Gallo’s Pit BBQ

If I could give this place 10 stars I could! We’ve been coming here since they opened and keep coming back! I love the atmosphere-​the scent of smoked meat can usually be smelled a few blocks away! The restaurant itself offers indoor and patio dining with music on Sundays. The food is AWESOME! Smoked chicken is great! Don’t miss the brisket fries! The sides are delicious. And yes they offer a great beer selection! Plenty of parking and great service from the staff!

I love bbq. There’s a growing sense of creativity and artistry associated with it recently and that has led to some exciting stuff even here in Columbus, not exactly a bbq mecca.
I was excited to try Gallo’s because I’ve heard good things. What I found was pretty average. Not bad and I would certainly eat it again, but nothing to knock my socks off and make me go out of my way to get it.

I went here last night after a kickball game. The service was horrible! It took 15 minutes before anyone asked us for our order. It was another 10 before we received our drinks, which were just water. When our food came out, we were not given silverware, and the top part of the bun was missing from one of the pulled pork sandwiches. When we were done eating, we asked for the bill. That was not brought for at least 10 to 15 minutes, and we asked for a box, which we never received. The food was fairly decent, but not worth the wait or price. We only had 4 people at our table, and there were larger parties who received better service than we did. I might give it one more try, but if the service is the same, I will not go back!

Really good brisket (better than Montgomery Inn). I can’t really comment on the other menu items because I am hooked on the brisket. I’ve had it six or seven times and it is consistently good. The staff is friendly. The only negative is that I thought the patio seating was too smokey due to the fact that the restaurant’s smoker is right there.

The only good thing about my dinner here was the excellent service provided by Heather. The gentleman and I split a full rack of ribs with baked beans and cheesy potatoes. The ribs were a such a disappointment (and I was really looking forward to some ribs due to a spectacularly bad day)! The description reads: «A true Southern Rib! Dry rubbed. .. Finishes with a nice crisp bark and remains tender.» There was definitely a «bark» which was tough and totally unappetizing. And there was nothing «tender» about my ribs which were chewy and gross. The cheesy potatoes were similarly disappointing. The beans and the cornbread were the saving grace, but really, I’ve had better.
Though we told Heather that we didn’t like our ribs, we chose not to get anything else because we had gone to Gallo’s primarily to try the ribs. However, Heather graciously took our vodka lemonades off our check and we really appreciated that. I may go back to this establishment, but only for the service and the moderately priced drinks. Basically, you should just go to Ray Ray’s if you want good BBQ.

Had to up the star rating to 5 Stars!
Gallo’s has become our go to for comfort food and delicious carry-​out (since we live so close and have 2 small children).
And they’ve kept up with the food quality. It’s consistently AWESOME!

If you’re looking for some real BBQ cooked with serious passion, and care, look no further. I have been coming here since the place opened (more or less), and every chance I get, I always look forward to getting my hands on those ribs. As I no longer live in Columbus, it is a real treat to come back to this. The restaurant is family owned, and is trending in the right direction. After reading some of the reviews on here, I’m a little confused why some people even bothered rating it (Like the one person who didn’t eat or go in but gave it 1 star?)
Any who, the food is the real deal. Meat is always moist and smokey, sauces are always plentiful and made in house, sides have a southern influence that really compliments any entrée well. Without question, the two best items on the menu are the ribs, and brisket sandwiches. Anyone looking for graduation, wedding, or other catering event that wants to serve BBQ should seriously give this place a look.

Hm. Fancy restaurateurs taking over an old-​school bbq place? I was prepared to be disappointed. But, it was okay.
The place doesn’t look much different from the last incarnation of Hoggy’s, if my memory serves me (and it often doesn’t…) Nice smoke shack décor, blues etc. playing. Good service, decent prices (though a bit high.)
I had the slider sampler platter (3, 1 side, pickle.) The brisket was pretty good, though not as good as Ray Ray’s. The pulled pork was soggy and had little flavor. The chicken was okay. The house sauces, one sweet and one spicy, were fine, but not particularly interesting, and didn’t add much to the meat (though sauce was a necessity on the pork– seriously, very little flavor.)
The baked beans I chose as a side were very good; not quite the style I usually like, but hearty in flavor and texture. The pickle was pretty fresh.
I dunno… I might go back to try the ribs but overall, there wasn’t anything special about it.

