Bare Bones BBQ and Pizza

Restaurant was dark and smoky. I ordered the brisket and pork combo. The brisket was dry and the pork was chewy.

Not sure why this is only 3.5 stars overall, excellent brisket, ribs and pulled pork. Wife got the filet mignon and it was near perfect. If you are in the area I highly recommend stopping and getting the sampler platter.

Honestly, not bad. Considering McDonalds down the street has 4 stars this place is pretty darn good. Their BBQ sauce is delicious and the salad bar ain’t bad! For the area (not a lot of options), I felt the menu was good, service was pleasant, and taste was there. I’ll never be back in quad cities but if I was I’d hit this place up again.

Excellent place for BBQ. I went there with the family. We ordered chicken, pulled pork, brisket, and ribs. We had to try everything. Glad we did because all of the above was excellent. The chicken was juicy with the perfect smoke. The Brisket was tender and juicy. The only complain about the brisket is it was served cold. Otherwise this review would have five stars. And for the pulled pork and ribs absolutely phenomenal. And to top everything off they have a salad bar that is amazing. We had very good service. And I will definitely be returning.

Agree with other reviews… portions big, meat tender, but service and seasoning could be better. Salad bar is good, really love the garlic house dressing.

My family and I love this place!!! Very casual. Good food and prices, and a really nice salad bar. If you’re looking for some comfort food and you want enough for leftovers, come here.

This was EXCELLENT barbeque. I had the brisket and it was very tender and tasty. The smoky flavor of the sauce is crazy good. The cornbread was moist, sweet, and impossible not to finish. There goes my low carb diet!
Some people complained in other reviews about the service. The server engaged me as soon as I walked through the door. I ordered to go and had my order and was back out the door in 5 minutes. The server was pleasant and figured out I was staying at the hotel across the street and made sure I had plastic silverware to use in my room.
Next time I’m back in town on business, I’m definately going to Bare Bones.

This is good food! There is pizza and bbq. There is smoked prime rib, wings, fried chicken, burgers, all kinds of sandwiches, all u can eat catfish on fridays, shrimp and whole pound cat fish from the makers of buds skyline inn! There is a wood fire grill bathrooms redone, you can’t go wrong. A great mom and pop shop locally owned, and i love it!

Let me start off by saying again that I’m not a BBQ expert. With that in mind, I thought the food here was excellent. The pulled pork was delicious and the BBQ sauce was on the side — just the way I like it. The pork wasn’t minced, it was truly pulled. The brisket was also great — the best I’ve had so far in my quest to find a 5-​star brisket. I had a side of green beans and they were also delicious. The salad bar was included in the meal and was also very good — it was limited in what it had, and the only lettuce was iceberg, but given that it’s at a BBQ place where meat is the reason to be there, it met my requirements nicely. Service was friendly, the place was clean, and the pace of the meal was comfortable. If you’re expecting fine dining, you won’t get it. If you are looking for casual, comfortable comfort food at a reasonable price (dinner with iced tea and gratuity was about $ 20 for one person) this place is definitely worth visiting.

Great food for a very reasonable price. Homemade soups are very good. Brisket is outstanding

The garlic salad dressing is to die for in the salad bar
The ribs were dryrub, but had cup of bbq sauce on the plate. I enjoyed it, service was average, prices were in line with rib places. I would go bsck.
It has tables and booths. they were busy on weds nite.

This place is… confusing.
When you walk in, you want to walk out. Dingy, dark, dirty. Uncomfortable booths and tables. Sticky plastic table cloths. But it smells good, really good.
The menu is confusing. It’s hard to find an appropriate sized meal. The lunches seem too small and the dinners seem to big and the prices are always too high.
The cornbread is to die for. The brisket is really good too. Their BBQ Chicken pizza is crazy good too. But their ribs and pulled pork. I would never order them again.
It’s a confusing place. Some stuff is great and then other stuff is really bad.

I can’t believe the bad reviews about service. The few times I have meandered across street from QC airport hotel, service always was friendly. Locals like this place and I do too. Bar has 2 TVs and remotes on bar let you play with channels and games if you want. Pizza is good by Chicago standards and locals like Alfredo sauce instead of tomato, your choice. Decent filling food, both BBQ and pizza, local flavor, cold beer and friendly service, what more do you need want after a hard days work. I’ll be back.

I almost let the negative reviews steer me away from this place but it was so convenient to my hotel that I decided to go anyway. No regrets, this place was good.
I have nothing but good things to say about the service. You seat yourself but one of the two waitresses quickly comes over. Based on the reviews I was ready to deal with a sour waitress but that was not the case at all, my waitress was very pleasant and I noticed the other waitress, while not as cheerful as the one attending my table, was not unpleasant either.
The food was alright. Not great, but it exceeded my expectations. I will admit the majority of it did lack flavor but you could remedy that yourself with BBQ sauce or salt/​pepper from the table. I had the sampler plate with pulled pork, brisket and ribs. They were large portions and I was surprised at not being able to finish the plate (took a box with me). The brisket was very moist and tender but could use more seasoning. The ribs had plenty of meat on them and were nice and crispy on the outside but tender inside, but again, they could have use some seasoning.
The pulled pork left the most to be desired. It was sloppy and a little chewy.
I chose two sides instead of going to the salad bar. The «american fries» are similar to hash browns and had great texture but you’ll have to salt them to taste. The coleslaw was very good and flavorful right off the bat.
The corn bread was very, very good. Ask for a corner piece and it may just be the highlight of your meal. That’s coming from someone that’s not a very big fan of corn bread!
Overall this place is a solid choice that does not have a great rating because their guests may simply be expecting too much. Set your expectations appropriately and enjoy a decent meal.

