I walked into Pappy Bob's and was greeted by the heavy smell of wood smoke, a smell you don't often get it Cleveland-are "BBQ" joints, and it was a welcome surprise. This joint, although a bit of a drive from Cleveland-proper, has some of the best BBQ in the Cleveland area. It was a welcome surprise.
My first sample was a pulled pork sandwich, which was on special for a great price. It was a very good sized portion and it came with fries. I had it with their spicy sauce. The pork was delicious. Unfortunately it came with the sauce on it, covering up a bit of the taste of the meat. I was able snatch a few pieces out from between the bun that weren't sauced was happy to taste that good flavor. If I ordered the sandwich again I would ask for the sauce on the side, and probably wouldn't go for the spicy.
I also tried the ribs. I ordered the with the sauce on the side and was greeted with an EXCELLENT smell and full smoke flavor. The ribs meat under the smoke skin was that heavily smoked pink. They were excellent and something worth returning for, for sure. I'm glad I ordered them un-sauced with it on the side so I was able to get some of that smokey meat flavor that they have.
The sides I had were their Cajun fries and Mac and Cheese. The Cajun fries were excellent, and rival those at Five Guys. In my opinion they were somehow better. The Mac was top notch as well.
Not everything was perfect. My ribs were a bit over-done. Don't get me wrong, I know a good heavily smoked rib is going to be chewy and that's what I like, but I had a few portions that were charcoaled. It's okay though because I got that flavor that I look for in good BBQ and know it was a small mistake, not the norm.
My other issue was the sauce. It wasn't as good as the meats were. Going back I'd make sure to have everything with sauce on the side. Somehow the sauces really didn't complement the excellent smokey flavors in the meats. I tried the regular, honey, and spicy and all 3 were off. I would ask for my ribs to be hit with a sprinkling of dry-rub before being served to me next time just to get more of that already built in flavor and might skip the sauce.
I'll be going back for sure. This experience might have been 3.5 stars for me but I can tell this is a 4 star joint. I saw they have smoked wings on their menu, so those will be next on my menu. I hope this place only gets more popular, because they deserve it. read more