Spare No Rib

This place is awesome! Great food, staff is knowledgable of the menu and the cooks know what they’re doing. Will be back and definitely recommend it.

I like the concept of Mexican and BBQ but wish they had more fusion items (beyond the rib taco) that combine these two food styles. The menu/​food is disjointed and the food items don’t really pair well together.
I had the SNR Plate which included ribs, tacos, and a side. I thought the ribs were the worst item on the plate. While the dry rub was nice, they lacked any really smoke flavor and were small and tough. If you want BBQ or ribs in St. Louis, I would recommend going somewhere else (e.g., Sugarfire).
The tacos were much better, especially the carnitas. They were full of meat and the salsa on top was delicious.
Main take-​away: If you come here, order Mexican food.

Their mac and cheese is like ice cream– in a good way. It’s very creamy and sweet. The cheese has a light flavor. Different from most macs, but very good. You’d probably only need it sparingly in your life.
I’ve had the ribs here– nice bark, pink ring, and falls off the bone on first bite. I didn’t like the BBQ sauces too much, but the ribs are seasoned well and don’t need them anyway. I did enjoy the sweet BBQ sauce as a dip for my fries.
The tacos are a bit pricey. They’re $ 3.25 each one, BUT they are sooo good. I’ve tried all of them except the rib one because I ate the ribs on their own. My least favorite was the carnitas one because the carnitas weren’t really seasoned and tasted like any pulled pork. The salsa on it was very good though. My favorite is chorizo. I love the spice mix in the chorizo. I want to know if it’s house made. I hope so.
You can tell there’s a lot of thought and prep that go into the mixing of meats and salsas of these tacos. If you have read my previous reviews on Mexican fare, you know I love the double tortilla, and they do that with their tacos. They are also not stingy with the taco filling.
My husband tried the sandwiches, and he loved them.
The cocktails and beer are good too. Try the Rogue Chipotle Ale. If the owners are there, the service is superb. They are very hospitable, charming, humorous– just great conversationalists.
I really enjoy the atmosphere of this place. I will go back and hopefully take some friends– perhaps for brunch because I haven’t tried it there yet.
A previous reviewer said the service was bad because owners weren’t there, so I guess a tip would be to call ahead and see if the owners are there. I think you’d enjoy them and the food.
Edit: I’ve been here more than once. I didn’t try all the tacos on one visit :) But I could have.

This is a gem within the St. Louis brunch scene. The rib taco was flavorful and the pulled pork over hash topped with poached eggs was outstanding. The owner and staff were all friendly and we were even treated to samples of various other menu items. Excellent service, better food, at a low cost. Will definitely be back.

Seriously delicious food. I try something new every time I go and haven’t been disappointed yet. The Rib taco is perfect. The fish sandwich is giant and delicious. The Egg menu on the weekend is also fabulous. Tasty drinks and a well-​rounded beer selection are the perfect compliment to the scrumptious fair.

This is a hidden gem. They have a wonderful smoked salsa that is yummy and the ribs are to die for. We will be back and they also serve brunch under the name the egg we’ll have to try

Wow, what a great hidden treasure. We went on NYE and there was plenty of seating. The service was extremely friendly and the food was delicious. I will be back to try more!

The short review: GOOD. Go there.
The long review: we tried and loved so many different items. The guac, the fingerling & mozzarella salad, the RIBS, the tacos, the corn bread. All so delicious!!! We are already going back tomorrow for the brunch we loved it so much.

Outstanding everything! Perfect ribs. Delectable burger. Handcut fries by a real human every day. Three distinct barbecue sauces. Excellent street tacos. Attentive, informative service (thanks Evan)!
This place is a keeper, and close to the I-​44, fellow travelers. EAT QUALITY, eat LOCALLY OWNED wherever you are.

Pretty good little spot. The fritters are FANTASTIC. Highly recommend getting one (or two) orders of those. The ribs were decent, but nothing spectacular. A little bland, not super tender — just all around «ok» overall. I wouldn’t order the ribs again. The tacos were top-​notch though and the beer selection is also decent. Good place overall.

