John's Rib House - Lisle

When do you post, when do you not post? How soon after a place opens, and how good should it be?

John's opened last Saturday in Lisle's low rent strip mall, south side of Maple, just west of route 53. Nicely redone place, mostly carryout but with a few tables in front. Big old Southern Pride smoker.

John and his son John had a place out west (Illinois) by a lake that was only open in the summer. They also did festivals. John senior works the pit, and junior works the front (reminescent of the Adams at Honey 1). They hope to open a second place in Wheaton next year if this goes well.

I stopped by for lunch and asked what I should order and John (son) pointed me toward the tips, so that is what I had.

Decent order with crispy steak fries, and I ate it there. From the look and taste of them, John senior knows what he is doing. Nice crust, smoke ring, definitely good tips. But, after they leave the pit I am not sure what they are doing. My tips had been held for a while, which is not unusual, and apparently steamed a bit, leaching out some of the smoke and resulting in some tips that were good, and others that were a bit soft with less smoke flavor. I asked them how long ahead I should call to order ribs, and they said about 15 minutes, which suggests ribs are getting a similar treatment.

I will order some ribs and go back one or more times, just because it is convenient and I want them to succeed and be wonderful. Some of the problem would go away with more volume and faster turnover, of course.

The menu is pretty broad, including ribs, tips, hot links ("West Side Hot Links"), pulled pork, bbq beef, as well as hot dogs, hamburgers, fried fish and shrimp, chicken wings and drums, and a lot of desserts - funnel cake, cheescake, sweet potato pie, peach cobbler and chocolate cake. Which also makes me wonder about how great the barbecue will be, but the menu does show this great shot of John senior at his portable smoker, and I saw him in back working, too.

I will keep an eye on it and report back. Don't want to be unfair in the first week, but so far it ain't bad, but it ain't great either.

John's Rib House
1221 Maple Ave.
Lisle
630-241-4150

Just thinking - when I call for carry out, I will ask when stuff is coming out of the smoker, and ask for, and time it, so I get something right out of the smoker. That may or may not be a fair test, but it will tell me whether the issues I found are about how they hold stuff, or how they smoke it. Will post and let y'all know.

dicksond wrote:John's opened last Saturday in Lisle's low rent strip mall, south side of Maple, just west of route 53.

Thanks for the info. Is this the same low rent strip mall that houses the Maple Avenue Pub (formerly Jukebox Saturday Night), as well as the dubious looking massage parlor/spa that my friend (with the DuPage County state's attorney's office) tells me is on the local authorities' radar? If so, I hope that they can make a go of it.

Ron A. wrote:

dicksond wrote:John's opened last Saturday in Lisle's low rent strip mall, south side of Maple, just west of route 53.

Thanks for the info. Is this the same low rent strip mall that houses the Maple Avenue Pub (formerly Jukebox Saturday Night), as well as the dubious looking massage parlor/spa that my friend (with the DuPage County state's attorney's office) tells me is on the local authorities' radar? If so, I hope that they can make a go of it.

Yeah, I think it is called Maple Plaza, and it does have a sleazy charm. I think it also contains the local currency exchange/payday loan office, and an uninspiring burrito joint. When I mentioned it to a Lisle friend, her response was, "Oh, I never go near that strip, so I would never notice it." Not a good sign for John's: there are these different worlds on that strip of Lisle - the Jewel and its mall services everyone, but is dominated by the good burgers of Lisle; the asian plaza a bit west, with Veronika's combines asian and eastern european clientele, and Maple Plaza seems to be mostly Mexican and working class folks, which does overlap a bit with Veronika's, I suppose. Coexistng in a 1/4 mile strip on Maple, yet hardly interacting.

The discrete worlds of the USA.

I tried this place for lunch today. Had the same rib tips and steak fries combo. I would say it was not bad, but not terrific either.

Second visit and I tried the pulled pork sandwich. Pork actually had very good flavor, both spicing and smoke. Sauce was a bit thick and sweet, but it was applied sparingly to the meat, so I was able to sample the meat a lot better this time. However, the meat was very wet, almost soggy, a definite defect.

Also tried the slaw, which is very good. Fresh, very lightly dressed, good mix of cabbage and carrots.

Definitely the best barbecue in Lisle , and maybe even the best choice in the west for me, but that also is not saying so much.

Will report when I get my hands on a fresh rack.

I tried the "large rib tip dinner" today. It comes with a generous portion of tips and two sides; I chose cole slaw and baked beans, which were both fine. The tips, as before, were not terrific but not bad either. I agree that this place is not a bad addition to this area. (The strip mall where it is located is not the best place at night though.)

I tried this place again yesterday. The rib tips were pretty bad this time (under cooked). They have raised prices on some items by $1. Their timings have also changed; they are no longer open late night except on Sat.

Any more recent visits to this place? I'm looking for lunch spots in the Naperville, Lisle, Wheaton area and the recent yelp reviews made this place standout. The reviews here aren't that promising, but it has been almost 4 years.

Yeah 2007 were the most recent post. This place still around or?
Pictures are worth a thousand wordz...But pictures of BBQ and smoked meats are worth a million word'Z.

Website's current - http://www.johnsribhouse.com/

I grabbed lunch here yesterday. Not much business, one pair of people eating. I ordered the rib tip lunch special w/fries for $5.95. 8 tip pieces. They seemed like they were smoked at one point, but not much smokiness or juiciness left in them. Dry and tough for the most part. The fries were basic frozen food service with a garlic salt on them. Sauce was pretty basic, sweet with a touch of tang. As others have said. It might be good if you can get it fresh from the smoker.

Go to Austin BBQ in Wheaton instead. That is the real deal. They have a lot of business there and the food is good.