Excellent service friendly and very interactive. The food is great. My problem is finding the right bbq sauce.

Ugh I love Mission BBQ. Best BBQ outside of Chicago I've found, and arguably better in some aspects. They have cheesy potatoes wuuut! I found Mission BBQ via Facebook to cater my 120 person May 2022 wedding and from the git-go I worked with Hannah who was so nice and wonderful to work with start to finish. They were affordable for our budget and did I mention the best bbq? We are about an hour away from them and drove up one day about 10 weeks out from my big day and luckily they had our date open. They SPOILED US with generous amounts of food to try - literally platter after platter to create our menu of what we wanted to serve. That's when we first fell in love. I also respected so much how they cater to the vets and stand for the pledge of allegiance every day. Hannah did a great job working with my wedding coordinator, the set up was perfect and the big day went very well! Everyone is still talking about the food!! The only thing I'd suggest for future brides, we had SO much food leftover so make sure you don't over order like us! Thank you Hannah and Mission! read more

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I always try to get here whenever I can love the BBQ the brisket is superb and the sides are always great.

The food here is consistently great. The service is consistently great. The people that work here are always polite and helpful.

The best pit smoked small chain restaurant. Its the real deal. Brisket is fantastic, mac and cheese is great to.

Stopped in for some take out on a business trip. Was greeted immediately, my order was taken by a nice friendly person who knew the menu well. Everything is a la carte. You have the option to make something a combo. I wanted to try the Jalapeño Sausage, it did not disappoint. This is one of the better sausages I have had at a BBQ house. It has a nice "snap" for those that love a smoked sausage, that's what you want. Great flavor the jalapeño does not overpower the meat. I also ordered the pulled pork, it was moist and delicious very good. I ordered a one side combo it comes with corn bread. I ordered the potato salad. Good but a lot of onion flavor. The cornbread is considered "sweet" cornbread, it was good! Actually has whole kernel corn in it. Wish they had Jalapeño corn bread! If I lived in Gurnee, IL I would try the menu. All of it. Definitely more food than I can eat in one sitting. read more

Mission BBQ - Pulled Pork and Jalapeño Sausage with potato salad and corn bread. - Barbeque Near Me - Gurnee, Illinois

The attention to detail is evident in my favorite dish. The yard bird is full of flavor and is super juicy. The crew thus far have been super accommodating. They always greet you with a smile and are just nice. The restaurant is always playing some good Patriotic our country music. Love it. read more

Outstanding, I came in expecting a normal BBQ meal. Everything we ordered from the brisket to the pull pork beans and ribs... they were nice tender and had amazing taste. Def coming back to this place. read more

Delicious food and super sweet staff. The place was clean and nicely decorated. Highly recommend.

We had Mission Barbeque in Gurnee cater our son's wedding. The food was hot, great flavor and huge quantities. So reasonably priced. The staff was excellent. Our guests raved about the food. Could not recommend them enough. Top notch! They were great to work with from start to finish. They even sent us home with all the leftovers! Thank you, thank you!! read more

I love this place for so many different reasons. Their food, service and values are everything you'd want in an establishment. I've ordered the turkey, pulled chicken, and brisket; they're all so delicious! The sauces they provide make the taste even better. Their mac n cheese is amazing, as well as their sweet tea. I've had the corn on the cob which is also delicious. The cornbread is soft and tasty. If you're looking for comfort food, this is the place! You can't go wrong with anything on the menu. The employees are always kind. One time they didn't have the brisket and the manager felt so bad about it, she gave me a free shortcake dessert! That's how great their service is. Besides the food and employees, this establishment supports those who serve us (military, police, firefighters). I love how patriotic this place is. I come here whenever I'm craving a good, wholesome meal. read more

Always good to have friends and family good place for barbecue great family physicians

We live about an hour away from this place but nearby and I read these yelp reviews and thought..... man this is a great rated place, let's go.... I think the hype is a little too much. 1. Friendly staff and fast service 2. Great lemonade mixed it with unsweetened iced tea great mix 3. Brisket sandwich really dry and hard to swallow but bread was great 4. Mac n' cheese, baked beans decent 5. French fries and salmon very salty read more

We love coming here for good BBQ!! This place definitely thanks first responders and military. All around are great pictures and uniforms. The food is great! I love the meat off the ribs falls off so easily. And the different sauces to try with your bbq. I love that at noon time all employees stops working and everyone stands up and they play the National Anthem. read more

The food fine, not great but not terrible. This place get about the equivalent of a BBQ version of a subway in terms of ordering and quality of food. I choose this place to eat because of its good rating, but it turns out the rating has less to do with the food and probably more with, I'm guessing, with the decorations inside the establishment. I got to try it once by having their baby back ribs and a side of green beans, won't be coming back again. read more

Great tastes and staff were very welcoming. I don't get in there often enough. Baby Back RibsLean Beef Brisket

First I love what this restaurant stands for & will gladly come & support them while getting a great meal! The bbq is good the meat was smoked well & my favorite was the smoked cheddar sausage which I would definitely recommend! Also they have great mini sandwiches to get a little taste of everything! Their sides are also fantastic! But above all the service was some of the best we've had! Everyone was so friendly & helpful & really made you feel welcome! What a great experience & good bbq! read more

Good basic BBQ and glad to support veterans and first responders. Beef Brisket was on-point, as was the Pulled Pork.

