Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

Best barbecue in the city. Better than Smoque and bub city. Staff is super friendly. The manager I’d a nice guy. I always have an enjoyable experience here. One of my favorite places.

I never give four stars unless the service is absolutely exceptional, which it was.
Our group of six lost track of time and we needed a super quick bite to eat before a comedy show just down the street. We explained our situation, and the manager stepped in right away and delivered. He put our order for the family style in on the fly. The food came out in record time and was absolutely tasty. We scarfed it down and made our show on time, which was close to a miracle. The mac and cheese was absolutely delicious and the ribs were excellent. Definitely hit the spot. We will certainly be making a return trip.

Bros night out. Meat, beer, sports and stories of male prowess. One of our own is getting married so the food, environment and conversation seemed fitting. Lovely staff and service. Cozy, rustic downstairs space. I guess there is a large upstairs and outdoor space as well. Good was ok too but a little on the salty side for my palette.
Adieu mon ami. See you in 20 years when the kids go off to college.

I drove past this place and was intrigued. Being a BBQ aficionado, I was looking forward to it. My buddy and I came in tonight, Tuesday, and were happy it wasn’t packed. That being said, the menu looked good and certainly not devoid of choices. Our waitress, was friendly enough, but not super attentive, being not busy. She recommended the wings.
The wings are the only reason Dino got any stars. Big, juicy, full of flavor and nice presentation. They were even better than the wings from Barn & Company, which is hard to beat.
I ordered the Pork 3-​way. 15 minutes later I am told that the sausage will take another 25 minutes. So I ordered the Big Ass pork plate. Not impressed at all. Ugly plastic dish, and two small ice cream scoop sized meats. Now, normally when you order brisket, it comes sliced. I got what looked like two servings of pulled pork. Flavor was ok, but there were off little croûton like things on top of each serving. I ordered mini wedge and collard greens. Wedge should have come with blue cheese dressing; what I got was an unattractive tannish brown dressing that tasted like Thousand Island, surely not blue cheese. Greens were soupy and not very good.
Service was weak, not awful, but our water was not filled as often I would have liked, had to ask for refills.
My buddy had the ribs. Good, but not great. He’s a Mac n cheese fan. Meh, that’s all not great. Chucks BBQ in Burbank is the place to go for that, hands down. Lily Q and Barn & Co have really good Mac as well.
I have to say that I don’t expect this place to be around long, especially with what they charge for what you are served. Too pricey for less that mediocre food.
We gave you a shot, and you failed to meet our expectations. Good luck & I hope you can turn it around. We won’t be back.
Cheers

Nice addition to the neighborhood, busy/​friendly attentive staff and a live band was playing when I was there. Maybe it’s just me, but I find the menu pricing somewhat odd. I found a breaking point depending on what you want to do. I like ribs and a half slab is priced at $ 17.95, the 3 meat combo is $ 21.95 so I got the 3 meat combo and doubled up on the ribs (6 bones=half slab). So I got a half slab plus a hot link and it comes with a cornbread muffin and 2 sides for $ 21.95 which is a lot of food. The link I wouldn’t say is a hot link per say, it is more along the lines of spicy sausage, there is better bbq sausage in the city (Honky Tonk/​Smoque).
The ribs are St Louis style (flat, more meat and more fat), and they are really good, nice solid pink smoke and are the tender you want them to be. One of the higher quality options for ribs on the north side of the city, and the ribs are smoked, not cooked in the oven on a baking sheet. Cooking ribs in the oven and putting BBQ sauce on them is not BBQ, it’s not. If you do that, just call them ribs with sauce not BBQ ribs. Anyways I didn’t find the sauces anything out of this world so I found it best to eat them with just the rub (do as you please) the fat is rendered really well on these and it will deliciously dissolve in your mouth. The sides were ok (beans, fries, cornbread muffin), right now Rub’s in Andersonville & Smoque have my favorite beans in the city. If you want to do take out, they have a seperate counter in the restaurant for it with 2 registers and it looked like it moved quick.

As a current employee I am so in love this place. I work on the line and work with my team to prepare the meals. I myself love eating our BB, our wings are phenomenal which are my favorite. I also enjoy our Cuban and Brisket melt. As a whole, I think our food is amazing and I’m so proud of what we are all about. I have so much love for my job because we take pride in what we do. We’re a big family.
We have pride in every detail from the smoke brisket down to the wedge salad.

I’ve been wanting to try this place for a while and it fell short. It was your standard bbq place, no glitz or glammer. The plates were neatly presented — not the issue. When I’m at a bbq place, I want it messy and juicy and moist. The sliced brisket was dry and the mac n cheese was mediocre. I tried some of my friends’ St. Louis ribs, and the rub/​marinade was flavorful, but dry. Service was super nice, however, food was a disappointment.

