It scratched the itch for BBQ. Thoughtfully crafted sides, great bark on the burnt ends. Gentlemen at the takeout counter was nice. Great space inside! You'd never know unless you stepped foot inside the restaurant. read more

Chester's Barbecue - Burnt ends with Mac n cheese, baked beans sides - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

I'm always excited to be here but the new roll threw me off. I didn't like it. It was harder, not stale, and very heavy. My pulled pork with tangy sauce was amazing. read more

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It was the morning after a wedding, and I was craving some smoked meats to help me recover. I walked in at open, so there was plenty of room in the large dining room and my order was prepared pretty fast. Loved the variety of sauces available with my order, I went with my go-to: Alabama White. The rundown on my 2-meat combo: Brisket: Already sauced with a basic BBQ sauce. A moist-ish cut, the flavor was rather bland and lacked the smoky profile that makes it BBQ. Burnt Ends: Better than the brisket, it had a hint of smoke and was well sauced but was still rather bland. Potato Salad: A bright compliment to my meal Mac and Cheese: Meh. Chester's sports a wide menu of BBQ items, however the flavors are just OK. read more

Chester's Barbecue - Potato Salad Mac & Cheese - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

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A nice place overall. I ordered the one meat and two sides. The chili and Mac and cheese were great but my pulled pork tasted like vinegar. My friend really liked her chicken. I would go back but will not order the pulled pork. read more

Heckin' Recommend! Chill environment, simple menu easy to read, service was good Food: Cornbread is very buttery soft very delicious! More cakey texture than normal dry cornbread. Loaded Mac and cheese with pulled chicken: this was super tasty flavorful and chicken was not dry but super juicy. Decent quantity for the price. Ribs opinion from husband: The ribs are good, not dry, but they are missing out on the flavor due to not cooking with the sauce, which is understandable due to having tons of different flavors to dip into. Still good just business. read more

The portions are big, and restaurant is clean and welcoming. Staff was friendly and helpful.

I used stop by this place whenever I come Mohegan sun But the place got worst and worst I got the brisket , don't tasted any smoke . It like you just put the meat to cook it then somehow try to crust it or smoke a little No love into it read more

Chester's Barbecue - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

This is the real deal...best brisket, awesome baked beans, great cornbread. Many sauces to choose from. Not bougie or weird just real barbecue.. I travel for work and I've had it all over the country. It's the best barbecue I've had in Connecticut. read more

As soon as you walk in, the smells hit you and are amazing......I ordered the brisket with tater salad and Mac and cheese(you get to pick from a list) and let me just say ; wow, was the brisket tender and yummy.....the Mac and cheese was great, the potato salad (for me) was to much vinegar, and the cornbread was good ..... although a little pricey for the portion size, if you're in the area and want great BBQ, go to chesters! read more

Chester's Barbecue - Brisket, taters, Mac cheese - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

As a Texas I pride myself on knowing good BBQ and I will say this wasn't it. The ordered the 2 meat combo ( ribs and brisket) with mac & cheese and rice and beans for sides. Everything was severely lacking in flavor, both meats were dry and lacked a smoke so I'm assuming they were baked. Staff and ambience were amazing but if you're looking for authentic BBQ I wouldn't come here. read more

If I could give a million stars I would ! Got this on my lunch break and couldn't even eat it right away still amazing, ordered based off reviews and couldn't be happier, flavor, TEXTURE I'm very iffy with a weird texture chicken or meat Haven't had GOOD quality chicken in so long ! Burnt tips alone or dipped in chilli or white bbq sauce is just... Staff was adorable and so sweet ! Go here. Now. read more

Chester's Barbecue - 2 meat 2 sides Burnt tips + pulled chicken White bbq sauce + buffalo Chili + potato salad - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

Excellent menu choices, delicious barbeque. Personally, I like a little more smoke and salt, but would go back again.

