Real Urban Barbecue

Finally, a great place for BBQ in the area.  I rarely partake in a big heap of barbeque meats and sides.  As such, I always want to stop somewhere good.  In the past, it meant we had to travel a bit.  Luckily, Real Urban Barbecue is right in my neighborhood, and everything I've had so far was really good.  I had the smoked turkey with their spicy sauce, on Texas toast.  The turkey was tender, well seasoned, and reasonably lean.  My partner in crime got burnt ends, which were super-savory.  All of our sides were really good.  The restaurant is very vivacious, everything is clean, and the staff were all friendly.  I'm looking forward to trying out more of their menu, soon.

Ever go to a place, maybe when you are particularly hungry, and just love it; then when you go back a month or so later you are like, hmm, that's not nearly as good as I remember?
Well thats my experience at Real Urban BBQ, I tried the Vernon Hills location a month ago, went for a late dinner and was starving.  The place was packed and the food was good.  Not the best Q I've had, but I liked it, I had heard the burnt ends were the best thing on the menu, but they were sold out.  Since I liked it, and wanted to try the burnt ends I couldnt wait to go back.

This time I went for lunch, figuring I'd have a better shot at the burnt ends.  I also tried the Highland Park location.  The burnt ends were pretty tasty, but were actually pretty cold, they took the brisket end out of the smoker, chopped it into chunks and then tossed it into a frying pan just to warm it up.  I've never seen BBQ right out of the smoker that needed to be warmed up, and was still pretty cold when served.  Despite this, they were good, a strong smoke taste and plenty of flavor.

It was the sides that were disappointing, the mac n cheese was boring straight up kraft blue box variety.  My wife had bbq nachos, and they used that fake cheese sauce again, just poured over some plane chips, she added  jalapenos, but still pretty boring nachos.  the pulled pork on top was good, but the nachos were a sad vehicle to showcase some good bbq pig.

they do pretty good bbq meats, but the sides are bland and do not at all seem made from scratch.

maybe it was too early? maybe the Vernon Hills spot is just better, but over all I was disappointed.  it was by no means bad, I just thought so much more of the place the first time I went there.

My bud and I tried Real Urban Barbecue at Bloody Mary Fest last summer and since then have been meaning to get here to try all their food. I'm so glad we did because everything was quite good.

Honestly, my favorite thing was the lemonade and nice outdoor seating they have. It's just so amazing to sit outside on a perfect temperature day and their outdoor seating doesn't disappoint. And that lemonade! It may just be the best I've ever had! We couldn't stop guzzling it down! It comes in a refillable mason jar....Yep I said refillable! All you can drink! Sarah likes this.

Before going I had my eye on the mini sandwiches and wanted to try a couple of the side dishes. I got WAY too much food but the good news is that made for some extra meals for me - Dinner last night, breakfast this morning (cupcake), lunch today and dinner tonight. I'm still a bit confused if I got the mini sandwiches or they actually gave me the full size sandwiches cuz they were SO huge and packed with meat. I tried the BBQ brisket, pulled pork and texas sausage sandwiches/ The mini sandwiches are $3 each or 3 for $8.
*BBQ Brisket Sandwich - Found this to be a bit dry. I added some extra sauce to the sandwich and then it was all good!
*Pulled Pork Sandwich - LOVED this! It was so moist and delicious. I added the mustard BBQ sauce on it and it made it even better.
*Texas Sausage Sandwich - Absolutely LOVED this sandwich too. The sausage was super spicy for my weak tastebuds though so if you can't handle spice, you may want to avoid this.
*Sweet Potato Souffle $3 - If you love sweet potatoes, you may just love this. I can't say I'm big on them and found this to be too rich for my taste. I realize that's just a personal thing though, but also found them to be a tad dry.
*Homestyle Mac & Cheese $3 - Loved it! It was the classic, creamy, macaroni & cheese. Great flavor!
*Suggestion* Slightly bigger tubs for the side dishes just so they aren't overflowing. These dishes are HOT and both of my side dishes had some fall onto my hand as the guys behind the counter handed them to me...burnnnnn! Literally.
*Double chocolate cupcake - Contrary to some of the other reviewers, I found the cupcake to be FANTASTIC! I had it for breakfast this morning and still a day later it was not dry at all. The frosting was great, cake was great, and the dollop of chocolate inside the cupcake was also great. Just a lovely cupcake that rivals actual cupcake shops.

Staff was great, and overall all the food was so good! It made for such a nice, relaxing night. I will absolutely be back when I'm in the HP area! Please open a location in the Schaumburg area! I would be ever so grateful.

Warning! The 'handles' on the sauce holders are not really handles even though they look like it. My poor buddy lifted it by said handle & BBQ spilled all over his clothes and ruined his white shoes....he was not a happy camper. My only suggestion would be for RUB to perhaps glue the center part of these holders in...? Or take out the center panel that has a hand grip when it's truly not that. We saw a couple other tables do the same thing he did but thankfully did not have the misfortune of the BBQ sauce exploding. :)