Definitely not worth the $$$$. The guy that seated us was A complete jerk right off the bat, that should have been our clue to turn tail and run. Took a long time to get our appetizer, it was no more then sat down on the table and our meal came! The point of appetizer is to get it before the meal...the ribs were cold to the bone and definitely not worth the price. On the plus side the waitress was very pleasant. read more

First time visiting and I'd have to say we won't be back. Saw the line out front and thought.. hey I'm sure that's great... not so much. Waitress came over to take our order. We first ordered a couple of beers. She asked for our ID's; she looked at them gave them back and then proceeded to say "you're over 21 right?" I looked at her confused and said.. yes I am 33. She then said "oh ok I just didn't want this to be a sting or something" and walks away. Very off putting from the start. She comes back to take our order. While my fiancé was ordering he changed his mind on one of his sides and asked for a different option. She proceeded to say "sorry I already processed your order, I can't make any changes" We literally didn't even finish our conversation with her and she said no. Not great service at all. Food comes. All sides were unseasoned and tasteless. Ribs had a chewy rubbery texture. Chicken was dry on the inside and the skin was rubbery.. Oh and our appetizer came out after our entrees. They guy on stage for the Saturday entertainment was the best part of the evening. Keep him, scrap everything else. read more

Been driving by this place for years and finally decided to stop in. Atmosphere was cool, as expected. Outside dining under a large tent on picnic tables with music. Food was not as expected. Stopped for lunch are ordered the piled high pulled pork sandwich, it's a bbq joint after all. Sandwich was small and piled high?? maybe not even enough meat to cover the bun. Not to mention it was Luke warm at best and dry as hell. Barely any sauce on sandwich, actually had to dip in ketchup just to finish sandwich. Wanted to ask for more sauce but our waitress must have been on break. No significant smoke or anything special about the pork itself. Waffle fries were good otherwise, but $15 for a small dried out sandwich and fries, not worth it. I don't review much, but felt compelled to save other travelers money and a waste of effort and time. read more

I've been here a few times over the years. It's nothing spectacular and I'm kind of annoyed they don't have the option to add a single lobster to the meal. I ended up ordering a lobster clam bake AND the pick two bbq initially went there for. $50 just for my meal and I didn't want the corn or potato salad that came with the bake. Needless to say, if you want lobster and bbq - expect to pay out the arse. read more

Tail O'the Pup - Barbeque Near Me - Ray Brook, New York

See all

It's quarantine time and they are opened for their second day. Not as busy as people say for obvious reasons but the food was really really good. The chowder was delicious with a hint of spice. The ribs were absolutely delicious and the chicken was super tasty. We would definitely come back! I will say I'm sure the quality of the food is great due to the slowness of people coming in. But I'd still love to come back and check it when things are up and running more especially since i read there's live music !!! Definitely stop by on your way into town. Take advantage of the few amount of people going out and eating! read more

Tail O'the Pup - Clam Chowda is GONE LOL - Barbeque Near Me - Ray Brook, New York

See all

Delicious food, fun (and generous) drink pours, and a great vibe. We enjoyed some live music this Saturday and I had the lobster which was a ton of fun. Mark and the staff are working hard all the time for good food, honest prices, and a summer campy vibe. Would recommend for fun + unpretentious people! read more

I have been going to Tail O Pup for over 20 years, mostly for the atmosphere (food has always been hit/miss). I have always defended the place when my friends, that are locals, make fun of my love of the Pup. But no more. Things have changed. Had the worst restaurant experience in my life. This past time we got told we entered the wrong entrance when we were the only customers. We came in 10 minutes before closing and it was made perfectly clear we were not wanted. Had to write our own order on a piece of paper. A party that came in after us got their food first. Reason that was given was he use to work there. My party was called rude when we asked about our service. Manager kept asking us "what do you want me to do" over and over again when we had a discussion with him. I understand their staffing issues, but many other places in the region can handle these issues without blaming the customer and using it as an excuse for bad service. The food has made huge strides in the last few years, but you might have to wait til they can get their foreign exchange students back for any sort of service. read more

