Review: It's Ribs on Jones Road

As a proud faculty member of Lone Star College University Park, I have to drive up and down Jones Road going to and from work on the days I teach. One place that caught my attention was a little barn shaped BBQ restaurant plainly called It's Ribs.  After passing it by on more than one occasion, I finally broke down and decided to check and see what this place is about.  The exterior seems fairly simple, but it belies a relatively modern casual dining environment that includes 3 flat screen TVs and a nice selection of bottled beers and Mexican bottled fruit sodas.  Their menu is primarily pork and beef ribs, but they also have brisket, chopped BBQ beef sandwiches, loaded baked potatoes and barbecued slow smoked chicken as well.    I went with a standard BBQ pork spare rib plate with 2 sides--macaroni & cheese, and Cole slaw.   I washed it down with a Gold Peak iced Green Tea mixed with Lemonade.

I was quite happy with this barbecue.  They served up a generous portion of spare ribs.  It was peppery, not very spicy, had good bark, an noticeable smoke ring, and was fall off the bone tender.  The sauce they had in the squirt bottles on the table was sweet, a little spicy and a little vinegary.  The ribs did not have a strong a smoke flavour as some places have (i.e. you weren't burping and tasting them for hours like other places--it's pecan smoked, rather than mesquite, hickory or oak), but they were still good eating.  These spare ribs had plenty of meat--none of it gristly.  The Cole slaw was crunchy and tender--not bitter or too sweet.  The Mac-n-cheese was good and tender, but the cheese sauce could have been a little thicker.  It might have been this one batch, but it could have been better sold as Macaroni salad.  It still tasted good, but didn't fit how I personally like Mac-N-Cheese.  Overall it was a delicious and satisfying meal and I will be back to try some of the other sides.  

Report Card for It's Ribs BBQ on Jones Road:
Food:
     Spare Ribs: A
     Cole Slaw: A-
     Mac-N-Cheese: B-
Service:
     Friendliness: A+
     Speed:  A+
Atmosphere:  (Casual Dining/BBQ mix): A-
Cleanliness:  
     Dining Area: A
     Men's Room: I (Incomplete--did not check it out)
Overall Grade:  A-


It's Ribs has only been open since January and they seem to have developed a bit of a following.  The manager on duty said they had customers coming from Downtown and Sugar Land to try them out.  I'd recommend it to anyone from anywhere in Houston who happen to find themselves near FM 1960 and Jones Road.  It's worth a stop in, to be sure.

Also one other aside:  many employees wear a shirt that says "Grab Life By The Rack!"  Very funny stuff but I don't advise any of you male readers to try to do that to any female staff.  I won't come bail you out when Harris County Constables arrest you!
It's Ribs is located at:

11035 Jones Road (SW Corner of Jones & FM 1960)
Houston, TX 77070
832-678-2088
Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Sun - Thurs 7am - 9pm
Fri - Sat 7am - 10pm

And remember:  Eat Happy!!!
早安，你们！