Russell's BBQ Reviews

Always good BBQ food here. You wouldn't be disappointed with anything you got here.

Best ribs in town good place to eat reasonable prices very good experience helpful staff good people

Been going here for a long time. The pork and beef sandwiches are the same as they were 38 years ago. The ribs aren't as good as I remember. Very casual. About 10 bucks for a meal and drink.

Tough, dry brisket. Sad. Maybe just a bad day, though I probably won't check to know.

Russell's has been in west Chicago since 1932 so you have to go. The food is good and they are busy. I've had some better but I've had more a lot worse. It's worth a Saturday night out. Lots of seating and off street parking.

The food could be better but what you get here is more like home-cooked barbecue food than restaurant-style, and this restaurant has been here for decades. Family-friendly and priced to eat!

Been going since a child. Great bbq sandwiches. Great sauce.

It was clean. Nice parking. Bbq was good. Just kinda blah. Like everywhere else.

Average food, got the bbq pulled chicken sandwich and it wasn t anything special at all. It was good but wasn t great. Also got the chicken nachos and they were good except for the fake cheese liquid they put on it. A large group of us came here from a wedding on a recommendation that it was an awesome place. Overall the group liked the food we just didn t find it amazing. Maybe our expectations were set to high to begin with when we were told it was an awesome place. When prices are higher then other places the food has to be awesome otherwise it just isn t worth coming back, I can get good tasting food from many places for less money.

Family favorite. Been coming here for generations. Great beef sandwiches and good appetizers. Bar and slots onsite if that's your thing as well.

Going here for over 30 years
Best pulled pork
Great atmosphere
Family friendly

Classic! Our family has been going here for generations.

Decent food for a good price. Could've been cleaned and more organized though

Been going there for years. Good food for a great price.

Great BBQ beef been going since I was a kid would recommend!!

Chicken is fantastic!!! Will travel for that sauce!!!

I have lived in River Grove for over 30 years so I had my first Russell's experience as a kid. I've stopped back in now and then over the years and I'd attest that the place has fallen off, hard. Dining room hasn't been touched in eons - I don't expect them to even modernize it but it looks like a dump. But the food is truly the offending issue. Not prepared with care, no flavor. Way over cooked chicken was my latest mistake. It was outright offensive and I ate it but I think I can make better BBQ in my condo. No smoke flavor and cooked positively to death. The sauce is what it is.....it's as mild as a summer breeze, not exactly what I think one looks for in this cuisine. They are phoning it in at this point and I expect the building is long paid for...they are able to keep costs low enough that they can consider a dribble of elderly customers to be a 'success'. I don't need world class, award winning BBQ to give a 4 or 5 star but some effort would be nice.

Food and drinks were over priced and not even worth what I paid. Some of the ladies were rude and seemed bored. Maybe because the place was dead or it was just too slow of a day but definitely not worth coming back.

Loved it best barbeque beef & great ribs been one my favorite places since the 60's

I like this place they have the best food,rubs all there food is the

Russell's is a place I've been going to for more than 50 years! Tonight's visit was awesome!

I really liked the food. It was tasty. They had weird ketchup. I liked the bacon, but I don't like lettuce and I forgot to ask for it without. I also don't like the potato salad. It tasted weird.

My husband was driving by and said Hey, we haven't eaten at russells in a while. So we stopped to eat. This was our second time eating here a now I remember why we never came back. The food is not that great. We both had half slabs and mine came with breaded shrimp. My shrimps were fine. The ribs were overcooked at the edges. The middle was fine. My husband put on the barbeque sauce at the table and it had a funky floral smell. I think it was cloves. He ate his food but was put off by the smell. He did order another brisket sandwich to take home. He also ordered 2 more for our kids. When he came back to the table with the take home order he was very disappointed. He said look in the bag. I looked inside and saw 3 sandwiches on paper plates stacked on top of each other. I took one out to see and they were all smooshed. I took a picture just as looks as I opened the bag. And by the way nobody liked the food. We spent a total of $65.83 $38.90 for our food including 2 small drinks and $26.93 for 3 sandwiches only. Save your money and don't make the same mistake we did.

Ive been coming here since i was a kid and always was happy. Today me and my mom stopped in the drive thru after months of not coming. We spent 42 dollars to feed 2, which is nuts. The food was good. But my mom and I have been sick to our stomachs for hours. I have the sweats, so naucious and bad diarea. I dont know what happened Russels, but something is not right at all... I am so dissappinted, and also hoping we can go to work tomorrow.

Great when my dad came here when he was a child and great as he brought his grandson ...yummy

I just love the smoked pork sandwich with potato salad!

If I could give negative stars I would! Horrible customer service, takes forever, and couldn't get my order right. Also, for a place that brags about their sauce, it be nice to actually get some on the ribs. Paid $4 for 2 pieces of corn bread only to get home and it's no where to be found! What a rip off.

Great food, family tradition. Highly recommend smoked pulled pork or traditional beef sandwich

Excellent service during this difficult time! The ribs are always delicious!

