Ray Lewis BBQ in Baltimore

[Joe H]

It's pedigree, if you will, is from Birmingham and the principal (not Ray Lewis) is as obsessed with serious Q as anyone on earth. I once visited him in Birmingham and we had Q at six places in three hours on a Saturday afternoon. Now, this is his opportunity to bring Alabama's best to Baltimore and elsewhere...

[misscindy]

I haven't been. And, I gotta tell ya, I just don't see myself going. I enjoy watching Ray-Ray reek havoc on Sundays but I can't see going over to Canton (a neighborhood I already dislike because of the extreme yup factor) and standing in line (and I have heard there are lines!) for--dare I say it--corporate, chain type food. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong and it's really good. I actually don't eat bbq very often and I'd rather support a Baltimore football player of yore, Andy Nelson. Or, another independent place that I have yet to try, Big Bad Wolf.

As a side note, I believe the name of the restaurant is Ray Lewis' Full Moon...is it just me or do you somehow sorta expect to see his hiney when you hear that name?

[Joe H]

I haven't been.  And, I gotta tell ya, I just don't see myself going.  I enjoy watching Ray-Ray reek havoc on Sundays but I can't see going over to Canton (a neighborhood I already dislike because of the extreme yup factor) and standing in line (and I have heard there are lines!) for--dare I say it--corporate, chain type food.  Who knows, maybe I'm wrong and it's really good.  I actually don't eat bbq very often and I'd rather support a Baltimore football player of yore, Andy Nelson.  Or, another independent place that I have yet to try, Big Bad Wolf.

As a side note, I believe the name of the restaurant is Ray Lewis' Full Moon...is it just me or do you somehow sorta expect to see his hiney when you hear that name?

←

This is an effort to take the restaurant national using the name of a sports figure in a different city to help promote it. I have not been to it yet; but I can tell you that the principal backer is as obsessed with food and bbq as any human being on any board anywhere. It's a business, yes, but the element of pride could not be stronger.

[DLang]

While I haven't stepped foot in the place yet, a group of coworkers decided to try it out at lunch the other day, so we got a big order to go. I had the pulled pork with a side of onion rings. The sandwich was really good, but not quite Andy Nelson's good. The onion rings were tasty, though they were of the high batter to onion ratio variety, with a thick dense batter.

Portions were huge for all of our orders. I confess I didn't poll the others, but I do remember hearing that whole restaurant smelled of real wood smoke and meat, which seemed like a good sign. (Having not been there myself, I'm having trouble not picturing the old Atlantic interior, which is a weird disconnect. I assume it looks different now.)

[Alan7147]

Went to Ray Lewis Full Moon on Friday night. The restaurant is located in the old can company complex which is chain restaurant heaven. Ray Lewis' has the feel and look of an upscale sports bar/restaurant with pictures of the proprietor all over the walls and a section devoted solely to the sale of t-shirts and other paraphernalia.

The food was pretty good but not nearly on par with Andy Nelsons. I had the pulled pork platter with BBQ beans and Potato salad (the two sides that the waiter said were by far the best) I found the pork to be to saturated in the thick BBQ sauce. The potato salad was very good, while the beans were too sweet for my taste. My g/f got the bbq chicken sandwich that was composed of pulled chicken and pickle slices on a bun. She does not eat red meat and said she liked the chicken better than Andy Nelsons, because it did not have such a smoky flavor to it. I liked the chicken at Andy Nelsons better just for that reason.

Overall it was a pleasant experience, but I doubt if I will rush back there.

[Rob Simmon]

I went on Saturday. If you can get past the omnipresent display of Ray Lewisness (do we really need a life-size series of photographs of Ray Lewis doing what appears to be an end-zone dance? Door handles shaped like "52"? Magazine covers touting Lewis' toughness posted above every table? High-school age Ray Lewis posing before a sign reading "Ray Lewis, state wrestling champion"?) the BBQ is ... OK. Not great, pleasantly smokey, huge portions, mediocre sauce drizzled on top. The best part of the meal was the corn muffins spiked with just the right amount of jalapeno.