CR Midnight Smoker BBQ

First time to Newbo and I impulse bought a pound of meat. Heh.

The pork and brisket are great. I preferred the brisket, as it had a little more pepper flavor. Both were juicy.

4 sauces: a blueberry sauce, a standard bbq, their standard bbq plus ghost pepper, and a vinegar based sauce. The meat stands on it's own, but the sauces are solid.

I'll add photos when I get ribs or ends. Currently ribs are Saturday and Pork ends are Fridays. They are ready at 1130 and apparently sell out quickly.

WOW! BBQ in Cedar Rapids just reached a new level of greatness. CR Midnight Smoker might just put Iowa on the map for BBQ and be spoken about in the same breath as Kansas City, Memphis and Texas BBQ. If your a food lover or just dig great BBQ this place is fantastic

I went to the restaurant in newbo on a Saturday as that is the only day you can get ribs. I tried the ribs and brisket with coleslaw. I got the blueberry and house bbq sauce. The ribs were good, some of the better ones in town, with a nice pepper forward flavor but did not overwhelm the meat. I would definitely recommend the ribs and am saddened that you can only get them on a Saturday. The brisket was pretty good with a nice smoky flavor. The meats on their own were good and didn't really need a sauce. As a certified bbq judge, the brisket was a bit over cooked for my liking as it dried out pretty quickly. I did try the blueberry and it was decent though not my preference. I did enjoy the house bbq sauce and would recommend it as it has a nice kick but not overly spicy. The coleslaw was good as far as coleslaw goes and I would order it again but not something I would go out of my way for. The owners were awesome and very nice people. They had a good set up. I would recommend this place for good bbq with nice friendly people who take pride in their business and their food. This bbq is above average for the area and for most everyone and as a bbq judge, I would recommend anyone to go here as I will be frequenting more often as well. I will update my review when I go back and try the pulled pork and some of the other sides.

Update: I went back to try the pulled pork and the potato salad on Sunday afternoon. When I arrived, there was a line. I wandered away for a few minutes and came back. But when I went to place my order, I found out they were out of potato salad so I just got a bit of pulled pork. I will say the pulled pork was definitely good. The pork had a ton of flavor, was cooked spot on as so not to be mushy as we all know pulled pork and pulled chicken can be sometimes. There were strings of meat which shows even further how well the meat was cooked. I would definitely recommend the pulled pork, though I would have liked to have gotten some bark with the pulled pork. I will be going back earlier on a Saturday to get ribs and brisket again as a follow up. If they can keep up the consistency and expand their times for ribs, and have some good combo plate deals, this would be one of the top, if not the top spot in CR right now for BBQ. I would definitely say to go try it if you love bbq.

Had the brisket sandwich - it was delicious. Perfect fat to meat ratio to make for a juicy, almost velvety texture. It was a melt-in-your-mouth indulgence I just couldn’t get enough of. If you haven’t stopped here yet, you need to add it to the top of your to-do list.

I feel bad for anyone whose running a BBQ joint in Cedar Rapids, for this place is about to take over the entire city. I keep a vegan/vegetarian diet but my sister kept insisting me try their brisket.

My God, was it good. Don't take my word for it, look up this place's name on Google and every single BBQ related magazine in the area has given it 5 stars. Well worth the trip but get there early because he runs out of brisket and pulled pork really quick.