Extreme lack of service. We first couldn't order because the "ipad was down" and they are out of straws, blue cheese, chicken wings. The servers are either young children or on their phones. We asked for blue cheese and the girl said right away, and then never came back. We asked the same girl about drink refills, and we were again ignored. After we asked for blue cheese the third time, they finally told us they only had one small bit left; it was watery and old. I was then yelled at to put on a mask (as I had it in my hand about to put it on ) by a worker who was wearing his mask under his chin. There are two children who are probably 11-12 working as well. The lack of service and the complete ignorance of the workers was beyond anything I have ever experienced. I am usually not very critical when it comes to eat, but this experience was absolutely awful. read more

Mediocrity at its finest! Starting with the service. The restaurant says they close at 8pm so I called 5 (five) times to confirm what time they close because... Adirondacks. The phone was picked up by someone, but all I could hear were kitchen noises and no one could apparently hear me. I tried this four more times to no avail. We arrived at 7:47. It took the host a minute or two to spot us and walk over. I asked if they were still open. "No, we close just before 8." "Oh no, But we got here just after 7:45pm?" "Sorry, we close just before 8." "What time is just before 8? It should be just before 8 right now..." "Tonight we closed at 7:45." Alas. So close and yet so far. But our culinary exploits were neither horse shoes nor hand grenades, so instead we dined at the Ray Brook Brew House across the street which turned out to be excellent (4.5 stars). Undaunted, we returned the following night to try the smokehouse meats and famous ribs and chicken. We arrived at 7:37. "A table for three," I asserted, to leave nothing to chance. After consulting one another if they were open they admitted us to the nearest table. We had been seated! We had the full rack of ribs, the chicken dinner, chowder, and the pulled pork sandwich. The ribs and chicken were... interesting. The chowder was quite tasty. The meats came out reasonably tender with a Red Dye 40 BBQ sauce on top that looked and tasted like Red Dye 40 was the main ingredient. The sides were stingy to say the least and the cole slaw was perhaps the worst I've tasted, a dishwatery cup of sliced cabbage. They kindly swapped it out for corn on the cob at my request, which was far better. We were never checked up on, and the request for extra sauce was promptly forgotten. The value? Fair to poor - a dainty "full" rack of ribs with tiny sides cost $23. So, was our grand trip worth it? Did we have the "Best Barbecue in the Adirondacks"? Doubtful. Did we have a good time eating ribs in the open air, listening to a Jimmy Buffet vibed love music? Yes. Advice to management: We desperately want to support you as we love BBQ and dog friendly good vibes. We know you have a near monopoly along Route 86, but please reduce the rudeness of your service, post clear and consistent hours, and don't price gouge. read more

I had the BBQ plate. It was pricey but that wasn't too surprising given the location. The pork was tasty but nothing exceptional, the baked beans were far too sweet, and the corn on the cob was actually an entire cob and cooked fairly fresh (I was honestly expected a water logged half ear of corn that is the norm in many establishments). Our server was super nice and helpful (we had an order to go in addition to what we ate there). I will say that $6.95 for six little neck clams is outrageous. If one wanted seafood (other than fried fish) the minimum price was $32.00 for lobster with some clams and corn. Meh.....that's a lot of money for clams and lobster that had to be hauled in from Boston on New York City. As I gather from the Yelp reviews, service it hit or miss. My food was decent and my server exceptional but that being said, I wouldn't go out of my way for this place. read more

