Once inside you see a large menu on the wall to help guide you through your barbecue journey. The atmosphere is relaxed and cozy, in addition this is not a place with servers so you place your order at the counter and pick it up when they call your number. My wife orders the pork sandwich and I decide on the slab of ribs. An interesting thing to note here is that they put BBQ sauce on your ribs only if you ask them to. This is a great feature to anyone who either doesn’t like sauce or is diabetic and isn’t supposed to have any sauce on their ribs.
We sit down at one of the many large wooden tables and chairs and wait for our number to be called. There are actually four seating areas to choose from, one outside, one in the bar area, and two near the pick up counter. For added comfort they actually have a few fireplaces throughout the restaurant for those cooler nights.
Our number is called and it’s time to eat! My wife’s pork sandwich is tender slow cooked pork finely chopped, topped with sauce, and nestled on a bun. It’s accompanied by fries and either coleslaw or apple sauce. The pork is very tender and the sauce is nice and peppery, all which make for a very good sandwich. They have an equally good beef sandwich if you’re not in the mood for pork. The fries are nicely crisp on the outside and fluffy inside. The coleslaw on the other hand is just plain awful. The shredded cabbage tastes like it’s been sitting in pickle juice and should be avoided, get the apple sauce instead. My ribs are very tender and require no utensils. While slow cooked and tender, they were not smoked. They obviously have been cooked slowly in a low temperature oven and not a smoker or grill. The great feature about not putting sauce on unless you want them too is also a drawback. Putting the sauce on the last 15 minutes of grilling embeds the meat with sauces flavor. So while they ribs were tender and pretty good overall, they could have used more flavor. My dinner was served with a baked potato (50 cent upgrade), bread, and that “wonderful” coleslaw.
Final bill came to $25 for the two of us which isn’t too bad considering I had a full slab of ribs. Overall “Russell’s” offers good barbecue, comfortable atmosphere, at a decent price. Worth a try if you’re in the area but not worth a special trip. Rating ** and ½ out of ****.
Locations
1621 N. Thatcher Ave.
Elmwood Park, Illinois 60707
708-453-7065
2885 Algonquin Rd.
Rolling Meadows, Illinois 60008
847-259-5710
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