So I finally took my six year old here and she loved it. She had the fish taco and Mac n cheese along with a cream soda and I didn’t hear a peep out of her till she was finished. We definitely will be back again. One thing I do wish they had was a kids menu only because the portions were a little big for her appetite and we ended up with leftover Mac n cheese. Don’t worry though she ate the next day so nothing went to waste. Also they have a good selection of sodas we tried the cream and root beer and they were both great! Two thumbs up

I stopped in for lunch and had the combo plate, 2 ribs, 2 soft tacos and fresh corn. The taco’s were outstanding, stuffed with meat that was very tender and flavorful. The only thing I didn’t like was, they put the hot sauce on for me and I am NOT a fan of hot sauce. I scraped what i could off so it wasn’t terrible but next time I will no to say «no hot sauce please». The ribs were ok, very tiny, barely 3 inches long but what meat there was did have a good smoke tatse. Over all for the price, the plate was a good deal and I plan on going back soon.

Sooooooooo good. Came in mid day to get a small bite to eat. Sat at the bar and the bar tender took our order promptly and brought out chips and salsa… But not just any chips and salsa! He was kind enough to bring us their three pepper salsa that is made with mostly bell peppers and has a semi creamy consistency (delicious). Normally, it would cost to have this order of chips and salsa but because it wasn’t crowded, he brought it out for us to have.
Our sopes were delicious! Great service and I would recommend going mid day– it’s fun.
Side note– they serve breakfast under the name «Egg» on Sunday and Saturday mornings.

We just finished eating here for an early dinner and I was amazed by this place! I see why St. Louis raves about all their BBQ but this place really took my breath away!!! The ribs were smoked and cooked perfect. Tender meat and seasoned = amazing. Cornbread and fries were simply refreshing and the Cole slaw kicked ass!!! My boyfriend ordered the ribs with the two sides (beans and cole slaw) and I was impressed. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich and was just truly blown away at this amazing meal. There went my diet! Haha! Will definitely come back!!! Excellent!

I will attempt to write a proper review by combining two words that are rarely used together-​gourmet barbeque!
Upon entry you fear that you are in for a little food for a lotsa money… NOT!!! From the homemade salsa (fabulous), to the huge bbq pork sandwich (incredible) to the mac and cheese (WOWSERS). My wife and I split the meal and were stuffed. LOTSA FOOD FOR LITTLE MONEY! and all was absolutely delicious.
Just try it Mikey, you’ll really like it.
Ask for Ellis, been here from beginning.

Very happy I tried this place! Cute on the inside, great service, super good food. We started with the queso with chorizo… The chips came out hot with flaked salt. Sooo good. I really don’t think there is anything better than chips and cheese with a Margarita. The marg was great too.
For my meal I got a fish taco and a carnitas taco. Both were really wonderful! I think it’s difficult for me to find a fish taco that I like more than Mission’s… But it’s a very close second. The carnitas was super tender and tasty too, there was this spicy salsa on top! Almost a little too spicy for my taste, but I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to spicy foods. All in all a great experience and I definitely will come back!
They also have ribs and burgers, which I would like to try that SNR plate. That seems like a great deal, two ribs and two tacos and a side for $ 15… Also gotta come back to try their mac and cheese, because that looked good too.

