Mr. Moes' Restaurant & Bar: Down-Home BBQ in Coconut Grove, Florida

I have 2 go-to places in Coconut Grove, Florida when I'm craving fall-off-the-bone ribs. One is Flanigan's, the other is Mr. Moe's.

Moe's is in the heart of the quaint shopping district, nestled in down there by Senior Frogs and several little boutiques. It's all about rustic wood and huge flat river rocks here. Kind of a log cabin theme, with stuffed animals everywhere. I mean like big ol' taxidermied bears and elk heads, not cute little stuffed teddy bears. There is a big full bar in the center and huge televisions blasting various sports channels all over the place. They even have NTN trivia and Texas Hold 'em. Tuesday night is Karaoke night, and they live bands on the weekends.

You can sit outside in the swinging boothes (where you can still smoke!) or inside to watch your favorite Swedish Hockey team beat the pants off the US... HA! The boothes both places are very cushioned and comfortable. This is a good thing since it may be awhile before you get your food. Oh, they warn ya right up front. The menu clearly states that those steaks and burgers are so big that you can expect to wait about 20 minutes if you order those. I'm always too hungry for that delay. heh.

My favorites here are the BBQ Ribs ($14 half-rack/$19 full) and the Country Fried Steak ($13). The ribs have that smokey flavor to them that I adore, and cooked to the point of being soooo tender that the meat just falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. The Country Fried Steak is two patties and flavor-wise actually almost rival those you can find in Texas.

Lars usually goes with the BBQ Combo ($15) of Ribs & either Briskit or Pulled Pork. I like their briskit, but the pork is more tender. I've had the BBQ chicken here too, and it was pretty damn good also.

Most dinners come with your choice of two side dishes. Here I cannot suggest strongly enough that you make one of those sides their marvelous Sweet Cornbread. Man oh man is that stuff ever good! Last night I even ordered an extra bit ($1.95) to bring back to the hotel with me. The Baked Beans are good enough, but not one of my favorites here. The Collard Greens are cooked with bacon, but are a bit too far on the vinegary side for my tastes. The Cole Slaw is creamy and marvelous, and Baked Potatoes can be ordered loaded.

Now, when I get the Country Fried Steak covered with white gravy, and order the Mashed Potatoes as a side, I generally expect that the gravy on the potatoes will be the same. Is that not a natural assumption? Here then is a gripe with Moe's... They insist on putting brown gravy on the potatoes no matter what kind of gravy is on your main course. WTF is up with that? I can tell them up-front when I order to skip the idiocy and keep the gravy the same on everything, but sometimes I forget to do that and it is really, really annoying. Come on Moe's... get real here.

The staff is always very friendly, but not real on the ball. We've been here numerous times for dinner, and I once took my friend Barbara here for Lunch. Every single time I've had to look around for the wait staff for refills, and again for the check. If I'm sitting outside where I can smoke, this isn't a big deal to me, but if I'm inside and wanting to leave so I can have an after-meal smoke, I want my damn check now. Yanno?

This is a manly-man, meat-n-taters kinda place, so Vegetarians probably wouldn't be real comfortable here. It's also a bar, so for lunch the kids would be ok, but do me a favor and leave 'em home in the evening. Thanks.

In spite of the few irks I have with Moe's, I have to go with 4 stars and highly recommend them to you if you're in the area. The BBQ here is ooh sooo worth any minor irritations.

305-442-1114
3131 Commodore Plaza
Coconut Grove, Fl