First Impressions

John: Unless you own a motorcycle, a wagon or a horse, you probably know what ‘new car smell’ is. You know, the wonderful smell that everyone loves in the inside of a new car. Well at Cue, I encountered a new, but yet somehow familiar smell: new restaurant smell (Which I think could be a goldmine for the air freshening industry). Of course, my nostrils have never let me down, so when I found out that Cue had only been open for dinner since July 13, I wasn’t shocked. If you want to experience new restaurant smell yourself, you better get to Cue soon because it’s a barbeque place and we all know how strong the aroma of barbeque is. It will take over the restaurant faster than the Germans took over Paris. Now let me talk about something besides smell for a second. Copsey was confused because he thought Cue was going to be a ‘pool hall’ type place. And for once, Copsey kind of made sense. However, Cue is not a pool hall, it’s a western themed barbeque restaurant that smells good on the inside. Oh and calling it western may not do it justice, I think my Fine Arts professor would call it Western Nouveau.

Copsey: I was very unsure what to expect from Cue – like John said, when I heard ‘cue’ my first thought was the one in billiards or pool. Not as a truncation of ‘barbecue.’ So when I walked through the doors, it suddenly clicked. I was wrong (not for the first time), and happily so. We were in for an evening of delicious home-made barbecue, not bar food.

John: A-
Copsey: A-

Appetizers

John: By the time I arrived at Cue, 10 minutes after Copsey, (yes, for the 12th straight week I was late to the review. Yes, we have already established the fact that I don’t know what punctual means), Copsey had already picked out our appetizer. I took one look at the menu and said to myself, ‘please, for the love of everything, tell me he ordered the smoked bbq sliders.’ BINGO. We started off with the sliders. The sliders are served on a bun. You can get the sliders in pork, beef or chicken. We did pork and chicken. The pork ones were fantastic. The pork was tender, warm and had a smoky taste. Now a quick aside, when I eat sandwiches or foods with a bun (like the sliders), I only eat one side of the bun. Not because I’m trying to get down to 151.4 lbs or because I’m on the Atkin’s Diet, but because it’s easier to chew and I can taste the meat better. Anyway, the point here is that I didn’t like the chicken as much. It was covered in the house bbq sauce, but the sauce was just a little too sweet for me. Definitely get the sauce on the side. Other appetizer options include: nachos, grilled pizza and a sausage sampler. You don’t see the words grilled and pizza in the same sentence to often, so I’ll definitely have to order that next time I’m at Cue.

Copsey: John was so late that not only had I ordered the appetizer, I had finished a beer. A note: they don’t have many beers on tap, but the ones they do have should make everybody happy. Back to the sliders, the buns were nicely toasted and tasted delicious, and yes, the pork was better than the chicken, but I put that down to texture more than taste. They were still very good. And John’s new-found habit of only taking one bite out of sandwiches will, I think, stop me from ordering them with him around in the future.

John: B
Copsey: A-

Entrees

John: For the main course, we ordered a half rack of ribs and a homemade sausage sandwich. Guess which one tasted better? Nope, you’re wrong, it was the sausage sandwich. The sausage is a spicy pork sausage. Now if that sounds weird, trust me it doesn’t taste weird. I’ve had a number of spicy sausages in my life where there is no spice. I’ve had sausages that were kind of tough and they have the texture of a used tire. Not at Cue. The sausage here tasted fresh. I really can’t explain it more than that. If you’ve had fresh sausage, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, then I guess you’ll have to go to Cue so that we’re on the same page. As for the ribs, well, they were ribs. They weren’t memorable, but they weren’t forgettable. Someone needs to invent a word that splits memorable and forgettable down the middle, because honestly, I think I would use that new word every day. The ribs were a little tough (not tire tough) and didn’t fall off the bone as much as I would have liked. However, as I said, they’re ribs, so you won’t hate them.

Copsey: We seem to be on the same page with this place. The sausage was great. Apparently nearly everything on the menu is homemade, so you know it will always be fresh. And I actually liked the ribs. They didn’t fall off the bone, but the bbq sauce they were smothered with was delectable. And if there’s one thing a bbq place needs to do right, it’s the bbq sauce. Cue obviously got it right.

John: B
Copsey: B+

Dessert

John: After our cookie connoisseur Tim Altork left, I was afraid that the Dining Duo would never sample a chocolate chip cookie ever again. It appears my fears were unfounded because Cue had something called a chocolate chip cookie bar on their menu and my two favorite things in the world are chocolate chip cookies and bars (although I think I’m using bars in the wrong context here). I don’t know if Mrs. Fields was working overtime in the Cue kitchen, but we were served something that may be the peak of the cookie world. Our chocolate chip cookie bar was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some whipped cream. It could have been served with a piece of ham and a side of sauerkraut and I still would have eaten it. Other restaurateurs take note, put cookies on your menu.

Copsey: Ditto. While we only ordered the cookie, if cookies aren’t your thing, Cue offers two other desserts that John and I had to fight over: cobbler, served with seasonal, local fruits (and we both love our cobbler) and a thing called a ‘bananas doster.‘ I’ve never come across a ‘doster’ but I think I’ll have to go back to sample it. If they are anything like the cookie bar, they will be worth the visit.

John: A
Copsey: A

Final Impression

John: I really liked the atmosphere at Cue. Although as I thought about it more over dinner, I think Copsey may be on to something with the whole name being confusing thing. I think I would have called the restaurant Q rather than Cue. But I don’t have a business degree and I’ve never run a successful restaurant in my life, so take my advice for what it’s worth. Also, I think the only way the decoration at Cue could have made me happier is if there was saloon style swinging doors at the entrance. The place has only been serving dinner for a little over a week, but it looks like word has gotten out because on our Wednesday night visit, the restaurant was about 75 percent full  (Not that it’s a huge restaurant, but I was still impressed).

Copsey: It’s a shame that there were no pool tables, but the place is small enough that they probably would never be able to fit two tables in. But I’ll live. This place is probably close to the north pole, it’s so far away from my usual hangouts. It’s almost in the next county and it took me close to a half-hour to get to it, outside of rush hour. I say this because I would happily go back, despite the distance. 

John: B+
Copsey: B+