Red Hot & Blue

The good: Friendly staff, seated quickly, cool décor, large drinks, served really fast (lunch). Overall a nice environment.
The bad: The food really wasn’t that great. I had the brisket with coleslaw and collard greens. The brisket was pretty flavorless, though very tender. There was no smoke flavor at all, and it tasted almost like something I could get from a microwave meal. The collard greens tasted like an afterthought; they were soggy and flavorless (except for a little bitterness and salt). The coleslaw was good, but was very mayonnaise-​heavy (avoid if you don’t like that style).
Background: I’m comparing with BBQ from the south (Florida and Georgia). These flavors (or lack thereof) just wouldn’t play down south. HOWEVER, I would come back to try other things, really because of the environment, location, and the fact that I have a weakness for BBQ…

I’ve been to this location a few times. But their food is not as good as the other locations… I used to love red hot and blue.
The ribs were ok but the beef brisket was not good. It was somewhat gamy and not as tender.
We usually get the platter for two… and I usually finish my food but here I just couldn’t because it didn’t taste good. Either it wasn’t all cooked/​barbecued properly, the flavors weren’t there.
The service is pretty slow.

Yeah I know, it’s a chain. But, it was my best option. In a nutshell, Caesar Salad sucked but everything else was quite good. Specifically the dry rub ribs and collard greens

We had catered lunch and dinner meals for my company during the Christmas Holidays and each employee LOVED the food!!! They even raved about it to our CEO & CFO.
Because it was the BEST meal (we use a lot of other catering companies) it was again requested for both NYE and New Years Day!!!
Thank you so much for a great meal. Special thanks to Joshua. You were so helpful.

Great dry rub ribs, beef brisket, spicy BBQ sauce, salad, and pulled pork. Also we had a very friendly and helpful waiter, Darrel.

So far I have been waiting for 40 min… For my lunch, the bartender said it would take a little long because hamburgers take longer to cook? Really? I don’t think I will be back I haven’t even gotten my food yet. The only reason I am giving 3 stars is in the past this location has been very supportive of the local fire department, but I just don’t see why a lunch should take almost an hour to prepare. Disappointed.

Often, when visiting a dining establishment, a person places them into one of three basic categories: happy, angry, or meh. This «BBQ» restaurant falls into a regrettable fourth emotional type: sad. It makes me sad.
I’ve been in twice, and each time, I felt sad. The place was empty (once around 1 pm and once at 8:45 pm), and I mean «are they really open?» empty.
On our first visit we tried a few things, including pulled pork and brisket sandwiches, loaded baked potatoes, and salads. The salads were the best items. Sad, no?
The meat on the sandwiches was cold, and I mean refrigerator-​cold. I’ve spent a lot of years working in restaurants, and few things bug me more than people saying food was «cold» just because it wasn’t molten-​lava hot. Brother, this meat was cold. It was cooked, and I don’t think it had been sitting out; I think it was pre-​cooked and chilled and some employee — obviously blind from grief at working here — didn’t bother to heat it up.
The smoked (baked) potato had pulled pork and cheese on it, and was passable, but not great.
The other night we dropped in for some greasy bar food and beer. There was literally only one other table at 8:45 on a Saturday; sad.
We got the appetizer chicken tenders and appetizer bacon/​cheese fries; the tenders were awesome. The best thing I’ve had at this BBQ joint is chicken tenders; isn’t that sad?
The fries had done sort of chili seasoning on them, and it seemed as if the cook got a bonus every time he shook more on top.
Service has been ok, but sad, and I mean the employees literally seem sad. Our server (the bartender) last time even mentioned how she would have checked up on us, but since she could see us from the bar and since we were her only table, she could tell we were fine.
Now, isn’t that sad? Also kind of rude; if we’re your only table, you have time to at least swing by and ask how things are.
And that brings us to the «angry» category…

This could go down as one of the worst meals I have had. I ordered a tall beer it was delivered as a short beer and this is the best thing that happened during the meal. Ordered the burnt tips, fatty and greasy. Ordered the pulled pork sandwich, tastes like paste even after I tried three different sauces on it. Was delivered the wrong sides twice all of which were terrible. The salad was old and dirty. The two workers I was dining with had the same experience during the meal. We did have a good laugh when I reminded the waiter that I ordered a side salad and he brought out a side of coleslaw with blue cheese dressing. Ugh

Red hot and blue has gone downhill so much
Now the food is sort of tolerable but the waitstaffs complete disinterest makes it an unacceptable place to spend money.
This latest trip they completely forgot about me. Never took my order. I walked out.
I think I will stick to the fairfax location when i want mediocre BBQ

Service was great but the food is awful. Not award winning at all. Way to dry and tough for ribs.

Pretty good bbq place. The staff was relatively helpful and nice. Honestly the best thing about the Red Hot and Blue was the wings. While my entrée was decent, the wing appetizer was the best part of the meal.
The drink prices are a bit too high and the servers could have attended the table a bit more but all in all I would recommend this place as a good bbq joint for the area, even if it is a chain.

