Blind Boar Bar-B-Que

Went last night with a party of 6.  Service was excellent - the waiter was very friendly, knowledgeable about the beer selection (which is very decent), and attentive - checking back on us regularly.  The girl who brought us our food, however, we could have done without her.  When our meals came out, she would put a plate in front of the closest guest, say what it was, and said 'you guys figure out who gets what'.  Really??  Negative points for her, in my book!  The food was OK - I've had better BBQ where the flavor is IN the meat and you didn't have to add sauce.  I got the chicken and rib combo platter - really wanted to check out the Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce.  You could really taste the Dr. Pepper but the sauce was just "OK".  Something just seemed lacking - no smoky flavor, no spices, no heat.  And the sides - the baked beans were very tasty, but the mac and cheese and the steamed spinach needed salt (and I never add salt).  Everybody else seemed pretty pleased with their meals.  I would probably go back, but after trying some other places in the area first.  Seems like a great place to enjoy a game - tons of TVs all over the restaurant/bar area.  Good place to bring kids/families or groups - loud enough to have fun, but not so loud that you can't hear each other.

They don't care when the restaurant is dead.

Sorry but this one is long.  

I came here on a slow night with my wife and in-laws back in March.  It was a Wednesday night and the parking lot was empty.  We were really looking forward to coming here because we love going to Bailey's in Blauvelt and was excited that there was a similar type of place opening close to our home.

When we entered the establishment there was nobody there to greet us.  No sign to tell us to wait to be seated or what to do.  So we waited as there's a hostess counter there, albeit unattended.  5 minutes later... still nothing.  We didn't know where to go as there are two doors, one goes to the bar the other to the dining room, although you wouldn't know unless you actually walked into one of them.  

So we get tired of waiting and I walk into the dining room.  I see only one table of 2 people.  No servers or employees anywhere.  So I walk into the bar where there are 3 bartenders and I ask them "Who do I ask to be seated?"  To which they ask me, "isn't there anybody out in the dining room?"  I say no and that we've been waiting for awhile already.  So one of the bartenders walks us into the dining room , seemingly annoyed that I interrupted the conversation he was having with the other two bartenders (which was also empty might I add), and tells us to wait for a waiter to come out, and he leaves without apologizing to us.  Mind u my wife is 7 months pregnant and my father-in-law is a cancer patient weakened from 3 months of chemo treatments.  

Another minute or so passes, and finally a waiter and a waitress both come out of the kitchen laughing seemingly having had a conversation that needed them both to leave the dining room unattended for a long time without coming back out with any food.  The waiter seats us but we try to let it slide.  I mean the food must be good right?  It's empty and we should get really quick service.  

We get the Chips, Southern Style Sausage, and chili to start.  Mother-in-law gets a salad.  For dinner we get the Rib and Chicken combo and an extra order of brisket.  We get an assortment of sides too.  

Appetizers come out relatively quickly.  The sausage is actually pretty good.  Nice snap of the skin and good balance of salty, spiciness.  Chili is good, not great.  We are now becoming optimistic.  

Dinner comes out and upon first glance, the food looks pretty good.  How you'd expect meat that's been a smoker would look like.  A nice crust with a reddish layer of color on the outside.  The chicken looks moist as well.  

But that's where it ends.  The ribs while they looked to have a nice bark to them, was actually ALL BARK down to the bone.  Usually you might get a crispy layer on the outside, but you are always supposed to have some moist meat on the inside closer to the bone.  Sorry but it was all crispy and sharp.  Hard on my stomach.  Like beef jerky only dryer.  Like having wood splinters in my belly.  There was no amount of sauce that could save it.  

The brisket also was dry like sandpaper.   A little better than the ribs, but not like a real brisket should be.  The chicken suffered the same fate, I'm afraid, like chicken that had been sitting in the open air for an hour.  

The sauces though were pretty good though.  and the sides were pretty good too.  But we didn't come for the sides.  And you can't use the sauce if you can't stomach the meat.  

Normally I would've asked if they could fix it, but we had already waited long enough and didn't want to wait anymore.  

It's too bad too because they seem to have great beer specials going on there and a seemingly decent happy hour promotion.  The beer selection is also decent too. The chef came out and asked us how everything was, I should've told him the truth, but didn't because I didn't think I'd be coming back.  The combo of service and food quality really turned me off.

I bet it isn't like this when they are busy.  I've passed by alot after that night and have seen a pretty full parking lot there some nights.  My wife and I say to each other "I wonder why it's full?  The food was horrible when we went."  

I wonder if the owner wasn't there that night and he had a manager looking over everything.  If so, the manager is not doing a good job watching the staff when the restaurant is slow and taking a "day off".  

Maybe I'll give it another shot when they are busier to see if there's a difference.  But for now I'll just stick to Bailey's.

One of the most flavorless BBQ restaurants I have been to. Ordered the Pulled pork sliders that had 0 smoke/bbq flavor at all. Plus the description on the menu is misleading. When it says served with "coleslaw & frizzled onions" realize that the cole slaw and onions are pilled on the sliders and not they side, and they don't add anything to the slider at all.  I also had the worst order of wings I can remember. They came out dry with no sauce or flavor!  The spare ribs were some of the toughest and thinnest ribs I have been served. I just don't understand how you can be that far off on a BBQ restaurant staple.