George’s BBQ on 24th

Typical rotisserie dinner you would find.
It’s 11am. Chicken and meat on display in the window, the fat dripping down witch each rotation, slathering the potatoes and other meats below. You feel the heat on your face as you walk past the display to get inside.
You have Pete himself right at the start of the counter as you come in. Choose the meal you want and he’ll be right there cutting it up for you.
Move down the line and pick your sides to go along with the baked potato they give you.
Don’t expect anything fancy from the baked potato or bread. Just like other rotisserie places I’ve been to, you get a standard potato with a chunk of cold butter slathered in.
Bread is not toasted or warmed and also has a chunk of cold butter slathered on.
The main point of the meal is the meat.
I had the half a chicken order with a ladle-​full of sauce.
As typical with other places, you have the ends of chicken dry and the skin cracking from being too close to the heat source but as you get closer to the center, the chicken becomes more palatable.
It’s no lemon-​garlic infused chicken with herbs you’d find at newer style rotisserie places but the meal gets the job done.

I came off a recommendation from a friend. They were super friendly and their food was tasty enough, but not what i think of when I think of BBQ. My son loved it, my husband not so much.

Looks good and seems so old school had to give it a try. At first it was so tender I had great hopes and then the near was dry and sad so I’m doubting I’ll give it another try but it’s got history so maybe I just ordered the wrong things

wouldn’t even give one star. I went into George’s BBQ while on a lunch break. I rarely get time to take breaks for lunch since I work long shifts serving the public. The restaurant is cash only so I used the ATM attempted to withdrawal $ 80 and accepted the fee. The ATM gave me $ 60, plus the fee, and no receipt. I asked the gentleman working there what I should do? He aggressively said, «I know nothing about that. I’ve never seen it give anyone 10 dollar bills before. Not my problem,». I then told him I would call the number on the ATM and asked if he would be my witness that I was in there and used the ATM. He stated, again, in the most aggressive and rude tone, «I only see $ 60 in your hands, that’s all I know. I know nothing about that not my problem,». So rude and absolutely not helpful after I acknowledged that it wasn’t his fault and only asking for help. Don’t go here. I now work in responding to public needs and was a server for many years prior. Absolutely no excuses to ever talk to someone the way he did. I feel poorly treated.

I want to like this place. Food was mediocre at its best. Tasteless and the bbq sauce was kinda strange. The brisket and bbq ribs was hella dry and very sad. If you just want some meat then I guess this where you go, but quality was shitty.

This ratchet excuse for a restaurant has been dying a slow miserable death for several years I wish someone would just pull the plug on them because really they are a waste of space on vibrant 24^th St. Their owner gives a new meaning to lack of customer service and is extremely grouchy and offputting and always in a sour mood I will never ever return here again after how he spoke to me today when I was picking up a packet of pepper from the napkin station, pepper that I hoped would improve their overly sweet, watery potato salad — then all of a sudden I hear: «WHAT DO YOU WANT???» Dude yelled at me! Nothing, from you buddy. Ever again.

