Every dollar you save on a Lucille's takeout order comes from one decision: order through lucillesbbq.com rather than through a delivery app. Direct takeout is priced off the same menu you would read at the table. App menus are not.
Direct versus the apps
Order direct and a St. Louis Spare Ribs order is $23.99, the same number printed on the menu inside. On a third-party platform the same plate typically appears around $28 before delivery, service fee and tip, because the platform marks the menu up to cover its own commission. Across a family order the gap runs to twenty or thirty dollars, which is the full delivery cost breakdown in one line.
The only reason to use an app is that you genuinely cannot collect. If someone can drive, the direct route wins every time.
How the online order works
- Pick your restaurant first. Lucille's runs about 25 locations and menus are not identical — mall restaurants sometimes drop items, and the reduced mid-afternoon menu at some locations shows up online too.
- Build the order. Every smoked plate comes with sides to choose; steaks, Southern specialties and sandwiches each carry their own accompaniments.
- Choose a pickup time. This is the field most people ignore and the one that decides whether your ribs sit under a heat lamp.
- Pay, then park. Most locations run designated to-go bays.
Curbside and pickup
Curbside is standard at most Lucille's restaurants: you park in a marked to-go space, call or check in from the confirmation email, and the food comes out. Because this is a table-service kitchen rather than a counter operation, to-go orders are made in the same line as dine-in food — so a 6:30pm Saturday pickup competes with a full dining room, while the same order at 3:00pm is ready in about fifteen minutes. The quiet windows mapped out on the Lucille's hours page apply just as much to takeout as to a table.
How far ahead to order
| Order | Lead time to allow |
|---|---|
| Sandwich or single plate, off-peak | 15–20 minutes |
| Single plate, Friday or Saturday evening | 35–45 minutes |
| Backyard Family Feast ($124.99) | Order same day, but a few hours ahead |
| Lucille's Super Feast ($244.99) | 24 hours where the location asks for it |
| Full catering order | 48–72 hours |
The feasts are the part people underestimate. A Super Feast at $244.99 feeds ten to twelve and represents a serious amount of smoked meat leaving the kitchen at once; a restaurant mid-service cannot always absorb that on 20 minutes' notice. Call the location for anything at that scale rather than relying on the web form, and if the party is larger, price it against the packages on the catering page first.
The boxes worth ticking
- Ask for extra sauce. Sauce lives in squeeze bottles on the table at Lucille's, so a to-go order gets small containers instead. Request more than you think you need — a rack of ribs empties a single cup fast.
- Ask about biscuits. The complimentary made-from-scratch biscuits and apple butter are a table-service thing. Many locations will add them to a to-go bag if you ask; none will read your mind.
- Sauce and dressing on the side for salads and anything you are not eating within fifteen minutes.
- Skip the fried appetizers. Onion Straws ($9.49) and Southern Fried Okra ($7.49) do not survive the drive home.
- Add rib tips. The BBQ Rib Tip Appetizer at $13.99 is the cheapest real barbecue in the building and the best thing to pad a to-go order with.
Rewards and email offers
Lucille's runs an email club and, at various points, a rewards program tied to the ordering account — the specifics have changed more than once and differ by market, so the honest advice is to sign up with the account you use to order and let the offers arrive rather than counting on a fixed points rate. Birthday and anniversary offers are the most consistently useful of them. Whatever lands in your inbox, the base prices any online order should be checked against are the ones on the full Lucille's menu.