The place looks a little sketchy from the outside but the inside it's not bad it was my first time going. I got the pulled chicken, corn bread and mac n cheese. Chicken was good as well as the cornbread and the mac n cheese was ok not a ton of flavor but I still ate it. I'd say overall 7/10 not great but def not terrible and I paid $16 for my meal so it's not too crazy. If you're in the mood for bbq give it a shot read more

I had the ribs and burnt ends. The ribs had no flavor and were very greasy. The burnt ends were the worst I've ever had. Very disappointing after a good experience last year. Its off me list. read more

Chester's Barbecue - 2 meat plate. - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

What do you do when you come to Groton? Go to Chesters BBQ ... a mainstay and Only place I know in NE that serves Carolina BBQ! Also rally good cornbread, collards and red potato salad! Lovely staff and lots of ribs! Got the sweetheart special! Perfect after a long drive! Get your booze or cold beverage next door! read more

Usually I like this place but this is the second time they messed my order up. Getting frustrated

Absolutely disgusting. Went here the other day with my son. I ordered chicken, Mac and cheese, and potato salad. My son had brisket with Mac and cheese. I took a few bites of the food and threw it away. $37 dollars +tip and had to go home and eat. Mac and cheese tasted like the noodles had not been completely drained of its water. It was bland with no flavor. The chicken looked and tasted like it had been boiled then broiled to make the top crispy. Potato salad wasn't that great. My son said his food was nasty. More like nursing home food. Extremely disappointed and won't be back, ever! read more

I used to stop here whenever l was in the area, the rub on the ribs was peppery & delicious. Well NEVER AGAIN!!! When l got my plate the pork ribs were gray & no taste. I don't know how they are cooking the ribs but it's not smoked over wood. I would guess they slow cook with gas & then steam. Mac n cheese was not home made and the "chilly" would more accurately be described as a bean stew with traces of meat. Even the "corn bread" was yellow bread not much corn meal. I can't believe the doors of this place are still open. read more

I ordered smoked wings, burnt ends, Mac and Cheese w brisket and corn bread. None of it was impressive. Although it was hot when it was delivered, everything was unbelievably dry. The wings were decent size, but they were so overcooked they had were like eating a rice cake. The burnt ends were average. The Mac and cheese was basic, lacking cheese and flavor. It was nothing special. The brisket on the Mac and cheese was dry and tasteless. Additionally, the corn bread was among the worst I've ever had. It had zero flavor and was dry. Prices were reasonable, however they need to work on moisture content for the meats. I love BBQ, but this was disappointing. read more

You hit with that smoky smell as soon as you walk into this place. A little pricey for bbq, but hey it's the only place in the area that bbq was this specialty. Most places are selling lobster sandwiches or something. The food was good, brisket and burnt ends were kinda dry, mac n cheese was a little bland, but I was near the end of the night and I could have had some old bits. I would recommend, but probably won't come back myself, just wasn't anything special. read more

Chester's Barbecue - Cowboy bob sandwich and side of burnt ends. - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

So let me start by saying that I called this place first before we decided to make this the destination for dinner before a concert at Mohegan. I called them because I noticed they are on the phantom of Gourmet website for when you buy a phantom Gourmet gift card or your gifted a gift card you can go to this restaurant using said gift card. I just wanted to double check with them before we showed up and tried to use a gift card and they say sorry you can't use it. The female that answered the phone first said no then I proceeded to explain to her that that business is on phantom Gourmet website. Said that the person who would really know the answer to my question isn't back to work until Monday, well that's not gonna help me seeing how I wanted to go on a Saturday. So my husband and I ordered the same thing a to meat platter. Both of us got brisket and pulled pork. Had gotten the baked beans and mac & cheese for his sides and I had gotten mac & cheese and the brisket chili. I know my husband wasn't a huge fan of the pulled pork because it's vinegar-based so he threw on his barbecue sauce and mixed it up so that it would not be so vinegar tasting. The brisket chili was OK. Normally if you cook something and let it simmer long enough, it gets very tender but the brisket in this chili was very very tough. Mac & cheese could be better. Their cornbread I don't know why they give you a little package of butter to put on because you would not be able to spread the butter on it. Their cornbread is very crumbly and doesn't really taste like cornbread either. All in all, it was OK, but we've had better elsewhere (in Massachusetts). I can't say whether or not they would've taken my gift cards because I totally forgot to hand them over when I went to make payment Maybe if they see this review, they can answer whether or not, they would take those gift cards which they should because they're featured as one of the many restaurants on that website. For being around 4:30 PM on a Saturday they were quite dead. There was no one else in the restaurant and its pretty big restaurant. read more

