The Rib Cage Bar and Grill

With Fat Casual in Macedonia closing its doors (don't worry, they will still be doing catering jobs and focusing on their food truck), we needed to find a good BBQ restaurant. Was the newly opened The Rib Cage Bar & Grill in Cleveland Heights the answer? I'm still not sure, but there were elements of our meal that were darn good.

I decided to go for the Pulled Pork dinner, which included two sides and a corn muffin ($14).

As you can see, the "pulled" pork is actually thinly sliced (which I knew before ordering). You have your choice of sauce, but I stuck with the recommended Carolina Mustard Vinegar. Their meats are marinated, smoked, seasoned with a dry rub, and then sauced to-order. Personally, the pork was a little fatty for my taste. More bark would have added enough contrast in texture for me. But the sauce was quite wonderful with its acidic kick from the vinegar.

I took our server's suggestions on the side dishes. I went with the Three Bean Bourbon Baked Beans with red and black beans with Maker's Mark bourbon and house BBQ sauce, and the Greens. The greens are a mix of Collards, fresh garlic onion, and smoked turkey in a lightly spiced broth. The beans were not as good as Fat Casual's beans, but they were still very good. I also enjoyed the greens, and they reminded me of our trip to New Orleans.

The only real clunker of the meal? The corn muffin! It was absolutely awful. Dry, dry, dry, and very little flavor. We told our server about this at the end of the meal. Apparently later that week, they were still atrocious. Our same friends that we were dining with stopped in again for dinner, and the corn muffin was still the same. Epic fail.

Now, we were dining a little late that night (9:30PM), but that doesn't totally excuse the very slow service that we received. There were only a couple of other diners at the bar, and our food took forever to make its way out to our table. Getting the check was even worse. But I do appreciate that they are serving food until 1AM, making it a great late-night stop if you are in need of grub.

Overall, there were some winners in this meal, but I can't say that I am dying to go back. I'll still continue my hunt for good BBQ. I never did get that famous Fat Casual prime rib...sigh.

The Rib Cage Bar & Grill
2214 Lee Road
Cleveland Heights, OH
216-321-7427