Never ever again. I have been bringing guests to this restaurant for over 15 year's. I live in the area and each time we have been there was and enjoyable experience, so much so, that my family and friends made it a point to make sure we ate there at least once each visit. I had friends come to home in the Adirondacks for the first time this August. Once again I knew the place to go with then for good food, live music and fun things for the children to do. From the moment we pulled up we knew something was wrong. If i had not been here before, I would have left. The place was empty and dirty. No band, even though the big yellow sigh was alerting everyone" Live Music ". Our friend ordered Pork shoulder, waitress we are out, okay pulled pork then, we are out of that too. Mind you this is a bbq restaurant. We ordered 3 chessburgers, 1/2 roasted chicken, 1/2 rack of ribs and 1fish and chips. Nacho chips for appetizer. No nacho chips, they were potato chips, with a glob of cheese on one corner and a souffle of sour cream. When I questioned the waitress she said didn't I tell you they are potato chips, I asked her if she had salsa and guacamole, she said no. 2 minutes later a plate of chips came out with the guacamole for another customer. The silverware and glasses were filthy, greasy fingerprints all over the glass, when i brought it to the attention of waitress she shrugged her shoulders. When she took order she pointed out to us not to eat the vegetables, she said they are disgusting and everyone throws them in the garbage. When our food arrived it was grotesque to look at..The corn bread on my plate literally had a bite taken out of the corner, my friends husband almost choked on his first bite of his burger, the ribs looked like have been heated over and over again that is was more like jerky meat. My girlfriend's daughter and son , one had burger the other chicken would not eat their food because it was so dry and tasted nasty. Needless to say we paid the bill with a generous tip, the waitress took the cash without a thank you or goodbye. I thought the best thing to do was to call the owner the next day, 2nd mistake. I Ieft a message for owner to call back, manager called me, I relayed all this information to him and his response was that it probably because his staff is just exhausted, and more than likely just don't care as much became it is the end of the season. I know it is seasonal but I said are you kidding me, you're saying that the food ,service and cleanliness depends on if it is at the end of the season because they're tired.He said he is not making excuses but that is what he deals with in this area. Like I said I have been going to this restaurant for years, I never had an experience like this. Something has changed, it is not the same place. The manager at the end of my call stated he would convey my message to the owner and call me back, that was August 18th 2019 , as of 8/26/19 still no call. Tells me everything I need to know. read more

We waited half an hour for menus. With effort, we got menus and ordered. We waited one hour and when we inquired about our order we were told five orders were ahead of us. People who were served at nearby tables (Who ordered after us) loudly cheered when their food arrived. At 9:00 we left and picked up a pizza at Pizza Hut. This Tale O' the Pup had a disappointing ending. read more

Server pleasant but service terribly slow. Pulled pork sandwich an angering child size portion for $17, and had a LOT of fat that I would not eat. They took so long getting me the check I considered walking out, but didn't because my son was with me. First and last visit. read more

I went there with my parents for a mother's day celebration, the prices were ridiculous. The food was not that great, and it was PACKED with tourist. The nachos were made with potato chips. I dont think ill come back read more

1. This is a BBQ place and there was no BBQ. 2. They didn't provide silverware until we asked. 3. The Pepsi machine was out of syrup so it was colored carbonated water. 4. I got sick from my meal. 5. People who came after my party were helped first. I am only giving this 1 star because I have to. We were a party of 5 and it was $150. No one ate their complete meal. Very disappointed read more

Ribs were undercooked by hours. Couldn't cut with a knife let alone pull apart with hands. Waitress said this was 1st complaint about ribs. I doubt it. I ordered ribs because that's their specialty. 1st time I've ever complained about food. Usually keep my mouth shut. The beer was good but eat somewhere else. No refund or discount offered. I got a smoker for my birthday a year ago & my ribs are 1000% better using smoking tips off the internet. read more

We were on vacation on the way to Lake Placid. As we were driving by we saw this restaurant, it look unique a thought we would stop. It looked like a outdoor BBQ and it looked fun. I like fun. Now I know it's covid Time and everyone including restaurants are on thier heels it's it business as usual. The food was pretty good especially the ribs. Our chicken half breast was kind of dry. The best part our waiter was very nice. He even brought our dog water!!! Big bonus. Definitely would return. read more

We were seated at the Pickled Pig only to find they only offered half of the menu items that showed online. Then when it took over 10 minutes to come get a drink order in an empty dining room on a Friday night, we decided to leave and go down the road to Tail o the Pup! Best decision we made! Excellent service, live entertainment and great food! Highly recommend! read more

Dreadful. Dried out ribs and chicken, beer was flat and tasted like they hadn't cleaned their tap lines in months.

Kudos to new ownership and management. We had a horrible experience last year around this time. We contacted management and they offered us free apps to apologize for the embarrassment of my husband and I taking 6 newbies while raving about the place, only to be treated so poorly while there. (Bad? I politely explained to the owner that we only had drinks while the family next to us, seated 2 seconds before us, was done and getting their check-his response: Come on, we're busy!) Fast forward: last night 4 of the 8 went back. Managers came to our table to work things out. New management honored the free apps (yum on all), the service was great, and the food: lobster and clambake was fantastic! My 46er husband will be shouting from mountain tops to stop in. read more

Tail O'the Pup - Barbeque Near Me - Ray Brook, New York

The worst service ever! Waited over an hour for crappy food. Still charged full price, tgey didn't care!