Excellent food / good variety... customer service is outstanding! Very much enjoy this place and it's one of our favorites...

Always friendly, the food is great and normally consistent and if not they will be happy to make it right! We love dining here regularly. The half chicken bird is amazin' read more

We were really excited about this place coming to Kenosha! My husband and I came in and ordered 2 sandwiches with sides and drinks! Pros: -variety of sauces -good sides (we had the fries and mac and cheese) -awesome service that was helpful -pulled pork was amazing you could really pull the smoke out of it! Cons: -Meat was on the cold side. Which I understand it's bbq and not served piping hot but ours bordered on cold cold. -Pulled chicken had a lot of skin left on that was unpleasant and slimy also the chicken was in very large hunks instead of more shredded like the pork. (This is just my personal preference thing and I don't think it detracts from the flavor more of a textural thing) We will definitely give this place another try after they have a couple months to work out any kinks that happen from opening a new restaurant! read more

BBQ food is fantastic. Pulled chicken with some Memphis Belle sauce is a family favorite. Service is great and the interior tribute to Military and Police is fantastic. read more

Love this place! Yummy yummy! Great friendly service. Staff always seem genuinely happy. The moist brisket samich is to die for!!

For "fast food "barbecue, this is perhaps the best I've ever had. Good quality, great flavor and the service is great as well.

Hands down! Great place, food, and customer service! Big size portions and authentic BBQ! My husband and I were passing through and we decided to stop by the restaurant. The waitress greeted us upon entering the restaurant. She explained the menu and helped us with our order. I will visit this restaurant again!!!!! read more

This place is very surprising if you try it. I'm not a fan of bbq but this place is really good. I highly recommend.

Being a lover of Texas BBQ, I tried this place and I'm so glad I did! I had the pulled chicken the partner had the sampler. Delicious! The meat was juicy, the sauces available are amazing. The staff are very friendly, the foods fast and they have sweet tea and lemonade. Seriously, I never give 5 stars but this place is delish. read more

A recent cheat day brought me to Mission for lunch on a recent Tuesday with a few colleagues. Normally, my go-to is Big Ed's. But everyone at work had been raving about Mission for quite some time, and coupled with the fantastic Yelp reviews, I knew I was going to be in for a treat! Walking in, as with any reputable BBQ joint, is the strong smell of wood, letting you know this is authentic stuff. I settled for the 2-meat platter (turkey and pulled chicken) with a side of the bacon green beans. The food came up quick, and there were about 8 different sauces you can dabble in, 6 of which were on each table. I was slightly disappointed in the portion sizes of the meats. The green beans and the cornbread were of adequate size, but I always equate great BBQ to huge portions. Still, that wasn't enough to knock off a star...because hot damn, the turkey and chicken were both super juicy and flavorful! Everyone was also very friendly, and the hands down BEST thing about my experience, was the 12pm National Anthem. I am forever indebted the the servicemen of this great nation, and I absolutely LOVED the patriotism and gratitude the Mission places on our Armed Forces. Keep rockin', Mission...I'll see you soon! read more

Thank you Mission BBQ for such a tasty meal for our family this evening. Jessie, the manager and the assistant manager there really care about their customer's experience. You guys rock! read more

Went to Mission BBQ for the first time and I am disappointed we did not try it sooner! Food was great, good portion sizes for the price, and the staff was beyond friendly. We also loved the decor, kids had a fun time looking at all the patches and pictures. We also met the kindest woman cleaning tables. She made our night just by being so kind and saying hi! We will definitely be back. read more

I'm super excited that mission BBQ is closer to Wisconsin now! My family tried this for the first time in Nashville, TN and out of all the BBQ places we tried (and we tried a lot eating it for every lunch and dinner of our trip) this was our absolute favorite. Will be making the trip to Gurnee, IL until the Brookfield location opens! I've tried all the meats and my favorite is the lean beef brisket. All the meats are smoked and seasoned really well and are very tender. If you get a meat or a meat combo you also get corn bread on the side. I don't love their cornbread, but putting some honey barbecue sauce or butter on it, it's a nice side. All the sides pair well with the meat, but I enjoy the Mac and cheese the most. And trust me, I'm a huge Mac and cheese snob and usually only love homemade baked mac, and this Mac and cheese really lives up to the hype! For BBQ sauce, I enjoy all of them and would recommend everyone try each of the 6 that are at each table as well as the Alabama white BBQ sauce which is usually by where you can get straws. Aside from the food, the staff is very friendly and the restaurant was very clean. The decorations inside are really fitting to the atmosphere. Can't wait to go back soon! read more