I would normally give red hot & blue 4 stars but this location was subpar due to cleanliness. The service was really great. Everyone was friendly and our food came super fast. The food was all great too except for the cornbread being a little dried out (not a huge deal). But the restaurant itself looks like it needs a deep cleaning and some renovations. I just feel kind of scared when I’m eating in a dirty looking restaurant :/

Great place for amazing food. I always love to go there. The stuff very friendly and mangers are so sweet specially DAVID he is just the best. If your looking for a great BBQ place this is the place for it.

After a long day of touristy things, we entered the WONDERFUL smells of barbeque when we walked into Red Hot & Blue. The fragrant aroma did not disappoint, either. The food was extremely good, the service was great, the price was right. I highly recommend this sweet place!

Over the years I have read hundreds of reviews. I have come to the conclusion that some people could be given a $ 100 bill, but would complain about it not being more, or the bill being worn instead of crisp. While visiting the Herndon area, we checked Unilocal for places to eat. We wanted BBQ, but after reading some of the terrible reviews about this restaurant we almost didn’t go. That would have been our loss.
We were seated instantly and our server took our drink order immediately. My friend had a Hurricane which she said was one of the best she’d ever had. She had Brunswick stew; again awesome. She had pulled pork dinner, I had pulled pork and sweet ribs. Both were superb. The beans and slaw excellent.
The server was great and very attentive.
Of course when it comes to ribs etc., someone will always tell about how «Back home their favorite place was perfect and they are always disappointed when eating any other restaurants ribs. Fine, but understand this isn’t «Fat Sam’s» old rib joint in an old run down building with a pushed in screen door and the smoker on the front stoop. It’s a clean, nice restaurant with very good food. I will definitely return.
So far, every time I paid no attention to horrid reviews, it’s been a great experience.

So I’m a southern boy, raised and fed by corn (or rice) and bbq. I’m also from North Carolina, where BBQ is king (especially vinegar based). I was really looking forward to eating here, however I came out disappointed.
First off, I ordered the Tennessee Triple, which is triple meat option (what could go wrong there). All the meats came out and you could tell by looking that it was dry. It was during a relatively busy time where turnover of food should be quick so it was surprising. When I actually tasted it, it was what I confirmed by sight… dry. That’s a sin to BBQ and carnivores everywhere. The bbq sauce selection was pretty good (vinegar, sweet, spicy) however no matter how much sauce you put on it, you could still taste the dry, cardboard nature of the meat.
I would say that the service is very good. They were very attentive about coming by and asking if everything is good and refilled our water whenever it was half way done.

I had a similar experience as another reviewer. I have been to other Red, Hot and Blue locations and had great experiences. Passing through the area and saw this location. Being from CA, my husband had never eaten at RH&B before. Boy were we disappointed. Service was not only slow, but very lacking in attentiveness. We had to ask for his beer to be delivered more than once, after waiting about 20 minutes for it to be delivered. I had to ask for a tea refill. We noticed that food was being delivered randomly, not knowing whose order it was. The location seems poorly managed.
The ladies restrooms smelled of sewage, the signs outside were peeling. Overall a poor experience.

Headed to a Muslim country (Turkey) for a few days, I did a Unilocal search for «pork» so that I could get my pig on before being without for a few days. Barbecue was the result of that search and so here I am at Red Hot & Blue.
At the time of my visit, there was a Unilocal check-​in offer for a free appetizer. I went with the chicken wings but only a half order. They arrived a few minutes later, very hot and without the usual bath of sauce on them. Easy to eat and dip in the blue cheese. Nice and spicy, good flavor, good meat. These are good wings.
After I was into the second wing, my beer arrived. Odd timing, since it was a simple bottled beer that was on special.
And as I started into the third wing, my entrée arrived. Very poor timing, unfortunately. So I pushed the wings to the side (I later boxed them up and promptly forgot about them in the hotel fridge) and dug into my two meat combo. The pulled pork was decent, but you know how restaurants that put the sauce on the table are. I did add a bit of sauce to the pork though as it did seem to need it. The short rack of baby back ribs were nicely meaty with a dry rub on them and them more dry run dusted on top. Too much, really. But they separated nicely with a knife and I could easily eat them one handed. Not quite «fall off the bone» but still quite good.
Parking was difficult as this is a very busy lot and RH&B is buried down in the corner.
Four stars for good food and a nice clean restaurant but minus one star for poor timing.

Being new to the area, I tried here for the first time.
Is there something about my face that annoyed these people? Was I wearing my «please treat me like a hindrance» shirt? Because I asked for 2 things, my entire time there, and even the bartender rolled her eyes at me.
I ordered the «Rib-​wich Combo», and it was flavorless in every sense of the word. It literally had no taste. Made for a boring meal. I didn’t think this would be an issue since they tote around their «award winning BBQ» on their advertisements.
I will not be returning, and if you do not go, you are not missing anything.

Went as hubby has a taste for fried shrimp. Close to the house it fit the bill.
A nice surprise was the free appetizer that popped up when I did a Unilocal check in. Glad I started doing that.
I decided to do ribs but opted for their sweet sauce. Not sure why I did. if you like sweet go for it as they are that.
Service was where things lacked. Our waitress was very personable and helpful. … it just seemed like everyone on the floor would vanish right when we needed something. It was a bit frustrating.
It fit what we needed for a rainy night near the house.