No frills; fast service. Good food. Slightly pricey, but not shocking given the location. Great place to catch a quick bite if you’re doing some serious shopping.

Delicious! Our group ordered the family feast. It comes with pulled pork, brisket, ribs, chicken, corn muffins and 3 sides. The pork, brisket and ribs were my favorite! The best ribs I’ve had. I didn’t try the chicken but it looks great too. The mac n cheese side was so good, didn’t like the curry veggies, and buttered potatoes were so good. Will be back!

The food was great, but service was average at best and the valet parking was a complete circus. The waitress did not know the menu, and was not aware of the six side items that were offered in addition to those on the menu. And when the food arrived, the meal had the wrong sides anyway. It took 8 – 10 minutes for the valet guys to come get our car, and it was only after we put the blinkers on and ran around looking for them, same thing when we wanted to get it after the meal… valet guys nowhere to be found, and took them 10 min to get the car.
Now, the food was very good and I would love to go back. However, considering all other aspects of the experience I doubt I will.

Wasn’t great, didn’t suck.
Boring…

Dinosaur Bar-​B-​Que was a real disappointment. The meat was not smokey. The beans were runny and bland. The service was mediocre. The pulled pork was cold.
Boooooo.

Some hits, some misses.
I’m a huge BBQ fan, so I was excited to try Dinosaur. The restaurant is quite big. You probably won’t have a hard time finding a table. I appreciate that they smoke their meats in-​house. In fact, when you leave, your clothes will smell like wonderful meaty smoke.
I ordered the 3-​meat plate.
* Chicken was fantastic. Juicy and tender. Loved this.
* Ribs were okay, but one side seemed completely nuked, giving me a weird mouth feel when biting down. The meat itself was tender.
* The hot link sausage was disgusting. I’ve had hot links at nearly every BBQ place I can and this stuff was nasty. Huge letdown.
My table also ordered the sampler plate — Hacked Jerk Rib (weird rib ends; skip this and get legit ribs), Chicken Wings (pretty good), Fried Green Tomatoes and Deviled Eggs (didn’t eat the last two).
The sauces on the table seemed more sweet than spicy. I tried several and wasn’t really a fan.
My favorite BBQ in the city is Q BBQ (714 W Diversey). That’s a place where the meats, the sides and the sauces jump together in the same rhythm. Dinosaur kinda stumbles around with two left feet.
I might be back, but I’m not in a hurry.

Dinosaur Bar-​B-​Que is Rarr-​some!!!
I was a pleasantly surprised with this place as the reviews seem a little hit or miss.
The food is good and the atmosphere is oh so cozy, even though the place is HUGE, its broken up in to a few different rooms so you don’t notice.
Happy Hour until 7, $ 4 margaritas, $ 5 Lagunitas and small fried green tomatoes. The tomatoes came out quick, were super crisp and are served with a slurpable chipotle ranch!
I had the pick 2 (18.99) with ribs, pulled pork, coleslaw, mac and cheese with an added side of Potato Salad. The ribs were great, dry rubbed to perfection, the pulled pork was delicious as well, lots of flavor with out swimming in sauce. Everything was very seasoned and flavorful.
Its a great spot to meet up after work, take the Redline up, parking was pretty easy on a weeknight!

Stopped by for dinner around 5:45 on a Monday with some colleagues and took advantage of the happy hour ($ 4 margaritas, long islands and a few other specials). It was fairly early so we basically had the place to ourselves, no reservation needed. Restaurant is large open space with plenty of varied seating arrangements with kitchen in the rear. Upon walking in there is a huge bar that dominates one of the walls. Restrooms are upstairs. We found a cozy booth and started dissecting the extensive menu. Our server was patient and informative and provided some recommendations.
I shared the deal for two which consists of a full rack of St. Louis style (dry rubbed, smoked and lightly glazed with bbq sauce) ribs, four sides and corn bread. Note: a full rack has 12 ribs. The ribs were super tender and their dry rub was exceptional, no extra sauce needed. For those folks that dislike ribs swimming in sauce these are for you. The four sides we chose were french fries (fresh cut with skins on), curried cauliflower and sweet potato, mac & cheese, and the side of the day which was cajun corn. My favorite side was surprisingly the cajun corn, which was simple and extremely flavorful. The curried cauliflower and sweet potato was decent and had a rich curry flavor. The fries were crispy and the mac & cheese was ok, nothing to brag about. The highlight of the evening were the ribs! I would say I have a large appetite and I was more than stuffed even skipping an appetizer.
Others in the party were equally satisfied with their dishes (combo meals, smoked chicken wings, brisket, bbq fried rice, house made sauces) as well. Everyone left content and wanting more. Some of us wanted fried pickles but they aren’t a menu option. I’ll definitely be back and will recommend to others.

