Dinosaur BBQ - Newark NJ (ken8038)

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 18:22:00 GMT

I met up with 2 friends of mine for dinner at the new Dinosaur BBQ outpost in Newark the other night. This was first trip to any Dinosaur location, so I don't have any other one to compare it to, but overall it was quite good. We each got a sampler plate so we pretty much covered the whole menu between meats & sides.

The St. Louis Ribs were outstanding! We all agreed they were the highlight. The pulled pork and brisket won't make anyone's Top 5 list, but they were pretty good. The only disapointment were the Hot Links. They were bland and without much taste at all. I was really looking forward to them, but hot links seem to always be a disapointment anywhere I go in the Northeast. Ain't nothin like Hot Links in Texas.

The sides were all good enough, nothing knocked my socks off, but it was all enjoyable. Good selection of draft beers at fairly resonable prices.

For a fairly new, very busy, place, they seemed well organized. I had made an on line reservation and there it was on their computer (never know how that's going to go..) and a table was waiting for us. Our server (Tony, I think) was excellent, really on the ball with our complicated orders. I'd go again and concentrate on those ribs.

It's only 2 blocks from Newark Penn Station (I took the train, more beer for me!), and adjacent to the PNC Bank arena. As a matter of fact, there was a WNBA Game in progress when we were leaving, and scalpers were dumping tickets (who in thier right mind thinks they are going to make money scalping WNBA games??). We got 3 tickets for $5 total and watched the end of the first quarter to halftime. I had never been to the arena and had never been to a WNBA game, it was fun. Caught a 10:08 train and was home before 11.