17th Street Bar & Grill

Food was so bad no matter how hungry you were you didn’t want to eat it. Soup was like disgusting thick gravy, veggies were dripping in grease, meat was absolutely flavorless & dry.
Best thing this place did was close.

Drove here from St Louis mainly because of the Mike Mills reputation and was sadly disappointed.
When we arrived at 6PM there were 0 cars in the parking lot and it was so dead looking we thought it was closed. When we walked inside it was a total ghost town and we had to go find the staff so we could be seated.
The food came out in about 3 minutes and seemed like it was clearly cooked a long time ago and had just been sitting in warming trays. The ribs were ok and pulled pork was average. The sides were unmemorable. The magic dust seasoning was the good, but the sauces were average at best.
Overall not worth a trip. Very very disappointing considering how big of a name is attached to this place.

This is another tweener for me. Do I go 3 stars or 4 stars?
I ordered the lunch combo. Chose pulled pork and brisket as my meats and the beans as my side.
I visited this place because Travel Channel or Food Network or somebody like that had this place listed as their #1 BBQ joint in the country! I can’t say that I would agree with that, but I did enjoy it.
I didn’t care much for their Regular or With a Kick sauces, but I did enjoy their Red sauce very much. Had the Red sauce not been available, I would not have liked this place AT ALL. I felt like the Red sauce gave the meat the right flavor and probably took my rating from a 1.5 to a 3.5.
Let’s be real. SAUCE makes ALL the difference when it comes to BBQ.
Atmosphere was nice. Interior design similar to a newer microbrewery.
The service was friendly but not very attentive. I was the only person in my section just after noon on a weekday so I would expect more service but, then again, I can certainly understand that you’ll probably get more attention from a server wildly running around from table to table on a busy day than if you’re dining alone as tumbleweeds roll by.
All in all, I’d say 3 ½ stars.

I have been looking forward to this trip for a long time and was not disappointed. I had the Grand Championship Plate and everything was good but the ribs were very good.
Good smoke ring and the sauce glazed on the top was a nice touch. The BBQ sauce is not like the typical sauce I’m used to, that’s not to say is was not good it was just different.
The pulled pork was juicy and the brisket was tender. The chicken leg was really the only thing that was not up to the standards I expected. It was brown and the back of the chicken was slimy and weird. The baked beans tasted very familiar and were delicious.
The overall experience was good but I was not blown away. I’m sure that was my fault because I had built this place up to be my Graceland or Holy Grail if you will. I’d like to go to the location in Murphysboro just to see if there was any difference but that is a whole other vacation. Overall a 3.5 but for rating purposes I’ll give it a 4.

Wings were very good. Nice and smoked! Other than that nothing to brag about. The turkey (what turkey) was very small portion and dry. I ordered a sweet potato, which is a signature side ($ 1 more than regular side) and you only get half a sweet potato! WTF! My wife’s brisket was very dry. My daughters ribs were dry and lacked taste. I will probably not go back. If I do I will only get the wings.

Let me start by saying that I have been to this location & the other 2 locations in Marion & Murphysboro. This place has great servers & a friendly staff. The food at this location is not a good as the other two location. We order a rack of ribs & the pork steak. The pork steak was tough & to the servers credit brought another that was definitely better. The ribs were tough & dry. I have had the same baby back ribs at the Marion restaurant that the bones pullout clean. This was not the case with the ribs today. Our sides of fried okra, sweet potatoes, greens, & baked beans were good.
We did make a comment about the ribs & were told that each of the pit masters prepares the BBQ meats a little differently. Well, the pit master needs more and better training to achieve the quality of the Marion & Murphysboro stores
To be fair, the server did credit us for the pork steak dinner, even though we didn’t asked. I have been to these store 3 times in the past 2 years, & I will try it again because I like their food in Marion. But, if it doesn’t improve — I won’t be back!

