Most City BBQ restaurants run 11:00am to 9:00pm, seven days a week. That is the easy half of the question. The useful half is which of those ten hours you should actually turn up in, because at a barbecue counter the time of day changes the food more than anything you say when you order.
Typical opening hours
| Day | Typical hours |
|---|---|
| Monday – Thursday | 11:00am – 9:00pm |
| Friday – Saturday | 11:00am – 9:00pm, later at some locations |
| Sunday | 11:00am – 9:00pm, earlier close at some locations |
City BBQ opened in Dublin, Ohio in 1999 and now runs roughly 80 restaurants across the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South. Hours are set restaurant by restaurant, so a mall-adjacent site and a standalone one on a state route will not always match — some close at 8:00pm on a quiet Sunday, a handful stay open past 9:00pm on Friday and Saturday. Two things do not vary: City BBQ does not serve breakfast, and nowhere opens before 11:00am.
The hours that matter: when the food is best
City BBQ smokes over hardwood in rotisserie smokers, which produces unusually even meat and very little variance between one restaurant and the next. What it does not change is holding time. Meat that came off at half past ten is not the same at 3:00pm.
- 11:00am – 12:30pm. The best window of the day. Meat has just come off, brisket is at its peak, and the queue has not formed. If you care about sliced brisket at $10.78, come now.
- 12:30 – 1:30pm. Busiest hour. Everything is fresh because turnover is high, but you will wait.
- 2:00 – 4:30pm. The dead zone. Meat has been held longest and nothing is moving. Order pulled pork ($8.39) rather than brisket, or ask for the brisket chopped.
- 5:00 – 7:00pm. The second cook has landed and brisket recovers. The best evening window.
- After 8:00pm. Selection thins fast. Ribs and brisket go first; pulled pork and turkey are almost always still there.
What sells out, and when
Ribs are the first casualty. City BBQ cuts St. Louis spareribs into a fixed number of slabs each day, and because they also sell by the individual bone at $2.70, a single large order can take out an hour's supply. On Rib Bone Tuesday, when bones drop to $1.80, that happens earlier and harder — the Tuesday evening rib shortage is a real and predictable thing at busy locations. If Tuesday ribs are the plan, go before 7:00pm. The rest of the weekly deal calendar is in the City BBQ specials guide.
Brisket is second. Turkey breast and pulled chicken occasionally run out late on a Sunday. Sides essentially never do, though collard greens and baked beans can be scraped thin at closing.
Weekends and holidays
Saturday lunch runs closer to a weekday rush and the 11:00am window is the quietest part of it. Sunday is the day the food is most likely to be excellent and the restaurant least likely to be busy — a smoker load still has to be cooked whether or not anyone shows up.
Holidays are location-level decisions and worth a phone call rather than a guess. Most City BBQ restaurants close on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, and many close early on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Thanksgiving is the exception with real planning attached, because pre-orders are collected in the days before rather than on the day — see the City BBQ Thanksgiving guide.
Timing a large order
If you are picking up something the size of a Motherload ($89.99) or several Family Packs ($29.99), avoid 12:30 to 1:30pm entirely — you are competing with the lunch rush for the same warmer. Call it in for 11:15am or after 2:00pm and it will be assembled from a fresher cook with less waiting. Anything larger than that belongs in the City BBQ catering ordering system, where lead time is part of the deal. Current prices for everything are on the City BBQ menu.