Unbelievably disappointing. It's always been overpriced but that OK when it's the only place with clams, etc. got seated today. "Sorry, no service". Fine. Covid issue. Then, "sorry, no clams, no -fill in the blank- list of stuff their out of at 4:45pm. Now we're just sitting at an overpriced roadside hot dog stand. Clam stand with no clams? Can't blame Covid. An hour waste of my time. Drive back to Lake Placid. Never again. Sad. read more

No pride taken in the "food" served here. Bad service. I know this place is a tradition but not for us anymore. Everything was overcooked and straight out of the freezer. read more

Been here many times and never disappointed! Food always tastes amazing! The lobster is the best I've ever had! The staff is friendly and outdoor music is entertaining! Their summer hours go until 9pm, but they stop seating tables at 8. Just make sure you go before then and you'll have an amazing time! read more

I liked it. I found it by accident and it didn't look like much and many bad reviews but I decided to try. I did have to track down the waitress (thanks for the reviews) but everything turned out pretty good. It's not the best BBQ meat but it wasn't too bad. Our family enjoyed the experience. The servers are slow and all but no complaints read more

We have stopped here a couple of times in the summer on our road trips. We really enjoy it! Its a great atmosphere in the summer. We have arrived when they have had some great live bands. The food is good and the staff is very friendly. When they found out my daughter loved cherries on her sundae, the waitress came out with a few extra for her! We love that we get to sit outside on the picnic tables and hang out. When it got a little chilly they had warmers that kept the chill away. We can't wait to stop again! read more

This place is super fun! My dad and Son just finished the 90 miler Canoe race. My Dad loves this place he calls it "The biker bar". We love unique places that are not franchises. We were promptly seated and decided to sit in the tented in area outside with the big outdoor heaters. My son was very happy they had Saranac Root Beer in bottles. Our dinners came out in a normal about of time and everyone in our party of 5 was happy. My Mom Loved her Reuben. My Dad and I shared the King Eddies Crown Rack Rib dinner. It was huge with a ridiculous amount of waffle fries that were awesome. It also came with corn on the cob and a big side of baked beans for each of us. It is in the menu as serves 2 (My Dad has a big appetite especially after rowing 90 miles!) and the 2 of us couldn't quite finish the whole meal!! He took the rest home for lunch tomorrow:-) I was delighted that they had live music and a stage too! The band was really good and played a variety of music everyone likes. I thought it was really neat that they have little cabins you can rent as well. There were a few classic cars in the parking lot. It seems like it would be the perfect place to stop if you were out for a ride on your Harley or leaf peeping in the fall. I think a lot of people that give bad reviews for this place must be uptight, or else we just had a really good experience. read more

Tail O'the Pup - King Eddies Crown Rack Rib Dinner for 2! Also Came with 2 sides of coleslaw & 2 ears of corn. The meat on the ribs fell right off the bone. - Barbeque Near Me - Ray Brook, New York

I'm not sure why the poor ratings for this place. We enjoyed everything we ate there. The chicken got a bit dry, but otherwise it was good bbq. Pulled pork was moist and the cole slaw was yum! Service was super! I'd say our bill was fairly priced with four adult beverages as well. read more