Just heated up some food that my husband brought home from a catered event at work. Wow, I'm impressed! Even leftover and heated up, this food is fantastic. I had the sliced brisket, baked beans, and mac and cheese. The brisket is so tender, I didn't even need a knife to cut it. Wonderful smokey flavor on its own. Beans are delish with the pieces of brisket in it. I'm picky about mac and cheese - I've had mac and cheese from other BBQ places and it was always "gluey" and tasteless. Not the mac and cheese from here! Cheesy without being heavy and full of flavor. The two BBQ sauces on the side were very tasty, too. read more

Great service and a high energy group of employees. I am going to give them one more try as I didn't find their meats to be cooked to my liking. BBQ is a very personal taste. I tried four different sauces and truly didn't find one I would like and at least one the West Virginia, that I never want to taste again. The meat cuts were very fatty - sampler brisket and sausage. The sausage was very good. The brisket was lacking. Also sampled the smoked meatloaf special. It was ok. Sides were average. Cheesy potato was the best of those. With so many other BBQ options in the area (many I have reviewed) -- the rank low on the list. And this is tough because I love what the stand for and the causes they support. read more

Let me start by saying that being from Kansas City I am not a stranger to real good BBQ. And though I prefer KC style, I have sampled all the major BBQ regions which includes Texas, Memphis, and Carolina styles, and they're all good. In my opinion, Mission BBQ didn't come close to any of those styles. After reading some of the other reviews about this place, and then trying the food, I was surprised by what people think is good BBQ. This doesn't even give a hint of what real BBQ should be. What we had was dry, tasteless, not even a notion of smoke flavor. And the sauce? Please! I tried the KC Special hopeing it would add some taste to the meat. Now there are many different ways to make sauce in the KC style but most are tomato based with some vinegar and spices and molasses that range from sweet to hot and spicy. The KC sauce at Mission was just like ketchup. Tomato sauce with salt and pepper. The only thing that I will say good about Mission is the decor is nice and the staff is friendly. After 20 years of looking I still haven't found a decent BBQ place in the north Chicago suburbs. The only place that is good in Chicagoland is Smoque, but it's quite a ways. The search continues. read more

So I decided to go a few times before writing my review. Cute little place and very military oriented. Love the parking for veterans as well as all the items on display regarding the armed forces. On to the food. So after reading several reviews regarding the brisket I decided to give it a try. The meat alone was dry. Flavor was okay but definitely was overshadowed by the dryness of the meat. Ended up using a lot of the Tupelo sauce in order to eat the meat. Tried the chicken sandwich which was a massive amount of meat. There was enough meat for two to three people to eat. The meat had a nice taste to it and paired well with the sauces. The last meat that I tried was the smoked turkey and I must say this was my fave. My husband also tried their jalapeño sausage but didn't care for it. I taste it and didn't like it either. The casing was very rough and the meat not appealing. There was also a generous portion of meat with this serving also. For the sides the fries are amazing! If you love the taste of fresh cut fries these will be sure to please your pallet. After reading several rave reviews about the Mac and cheese I had to try it out and it didn't disappoint at all. The cornbread was okay and not something that is a must to order. The staffers were very friendly and pleasant. They gave me full details regarding the program for veterans and told me exactly how to sign up. Food orders and taken quickly and food served up typically but definitely doesn't have fast food appeal as everything was very fresh. The portion sizes here are large. Initially I thought I got a staffer that was generous with the meat but every visit since has given way to large portion sizes. If you're in the area stop in as it won't disappoint. read more

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First time for our family. The four of us split 2 three meat platters. We got two brisket and a pulled pork for each meat platter. We had the mac and cheese and green beans for sides. For drinks, we got the sweet tea. The food was excellent. The sweet tea was some of the best I have had. Nice full tea flavor. You can get the brisket moist or lean. I got one portion of the moist brisket but it was pretty fatty so I would prefer lean instead. Too bad we don't have a store near our home otherwise we would visit again. If we are ever in town again on vacation, we will make sure to stop in. read more

1st time going to mission BBQ, they didn't have brisket or pulled pork. Really???? The barbecue was average at best. Without the different sauces they had, this bbq would be below average.I do not recommend this restaurant. Don't waste your money or time. read more