On the last day of Bro J’s visit we went to Spare No Rib for lunch. I had tried to find it with Mr D a few months ago and somehow could not see it. Anyway, I learned it is right by Hodak’s and armed with that information, this time there was no problem. The parking lot between the two businesses is great and was wide open on this day. I’m sure the Hodak’s normally fills it up on weekend evenings.
With three of us, we got a pretty good sampling of the menu, more tacos than barbecue. I had a combo plate that included a sample of two ribs and two tacos. Ms T went for grilled fish tacos and Bro J selected two, still different tacos.
Grilled Fish tacos — Ms T forgot, forgot, forgot to tell them no onion, so it was served with green sauce and plenty of the odious stuff. This green sauce was a good one with avocado and tomatillos and a little heat.
Chorizo tacos — fairly standard chorizo, also served with the green sauce and onion treatment
Cacheta tacos — very good, juicy flavorful meat served with a red sauce that has a pretty noticeable level of cinnamon. I would stifle their creativity here. Kudos for having this meat choice on the menu.
Carne Asada — the meat was grilled and good, but needed salt. It had a different sauce from the others.
Carnitas — also good, sorry, I forget the sauce.
Each taco meat selection seems to be served with its own sauce. In general they are pretty good. I just don’t want cinnamon on my tacos. They are pre-​sauced, so on a future visit, I would try to remember to get the sauces on the side.
Ribs — With just two to sample, I would say they were 3−½ stars. They were properly cooked with nice smoke flavor. The rub has too much cumin and they needed salt in the rub. These could easily be quite good.
Slaw was my side and it was easily the worst I have had in some time. It was almost undressed and what dressing there was, was bad. It was almost completely unseasoned, unsalted cabbage with a little poorly thought out dressing. I know people rarely go somewhere for slaw, but considering the thought they put into what must be at least six housemade salsas, how hard would it be to make some more flavorful dressing for the slaw and actually use some of it on the cabbage?
Their chip salsa is extremely mild. We asked for some hotter and it is chipotle based and again, no salt.
So what to make of all this. If you really want great tacos, you will probably go to a place like Taqueria Durango or La Tejana or possibly some place on Cherokee that I have not tried. The tacos are far superior to Mission Taco, however. If you want good ribs, you will probably go to Salt + Smoke or Bogart’s or Vernon’s or…. But if your party can’t decide which you want, SNR is a decent bet. I am truly on the line between three stars and four. I am rounding up to four despite the cinnamon salsa and hideous slaw and so too will contribute to SNR being a little overrated.
I will also say that somehow the bill adds up. Three of us had a relatively light lunch and is was over $ 60, with three beers and without tip. I’m comparing it to what I had at La Tejana last week for $ 11.

Very, very disappointed with our visit to Spare No Rib.
Apparently this was an anomaly, looking at the other reviews… but maybe the owner needs to know how the restaurant runs when they aren’t there.
When we arrived for dinner there were only 3 other parties in the place. One person was sitting at the bar. A total of less than 6 people. I am explaining this because every aspect of our service was slow. From being seated, to receiving our drinks, to our food and ending with receipt of the bill: SLOW. Not «European Service» slow, just the «Not Paying Attention» kind.
Two college-​aged men were running front of house. They frequently were on their phones. When 2 young women came in, they spent quite a bit of time chatting them up such that they almost never checked on us. Those 2 women were the only other party to come in the whole time we were in this place. Just terrible service.
When I asked the server about cocktails, he said he didn’t drink — so he wouldn’t know. Not, «I’ve heard this is good» or «People say this one’s sweet». He was so odd about my questions that I should have taken this as a sign to NOT order a drink. I ordered the Caipirinha — at this point I was still banking on the rep of the place — it was so heavy, I couldn’t finish it. I would have been TOASTED if I tried to finish it. And let me explain — I’m a drinker. I spent almost every evening in St. Louis at The Whisky Ring or The Fortuneteller — I drink! This was an irresponsible amount of booze and it was far too heavy for a drink with a meal.
The only thing I liked were the ribs. The meat fell off the bone. The sauce is on the sweet side. Based on all the other issues we had, I will go elsewhere for ribs.
Taco aficionados may wish to be wary. The tacos were dry, made with no care and very expensive for what they were. The meat on all the tacos was dry. Seriously. OK — I’m from the West Coast and spend plenty of time in LA, so I have high expectations — but St. Louis, these tacos are wayyyyy toooo expensive for the quality or lack thereof.
Mac n Cheese — very loose, bland and had a graham cracker topping I found too sweet for the dish.
Corn Fritters were hard to judge because they were overdone. Hard on the outside and dry inside. There seemed to be some nice flavor there, but it was lost.
Just a waste of money up and down.

