Syracuse is a blue-collar city that has struggled to deal with the erosion of its manufacturing  base since the 1970s. Although its economy now revolves round service jobs and education, with Syracuse University ranked No.58 nationally, it has a feel of a city that is struggling to forge an identity in the changing world. One of its recent economic hopes was to develop the existing Carousel Center to build a destination shopping mall to rival Mall of America in Minnesota. However, the uncertain economy resulted in many delays and quiet shelving of the most ambitious aspects so the final Destiny USA expansion was far more modest.

Despite numerous trips to Syracuse, we have struggled to find a restaurant that really appeals. Chains dominate and independents seem content to occupy the comfortable territory combining unambitious food with large portions.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que started out in life as a mobile catering unit serving motorcycle shows, fairs and festivals. It put down its roots in Syracuse in 1988 and as well as expanding on the existing site further outlets have been added in Rochester, Harlem, Troy and Newark. We’ve never visited Dinosaur Bar-B-Que because there was no guarantee that our kids would enjoy it based on experiences with barbecue meats elsewhere. However, as they’ve got older their palates are evolving so now is a good time to test them out with tastes that are relatively new to them. 

The trip to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que followed a typically dispiriting trawl round Carousel Center Destiny USA in the hope that it would raise our spirits. We arrived shortly after 5 pm to find a massive line of people already waiting for tables and the indication that we would have at least a 45 minute wait for a table for 2. The choice was wait by the bar inside or stand outside hoping for your name via loudspeaker. As soon as you heard your name it was time to move quick to get to the hostess station. If you weren’t there within 30 seconds of announcement your name was struck of the list and they moved to the next person in line.

Inside is rough and ready. As you entered the front door a long bar with limited seating was to the right, with more conventional seating for dining to the left. Lighting was set to dim and the walls were buried beneath old movie, theatre and musical memorabilia. A token nod to the Christmas season was the odd random plastic snowflake suspended from the ceiling. Service was as rough and ready as the decor but the whole place had a good buzz.

We went to a couple of starters to kick things off. Strips of Mississippi farm-raised catfish were dusted with cornmeal and southern fried then served with spicy tartare sauce and cocktail sauce. These were great, particularly when combined with the horseradish-heavy cocktail sauce. The lovely crispy exterior gave way to light fluffy catfish as you bit into each strip. An excellent way to start things.

The chicken wings were less to my taste although the ability to order as little 3 wings with any sauce made it easy to try more than one of the seven available sauces. Spiced rubbed wings are pit smoked, finished on the grill and then tossed with the sauces. We opted for a mild honey BBQ sauce and a hot wango tango sauce (one of the in-house recipes). The wings were succulently juicy and the wango tango was the more successful sauce with its gentle burn. The honey BBQ sauce was completely overwhelmed by the smokey flavour on the meat and that was what I found less appealing. The wings were good but my personal preference is for the meat to have a cleaner chicken flavour.

My biggest disappointment f the night came when ordering mains. The Carolina style barbecue sandwich jumped out at me as I had visions of wonderfully vinegary shredded pork as experienced in Eastern North Carolina. I was told that the reality was somewhat different in that the barbecue pork was the same as used in all other dishes. The Carolina touch was to top it with coleslaw so the vinegary edge of the slaw gave the pork a different character. All this did was remind me that I’m overdue a visit to Raleigh to get a fix of the real thing.

With a heavy heart I turned to the rest of the mains and plumped eventually for the Tres Hombres combination platter. This combined “spirited” servings of barbecue pork, sliced Texas beef brisket and a ¼ rack of ribs. They came served with a square of light cornbread, nicely crunchy and salty fries and a bowl of BBQ beans that were the least successful element of the platter. Most importantly, though, the meats were all good. The ribs were predictably tender with a subtle smoky flavour. The shredded pork was a wonderfully indulgent heap of piggy goodness but the highlight was the mildly flavoured tender brisket than benefitted further from the addition of barbecue sauce. The portion was huge so we ended up with some of each meat to take home for some follow-up indulgence the next day.

Overall verdict 
All in all this was a very satisfying meal. The food was unpretentious but if you’re in the mood for barbecue then it’s well worth a visit.

Would I revisit Dinosaur Bar-B-Que?
Definitely. I’d like to figure out when best to time a visit to avoid the queue though.


Overall Rating - 3/5