Blue Ribbon BBQ Arlington

I have been going to Blue Ribbon BBQ since they first opened in West Newton 24 years ago. Back then it was Redbones for BBQ, and that was about it. Today the Arlington location had an interesting special. They post their daily specials on both the website and on FB, and they are updated daily. I wish more places would do that.

I used to go here on Saturdays for my lunch but the prices starting sneaking up and most of the daily specials had nothing to do with BBQ. Their kale soup is still outstandingly good. Then Jill left for their West Newton location, and she was always such a ray of sunshine. And she was a cat person. Their ribs also went downhill, the collagen end was very dry and overcooked. Their solution to the problem was to cut that end off and serve smaller ribs. They have outdoor seating, weather permitting.

There is seating but not a whole lot of it. Plenty of tasty BBQ sauces and pickles are available. There is also water down at the soda fountain.

Today's specials board and there are actually four items related to BBQ.

The exciting item today was the BIG Easy ($10.99) with two sides. “brisket po-boy, chipotle mayo, banana peppers relish, gravy, shed. lettuce & cabbage”. For my sides, I picked Curried Potatoes and Mac & Cheese. As you can see the M&C was mac and dried out something. The curried potatoes had very dark skin left on, was overcooked and mushy, and had only a faint taste of curry. The brisket was tender and tasty, but there was so much extra loaded on the sandwich that the taste of the brisket completely disappeared. This could have been a great sandwich if it just was more balanced.

Address: 908 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476 Phone: (781) 648-7427