So I wrote a review in January where I gave this place two stars and said this place sucks. I stand by that review from that night, because it did.
I have to give credit to the manager, Amy, for addressing my complaints and wooing me back to at least try it again.
We returned this past Saturday after working up an appetite by walking around the zoo in St. Louis all morning.
I thought if we went during the afternoon, the meat would be fresher than it was later in the evening or at night.
We went around 1:30 or so with the in laws and for a while were the only table in the entire place. It’s a good sized restaurant, so that says something.
The hostess and server were fine. Their service was nothing to complain about at all.
We ordered pork rinds, okra and fried pickles for appetizers. They were all just ok. Everything has some seasoning on it that may just not be my taste.
I ordered a full rack of ribs, because that’s what I was craving.
When I enjoyed ribs at Central bbq in Memphis and at Pappy’s, I didn’t want to share a single bone they were so good. I shared these ribs with whoever wanted some.
They weren’t bad, but they weren’t awesome either. They were cooked a little too long and were served to me warm, not hot.
My fries were very good but the green beans were bland.
I don’t much care for the original sauce and wasn’t offered any alternative. I should have asked if there are other sauces, that may have helped.
I enjoyed my wife’s brisket and thought it was the best thing on the table.
So we caught them on a better day, but the food was still just ok. I guess I’d gone in hoping for something great, but I’m sure Mike isn’t in the kitchen cooking this food so it’s just not what the competition judges are tasting that we’re being served.
We paid for two of the appetizers, my rib plate, the wife’s 2 meat combo plate and three kids meals. The kid meals are sort of pricy compared to most places (They were either $ 5.99 or $ 6.99, but they come with the drink and ice cream scoop).
Our bill was $ 70, plus a $ 15 tip, so $ 85. That’s a $ 17 a plate average after tip and more than this place is worth for a family with our budget. We get a better deal and a better meal at Bandana’s…yikes, a chain joint!
It is entirely possible that there is just something that my tongue doesn’t like about whatever seasoning they use, so I’d suggest you at least give the place a try, if you’re in the area. Others seem to really like it, so there may be something I’m missing.

Great place to get quality BBQ in the Midwest. Was there just the other night and had the Pork steak dinner w/​green beans and Beans and rice. I really like it because it isn’t over sauced like most places (you can add some more if you want).
They have a great selection of beers on tap also; not just the everyday St. Louis variety.
My server Christina was great and very attentive. I also had the pleasure of talking shop w/​the manager Luke. Awesome guy and a true Foodie like me. He can talk more than BBQ. Thank you for the wonderful experience and I will be back soon.
Rodd Perez

This was by far the worst bbq I have ever had. The meat was mush, with no smoke flavor. The pork shoulder tasted like re-​hydrated dried meat. It seems like it was either boiled or smoked, frozen then thrown in a steamer pan for hours. The brisket was very dry and seemed to be treated in a similar fashion.
Something was off about the meat as I got a visit from the food poisoning fairy later that night. Who knows how long this meat was just sitting in a pan. The collard greens were horrendous, cooked in some sort of artificial sweet and fake smoke slop. The only good thing were the hush puppies, so unless you are a vegetarian, avoid this place. It is time for this place to go back to basics and work on food quality and not just chain appeal and food show appearances.

Wow was I surprised. I was expecting good food but this was excellent food. The hush puppies, the baked beans (!) and the pork steak. I went with the pork steak and was happy I did. I can never finish a meal, at least in most cases. But for the rare occasion, I ate the whole thing. The sausage plate that my boyfriend had was good as well, he enjoyed it as much as I did my pork steak.
Once we get moved into Shiloh, I see us eating here a lot more. The waitress was great and attentive to our needs. I highly recommend this place and plan to bring my parents here when they visit from California.

I was expecting so much more… in quality AND quantity!
I will agree with some of the other reviewers… small portions, and what I did get was VERY dry. They put almost no sauce on the sandwich, and we ordered takeout, so I couldn’t add more. I will say the baked beans were delicious and unlike any other baked bean I have tasted. Not likely to return.

OK… so I see lot of «want to be» BBQ judges on what’s good or not in BBQ in St Louis. St Louis is blessed with a few great places. Perhaps one of the top BBQ places is 17^th Street.
Founded by the «Vince Lombardi» of BBQ — Mike Mills. He has won «Memphis in May» more than anyone and continues to win championships across the US. Recently beating Pappy’s on the Food Network on head to head competition.
As a BBQ Judge, I can say this is one of the best places to visit for great BBQ. Well respected in the BBQ world, Mike offers the closest thing to «competitive style» BBQ. Slow cooked, and great taste. There are four locations in Illinois.
Enjoy this place, it is amazing!