Time: 1:24pm/63°F partly sunny
Purpose: On my way to near by print shop. At stop sign saw ad board touting dinner special $ 6.85 w/​quarter chicken. Couldn’t remember the last time I pick up quarter chicken meal for under $ 7.
Ambiance: About 9 – 10 tables with listed capacity of 49. Wall to wall painted murals of beach front and cabanas. A Panasonic flatscreen TV tuned to infomercials. Nothing about the place worth noting or must see. Beverage fridge behind counter, indoor ATM, two baby booster seats. Feels like a plain bare place without the painted murals. The front area is were all the cooking takes places as well as packing. I sat there the whole time, not one customer joined me. That itself tells me a little about the place. Later the food explains it all and some. Most people pay and takes it to go. May be they know about the flies that I experience later.
Staff: One lady and a man looks like a married couple. Both about late 50s. Lady was curt and rude, the guy was in his own world. I ask if dinner meal is available? She slams tray on counter, said all day long! The man was smirking, not sure at me or at the lady helping me.
Cleanliness: Grade C-​, flies whizzing by decided to stay and join me. I try blowing with back hand slaps nothing work. I had to eat faster and watch for them. Not good, can’t enjoy meal on top of that, sanitation issues.
Eats/​Drinks: Quarter chicken dinner meal $ 6.85. Comes with a choice of mashed or baked potato, choice of salad, dinner roll and chicken itself. First sign of trouble was the chicken. Fiber strands were not loose easy peeling, instead hard and clump together. Tasted like left over from previous night. BBQ sauce was thin, watery full of fructose and colors. Dinner rolls were the cheapest of rolls, kinda hard even butter couldn’t penetrate it. Three bean salad was definitely from can or tub version, bland no flavors. Dash of salt/​pepper to no avail. Baked potato was the last item standing to eat. Even that was a disappointment, overbaked. Couple of more minutes in oven, I can turn them into potato wedges. Ate only half couldn’t continue no more. Skin was semi hard like calluses. Lost appetite with flies, everything was so off and bland, a cafeteria would fare better. In the end, they seem like they know patrons are happy or not. Would not make eye contact when I left, even have back turned acting too busy to notice anything.
Main Features: George’s Special (priciest item on menu), George’s Famous BBQ Sauce. Every feature item has George name on it, go figure!
Products/​Services: Dinner specials, combos, ribs, brisket, turkey, ham, roast beef, pastrami, link/​sausage, baked/​mashed potatoes, pasta, sandwiches, salads, food to go, sauces, hot/​cold beverages, beer/​wine, desserts. Catering available, dine in/​take out, cash only, closed Sundays.
Punch Lines: Lackluster ambiance, kitschy décor, snooty service, off putting, sleeper, quite bland, not as great, go elsewhere, not friendly, below mediocre, not close to gourmet, indoor ATM, booster chairs, TV, cash only, street parking (difficult), muni bus.
Tradeoffs: They baked and prep food near the front window. It’s for the masses to see when passing by. In reality more than half the job is done already, with cans and package goods. Just warm it up and serve, that’s all to it.
Final Thoughts: Don’t let the sign outside fool you. At $ 6.85 for a dinner is super cheap only to find out you really get what you pay for. I just don’t get that fact that, I was told baked 3 hours ago. The chicken quarter was hard and tough to eat? How can that be? Hold that thought! I know already! 2 stars for indoor ATM, TV and murals.

Came to this place on a recommendation from a friend. George greeted us when we walked in. We ordered 2 dinner plates. 2 meat combo with ribs and brisket — OFF THE HOOK! The second was spicy sausage and the name doesn’t lie. Flaming spicy. Sides included mashed (which George said were real) macaroni salad (fabulous!) and green salad. Rolls and butter with both. $ 23 covers it all. The place is clean, the food is good and George was friendly, attentive and prideful in his ownership.
As we were eating, LOTS of locals came in to get their dinner to go. A testament to George’s neighborhood biz.
Didn’t get a chance to try the chicken so we will be back!

I selected a Polish sausage from the menu. It says: $ 2.25 on the menu. That sounds cheap. I confirm the price. The lady confirms: $ 2.25. She asks: you want that with Spaghetti? I ask if it comes with Spaghetti. She says: No. I ask if she had a hotdog set up. From behind yells the owner: we don’t have hot dogs. It is a Polish. The lady serving me says, ok, I put it in a bread then. But instead of her it is the owner who just walked up behind the counter who prepares it with his unwashed hands. He finishes it and barks the price: $ 5.95. I say: but it says $ 2.25. He says: it’s a hot dog. I just look at him and leave. I think his nasty attitude is worse than the feeling of being ripped off. Call me cheap if I only want to pay the advertised price. This kind of owners and business practices just appall me.
So, I want to make sure I advertise what he stands for.
Angry– dishonest– unclean

Was excited to eat here but disappointed. Large portions but tasteless.

This place was awesome. The staff is very friendly and the chicken just fell apart with my fork. BBQ sauce was amazing, potato salad yummy, and the mashed potatoes and gravy was very flavorful. Definitely a must try. I can’t wait to try all the rest if the meats.

This place is great for a quick and delicious bit. George makes sure you get the best because he doesn’t let anyone else cook/​serve you but himself.
The chicken sandwich is my favorite, although he is more known for his delicious chicken. Give this place a try — quick service, very clean environment, and the food is delicious.

Unfit for human consumption.
The staff was nice and all, so I am sorry to have to do this. But this food is completely inedible. I ordered a 2 meat combo with ribs and brisket and not one bite of the meat was swallow-​able. 100% gristle and fat, 0% edible meat.
I am genuinely offended that this was served to me. It was that bad.