Our family loves the Tail O' The Pup. Every year we make our pilgrimage and enjoy some adequate barbecue. However, I can't even fathom putting my family and loved ones through another experience like tonight's. Gordon Ramsey wouldn't even know where to begin. We arrive to the usual festive atmosphere-busy, sure, but it's a Friday night. We are greeted and informed of a 30 minute wait, and grab a pitcher of beer in the meantime. Twenty minutes in, an ominous message from the hostess: it'll be another 20 minutes, or maybe an hour. Who knows? We hedge our bets and decide to stick it out-after all, it's TOTP. After 45 minutes, all told, we are seated and promptly informed that our food will be delayed another 30 to 45 minutes. Uh oh. We place our orders, drink more beer, and wait. And wait, and wait, and wait. 30 minutes go by and no sign of the appetizers. 45 minutes and we begin to realize: no other tables have food. The waitress comes by asking if she can do anything for us and we inquire... Food? We are continually informed it's only a matter of time before our food will be served but it ends up being 3 and a half hours before any food is set on the table. It's one thing to be busy, it's another to seat 12 tables knowing you don't have the capacity to serve any of them in the next 3 hours. It becomes a totally different beast when you send out various waitstaff to take turns at placating customers, asking tables to modify their orders, and lie and pretend all is well as the night goes on. Some tables just stood up and left without paying for their beer. Others, more lubricated with spirits and beer, let out thunderous roars whenever a table finally received their order. Right before our order finally arrived the kitchen informed us it would be another hour (or so...) if we wanted the ribs some of us had ordered 3 hours earlier. The hungry seven year old at our table began to cry. Once the food finally arrived it was cold and all of our orders were completely wrong. After all that time we at least hoped we would receive the correct sides with our ribless meals. What's more, after all that, the management had the gall to charge us full price. When we asked if we'd receive any kind of discount for our trouble, we were given $21 dollars off an eight-meal bill. The mis-management of this restaurant is unmatched and should cause any patron to drive down the block another 5 minutes to any of the other restaurant options in town. read more

Tourist attraction. Got the cheese Curds as an app. They were great! Ordered the half chicken and the pork shoulder. I almost guarantee that the pork is smoked the day before or longer and reheated over a grill. There is the bark on the outside which is normal and then the part that is supposed to be juicy is burnt and dry. The half chicken was decent but it wasn't very warm when it came out so that is concerning when it comes to food safety. Mashed potatoes bland. Corn on the cob was decent but that's hard to screw up. Wait staff was great, and efficient. The kitchen obviously needs some help. Overall not bad but not worthy of a return. Especially with the prices. read more

We have lived in the area for 6 years and have driven past this restaurant so many times, always wanting to stop in but always being in a rush. Today we decided to do a family day out to Placid and stop and have lunch on our way back. I wish we had been too busy today as well. From the very first impression as we walked through the tented picnic table area, one of the waitresses rudely told us that we needed to go stand by the hostess stand to be seated. The seating area was sparsely filled, with maybe 10 to 15 tables in use. We waited at the hostess stand for about 10 minutes watching the waitresses run around like this was the busiest they had ever seen it. We were finally seated and decided we better just order our food and drinks at the same time if they were "that" busy. My kids both ordered Shirley Temples and a water, the wife and I a diet Coke. My daughter ordered the XL Pup meal, which is supposed to be a footlong hot dog, my son ordered shrimp and the wife and I both got the fish and chips. I had originally asked for the hot lobster roll, for which the waitress had to run back inside before telling me they didn't have that today. Fast forward AN HOUR and we finally get our food, not once in that hour did the waitress come back to check on us at all, Nor did she ever bring my kids their water. The food was horrible at best. It was worse than any fast food I have ever gotten. My daughters hotdog was a wrinkled dried up nasty looking thing. All of our French fries were soggy and limp. The fried fish and the shrimp were both pre-frozen, drop in the grease and it's done items. Our entire meal could have been cooked and served in under 10 minutes. On top of that, the coleslaw was a soggy, limp mess that looks like it was scraped out of the bottom of one of those buckets you get from Walmart. After our food hit the table we noticed we only had enough silverware for two, so I go up and find OUR WAITRESS and ask her if I can have some silverware. She asked me where we were sitting...I pointed to our table where she had just been standing less than 30 seconds before and she says "Oh, you're one of my tables" I said yes and she told me that there wasn't any more silverware available and I should just grab some off one of the other tables. I completely understand now why locals stay away from this place like the plague. If anyone reading this is visiting our beautiful piece of New York for the first time, STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are so many wonderful restaurants further in towards Placid. You would be better off eating McDonalds drive through food than risking it with this place. I wish I had read the reviews before going, I hope others do too. read more

Loved the outdoor picnic like atmosphere but the pulled pork was disappointing. Service disorganized. Son in law lover of barbecue was disappointed. Still a unique place worth a stop. read more

Tail O'the Pup has been a family stop for a decade or more - but never again!!! The service has always been poor or worse and the food as always been marginal. What has finally put this one in to the "never again" category is the expense. For what you don't get it is just to much to pay. What keeps them in business is that there are just no place for an entire lacrosse or rugby team to sit down cafeteria style. Unless that is your situation please do your vacation a favor and avoid AT ALL COST! Life is to short for regrets... read more