I use my own cooking to set the bar when it comes to expectations for BBQ joints. If I can make pork, brisket or ribs as good, if not better, than a restaurant’s, then I push to try another place. Out of the ribs, brisket, chicken, sausage and wings we tried, I would really only recommend the wings, they were really great! The other meats were either dry or not as flavorful as I would prefer.
If you do go, there is one side that really impressed me, the curry cauliflower with sweet potatoes, really awesome side, highly recommend it! Fried green tomatoes were also pretty good.
Overall, I would pass and try a different place. However, if you go, there’s a travelzoo voucher out for dinner for two that is a pretty good deal.

Continue to love this place. Brisket, ribs & chicken! Consistently good!
My husband loves the fried green tomatoes! They are crispy & so good that after his swag for two he wanted more and ordered 5! Great sauces. Tasty drinks.

It’s lively to the point of being kind of loud and crowded, and they have live music on Saturday nights, but even with all of the ruckus we could still almost hear each other talk. And all of the food we tried (ribs, brisket, wings, fried green tomatoes) were pretty good. If anything, the non-​Bar-​B-​Que items (the wings and the tomatoes) were a little better, maybe a sign that this is more of a mid-​range restaurant serving Southernish cuisine to Yankees than it is an honest BBQ joint.
So I had a pretty nice time, but as I think about it, I can’t figure out why I will ever come back. It’s not that there was anything wrong, it’s just that I’m not sure what hole this fills in my life. I can get more amazing BBQ at Smoque or Smalls; I can get at-​least-​as-​good BBQ more conveniently at Q-​BBQ; I can get fried green tomatoes at DryHop; and I can’t say that I ever wished that a BBQ place had a man singing and playing guitar.
Good luck, Dinosaur.

Not the best BBQ in town but not the worst! Pretty decent BBQ if your looking for a BBQ place that’s not overly crowded and that has great service!
Came here on a Friday night and reservations were simple to make! The place is cool inside with a lot of space! It’s great for big groups!
We had the full slab of ribs, mac&cheese, and potato salad. It was all pretty tasty. Our waitress was attentive! They have a nice cocktail list and a nice selection of beer!

I couldn’t decide between 2 or 3 stars but the «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» description for 2 is really most accurate. Dino BBQ could not have been a more mediocre experience if it tried.
Triple dated here with some friends recently and while nothing was out of this world bad, nothing was out of this world good either. Perhaps the ease with which we got a Friday evening reservation for 6 should have been a sign (along with the fact that it was not packed at all while we were there).
We started with some appetizers – wings and deviled eggs. The eggs I don’t even really remember so I’m guessing they were fine, but not anything special. The wings were probably one of the better parts of the entire meal. We ordered them in Korean Glaze and Wango Tango; I preferred the latter.
For our main, we decided to go with the Family Style option. They state it serves 4 – 6, but I think up to 8 could easily share the platter and sides (especially if you get appetizers too). We were all really excited about the chicken, ribs, ½lb pork, and ½lb brisket, especially when they arrived on a huge board, but everything just fell kind of flat. None of it was bad, but it just wasn’t anything special either. The chicken also wasn’t really cut into enough pieces for everyone to share and try.
The three sides we chose were: BBQ fried rice, mac and cheese, and potato salad. All were fine and sizable, but the BBQ fried rice were – hands down – the best part of this entire meal. If I ever had to go back, that is what I would order as my main. The cornbread was forgettable.
As far as service goes, our waiter was friendly BUT 1. did not write things down, which meant that he forgot my drink and then also had to come back to ask what our sides were again and 2. didn’t really go into any of the favorites or sauces or anything even though we had all said it was our first time there.
With so many great bbq options in this city, I don’t see a reason to come back to the Dino.

De las mejores ribs que probé! Riquísimo todo, excelente ambiente para ir con amigos o en pareja, muy buena onda la gente del lugar también. Hay teles en todo el restaurante así que cuando hay partidos se pone interesante! Tienen una muy buena barra también y hay take-​away. En la web está el menú completo, para ir eligiendo con tiempo ;)
Los sides que traen son chicos, aunque acompañan unas ribs geniales. Fui en pareja y pedimos el sweetheart deal for two que es un rack entero de ribs con 4 sides. si volvemos, pediría sólo el rack con papas. Es genial que podes pedir 5 latas o botellas de cerveza juntas que traen en un balde con hielo.
Se recomienda hacer reserva y no llegar muy tarde porque dicen que (a veces) se quedan sin carne… un peligro!