Tony’s Barbecue

207 North 3rd Street  

Richmond, VA 23219

            As many of you may know I am a BBQ fanatic. I have made it my goal to not only review restaurants in the Tri-City area but also review all of the BBQ restaurants that I can find.  I have walked by Tony’s Barbecue a hundred times while interning in the General Assembly but I had never had the chance to stop in and try it out. I happened to be in Richmond on Monday and decided to pop in and grab a quick sandwich.  I was happy to see that it was still open but I was upset to find out that it has recently been reopened under new management.

            To put it bluntly, as it stands right now, Tony’s is a little dumpy.  It honestly resembled a crack house.  The new owner explained to me that he is working to fix the place up and it is a work in progress.  In have to say while the place was dumpy the owner was incredibly nice and friendly and we talked while my sandwich was being made. They actually did not have a working card machine so he called up his other bar, had them run the card and then had someone run three blocks to give me my receipt to sign for only $3.24. That IS service!  No matter anything else about the place, that was amazing and really showed how good the people are that work there. 

            Because they are just setting up the menu is very small, simple and cheap there are 8 combos and they all cost $5.  It has a burger, Cajun tacos, Cajun wings, BBQ ect. I ordered a pork BBQ sandwich with slaw, it cost $3.24. Honestly, I was not in love with the sandwich. The BBQ and cole slaw tasted like it was pre-made and store bought. It did not taste bad it just wasn’t anything special.  With this being said I can only imagine the place getting better with time.  I probably will not go back because Alamo BBQ, the best BBQ spot in Richmond, is less than 5 minutes away but I do wish the new owners the best and hope that Tony’s Barbecue flourishes in the future because there can never be too many BBQ restaurants.