I really wanted to like the place. The family vibe, the location, the nice ambiance. We even adjusted our routine one night to make their ridiculously early cut off at 7PM… I guess they don’t want to make money during the dinner hours of 5 – 11 like everywhere else.
This in no shape or form resembles a barbecue place. There is no barbecuing going on! Its industrial prison style food (I have eaten in poor school cafeterias better than this!) over processed from bags and cans, super fatty, over boiled, and will conform to your serving tray squares. Instant potatoes went flat. My partner spit out his over cooked, dry and flavorless fatty ribs and noted they add a little watery gravy stuff and called the barbecue sauce.
I feel bad for this family, who told them that they knew anything about food? Particularly in a city with so much competition… at least look up the process and ingredients for actual barbecuing!

Poor service and poor food. Guy behind the counter (George, perhaps?) was stiff and quiet and the brisket sandwich I got was full of inedible pieces of fat. Oh, and the mashed potatoes were instant. Not a fan.

Better with age.
Armin:
George at Armin: My friend is still a bundle of infectious energy no matter how many countless hours we’ve spent on the day floor. Always makes my time better.
George’s day after Armin: Five years since my first visit. Returned for a white meat/​no skin upon request, double basting of mild homemade BBQ sauce sandwich.
Juices were still flow long after the show. Juices were also flowing with each bite. Proved to be an incredibly delicious combination well worth the $ 115 ticket and $ 8 lunch.
Armin, George and George’s still absolutely have it.

Food here is such a good deal. It’s not really a barbecue place, despite the name, but the food won’t disappoint. You can get a quarter chicken with two sides (choice of potato and choice of salad) and a piece of bread for under $ 8, and the portions are pretty generous. It’ll be a lot more satisfying than a similarly priced meal from KFC.
This place is also a lot cleaner than a lot of the other places on 24^th. The staff is pretty nice too.
Be careful if you do takeout though. The food itself can be kinda sloppy because of the sauces and may flow into the bag.

Are you kidding me with these prices?! This place is local, homey, friendly, tasty and cheap!
I know you know this place– it’s the one you have to resist going in because it smells so good.
George is behind the counter and will let you taste test before you buy.
Grab two whole bbq chickens and a salad for 18 bucks. Can’t beat that.

There’s a place I used to go to all the time in Chicago called Valois when I was a struggling grad school student at the University of Chicago. Winters would get downright arctic right next to Lake Michigan, and Valois offered up hearty dishes like pot roast and short ribs with mashed potatoes in warming trays that I used to wolf down like there was no tomorrow. I’ll always remember their slogan, «See Your Food», and I just took a peek at the Unilocal listings in Chicago to find that sure enough, Valois is still there and with the same slogan. That was my long-​winded way of saying that upon first impression, George’s reminds of Valois.
The warming trays of hot food all in a row looked so familiar that I was a little confused as to why George refers to his place as a BBQ when it is more accurately a cafeteria. You have to scan the whole counter before deciding what to eat here. I came here when I got off early from work on Christmas Eve and thought it might bring back memories of my youth. It didn’t. I tried the bargain-​price $ 6.75 Quarter Chicken, which was basically a roast chicken leg with most of the thigh attached. The poultry came with quite a pile of whipped mashed potatoes which was appropriately indented in the center to receive a big ladle full of gravy.
I also got a big dinner roll that was already pre-​buttered (shades of grammar school lunch trays) and a side of beet salad that looked like it came right out of the can (see photo). The chicken portion struck me as a bit paltry in size, but then again, it was rather arid from sitting in the warming tray for who knows how long. My dream of reliving my cold winter evenings at Valois was not meant to be at George’s, but it does appear to draw a devoted following among the seniors and blue-​collar workers looking for a rib-​sticking lunch. Hipsters need not apply here because there is zero cachet in being seen at George’s. That’s probably how he likes it.
FOOD — 2 stars…“See Your Food”…indeed I did, uh-​huh
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… basically a cafeteria
SERVICE — 3 stars… staff served up the grub like the school cafeteria ladies of yore
TOTAL — 2 stars… it ain’t Valois!

The restaurant has an all-​day $ 5.99 special. The special is a ¼ of a chicken (one leg and thigh or breast and a wing), two sides and a roll.
I just found out that they used and posted my photo to illustrate the hungry customers what the meal looks like.
So if you come here to eat and if you see a picture of that special, that picture is mine!
Boy, am I «SPECIAL»!
My picture is a work of art!
You can call me, «Matt van Gogh»!