My wife wanted to go here since the owners have kids that go to school with ours. I was hesitant since the original Hoggy’s which was in this spot for years has always been my go to for BBQ and wings. Gallo’s would have a lot of shoes to fill to top it.
Surprisingly the ribs were pretty good but I found the sauces need some work. I went with a half rack and it was plenty of food, enough to take some home. Ribs were done pretty well, I’m going to have to go back and try another sample to check for consistency.
Sides were pretty plain and standard. Business didn’t seem to be booming but it wasn’t lacking. I hope they do well here, it’d be nice to have a good little bbq place down the road again. Kids eat free on Sundays with purchase of adult meal.

My 2-​star rating stands for exactly what the description says — «meh, I’ve experienced better.»
Let me start by saying this review is for carry-​out and not dine-​in, although I do have a small comment about the kitchen/​wait staff communication. There is none.
Let me also mention I was the only one in there. No other diners, nobody else getting carry-​out. With that said…
I placed my order by phone (grilled chicken salad) and they told me 10 minutes. I waited the 10 minutes because our office is just up the street, so technically it was about 15 minutes since placing the order. I go inside, there’s no one at the bar. No problem, I’ll wait. And wait. And wait. Finally the waitress emerged and noticed me standing there. So she came over, I paid the bill and she walks away again. Obviously my salad wasn’t ready yet. So I continued playing the waiting game, occasionally glancing over at the window to see if my salad has popped up yet. Still nothing. I mean, it’s a salad. What did I do, stump the chef?
I’m starting to get a little impatient now when my salad finally made it into the window. But I waited another good 5 or 6 minutes because the waitress didn’t know it was there. I was expecting the kitchen to pound a bell to alert the girl that my order was ready, but it never happened. My salad got tossed up into the window, the ‘chef’ walks away and the waitress was nowhere to be found. I was getting really annoyed when the waitress finally came back and noticed my food sitting there. There was like ZERO communication between the kitchen and the waitress.
Now for the salad — I’ll start by saying that I first had to pick out all of the brown pieces. No joke. You can’t tell me they didn’t notice that. When it comes to salads, I’ll usually forgive a piece or two that may have a brown edge. It happens. But enough of them to make a small pile that’s now sitting in the waste basket??? Come on. Open your eyes.
The chicken, no flavor. At all. And it’s grilled. The onions are teenie tiny little bits of chopped up white onion. Not that I don’t like white onion, but any other grilled chicken salad I’ve had was covered in beautiful rings of red onion, which is what I expected to see. At first I thought they’d forgotten the onions completely because I didn’t see them. But they were there. They’d all sunk to the bottom of the container. To top the whole experience off, there was water in the bottom of the container as well. I’m glad to know that they obviously wash their lettuce, but could you please at least drain the water off first before you put the salad together? This was *the* blandest (is that a word?) grilled chicken salad I’ve ever tried.
I say «tried» because the whole thing was not consumed, about half of it is in the trash. Watery, brown lettuce, onion pieces about half the size of a pea (a SMALL pea), and flavorless chicken. Definitely not worth $ 7.50. Or $ 3.50, for that matter.

By far the best BBQ in Columbus (without having to stand in line at a truck). I grew up with southern BBQ, and this is different, but still has the great taste of naturally pit-​smoked BBQ.
Since discovering Gallo’s we’ve tried almost the entire menu. I’ve never been let down by anything I’ve ordered and neither has my husband. We are quickly becoming regulars!

I had a groupon for this place. Went last friday night, and it was filled up. I thought the place had a warm ambiance. Service was good.
They have a nice martini menu. I had the pomegranate martini (i think), it was good! My friend had the campfire martini. the real marshmallows were cute, but we didn’t like the taste.
I had the pork platter, picked the applesauce and beans for my sides. I really liked the beans, they had bbq sauce in them, I believe. My pulled pork was very tender and juicy, but i had to use like half of the bbq sauce bottle (i used both spicy and original bbq). the bbq sauce was very watery in my opinion, but i liked having both flavors mixed into my pulled pork. No complaints on the cornbread. I was satisfied with the amount of the pulled pork.
My friend ordered the prime rib, and he said it was fantastic.
Didn’t get to see the dessert menu, I was kinda full after the platter! I really want to try the ribs next time!

Decent enough BBQ, smells great when you enter this small building. Cornbread good, cole slaw a little dry, (vinegar based), sauces are nice, meats, such as brisket and pork are shredded, so they loose temperature quickly, cold when you get it at the table. Ribs have a nice sheen to them, end pieces were charred. Not Ray Rays… but what is?