Worst place we have eaten in long time and will be a longer time before we go back. The place is not friendly, ribs are hard (like overcooked) with a weird bitter sour BBQ sauce, and no pop refills. Also the bathrooms look tidy but reek from urine and sewerage.

Great place for BBQ and Brisket. Line up to order and they call your number for the food and you sit anywhere. I had Ribs and they were great.

If you go through the drive-thru you will be sitting there a long time. Then when you make it up to the window they make your Park in their parking lot for pickup. You will also be sitting there a long time I'm surprised the food was still warm.

Chicken is delicious and service is super fast. Great for the whole family.

Overpriced BBQ. Not impressed at all. Service sucked and they didn't help me with anything. Coleslaw wasn't fresh and pulled pork sandwich was dry as hell. Never again!!!

Food is usually spot on with a pretty good put style used. Service is pretty good as the food is made when you order and is served as quickly as it comes out, I personally think that they could make it better if the people serving actually had a conversation with customers while they wait. It also has a fair price and is family friendly.

Ben going there for years best pork sandwich in town

Not quite the same as years past but still a family favorite

Plenty of seating and parking.
Numerous items on menu
Just missed the mark for great bbq. Just ok.

THE ABSOLUTE BEST! !! Been going there for decades, can't find another place that serves the same kind of food.

I remember why we don t go here often, the tips were dry and the sauce is runny and just Ok, we like ours thick and bold. We came here with our group, I ate mines since Im starving but Everyone pretty much have to take their food home, reheat and maybe put some better sauce on it. It s a nice size spot for a get together though, big enough to accommodate everyone.

I've been coming here my whole life and my family has for generations! Always great food!

Favorite bbq place ever been going there since I was born always have loved ot

Was probably good when it opened a hundred years ago. Came once before didn t like it, couple years later... still don t.

The pickle on the coleslaw was pretty good however!

Must try the beef sandwich it's great been going there for 50 years

This place is fantastic old school style BBQ place: great staff, clean restaurant. We had a great meal here.

We love Russell's I have been coming there since I was little now my grandkids come with me to.

The food here is just OK, not great. I won't say it was bad, but I won't go out of my way to come here again.

The brisket was alright and the cole slaw was pretty meh.

Long lines and you can see this is a very "old school" kind of spot.

Prices were reasonable, but I'd prefer to spend more money and get better food.

Love this place my mom & I had a ham & beef BBQ lots of meat on both sandwiches so so good!

Good barbecue. I ve been coming here at least a few times a year for mostly ribs. I occasionally will venture off into the rest of the menu but it s mostly ribs. Solid food, solid service. Will continue to give them my business for years to come. You should too.

They serve large portions and for fair rates. very welcoming staff. Great work.

My boyfriend and I fought for an hour and a half the urge to order take out before we finally gave in (we were craving it that bad). We ordered online for pick up on their website. I ordered the 1/2 rack of rib dinner which comes with two sides (I got cole slaw and sweet potatoe fries). I also ordered an extra side of Mac and Cheese because I love Mac and Cheese and even more so as a side to my BBQ (: My boyfriend ordered the BBQ nachos with the brisket which comes with sour cream. In the instructions we asked for the Jalapenos and the Chili on the side. Well, there was no Jalapeno, sour cream or chili. My cole slaw and Mac and Cheese also didn't make it. The ribs? Nothing special is complement. I like my ribs with a taste of smokiness from the meat and BBQ sauce not too sweet. All I could taste was vinegar. My boyfriend's nachos, missing half the toppings, the brisket was cold and tough. Almost felt like it was reheated. Overall the only thing we "enjoyed" were the sweet potatoes fries.

Love this place. It has nice laid back atmosphere with some of the best bbq around. I ordered a half slab of ribs with sweet potatoes fries amazing as all there food is.

A family destination for more then 40 years for me and my family, you should take yours and start a new family tradition for yourself.

Been driving past this place for a couple of years and today I finally had time to stop in, unfortunately it wasn t what I expected. The food was warm at best and lacked actual flavor . Maybe the time of night affected how fresh the food was but definitely wasn t up to standard from what I ve read in the other reviews. My wife and I actually for the first time chose to stop eating a few bites in and left. I hope this was a just a lousy day for the chef because I actually had high hopes for this place. On a good note the cashier was very polite and helpful. Place was clean and smelled good.

This spot is fantastic! Reasonable prices, considerable portions and the staff are always nice.

After reading some of the reviews I wanted to try Russell's out. Well I did and was really disappointed. I'm pretty sure the ribs were fried. And the chicken was bland. The sauce was ok. This place is not what I expected. I'll stick to making my ribs at home!

Great place to have ribs or chicken I ve been coming here for decades but without a doubt one of the best places to come to ty Joey

Bland bbq, sides need salt, the coleslaw isn t even really coleslaw....just some thinly shredded pickled cabbage. Guess I should have known it was going to be flavorless when I walked in and saw nothing but old people. Don t waste your money. Gave it 2 stars cause the girl that took our order was nice. 1 star for the food though.

Always good food along with memories from coming to Russell's years ago.