Should You Do Virginia Barbeque?

Name:

Cuisines: Barbecue

Payment: Cash, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover

Alcohol: No

Price: $

Location: 9952 Liberia Ave, Manassas, VA 20110

Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday: 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday-Sunday: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

 Salt Says:

 I've heard of Carolina barbecue, Texas barbecue and even St. Louis barbecue, but before this assignment I had never heard of Virginia-style barbecue. And judging from my first visit to Virginia Barbeque in Manassas, I think there's a reason for that.

 Walking through the door, I was amazed at how many country-style nick-nacks and pictures were on the wall. I was a bit skeptical, since most of the time restaurants with so many decorations are a little out there. Fortunately, this one wasn't. There were no goofy, long-winded item names on the menu and the staff wasn't overly friendly or excited.

 The only thing I can say against the staff was that they were a little too anxious to serve me. Never having been there before, I took my time looking at the menu and I felt a little rushed by the server to make up my mind. But aside from that, he was very friendly and helpful.

 Virginia Barbeque offers a variety of barbecued dishes including Texas, North Carolina and St. Louis-style dishes. But when in Rome ...

I decided on the Virginia Barbeque sandwich combo which comes with two sides, a 20-ounce drink and cornbread. For my sides, I chose macaroni and cheese and hush puppies.

 The hush puppies were pretty good, almost as good as homemade. They weren't greasy, but perfectly crispy on the outside and a little oniony and sweet on the inside. The mac and cheese was very Southern country—it remotely reminded me of my grandmother's. The cheese was a little sharp, but delicious none the less. The cornbread was a side-note, but a pretty tasty one.  It was slightly better than Jiffy Cornbread. 

 The Virgina barbecue was the star of the show. It consisted of not-quite-so-shredded chunks of barbecued pork mixed with—what I'm guessing was—Virgina-style barbecue sauce. It was slightly smokey and the meat was just a little on the tough side.

 After my first taste of Virginia barbecue, I don't think I'll be in a hurry for a second taste.  While the meal was good, the flavor of the sandwich wasn't enough to warrant its own distinctive style. It tasted like a cross between all the aforementioned styles melded together. That being said, if I ever feel myself in dire need of so-so barbecue, this will be my first stop.

 Pepper Says:

So the day I planned to go to Virginia Barbeque I was starving, so I headed out the door with a printed menu in hand. I decided to order on the way, since I was told it was not a sit-down restaurant.  When I called in, I was told they don’t serve beef barbecue, even though it was on the menu. Then they asked if I wanted North Carolina or Virginia style—as if I knew the difference. The man who answered the phone informed me that Virginia style was a tomato base and Carolina was a tangy barbecue. Tangy barbecue chicken sounded wonderful, so I asked for a pint of it  just so he could turn around and tell me, "We don’t have any today."  

So I ended up with the Carolina pork. I ordered a family meal and a Virginia barbecue chicken sandwich. Yes, I know the order was a bit excessive, but as I said— I was starving. On top of my ravenous hunger, the menu and website boasting of glorious barbecue Jedi-mind tricked me into thinking I was about to have the most wonderful barbecue to ever grace my taste buds.

 So I rolled up, and am very optimistic about my order. First of all, it wasn't  ready when I got there, then the man behind the counter belched loudly while talking to me.

I asked belch-boy if  there were any specials going on that weren't mentioned on the menu. He told me, "no," but there was a whole poster board of specials at the door when I walked in.  Whatever. Let's eat.

 The pork barbecue tasted liked a bad cut of meat seasoned with vinegar. The cole slaw was like peppery overly diluted mayonnaise and old cabbage. The corn bread, which I was craving, was icy cold in the middle.

The fries were cold too; I guess they made them that morning and didn't leave them in a heater. I ordered collard greens and instead received what resembled green beans. The Virginia-style chicken sandwich was better tasting than the pork, but still not very good. The baked beans were the only decent item out of all I ordered.

 Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed with the meal I had just paid $25 for.  The stuff tasted horrible.  I'd rather go to Glory Days or Famous Dave’s any day. I think I might have even had better luck with barbecue from a gas station.

 The place is well decorated and it is in a nice shopping center. It's right there on Hastings and Liberia Avenue, across from the Harris Teeter shopping center. The Virginia Barbeque staff, though slightly uncouth, were friendly. 

The place does have many other dishes, such as hot dogs and stuff, and they could be very good for all I know. But everything I had ruined my appetite for the next day. I don’t think I will be trying out  barbecue any time soon.

 I definitely would not return there, even if  my grandmother held her 100^th birthday party there.