Ate here this weekend with my husband and it was pretty good. We both had the brisket platter and both thought the meat was great.
They have 2 types of bbq sauce. from what I could tell they were spicy and spicier. and not being a fan of overly spicy that was a downfall for me but my husband really enjoyed them both. Also, their beans were a little spicy for my taste, but again my husband loved them.
Their fries are pretty good… cornbread is ok…
Definately worth a try if you like bbq

Having read a review in the Columbus Dispatch, my wife and I were eager to try Gallo’s. We live in Mount Vernon so coordinating babysitting for our six children and driving to Columbus is a big deal. We were looking forward to a fun date night.
But I’m sorry to say that our experience at Gallo’s was horrendous. Here are some of the «low» lights:
— My wife ordered a salad and asked two times to have it come out BEFORE her meal. It was delivered with her meal.
— I ordered brisket and it was extremely dry and crusty.
— The coleslaw was gross; not even edible.
— The BBQ sauce is extremely runny; store bought sauces are better.
— There is no dress code for the staff, so we had no idea who was a waitress, busboy, etc.
— We asked for water a few times and our waitress would ask another staff member to get it for us. It took three times to finally get a refill.
— I ordered Harpoon IPA and it came in a can. Seriously? Yuck. Where are the bottles?
Okay, so you’re probably thinking, «your experience wasn’t THAT bad… why the 1 star rating?»
And now, the rest of the story…
As I mentioned above, the staff didn’t have a dress code. Our waitress was wearing a black one piece summer dress that was a bit too tight and revealed way too much cleavage. Further more, she had a blue pen stuck down her cleavage (I kid you not!). I’M ON A DATE WITH MY WIFE FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE!
But it gets worse (or funnier, depending on your perspective).
When I asked for the bill, I noticed that when she dropped off the check, the pen was no longer visible. When I opened up the billfold to review and sign the credit slip, I reached for the pen and — you guessed it — it was a blue pen. OMG! I looked at my wife with dread and exclaimed, «I really hope this wasn’t her [our waitress] sweaty breast pen!» Not taking any chances, I grabbed my napkin and carefully signed the credit slip without touching the pen.
So some final thoughts…
To waitresses everywhere (and the moral to this story): If you think your cleavage doubles as the 21^st century pocket protector for liberated women, please think again.
And for our waitress (if you know who you are and you ever read this): I think you missed your calling. Hooters is just around the corner.
For those of us who enjoyed Hoggies, were disappointed they closed, and were hopeful Gallo’s would fill the hole, I’m sorry to say that they don’t. But I have good news! As quickly as the weather changes here in Columbus, Gallos will soon be the way of the dodo bird and a new — and hopefully better — establishment will take its place.
In the meantime, head over to City BBQ or Montgomery Inn. I’m pretty sure the waitresses over there don’t flaunt their 21^st century liberated women’s pocket protectors.

Another dissapointing BBQ experience.
The location now looks way nicer than the prior establishment.
The food however not any better.
Service has picked up from what I read in other reviews.
Saturday night it was about half full at 7pm, by the time we left it got a bit more crowded but not much.
Service was a bit too attentive, she came and asked us 4 times if we were ready to order within 10 minutes.
We wanted to settle down, had drinks already and just go over the menu in peace.
This already ticked me off.
The menu is small, but there are good options so I thought they should really have the few things they offer down pat.
They were out of pulled chicken which we weren’t interested in anyways.
I got the portabella sandwich and a dinner salad, briskit sandwich and fries for the boy and briskit platter with mac n cheese, cheesy potatoes, and baked beans for the man.
Food arrived in about 5 minutes and my portabella already looked gross in toast, sliced, it looked like a snail, I took a bite and wanted no more so I asked for the GBQ cobb with pulled porl instead.
My son actually told her his fries were cold and his meat was dry and he didn’t want it.
She offered to bring him some hot fries and he said no thanks!
This coming from an 8 year old who would eat fries 3 meals a day if he could I was shocked.
I gave him the pulled pork from my salad, by the time he added my bacon and cheese he was a happy lil man, the pork was also not that great.
After all this my husband was just embaressed (not our fault the food sucked)
and didn’t want to bring up that he didn’t like his food so he ate it.
The briskit was fatty and dry, while I ejoyed the two BBQ sauces they had, my husband and son didn’t.
The sided also not very good, cornflakes on the cheesy potatoes. really?
Both that and the mac was the same, thin saucy not very cheesy.
Baked beans are usually my favorite part of a BBQ meal, these I agree with all the other reviews were strange.
Tangy, odd taste, simply not good.
Prices range from average $ 8 sandwich, to overpriced at $ 13 for his briskit and sides, also the cornbread is just not good.
I don’t think they will be around for long.

