Belly Up Smokehouse & Saloon

Made our first visit last night and we were not disappointed. The décor of the place was very comfortable with plenty of big screen tvs. We don’t usually order apps so we got down to business right away. The ribs were very good, meaty and tender with a nice flavor even with out one of the 4 sauces. The sauces added a nice touch and each one was distinctly different. My wife had a pulled pork sandwich which was generously piled on a fresh
roll, fries and cole slaw came with the sandwich. My ribs came with cole slaw, a roll, and a side of macaroni and cheese. The mac and cheese was really good with a creamy cheese sauce and a bread crumb topping. The beers were cold and the food came hot I’ll definitely be back. Our waitress Laura was also very attentive.

As displaced Texans, we had to try out the new barbecue restaurant in town. We were pleasantly surprised! We loved the loaded fries (they put a lot more brisket on them than we expected), and my husband loved the South Loop Spring Rolls (which he picked as his meal). I had a half brisket portion, which was tender and delicious. The half brisket portion was huge and much more than I had expected. It’s definitely not the best brisket I’ve ever had, but it was still good. The only thing I didn’t like was the cheesy corn-​the cheese tasted powdery to me. My favorite sauce was the Windy City sauce, and I liked it so much, they let me take some home with me! We will definitely be back.

Once I got over my crushing disappointment that they were out of ribs by the time we arrived, we enjoyed a great dinner at this new South Loop spot last night. We started with some apps… Candied Bacon (yum), Hush Puppies with Bacon Jam (double yum), and the South Loop Spring Rolls (meh…almost too creamy inside… would have liked something with crunch… maybe bacon!!!). For my meal, I got the Pulled Pork Sandwich with Corn Bread as my side. Let me just say… for a girl that spent a big chunk of her life in North Carolina, getting pulled pork in the North is a bit of a gamble, but Belly Up passed muster! The meat was moist and tender… perfect for a sandwich. My only disappointment was the sauce options. The vinegar sauce wasn’t done in true NC style, and none of the others had a spicy enough kick for me. Service was fabulous (thanks, Caroline, for the attentive service and good recommendations!), and one of the owners (George) took the time to introduce himself and chat with us for a bit as we were getting ready to leave. All in all, a fun evening… glad to have a new dining option in the South Loop. I’ll be back… save me a slab of Baby Back Ribs, George!

Just had dinner at the Belly Up Smokehouse with my husband and everything was delicious. The service was amazing. The Cajon Artichoke Dip was my favorite. the beef brisket was tender and enjoyed trying all 4 different barbaque sauces. Welcome to the south loop!!!

I do not usually write reviews for restaurants but everything about this restaurants was so not good I just had to write about it. This was our experience:
Candied bacon — most of them were flimsy (undercooked)
Hush puppies — too dry to eat
Pulled Pork — no flavor (menu says 12 hours smoked but it seemed someone forgot to include the wood in that process)
Brisket — again, no smoke seemed to be used in the 12 hour cooking process; more important, though, is someone does not know how to slice brisket. Anyone who has ever cooked a brisket knows to cut against the grain. This brisket was so stringy it was hard to eat.
Sides — well, after being so disappointed with everything else, I didn’t even bother with the sides
Waitress — could not really explain the differences in the sauces. All she kept trying to make me understand is that they are all made from the same base — whatever that means
Sauces — just did not care for them
Sorry for the harshness, but I paid damn near $ 60 for two of us and hardly ate anything and no leftovers made it into the house.

Wonderful service. Hot links are fantastic and I usually don’t even use words like that regularly. Our server Raquel was great. It’s a refreshing new setup for the south loop

Welcome to the South Loop Belly Up! My wife and I checked out Belly Up last night and had a fantastic experience. The space is amazing! This is especially true if you recall what used to be there… I think it was a uniform shop?
Anyhow… I had the brisket and my wife had the South Loop Spring Rolls starter as her meal. The portions were massive and everything was very tasty. We ate at the bar which was a great experience too. Their BBQ sauce selection is outstanding too. They have a coding system on the bottles that tells you what goes with what…
I too wish I could give 4.5 stars but will round down and go with 4 for now… We will go back and I will reassess.

Just went for an early dinner at Belly Up after hearing good things from some friends. It was delicious! We started with the «south loop spring rolls,» which were amazing, and then both had the «Windy City» special (a sandwich with brisket AND pulled pork) which was also phenomenal. All four barbeque sauces were really tasty, too, with both the waffle fries and the spring roll appetizer. Cole slaw and mac and cheese were good but nothing extraordinary.
Service was great — prompt, attentive, but not overwhelming. My water glass was always full. Overall, a great experience!