Mr D wanted barbecue for his birthday celebration and I suggested 17^th Street. We have eaten at the one in Murphysboro and for all of the accolades, I thought it was time we drove over to the O’Fallon location. It is an 80 mile round trip. Then a few days in advance, I decided I should invest a morning and go see what the place was like. So I made a scouting trip and arrived about lunch time. I bought two sandwiches for take-​out to try. I figured this left me with ribs to have for the real dinner with the D’s.
I brought home one barbecued pork and one brisket sandwich. Both sandwiches were large and meaty, but sadly they did not travel well. I know brisket in the St Louis area is a real crap shoot. I never would have ordered it on a one time visit, but since I was going back in a few days, decided to see how it was. I will say that unlike 90% of the brisket in the area, it was actually cooked done, tender. Unfortunately it was sawdust dry. Good brisket does not require sauce and melts in your mouth. This one required sauce as a matter of survival in order to get it down. Again, maybe it would be better eaten in house, but I will say the bread was not soggy either. It had acceptable smoke and decent overall flavor.
I liked the way the pork was chopped, almost Eastern Carolina style, but it lacked the flavors of Carolina. It had some smoke, but the rich pork flavor did not come through. Again, it was very dry. Fortunately I was able to dress it with some Eastern Carolina sauce at home. So far these are about 2 star sandwiches remembering that I hauled them 40 miles. Sides were red beans and rice, baked beans, slaw and fried okra. The red beans and rice had interesting flavor. I’m sure some cinnamon was involved. The base was a little thin and I never can get used to the canned red kidney beans. The baked beans were a sweet and tangy mix of canned pork ‘n’ beans, some large mealy limas and more kidney beans. The slaw was probably the best thing, tangy and sweet with celery seed. I liked that it was not the standard, overdressed creamy style. The okra lacked salt but had some seasoning and a little heat. Unfortunately, by the time I got it home was very soggy, probably not their fault. So two stars for the sides. Now for dinner… with the D’s. It gets better!
The D’s each had a two meat platter with ribs and pork shoulder. Ms T and I split a rack of ribs. 17^th Street serves back ribs. The ribs were very tender and moist. They were meaty and not fatty. The rub provided good flavors and the proper amount of salt. I was surprised that they were not very smoky. I suspect that they are partially smoked and then finished in an oven. They had that texture. However, all in all, they are good and I would go back. They were fresh and I liked that they were well seasoned but not fru-​fru.
The D’s pork shoulder was very good this time. Moist, chopped fine with good pork flavor. This is some of the best I have had in the St Louis area. The serving was huge. Having learned about the sides, we selected some of the better ones; green beans home style with lots of smoked meat, greens cooked and seasoned well with more smoked meat, sweet potato nuggets with cinnamon and sugar, more fried okra and slaw. The greens are interesting, a little sweet and tart. They could back off the sweetness a little for me. The okra needs salt.
I rate 17^th Street as preferred over Pappy’s. The ribs are better, Pappy’s are over herbed. 17^th Street’s pork is significantly better and based on the sandwich, though dry, 17^th’s brisket is better. We did not try the sausage to see how it compares, but almost anything would be better than Pappy’s. I also would say that the accolades for 17^th Street (Bön Appétit, etc) significantly overrate it. You can’t blame them for bragging about such awards, but the idea that they are the best ribs in America is ludicrous. I’m pretty sure they are not the best in St Louis and St Louis is not a rib stronghold.

Meh.
Now, I’m not one of those Americans that believe we should have tons of food to get a value at restaurants. Just the opposite: I want Quality over quantity, every time.
But, the portions in this place were ridiculously small.
So, went for lunch, got combo plate which comes w/​2 meats & side ($ 1 extra for signature side). I got beef brisket & smoked chicken & signature mac n cheese.
Meat portions were very small, brisket was just okay, smoked chix was very tasty but tiny, tiny bird. For $ 1 extra & «signature» mac n cheese — lame lame lame. Mac n cheese was approx ½ c portion or smaller, very bland, possibly some kind of processed cheese product used, void of flavor, not even salted.
Everyone thought bbq meats were just okay. Others liked their hot sausage link.
The appetizers were large. We ordered potato skins, which were made with pulled pork. Good. And deep-​fried pickles, which I’ve never had, but were pretty tasty. I usually don’t eat fried food.
Don’t make a special trip to try the food here. If you’re in the neighborhood, try the smoked chicken, don’t order combo anything. The combo lunch plate (everyone ordered this at our table with varieties of meats) more like a «flight» or sample sizes of food.

Blah. I had the beef brisket and turkey which we bought by the pound. It was Meh… not terrible, but I was glad that I wasn’t paying. Their sauce? Disgusting. I have never had worse. I wish we had a Pappy’s over here in the Metro East. You almost have to go eat at Pappy’s to get the taste of 17^th St. sauce out of your mouth.
Service was decent though, especially for being lunch hour. I might come back to check out their beer specials. I believe they have a few days in the week where that is cheap.