Excellent BBQ!
Showed up Monday, around 8pm.
Got a nice server — sat us outside to smoke and drink. They’re sold out of ribs today (good!)
I ordered the sampler, and it was outstanding, save for a few details.
Like the brisket; it’s hard to keep brisket looking good for hours, and you can’t cook it to order — so the little dryness there was acceptable. The bark made up for it.
The pork was fantastic. Great smoke flavor, visible ring, tender, and the buns were very fresh and good.
As a BBQ enthusiast and wannabe, I make lots of meat.
This freakin’ chicken. was. dude. It was good.
They’ve got about 70 beers to choose from (!)
I’m a tough case for restaurant reviews, but I was thrilled, so five stars. The beer might’ve played a role. :)

I made a stop at Gallo’s Pit BBQ yesterday night with my boyfriend and his parents.
We ordered:
Buffalo Chicken Wing with Blue Cheese — Good, but pretty standard.
Full Slab of Ribs — Really delicious ribs, among the best I’ve had. This was probably the best part of the meal!
Pulled Chicken Platter — Nice smoked flavor. This platter actually isn’t on their menu (which I thought was kind of odd) but they let me order it anyway, and charged me for the same price as the brisket platter.
Pulled Pork Sandwich — I didn’t try this personally, but the boyfriend’s dad seemed to enjoy it.
Cornbread — Good, but nothing about it really stood out. I love eating my cornbread with honey, but they didn’t have any available.
Baked Beans — Just OK. I thought the beans were a tad undercooked.
Coleslaw — Just OK. I appreciate that it wasn’t mayo-​based, but I think it lacked in flavor.
They had an extensive beer selection.
Overall, I think everyone enjoyed the food :)

I’m going say that you SHOULD go check out Gallo’s Pit BBQ… but you need to give them about a month to get their act together, first.
Walking in for dinner service, we encountered a large gaggle of people milling around the front doors, and no sign of a hostess or indications that we should seat ourselves. When a server wearing a different colored shirt than the others (USUALLY a sign of hostess /​front of house), I politely asked her if she was the hostess, and she replied that she wasn’t, but she’d get one for us.
Instead of someone coming over, however, a guy detached himself from the Golden Tee machine by the front door and asked us if we wanted to sit in the restaurant or the patio.
After we were lead to a table outside and given menus, a server came by to take drink orders, but had difficulty with my request to get a salad instead of fries with my dinner order.
We had a bottle of «Spicy» BBQ sauce on our table, which we tested out while waiting on the order and found it mostly tasted like chili powder. Another table had «Original» sauce, which was a little sweeter and had a nicer finish, but still didn’t quite feel finished.
Fortunately, the actual food we ordered was worth all the issues, and then some.
The brisket and pulled pork were wonderfully moist with an excellent bark, and notes of hickory and oak from proper smoking — and the sauce blended well with the spice rub on the meat, though I still felt like it was a little too heavy on the chili powder. Buns for the sandwiches were toasted and held up well against the moisture of the meat and sauce
Sides wise, their Mac and Cheese had a nice richness, especially since they mixed some of the pulled pork in, though it could have done with a bit more sauce, and the collard greens were incredibly good (and hey, nice big chunks of BACON).
Service on the patio was hit or miss — I noticed that the tables who ordered bar service got refills a LOT faster than we did (we just had water and sweet tea), and our server didn’t really seem to know how to handle getting us the check — not to mention that when I tried to hand her back the bill with my credit card, she turned around and left the patio instead!
There are a lot of good things here. I think they could easily become a staple of the Columbus BBQ scene, especially for people who don’t want to travel downtown to Ray Ray’s or Johnny Oak’s, but they need time to iron out the kinks and really get this operation on solid footing.

I love Gallo’s Kitchen so I am really excited to have the Pit so close to my home in Worthington.
They just opened on Thursday and I know they are working out the kinks. So here is the run down on my experience.
Called Sunday evening around 7:30 to order ‘take-​out’. Nice sounding woman answered the phone asked me to politely to hold, I did so…5 minutes …10 minutes… so I decided to hop in the car… still on hold, get there in 10 minutes.
Got to the restaurant and they were 90% full. They were friendly and apologetic about me STILL being on hold.
Ordered:
Pulled Pork Sandwich
Beef Brisket Platter w/​baked beans, mac & cheese & corn bread
Carrot Cake
Rating 1 to 5 — 5 being best.
Pulled Pork Sandwich 4 (It was stacked w/​juicy meat) :-)
Beef Brisket 4 (Stacked Meat)
Baked beans 3
Mac & cheese 2
Corn bread: Couldn’t be rated because we didn’t receive.
Carrot Cake 4
We will be back to dine in as it looks like a fun place to go with friends.