Seems to be the East CT favorite. My experience and pictures aren't matching up with a lot of other reviews of this place so I don't know what to expect. First thing that struck me was that on their hanging menu they list all their meats but I didn't see any ribs up there at all. I had to ask if they had them and they said they had Baby Backs and Spares. Then why aren't they up on the board? And someone on here had a Beef Rib? What's going on here? 3 Meat combo Brisket: Came sliced in a little bit thicker cuts than some other places would. Sauce all over it which is automatic deduction of points. A little bit dry but nowhere near as dry as a lot of other places. Great Brisket Flavor though. Meat was still a little tough for me. And I didn't get much flavor out of whatever rub they used. Ribs: There has been very few ribs like this in my journey. It's the type that arch way too much, almost makes a half circle, and the meat kind of looks like it was boiled first, like it has that weird yellow hue to it. And the bones themselves were really big for ribs that can fit in the palm of your hand. No sauce on it though so that's good. A little tiny bit of a rub on it, some kind of seedy herb in there. The taste was that of super chard meat but I could clearly see it wasn't. I blame that on the type of smoking but I don't know what it was. The meat needed sauce and that's a big no no. Chicken: Tender and moist but didn't notice anything great about the taste. Skin had a tiny bit of a seasoning which had a little bit of a sweet and savory note to it. Sweet Potato mash: Very good, not too many things that took away from the natural flavor of the sweet potato. Baked Beans: Vegetables are cooked perfectly into the bean mix so that you can still taste them. I actually tasted the onions and peppers first before the baked beans. I couldn't quite put my finger on what that flavor was that hit my tongue first, maybe celery or green onion. But incredibly it didn't get lost in the brown sugar taste of the baked beans. Mac and Cheese: Didn't looked baked, plenty of black pepper, not completely Velveeta cheesy looking and then I tasted it. Easily top 10 mac and cheese in New England. Mac and cheese is the hardest thing to judge by look. Cinnamon Apple: Much like the sweet potato, looks typical and has that traditional taste but the selling point is the fact that I can still taste the natural flavors of the apple. Chili: Says it's famous so I had to try it. Red sauce, Red Beans, little strands of meat, mainly tasted chili powder but it took awhile for the heat to take affect. Not sure about the whole "Famous" part but whatever Beans and Rice: Different from other beans and rice recipes I've tried. Beans were on top of the rice as usual but the rice was soaking in some type of water. Cornbread: Came wrapped in tin foil and it was Very hot and steamy when unfolding it. Tiny bit on the dry side but in that realm of maybe it's supposed to be. Like the real old fashion cornbread. Not too sweet, good grittiness, actually a very good cornbread. Sauces: Sweet- It was pretty dark and looked a lot more like a teriyaki sauce. Tasted like teriyaki too but not quite. By far my favorite one, I hardly take sauces home but this was one of them. Only thing is that it was a "Sweet Sauce" and not so much a "Sweet BBQ Sauce" but I really liked it. Tangy - Served hot which is sometimes a good thing. Little bit of a sweet heat kick. Peach - Thick but translucent enough to see whats in there. I tried it on the rib but the chard flavor of the meat took over and I couldn't taste the sauce at all. Straight up I could feel the grittiness of it which was good, but couldn't really taste any peach. Little tiny sour kick to it, little citrus vibe, but "Peach" I couldn't taste In all I'd say 99% of people are going to love this place. BBQ travelers like me though? Seems to be a hit or miss situation. read more

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Hot garbage. Brisket was more dry than the Sahara desert. There wasn't much on the sandwich to begin with. Mac and cheese was sooooo bland it was painful. Buffalo bites - were legitimately soggy i don't know how even. Huge disappoint with a pricey cost. Won't be going back :/ read more

I remember when chesters started years ago on 549 Bank Street New London in a little brick building it was good bbq and the owner was a nice a guy and even explained to me a little bit about his smokers. Fast forward 2024 his business has grown and I'm sure it's hard to ensure quality control with a growing business and the high turn over rate of employees these days and I understand that. With that being said I wasn't as impressed with the food as I was the first time when he was a much smaller establishment. Wanna love this place so bad but the BBQ needs a revamp. read more

Best NC pulled pork outside of North Carolina. The owner did some traveling and learned his craft from the source. If you like real BBQ, then you'll appreciate the food here. It's quite expensive but you're not leaving hungry that's for sure. It's one of my favorite places to eat in SE CT. I will say their BBQ sauces are NOT gluten free which kind of sucks. Their NC pulled pork is gluten free however and if you know anything about NC pulled pork, you know it doesn't need any BBQ sauce (even though the kids at the register ask you everytime!) read more

Their meat is cooked well but something is off with how they season their food. All the meat have zero salt and is incredibly bland. All the sides we ordered were very tart, whether it's the pulled pork Mac, beans, or potato salad. They cook their meat well but the seasoning makes it incredibly disappointing. Something must've gotten messed up cause some stuff is so sour and bland that it's inedible but other stuff is completely fine. read more

