County Grill and Smokehouse

January 5, 2008
I keep finding places I thought I’d rated but haven’t. This place is right down the street and I make regular visits for some damn fine BBQ (and yummy corn bread) and a nice (excellent for the area) choice of rotating taps which always includes a local St George, plus quality pulls like Stone, Lagunitas, Rogue, Allagash, Dogfish Head, Brooklyn, etc. Also a location in Hampton, but this one is better.

November 8, 2007
As far as drinks are concerned, the beer selection is pretty good for a place that doesn’t tout themselves as a microbrew bar. There are atleast 10 really good microbrews on tap. The wait staff was very attentive to our needs. The ambience was great, kind of a like a hunting lodge with hard wood pillars and tables. The place was clean, but there were gnats flying around over our food, which was quite annoying. I ordered the beef brisket sandwich. The brisket was cut pretty thick, which would have been welcomed if the brisket was tender. It was so tough, that the bun fell apart because I was pulling on the sandwich to take a bite. The brisket was also flavorless, something that you don’t expect, especially since the place claimed to have smoked it for 14 hours. I also had the potato salad, which was incredible! My wife had the pulled pork platter. The pork, much like the brisket, was also bland. County Grill has a good selection of different bbq sauces on the table and you’ll need them to provide flavor for your meal. Lastly the bathroom looked like a gas station bathroom rather than a clean restaurant bathroom. With all that being said, I probably wouldn’t eat here again, but I believe that it’s a good place to pop in for a good microbrew.

January 30, 2005
Great place to have a meal and enjoy a non-macro beer. The food is barbecue/southern style but is always rated as the top place in the area to get barbecue. They have six different styles of barbecue sauce for the meat as well. The beer selection is usually good - I have had Dominion Oak Barrel Stout, DFH Aprihop, Newport Storm Blizzard Porter, Brooklyn Porter, Smuttynose Robust Porter, and Tuppers Hop Pocket Ale among others and local beers (Williamsburg and St. George) while here. They typically have 12 or more taps, though one or two will be macro stuff. Service is usually very good, though there have been some times it has been lacking. Worth going to especially if you dig BBQ.