Let me tell you about Hank’s Grille and Bar in McGaheysville, VA. They’re located just outside of Harrisonburg, VA on Highway 33, Spotswood Trail. We actually found them several years ago while visiting Harrisonburg. We just never went back to them since starting the blog so they were not reviewed. Well this year for our anniversary Tammy said she wanted to go to Hank’s. Oh really? How could I turn that down? Since we didn’t have pictures all we could remember was it was so good. Why we didn’t make it back before now, who knows. So let’s get started.

The Restaurant and Staff:

Hank’s Grille and Bar looks very nice both inside and out. They have a very nice casual décor inside with a good size dining room. Everything was well kept and very clean. We arrived a little before normal dinner hours but they were a little busy. Our waiter, Nathan, was working hard staying busy keeping up with the tables. He did an excellent job. More help finally arrived. He was very friendly and helped us feel welcome. Nathan was a fantastic waiter.

We actually tried to get back here a couple of weeks prior to our visit. We rode through a horrendous thunder storm coming through the mountains. When we arrived, they had lost power and were closed. Well this time we got lucky. And Hank’s Grille and Bar came through. They were even better than we had remembered. One thing that they used to do was sauce all their meats. Not now, but there’s more on that to come.

Tammy’s Choices at Hank’s Grille and Bar:

Tammy went for the Double Wammie with Sliced Brisket and Pulled Pork. Her sides were Slaw and Mac & Cheese. Her slaw was pretty good and had a nice mayo mixture. Just good ole Southern style slaw. The mac & cheese was very good. It had a nice creamy mixture with plenty of cheese. Tammy loved it.

The brisket was awesome. The mix of dry rub, smoke, and the brisket flavor blended wonderfully. It also had a little burnt edge to it. Just very nice all around. The pork was even better. It had a distinct smoke ring, smoke flavor, and a good rub. Add some bark mixed in with it and smoke it with hickory wood, oh how wonderful it was. Like I said earlier, even better than before.

I also need to mention the fresh baked bread that Nathan brought to our table before the food. It was unreal. I’m not usually a big bread eater but you can’t say no to this bread. It’s that fresh and good.

And My Choices:

Tonight I started out with a cup of Brunswick Stew. Oh yes, it was excellent. It had a nice thick broth with plenty of meat, potatoes, lima beans, and corn. Such a great taste, I just loved it.

For my dinner I chose the Sampler Platter with Pork, Brisket and Ribs. It comes with Slaw and I went with Baked Beans for my side. The beans had a really good sauce. They also had meat cooked into it.

I already talked about the pork and brisket with Tammy’s choices so on with the ribs. Oh have mercy, the ribs were awesome. Hank’s Grille and Bar offers the ribs two ways, Dry Rub or Plain. Go for the dry rub. The rub and smoke were great and they just fell off the bone. I can’t emphasize enough the improvements over our previous visit. I am so glad they backed away from the sauce.

Sauces:

Hank’s Grille and Bar does have sauces at the table. I tried all of them out just to taste them and they were all good. The choices were: Traditional Red Sauce, NC Sauce, Whiskey (Cooked and Smokey) Sauce and a Sweet Peach Sauce. All were good but I only sampled them. I didn’t feel like I needed any sauce.

Desserts:

Of course we had dessert tonight. After all, it’s for our anniversary. So Tammy selected some type of Mocha Mousse Torte Pie with Raspberry Sauce. I hope I got that right. I know she loved it and I didn’t eat it. Being the more down to earth type I ordered a Chocolate Brownie with Ice Cream and Hot Fudge Sauce. It was fantastic. I checked the online menus and they don’t have their desserts listed on them so I hope I’m in the right ball park. I do know that we were miserable when we left.

 

 

Final Thoughts:

I cannot tell you how glad I am that Tammy chose Hank’s Grille and Bar for our anniversary dinner. Even with the 3 plus hour ride to get there, we both were thrilled to find them even better than before. We were a little concerned. You see when we ate there before we had not been to so many bbq restaurants. Now that we’ve traveled all over to eat Q we were afraid maybe it wasn’t as good as we thought. You see our tastes have been seasoned by all the great places we’ve found.

However, Hank’s pulled through. We loved the whole experience, the people and the atmosphere. Everyone was great. Unfortunately for others, the manager on duty was working her last night. Her due date was the next day. Congratulations to her, we wish you the best. I can’t wait to go back. I don’t plan on it taking years for a revisit this time.

One thing I do have to say I liked better before was the name. I definitely like Hank’s Smokehouse better for your name. Just my thoughts.

Now For Your Thoughts:

So here’s where I try to convince you to contribute to this article. Have you been to Hank’s Grille and Bar? Tell us about your experience. What did you order? How did your visit go? Drop some comments off so I can add them to this post.

What do you regulars think? We’d really like to hear from some of you. Tell everyone what makes Hank’s Grille and Bar your favorite. Here’s your chance to let everyone know how you feel about them. We all would love to hear even more about Hank’s and what you like or don’t like. Scroll down a little and leave your reply to this post so I can get it posted.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I encourage you to share this review on Facebook and other social media sites. Follow us on Facebook to see where else we go.

You can check out their website at: http://www.hanksgrilleandbar.com/hanks_home.html

You can also find them on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/hanksgrilleandbar/

 

Enjoy the ride, good eating and thanks for stopping by.