admit though that it does taste good and the portions are generous.

Ron_L · Post by **Ron_L** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:38 pm

promoguy wrote:My gut feeling is that they are parboiled and then put on the grill for finishing. If they were truly grilled all the way through or even smoked that cartiledge wouldn't be there.

Geez! I hope that's not true! I was getting psyched about good BBQ while in paradise! We'll probably try it anyway, but if they parboil, I'll know immediately. I just took a KCBS (Kansas City BBQ Society) judging class this past weekend and I'm now a Certified BBQ Judge (I know... Big deal

) and also cook with a team in BBQ competitions. Good restaurant BBQ is hard to find in most areas.

BTW, they are probably using spare ribs instead of baby backs (unless they specifically state baby backs), so the cartilage would still be there unless they specifically trimmed (St. Louis cut).

promoguy · Post by **promoguy** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:56 pm

Ron_L, dang it. I am impressed with your certification and to me it's a big deal. I can normally tell parboiled since the ribs tend to just pull off the bone not comparable to slow cooked. There is a great looking smoker, but it is not used for other than finishing them off on the grill.

Are you a member of Garry Howards BBQ List. One of the best around.

Sorry folks.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:08 pm

I know at least the chicken is parboiled because we saw them coming out of the water. He has big kettles in the back. I did not see the ribs coming out of the kettles while we were there though I think they are parboiled too because we noticed that he was putting the sauce on as soon as they hit the grill. I still liked the food anyway, though I'm from Boston and I don't eat pork either so I'm probably not the best judge of barbeque.

chrisn · Post by **chrisn** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:44 pm

[quote="promoguy"]ScottB, you didn't hit it on a bad night. The ribs are at best average but taste good because of where you're eating them.

Promo, you hit it dead on with this quote. EVERYTHING tastes pretty ok in paradise. I agree wholeheartedly!

ps, I think Joes is pretty average too! Lots of food though!

Ron_L · Post by **Ron_L** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:55 pm

promoguy wrote:Are you a member of Garry Howards BBQ List. One of the best around.

Yep. I'm pretty much of a lurker, though. I spend most of my BBQ time at the BBQ Brethren forums.

We'll try Uncle Joe's when we're there and I'll report back.

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