This is one of my favorite places to go after a long day for a relaxing and delicious meal! The owner takes great pride and he’s warm and engaging. The atmosphere is lively and very comfortable; The food is always delicious! Whether you order ribs or street tacos, or something else from the menu, everything is prepared with great love and attention to detail. The food is just so very tasty and there’s a great selection of beers and other drink options.
The combination platter allows you to try the street tacos, the ribs, and a side, and it’s a great option for a first visit!
Everything is prepared beautifully and you will be sure to return for great food and an atmosphere that is so very comfortable and relaxing!

The Mac N Cheese has a graham cracker crust. It makes it a bit sweet tasting. Def worth trying.
AMAZING FRENCH FRIES. delicious chips n salsa.

I have been here twice now. The first time with the family was such a success that I brought some of my pickier customers here for a business lunch.
Its not that they are picky really; just that there are a few places that they like to be taken to lunch and I was really putting myself out there by suggesting a place that was off the beaten path for them.
I called ahead to make sure that they would be okay with a business lunch and that it would be quiet enough for us to sit and chat after our meal. I got the green light, so we gave it a shot.
They did not disappoint! The owner brought us a sampler of their chips and salsas for us to try; this really started us off right, as my colleagues really enjoyed trying the salsas and deciding on their favorites. I had the SNR plate with fish taco and sweet corn. I surprised myself and my colleagues by eating it all! The ribs were fall-​off-​the-​bone, which is how I like them. The fish was perfectly fried and not greasy. And the corn was delicious too!
Although I am hard-​pressed to remember what everyone else ate, what I do remember was that they all liked their food enough to authorize me to add it to the regular lunch rotation!
I also want to mention that the service is more European style. That said, they kept our glasses full and continued to attend to our needs during the business portion of our lunch. It is a pet peeve of mine when the waiter acts like you are dead to them after you receive the bill, especially during a business lunch. And yes, I do tip them extra to account for us tying up a table if the place is busy.

Knocked another bookmark off my list of places to try. Holy smokes was it delicious!
Kid 1 started with their tomato bisque. I managed to get a bite and it was pretty good. Ordinarily, tomato soup does not impress me very often but this was really good. With only one bite I regret that I can’t give a better description.
The owner was working the counter and waited on us. I told him that it was our first time in the restaurant and he provided great feedback on the menu and which dishes were the most popular. I ordered his highlighted tacos and a sopes. The wife ordered a fish taco and the kid went after a ⁷⁵⁄₂₅ hamburger/​chorizo option and added bacon — mainly because she’s addicted to bacon.
Before our food arrived, the owner treated us to an order of chips & salsas. The chips were served warm and had plenty of salt on them to really wake up their flavor. There were three house-​made salsas offered but one of them was my clear stand-out…smoked salsa! After he explained it to me it made perfect sense but my first impression was something like: ‘holy crap is this amazing!!!‘
Chorizo & egg sopes was a delicious combination of flavors and textures which included a sunny-​side up egg and a whole bunch of other things I have never had together but which really worked. The creaminess of the egg yolk combined nicely with the spiciness of the chorizo while the beans and crispy tortilla-​esque thing added even more textures and flavors. In short, this thing was the most amazing $ 3 small plate I’ve ever had.
The wife was done loving her fish taco well before I started on mine. I was impressed when Mark P. referred to it as the best fish taco he’s ever had and needed to take one for a spin. He’s right — it was perfect.
Next up was the beef cheek taco. I can take or leave pot roast but I’ll almost always try a beef cheek dish. Unfortunately, while this was good it was not amazing. I may also have liked it a lot better if I had started with it because I was a bit full by the time I took my first bite.
I can’t wait to get back to this place!!!