Iama Critic Rating - Local Cue - 2 Stars
30 Orchard Park Drive, Greenville, SC
Overall:
Me and my restaurant critic friends have gone to Local Cue twice now. Once early and once late. And the experiences were outrageously different. When we got there early we enjoyed good food and decent service. When we got there late, the service was pathetic, utterly worthless. And the food? Well, I finally had enough of trying to place an order with a woman with six beers in her hands, so we left after a half hour of trying to order for six people.
Local Cue certainly has what it takes not only to be a great restaurant and bar, but even to be a great hangout. But they fail in epic manner after 10pm to be anything but an annoying cram-packed bar.
The way they handle the crowd is abominable. They need to take a ride over to Bailey's Sports Bar and see how to spread a crowd out. Not everyone wants to grind against strangers to order mac and cheese or a pork sandwich!
The later it gets, the more crowded the bar gets. And once that happens at 10 o'clock all of Local Cue's staff goes behind the bar, and service for anyone else goes out the window. All that matters to them is popping those bottle caps and pouring that draft, and anyone that isn't willing to bust through the bar crowd is left without any service at all.
Being a large man I just shove the bar dogs to the side, but I can't imagine how a women gets through that crowd of drunks to order a $24.00 smoked ribeye after the bar gets busy.
And for this epic fail, I have reduced Local Cue's overall rating by one star!
The Service - 2 Stars (15% before 10pm, 0% after 10pm)
The service entirely depend on the time your dinner party arrives. If your dinner party arrives for dinner before the bar gets busy, you will find clean tables and attentive waitresses. But if you arrive after the bar gets busy, you will die of old age before you find a waitress that isn't completely preoccupied with serving bar patrons. And Local Cue ceases to be a restaurant at that point, that is unless you are willing to go hand to hand mosh pit with the bar drinkers. And you sure as heck don't want to send your girlfriend in there or she will come back to the table blaming you for all the "handling" she will receive!
The Food (If You Can Get It!)
$12.00 - BBQ Sampler - 2 Stars
While this sampler looked really good and the various cole slaws were quite cleaver and tasty, the meat was a real disappointment. Local Cue is obviously marketing itself as a high end (higher price) BBQ restaurant, but with meat like this they will have to keep changing their menu. The chicken was tasteless, the pork was moist but average at best, and the brisket was awful. Not as bad as I have had at Sticky Fingers, but a close second to worst.
This entree is also $2 more than Mutt's BBQ buffet which comes with a drink and is much better.
$8.00 - Mac & Cheese - 3 Stars
Wow, isn't macaroni light a buck a pound? Local Cue must be making a fortune off this mac & cheese, it is a terrible value, it is however very good! I ordered it with bacon, tomato and onions which added $3 to the $5 base price! But your brain needs to adjust to paying $8 for macaroni and cheese... wow!
$8.00 - Brisket Sandwich - 2 Stars
Not the worse brisket we have had, but it wasn't good. It was hard, dry and tasted awful. It was painfully dry and overcooked. Even if it wasn't overcooked, it was overpriced.
$7.00 - Brisket Cheese Fries - 2 Stars
Another terrible value that tastes pretty good. But the brisket was hard as jerky! In fact their brisket would make an excellent jerky! The fries were decent but Hooters has these beat by a mile, you get more and they are the same price.
$8.50 - Guinness Bratwurst - 2 Stars
The sandwich needs something, like grilled onion or peppers. The cheese is overpowering. The beans however were very good.
$9.00 - Wings - 5 Stars
Some of the best wings in Greenville. Doesn't even need the sauces! We use them on the celery! So Local Cue and Sticky Fingers have something in common. They both make simply fantastic wings, and neither know squat about making brisket!
For fabulous brisket you need to head to either the Smokin Pig or the Pompous Pig in Anderson, SC. Both are worth the trip!
$4.00 - Fried Candy Bar - 4 Stars
Nice presentation and very nice flavor. Price isn't bad either.
Final Thoughts:
Local Cue has a grand idea, but it is terribly flawed until they hire more waitresses who do not work behind the bar. This will allow the patrons to spread out around the building instead of congregating like compacted sardines around the bar. read more