Bob & Brenda Geocaching

Our Observations

Note that this review is for the Henderson location only. Although the food is almost as good at the new Lucille's at the Red Rock Resort, we'd knock their rating down to a 3 (mainly because of the service).

Probably the best barbeque in the Las Vegas valley! We first learned about Lucille's when we were attending one of UNLV wine events at The District in Henderson. They were one of the food vendors and giving out samples of their BBQ Tri tip. Wow! If what they were giving away was this good, we couldn't wait to try their menu. We were back there for dinner the next night and have been going there ever since.

Since they're located in The District, parking is always a problem in the evening but you can park at the nearby Green Valley Ranch casino and walk over--just follow the aroma of their smoker and you can't miss it. Another issue is because of their popularity there is almost always a wait to get in. If possible, make reservations on the phone or through their web site. This doesn't guarantee that you'll get seated at your scheduled time, but you will be ahead of all the walkups. If you have to wait, you'll be given one of their pagers and you can either sit in the small garden area or window shop while you wait to be called. If there's a band playing in the bar, try to get a table outside (if it's not too hot) or as far toward the back as you can. The band is usually playing too loud to have a conversation.

The wait staff has always been friendly even with the pace they're serving people. Drinks are served in Mason jars and are quickly refilled when getting low. While you're waiting for your food, you get to snack on fresh biscuits with their fantastic apple cinnamon butter. These usually go fast on our table, so we order a second round of them while we're waiting. Portion size for the dinners is large, so unless you're really hungry you might want to skip the starter. If you do, the BBQ Rib Tips are very good. Depending on my appetite, I usually order their Back Porch which includes a half chicken, tri tip, and choice of ribs. If I'm not quite as hungry I'll order a full rack of either the baby back ribs or the St. Louis spare ribs. Brenda splits her choices between either the BBQ tri tip or the beef brisket. All the BBQ dinners come with two sides and we'd recommend the roasted garlic mashed potatoes and the creamy coleslaw. The honey roasted peanut slaw and the mashed sweet potatoes are also good and we'll swap between the four on our visits.

All the meats are tender and flavorful. You can order them wet (with your choice of sauce) or dry. If you order them dry, you can choose between three different sauces on your table to spice up your meat:

• Hot and Spicy - tomato, garlic, hot sauce and hot pepper. Not as hot as Devil's Spit at Famous Dave's, but very good.
• Original - tomato, molasses, vinegar and spices. Sweet and mild, but with good flavor.
• Memphis - tomato, mustard, vinegar. Tangy with a bit of a kick.

This is one restaurant that we seldom have leftovers to take home--well, okay...we do take food home but that's only because we order another set of ribs to go.

This still is our favorite BBQ place in town, but because it's out in Henderson, we don't get out there as often as we'd like. Now we'll usually just stop by Famous Dave's which is a lot closer, their food is almost as good, and it's a bit cheaper. Lucille's has been touting a new restaurant in the Summerlin area for almost as long as they've been in Henderson. Their web site says it will be at the Red Rock Resort, so we'll finally have one a bit closer to us.

The new restaurant opened the Summer of 2013. Food isn't quite as good, but they may still be working the kinks out of opening the new venue. The service here was terrible--looks like they hired too many people with no wait staff experience.