Went here with my father in-law on a Sunday afternoon. When we walked in I noticed that the restaurant only had 3 people in it. My father in law ordered the tarheel combo and I got the brisket with two sides. The brisket was pretty dry and had 0 smoke ring and was just warm. The Mac and cheese was fairly standard, almost like it was prepackaged. The potato salad was actually nice. read more

Chester's Barbecue - Brisket, Mac & Cheese, Potato Salad - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

Had dinner with my family for takeout. My husband and daughter did not like the ribs. They said it was too dry and not tender. They also said the collard greens had too much vinegar in it. My food was a bit better I had the burnt ends and boneless ribs. I also had a chili side. I didn't like the chili but I loved the burnt ends and boneless ribs. Overall I think if you buy certain meat you'll like it. I would have hoped that a bbq place could make decent ribs though. read more

Chester's Barbecue - Burnt ends, boneless ribs, chili (some of the burnt ends were eaten) - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

Best BBQ in Groton hands down. Wouldn't want to go anywhere else. I am impressed by the smokiness of the foods and the variety of sauces that really covers the entire palette. The chilli is also exceptionally good. read more

I was so disappointed. I really wanted so great bbq. The meat was beyond tough and potato salad was terrible. I guess coming from Texas, I should've have gotten my hope up. read more

Stopped in for lunch today and had this amazing corned beef, red cabbage slaw and spicy mustard sauce sandwich. The meat was so tender it melted in my mouth and the sauce added a crisp bite. People here are friendly and helpful, service is amazingly fast. I travel a lot (home based in SOCAL, here on a short business trip) so have some perspective on BBQ. Chester's is now in my "Top 5"! Thanks for a great experience! read more

Chester's Barbecue - Corned beef BBQ with Mac & cheese side. - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

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Wasn't expecting much from a CT BBQ joint since I normally think of the southern states as the resident BBQ experts BUT Chester delivered! Ribs were fall off the bone tender and I really enjoyed the sweet and tangy bbq sauces. Only 4 stars b/c the sides ( mac & cheese + collards) were solid but nothing to write home about. PS: Collards were good but have a strong vinegar tang that you should be aware of I would definitely go back and get the ribs read more

Great food and service...prices are fair. We've been there several times and had a great each time.

I tried this place on a few different occasions. I was not impressed. Each time I found the food to be very bland and underwhelming. I also understand food costs are increasing but this place has been significantly overpriced for years. read more

Best brisket this side of Dallas! Tangy sauce is drinkable!! Very courteous service, as well. Atmosphere is very comfortable in addition to the overall ambience! Richard Robinson Waterford read more

This place is legit. You can smell the smoke outside as you pull into the parking lot. Don't be dismayed by the BigY strip mall, once you get inside you're in BBQ heaven. Easy chose your favorites menu, fast service, byob (there's a liquor store next door if you're unprepared), and real homemade delicious food. 3 adults got the sampler for 2, (plus an extra pulled pork), with Mac and cheese, cole slaw, baked beans for not even $50 all in and had leftovers. Great spot, definitely going back. read more

Chester's Barbecue - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

Walked into the restaurant today to pickup a catering order that was placed on Monday. The Employees stated that they did not have the order on file. I was then berated by the male employee and threatened to be thrown out of the restaurant for having a " bad attitude". I cannot believe that I was being treated like an ass&@$# for they're mistake, and they didn't even apologize for they're mistake. read more

Nice and speedy service. I had a full rack of baby-back ribs. They were very flavorful and fall off the bone tender. The baked beans were good but nothing to go out of your way to get. The Mac-n-Cheese had macaroni that was over cooked and mushy. My daughter does better at home with a box from Kraft. read more

Chester's Barbecue - a view of the outside of a restaurant - Barbeque Near Me - Groton, Connecticut

Usually have good food from here. Haven't been in about 6-8 months. Decided to get takeout since we've been quarantined so long, and was craving their food. Got the meat with 2 sides combo. Burnt ends with collard greens and Mac and cheese. The burnt ends are usually very flavorful and moist, do not need any sauce on the side. Tonight they had no flavor and were very dry, had to smother them in sauce to eat them. Very disappointing since they usually melt in your mouth. The collard greens were very good. Mac and cheese not much cheese flavor, dry and gritty. Not the meal I expected from them since it is usually great food. Maybe just an off night. Idk if I'd go back and chance it again. read more

Loved their NC recipe, BBQ was great! No complaints here. I have some chester's every time i come down to the area