Our group of 3 had dinner on January 30^th at 6:30 PM. The experience started off great. Nice décor, good space, seated within 10 minutes of my reservation. We had drinks at the bar while waiting for the table and the bar service was great.
Once at the table, our server was very friendly and attentive. I came in knowing exactly what I wanted (brisket) but I asked her opinion of what was good. I was relieved when she recommended the brisket and said it was her favorite. Great, that’s decided.
We ordered the house wings as a shared appetizer. I ordered the brisket with a side of smoked mac & cheese. My friends both ordered the pulled pork with mac & cheese and cheesy corn as their respective sides. After 5 minutes of mouthwatering anticipation, our server comes back to inform us that they are out of brisket. They are also out of mac & cheese. I laugh thinking the server was just trying to be funny because we had just had a long conversation where she was recommending the brisket and it was only 6:30PM on a Saturday. I was sad to find out she was not joking. I changed my order to the ribs with a side of cheesy corn and ordered a beer. She comes back and tells me they are out of the beer I ordered. Later during dinner my friend ordered a different beer that they were also out of.
This was opening week so some learning curve was expected, but they were out of brisket, mac & cheese, and 2 of the beers that were on the menu so early in the evening. That is just poor planning.
Now to the food that was served. The house wings were amazing. Apparently they are prepared in a pressure cooker so the skin has a nice snap to it and the meat is juicy. I definitely recommend the wings. I tried some of my friends’ pulled pork and thought it was good and they both really liked theirs. The sauces were above average, albeit a little runny. The ribs were pretty decent too but nothing special. The cheesy corn was not for me, nor was the coleslaw.
As mentioned, I thought the service was good. I was a little disappointed that the manager didn’t offer an apology or explanation for why they were out of so much on a Saturday prior to dinner rush. You’d think when 4 of the things that are listed on the menu are not available that you’d be offered a complimentary drink, dessert, or at least an explanation. The final issue was when it came to the bill. We asked our server to split up the bill evenly 3 ways and gave her our 3 credit cards. The credit cards were run for 50%, 25%, and 25%. That is not an even split. It was busy so we just paid it as is and worked out the difference among ourselves with cash.
I will return to try the brisket. I do believe things will improve and they will get into their groove. I do hope the management reads the above review for the constructive criticism it is and I look forward to seeing the improvements.

Belly Up just opened on Monday Jan 25 and I went on Sunday Jan 30^th. The middle of a Sunday afternoon. The crowd was steady. ¾ of the tables were full. Great atmosphere. Plenty of TV’s to watch the Ohio State basketball game.
And like Louis, Caroline was our waitress. She was so helpful and very friendly. She recommended some appetizers… the candied bacon and the BBQ spring rolls… thanks to another Unilocaler. They were amazing. I agree, the candied bacon could easily be served with ice cream. I hope she is there the next time I go in there.
We had the brisket and the pulled pork. They were prepared perfectly. The paused are made in house and they were all quite good.
This is a great addition to the South Loop.

I had a great experience at Belly Up. The décor was great, clean, and I can’t wait for the weather to be warm to open up that front! The ambience was busy, but noise level was good for easy conversation. Our server, Dani, was knowledgeable, personable, honest, and working her butt off!
The food was very good. We ordered the Cajun Spinach and Artichoke dip. The Cajun added some great flavor. We then ordered the Platter and selected Pulled Pork, Ribs, and the smoked half chicken. All were done perfectly. The platter says it serves 3 – 4 people — we were a group of 4 and it was not enough for us. We ordered an additional half rack of ribs and a pulled pork sandwich. Enjoyed the homemade sauces. I mixed the Belly Up Original with the vinegar-​based spicy one, and it was delicious!
As with any opening, there are kinks to be worked out. I would have really liked to try the brisket and Mac&Cheese (my personal BBQ staples), but they had run out. Bar service was a little slow at times and our side of baked beans was missing — delivered later, but it took a while.
The food and the service were good and I will definitely be back to try that brisket!

For its intent/​objective, it’s a solid 4.5 stars, but I’ll round up for the candied bacon, which… wait for it, I think is better than Honky Tonk BBQ, which is the only place I’ve ever had candied bacon that really knows how to do it well. It’s completely different, but oh so good. The bar service was a bit slow, but maybe give them a pass due to the number of days being open. The brisket was awesome, tender, juicy and just amazing. Now that I review all the items I had on the menu, those two were 5 stars, everything else was 4 stars. The draft beer options were only mediocre. So, in summary, I guess all it takes is amazing candied bacon to get 5 stars on Unilocal!Ha. I’ll be back for more BBB!

As per my earlier review, the food was amazing. I will definitely mgo back and try individual servings. The management really went out of their way to make sure we were satisfied with our experience and we were happy we stopped in.

This was their opening weekend so the bumps aren’t unusual. That said I’m definitely going back once they’ve had a chance to work out the nuances.
We ordered candied bacon for our app, it was everything you’d imagine. Would be great on a dessert as a sundae topping or inside cheesecake.
They ran out of brisket, the reason I wanted to try the place, glad they were busy and good call to err on the side of underprepping. We ended up splitting the platter, ribs and pulled pork. The pulled pork was amazing! Super tender, great smokey flavor good portion size. The ribs were baby back which isn’t my favorite, too many bones and not enough meat for my taste.
The sauces were great especially the original, great combo of spice and heat. The skillet cornbread was also amazing, the Mac and cheese was disappointing, gloopy with an overwhelming heaviness nothing unique. Please add greens to the sides menu! They would be a great alternative to the somewhat traditional sides offered.
We sat at the bar and Nicole our bartender was amazing! Super busy but attentive and helpful with drink and dinner decisions.
I’ll try it again in a month or so and hope to say nice things about the brisket!

Four days in– kinks, but the food is stellar. You’re in luck if you love BBQ. Belly up has got it! Start with the Candied Bacon and BBQ Spring rolls. Then grabs a pint and dig in. Where to begin– the 12 hour smoked pork was amazing. You can tell they do things the right way. The smoke, the pork– Homer Simpson would give this three mmmmmss! The links are rich and delicious, KC beans are spot on and do the steamed kale. Yup, you read correct. They are just getting started, so cut them some slack. A South Loop staple for years to come.

Thrilled that this place finally opened! I came here on the second day it was open, and we tried the macaroni and cheese and pulled pork and chicken sandwiches. We liked the pulled chicken better than the pork, but everything was good. The service was also very kind and prompt. Recommend!