Details: Located at 40-52 Main Street, Floor 2, Flushing, NY 11354. Official site is http://www.gyu-kaku.com/
Gyu-Kaku is a chain of Japanese BBQ restaurants across America (perhaps even internationally). If you’ve ever had Korean barbecue, you’ll have a pretty good idea what you’re in for.
Details: Located at 152 West 44th St., New York, NY 10036. Official site is http://www.virgilsbbq.com/newyork/
The first thing you should know about this place, especially this location, is that it is primarily for tourists. This restaurant is located near Times Square, surrounded by hotels, and was filled with tourists when I came by. So why com here? Well, I’ve already been to all the other well known barbecue places in New York City and I wanted to try a barbecue place I’d never been to before and Virgil’s was the only place I could find nearby. It wasn’t bad though.
Me and a friend ordered the Pick Two Combo Platter which came in at $25.95. You get your choice of two meats and two side with cornbread. We both got the Memphis style pork spare ribs and the Texas brisket with the potato salad, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and cole slaw.
Everything was good. Not the best barbecue I’ve ever had, but the taste was fine. The portions were large and we were stuffed when we walked out. We definitely added an bunch of barbecue sauce to our meats. I don’t know if that means the meat wasn’t flavorful enough or if we just preferred more sauce. The macaroni and cheese is noteworthy in that they added a kind of cheese or some other flavor which made the mac n’ cheese memorable. I kind of want some of that mac n’ cheese right now.
Service was fine.
The interior was okay, just a lot of tourists. It’s a large space where the upstairs area was even larger than the downstairs. If you have a large party, they can definitely seat everyone.
Score: 6/10 I need some barbecue and so I got some here. Not the best, but was fine nonetheless. There’s not a lot of authentic, award winning barbecue in New York City.
Official site: http://www.bluesmoke.com/location/flatiron/#location-menu
Came here for dinner.
We had the spare ribs and the fried chicken with macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and corn bread. It was all great.
It was a very large space.
Service was great.
Score: 7/10 Would come again.
Muse Bank 