This was probably a fun place back in the day, but plan on paying top dollar for a stomach ache if you come here for dinner now. The pulled pork sandwich was dry with unchewable chunks, so I used the extra bbq sauce on the table which made it tolerable but not good. The "fries" were a curiousity...they looked like slim cut steak fries but there I couldn't find any potato whatsoever inside them. Just salty grease. The marinated carrots and onions on the side were a nice touch though. The ribs were also very dry, tasting like they were made from frozen then placed under a heat lamp for a long time. Forget about the brisket - there was more gristle than meat in that dish. Mashed potatoes were ok, but the corn was over cooked and mealy. Ugh! Stick to the ice cream and the root beer float here. read more

Wow. A lot of hate on Yelp for this place, huh? I think you need to take this place for what it is. And what it is is a funky place that offers burgers and seafood under a tent with live music. It's pretty funky. They also have a taproom with plasma TVs if you want to catch the game. Yeah, it's not going to win cleanliness awards. But the waitstaff are cute and the atmosphere is cool, and they have poutine. So it wins in my book. read more

I stop here once a year during one of the town's busiest weekends of the season. We always go on a Sunday evening with a large crowd of around 30 people. This is an ideal place for a large group because of the abundant outdoor seating. There are rows of huge red picnic tables under large tents and plenty of gas patio heaters allow for comfortable dining. The food is nothing too special. As a matter of fact, I've noticed a decline in the quality and portion sizes over the course of the many years that I've been visiting. Regardless, we go every year and always have a great time at the Tail O'the Pup. The menu has everything you'd expect at a BBQ joint. They also serve pitchers of margaritas and beer. Fortunately we are never in too much of a hurry while we are there, so long wait times aren't an issue (as long as the pitchers keep coming!). The place was packed to capacity at the time we arrived and the servers were working their butts off. All things considered, our food came out in a reasonable timeframe. Overall decent food, though a little overpriced considering the portion sizes. Perfect place for a large crowd on a summer night. Fun atmosphere with a band playing on the stage. We'll be back next year. read more

BBQ chicken and ribs were very good. Cole slaw was homemade and excellent. Service was very good. Excellent food for the price.

Meh. Under impressed is an under statement. Food was edible but expensive for what it was. Will we go back? Doubt it. There are better restaurants in the area. Life is too short to eat low quality food and this is low quality food. read more

NO. DRIVE ON. We were headed into Lake Placid on Friday afternoon to go hiking for the weekend and we were absolutely starving, so we figured we'd stop here for a quick, early dinner before heading to base camp. The place looked fun and kitschy and it wasn't very crowded. It was a little chilly out, so we sat inside rather than at the picnic tables under the big outdoor tents. We were seated right away and it was immediately apparent that this was train-the-new-waitstaff night. Which, fine. No qualms with that. But the manager was lecturing at them in the middle of the restaurant, only five feet away from our table, and I really didn't need to overhear her critique every move our waiter made. But that inconvenience paled in comparison to the food. My husband got the pulled pork dinner with coleslaw and baked beans. The pulled pork was alright, but the milky coleslaw had no flavor and tasted exactly like the kind you buy in a giant plastic tub at the grocery store. I had the Jamaican jerk chicken with sweet potato fries and green beans. One of my two pieces of chicken was SO RAW that it was practically still clucking. The other piece, though cooked through, was sort of soggy, like it had been sitting there all day. Even Alex, who will eat almost anything, said it was pretty gross. It would be a compliment to call the other sides--the baked beans, fries, and green beans--mediocre. They were edible, but not worth it. Overall, it was a terribly disappointing experience. We are definitely kicking ourselves for not waiting until we got into Lake Placid to find a better place for dinner. read more

If I could give this no star I would. That food was the worst BBQ I've ever had. We waited 25 mins for cold over cooked food while our waitress sat around the bar eating. The brisket looked like shoe leather color and all. I got the half chicken with overly sweet BBQ sauce. It tasted like ketchup and sugar. It was all absolutely awful and I highly HIGHLY recommend going somewhere else. read more