Halligan Bar and Grill

2451 Old Brick Rd
Glen Allen, VA

            This will be a short review because it is not in my regular reviewing area.  Halligan Bar and Grill is a Firefighter themed restaurant located in both Richmond and Glen Allen. Inside it is decorated with all sorts of fire fighter paraphernalia including a huge fire truck in the middle of the restaurant. In fact even the name is a play on firefighting words because the halligan bar is a tool that firemen regularly use; a sort of ax/crow bar. The restaurant’s claim to fame is its BBQ. It proudly boasts that it was named one of the top 10 BBQ restaurants in Richmond, which is not really hard to do since there are like 12 to 15 in the city. But even with that being said I had to try it out.

            Inside it was EXTREMELY loud, my good buddy Ross and I, neither of us quite fellows, could barely hear ourselves.  We started off with BBQ nachos as an appetizer costing $8.95. Out came a huge plate of nachos covered in BBQ, cheese, BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa. It was a hearty portion and tasted pretty good but not amazing.

            As my entrée I ordered the Halligan Bar-B-Q Platter for $10.99.  It came with my choice of Memphis chicken, Carolina pulled pork BBQ or Texas brisket. I chose the brisket and pulled pork. It came with 2 sides; I chose mac and cheese and baked bean, cornbread and a pickle.  The food came pretty quickly and it was decent BBQ. The pork was pulled and had a slight smoky taste and the brisket was tender and not too fatty but like the nachos it was good but far from great. The sides were a little small but tasted fine. The cornbread unfortunately was a bit dry.

Overall, Halligan Bar and Grill was good. I agree with other assessments, probably top 10 BBQ joints in Richmond. It was not the best I’ve had and was not the worst I’ve had. With that being said I cannot tell you to go eat there, you can and it will be alright, but I suggest that you save your money and go somewhere with great BBQ maybe the Hogshead Café or Alexander’s right down the road.

http://www.thehalliganbar.com/