Have not been here prior, but was across street from my hotel. Really good accidental choice. I had a BBQ Chicken Pizza, and it was very good. Good service too. I would return and try the BBQ items another time. Thanks folks. Well done.

My two biggest concerns with this place were cleanliness and service. For reasons that I would rather not get into, I had to eat at this place two days in a row. The good news is on my second dining experience there I found my daughters my little pony toy that had been left on the floor the night before. The fact that such a large object could not be swept or even noticed the night before, definitely gave me concern for what I might be getting myself into.
On to service, our waitress on the second day seemed to think that it was a significant inconvenience that we were there. Her response time to greeting our table and general attitude towards our attendance were poor. She complained to my sister-​in-​law that the hotel across the street was sending patrons to the restaurant and that the hotel should be calling to give her the heads up if they were going to be sending people over. I should mention, this place doesn’t even take reservations.
The food was okay. I would give it two stars, but due to my serious concerns about cleanliness I’m not exactly sure if that food was left on the kitchen floor the night before or not.

Waitress was not a happy camper and seemed like she really hated her job, in fact was even complaining about it when we were leaving. It’s supposedly a BBQ joint – where was the BBQ sauce? If this wasn’t across the street from a hotel I don’t know how they would be in business.

Saturday evening approximately 7:00pm — a few people present inside, but otherwise it was ghost town. Inside is clean and warm looking, not bad. I remember when this used to be an old-​school Omelette Shoppe — filthy, greasy, delicious! I remember when the years of smoking added a characteristic film, cloudiness to the windows. Ahh, classic!
Bare Bones, nothing stood out too me. The menu consists of a front and back laminated piece of paper (using multiple fonts, boo). The waitress greeted us quickly and took our order. My mom and I split a taco pizza and my hubby and dad ordered the ¹⁄₃ rack of ribs and brisket, respectively. The dinners came with the small salad bar they have, which was well maintained with simple iceberg salad and toppings.
Our food took FOREVER to arrive. We drank a carafe of water waiting for our food. We didn’t necessarily mind, as we were visiting the parents, so it gave us extra time to catch-​up.
The food came out and it was hot, the waitress apologized for the wait. The pizza was OK — mediocre but not terrible. I wasn’t a fan of the Italian sausage on the taco pizza. The smallest size available was a medium, and so we had leftovers. The ribs were pricey ($ 13) for a 1/​3, but they were chewy and nothing special. The sauce was a sweet sauce, and it was yummy. The brisket was OK as well, but nothing fantastic.
As we were there a long while, we saw many take out orders. It appears that Bare Bones may cater to the hotel crowd. Overall, I wasn’t impressed. It’s OK but nothing stood out. I wouldn’t return. I thought it was expensive for what you got.
If you want BBQ, try elsewhere.

I really liked Bare Bones, The service was great! We had a guys night out and three of us got the sampler platter ¹⁄₃ rack of ribs ¹⁄₃ pulled pork ¹⁄₃ brisket. One guy ordered the prime rib, which I think is only on the weekends. It all tasted good to me! They also have a deep fried twice baked potato which was really good.
It has a small salad bar typical of the Quad Cities area. Iceberg lettuce, some potato and other salads. Everything was good at the salad bar. (Cold)
As you look down on the reviews for Bare Bones Barbecue you will see some low stars. BBQ is so hard to review because everyone likes it a bit different. Kansas city, Memphis, South Carolina, Texas and other regions I have left out.

PROS: Waitress/​bartender was very nice. The place is easy walking distance from the Moline/​Quad Cities airport — perfect if you’re waiting for a flight. Portions were good. Full bar.
CONS: The food.
I really wanted to like this place but it was just bad. (The only reason I didn’t give it zero stars is that the waitress/​bartender was so helpful.)
Should have been tipped off by the big sign outside offering BBQ/​Chicken/​Pizza. (Pulling off any one of those superbly is a challenge… but all three?)
Ribs were dry on the outside, OK inside. (And by «dry» I don’t mean «dry rub», as superb Memphis ribs can be… I just mean dry). Sauce tasted like it came out of a jug from a wholesale food provider. Pulled pork was moist (closer to «watery») but flavorless, as if it had been steamed or boiled. Brisket ranged from moist to dried out, with very little flavor. Baked beans tasted like they came from a can. Potato salad was unnaturally yellow and uninteresting, as was something I believe was supposed to be cornbread.
Whenever I eat in a place like this (and there are plenty out there) I want to put my arm around the shoulder of the chef and take them to Kansas City or Lockhart, TX or Memphis or North Carolina or any of the other barbecue meccas in the U.S. and gently say, «See? THIS is what it’s supposed to taste like. No hard feelings, but you need to throw away everything you have going and start over from the beginning.»
From the restaurant I walked to McDonald’s for an ice cream cone and almost wished I had eaten there instead. (Now THAT’s desperate!)