Visited the O’Fallon location last night for dinner. I ordered the barbecue chicken, homemade chips, and creamed corn. The chicken was quite tender and had a full smokey flavor; the homemade chips were quite good as well and served with a wonderful dipping sauce. Other members of our party ordered the ribs, which were quite tender, the steak was well received, and the pulled pork approved. We preferred the St. Louis red BBQ sauce over the house sauce. Overall everyone agreed a good meal and will return.
Two negatives: the dinner rolls were dry and quite possibly the worst we’ve ever tasted. The service was extremely slow, and judging by other reviews, is not uncommon.
If you wish to compare this restaurant to Pappy’s, while I enjoyed my meal here, I must say that I agree with almost every other reviewer in that Pappy’s really does have the better BBQ.

Snagged some take out tonight on the way to Kentucky. I have to say — I’m fairly impressed.
The good —
The cornbread was hands-​down best I’ve ever had. I ate four muffins all by myself (don’t judge me!). Also, the ribs were awesome — good well-​rounded flavor. I think even non-​rib people would enjoy the ribs. Also, the pulled pork was impressive and showcased the Magic Dust (or vice versa).
The not-​so-​good —
The beans didn’t really do much for me. Although they had giant butter beans, which I love, I’d skip this side next time. Also — I really didn’t love the BBQ sauce, and I’m a sauce person.
Prices were a bit high, but not enough to keep me from going back… thank you Mr Mills!

Food Feuds got it wrong.
With all due respect to Mr. Mike Mills (who, according to his menu, humbly calls himself «The Legend»), this restaurant did not hold up to expectation. Upon hearing that one of my favorite rib places in the US (Pappy’s in STL, MO) was beat out by a place in Illinois, I just had to try it out. On a Saturday, three other rib aficionados and I ventured across the river into the unknown. We did NOT stumble upon greatness.
LACKED RIB CONSISTENCY.
Friend: Too dry
Me: The texture is just right when you get to the middle?
Friend: Mine has no sauce!
Me: Mine’s drenched…
Friend: Where are the spices?
Me: ALL OVER mine?!
Was it a matter of taste or a matter of cooking? Whatever the matter, there is no signature rib taste that leaves you satisfied or wanting more.
Outcome:
I will not be going back to 17^th Street BBQ in O’Fallon, IL, but would be willing to try a different location.
Side Note: 17^th Street setting was like a Ruby Tuesdays chain with not many people… lacking that homey feel.

Came here with really high hopes after the food feuds episode where they beat nearby pappys (some of my favorite BBQ ribs every). I came with the entire family and was sorely disappointed.
The hyped cornbread muffins were ok flavored but you could tell they were microwaved warmed and lacked the crispy top. We ordered 2 big plates with a bit of everything and a half slab of ribs. Everything came out cold. Not ice cold but the been sitting away from a hear source for an hour or so cold.
Top that off the ribs were dry, turkey lacked flavor, hot links weren’t that hot and the pulled pork was dry as jerky. Had to add sauce just so things weren’t too dry to eat.
If your looking for BBQ look elsewhere (mainly pappys) for good BBQ. Pappys is worth the drive and wait and 17^th street made me wishing I had stood in the cold and waited in line at pappys.

I’d been meaning to hit this location for a couple years, but after seeing them on Food Feuds with chef Michael Symon (who I am totally crushing on), it kicked my butt to get there.
I LOVE Pappy’s, but I’m pretty close to love with 17^th Street. The ribs were indeed amazing. The meat did not not fall off the bone, because that would be WRONG, people! But they did bite cleanly and the crunchy edge was absolutely delicious, with a touch of sweetness. I just wanted to suck on the bones after the meat was gone. The brisket was moist and really good also.
For the sides, I tried the baked beans which I enjoyed. They were tangy-​tomato-​ey and I thought it was a nice touch that they used different types of beans together. The mac and cheese was solid, if not outstanding. The fries were seasoned and done well.
This location is really big with several different rooms. Our server did a good job of being attentive without being overbearing. When it came to dessert, they were out of several items since they make evertying in-​house, so when it’s gone, you’re out of luck. I tried the bread pudding which was sooooooo dense, it felt like it was just sitting on top of all the deliciousness in my belly. And I was really disappointed that they used Cool Whip instead of real whipped cream. Yuck.
All in all, 17^th Street is definitely worth the drive, which isn’t really that far, and I can’t wait to get back and try more of the menu.