It's an unusual day for me to eat this kind of food, as much as I love it. Today I felt the siren song of smoked meats, and I wanted to give this new establishment a taste. The Concept Mission BBQ is the brainchild of two successful entrepreneurs and friends, a founder of Underarmour and an executive with Outback Steak House. Founded on September 11, 2011, the idea is premium fast-casual barbecue in a hyper-americana environment. All of the memorabilia in the place refer to the armed forces, police, fire people, and first responders, i.e., "those who serve." This is the 70th outpost of the growing chain which started in Maryland. The founders' children were in the military, and it seems that they don't preferentially hire military or public service people at least here in Gurnee. However, the appeal can't be understated in this community: the place was packed. Mission BBQ does sponsor benefits for the military and they offer a special cup of soda at $3.99, $1.99 of which goes to the USO. The Food If my tastebuds are judging, this was all five star food. I asked what the most popular meats were, so I tried a two meat combo of the brisket and the pulled pork. They smoke the meat on the premises with dry rubs, and it shows. Brisket was best in class, and I got it juicy. Pulled pork was very good, but elevated to delicious with a douse of the North Carolina vinegar which was on the table with a six pack of different sauces. Portions were carefully measured, meaning on the wrong side of generous. The cider vinegar was slightly sweet with a mild heat and tasted pretty good on the brisket as well. Of the six sauces to choose from, my tastes leaned toward the Memphis Belle, "the sweet sauce," and the KC Classic, which was smokier with a touch of mustard. The meat plates come with a square of cakey cornbread which was all right. A brief gander at the corporate website has me wishing they offered some of their other regional sauces that had more bite and a little less sugar. Sides, all priced separately at around $2 each unless you bundle one or two for a small discount with a drink, are almost all off-the-chart good. Maggie's Mac and Cheese is a standout. Topped with toasted bread crumbs, it's unquestionably illegal for weight watchers. The baked beans loaded with brisket chunks were also crazy good. I also tried the fresh green beans liberally peppered with bacon and loved the flavor. I was underwhelmed with the "Cold Slaw" [sic], which was better because of the celery seed, but neither sweet nor creamy as I would prefer it. One hostess walked around the dining room with a tray of "freedom" fries (not French fries-- God forbid in this place) with a seasoned salt which were just browned enough to give them that double-fried flavor. There's a raft of other meats on the menu, including smoked turkey, chicken, sausage, baby back ribs, spare ribs, and salmon. That's certainly enough to warrant another trip, if not for the sides alone. The Service Service was also across the board five star. I had engaging conversations with the people who took my order, cleaned my table, and asked me how my food was as I was eating. Management is doing something very right here to elicit this kind of behavior from its staff. The Value Value here is all right. I'm no connoisseur of barbecue places which seem to be sprouting up these days like mushrooms, but my dinner of two meats and four sides with a drink (and the lemonade is too sweet) was about $18. This seemed a bit high to me. Final Impressions There's something calculated about the concept of this place which is clearly working from an appeal standpoint. It strikes me as brazenly opportunistic. If they actually are giving back, then that's a good thing, despite the fact the founders aren't among "those who serve." I think the place could stand alone on food and service without the theme. I don't think it matters to the people who are coming here, eating great food, and forking over their money without asking too many questions about the concept. It makes many people feel good to eat great food in a place dedicated to proud, American service personnel. read more

Mission BBQ - Two meat combo with brisket and pulled pork, baked beans, cole slaw, and corn bread, with drink, $14. - Barbeque Near Me - Gurnee, Illinois

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Went in there a week ago feeling hopeful for another edible BBQ place in the area and their Mac and cheese was great, however the pulled pork was really dry and the fries were ice cold and had clearly been sitting out under the warmer for awhile. The Texas twang sauce really has no twang rather an overwhelming smoky chipotle flavor. Overall I was pretty disappointed. Edit: Went in again today because I felt like giving them a second chance. They improved on the fries and the Smokey mountain barbecue sauce was fantastic(although I asked for two and they only gave me one for takeout), but the pulled pork was even dryer than last time and this time I went in the middle of the lunch rush when I figured the food would be at its prime. Beyond all of that the food made me violently ill tonight and it's safe to say I'll never be returning to mission BBQ. Would've given 0 stars if I could. read more

Having only had two of the meats here I cannot really say much for the rest of them. The ribs are great. Expensive but great. The brisket was entirely too dry for me. The sides are quite good. I'm more of a fan of those than the meat. What sets this place (gurnee) apart from the other restaurants in the area is the shear pleasantness of the staff. Seriously, the food is par, the atmosphere is heavy on military and civil EMS but the staff is just delightful. Two tips - if you don't like dealing with having your noon time meal interrupted with a singing of the national anthem (seriously, they will stop everything and expect everyone there to at least stand)... and they also do colorguard on certain holidays... well, if you don't want the ceremonies of those two things... avoid them for those times. read more