Rocklands Restaurant: Great Choice for BBQ in Washington, D.C

While heading north to the Canadian border to visit my daughter I decided to stop in DC and have lunch with a fellow writer. Knowing that his finger is directly on the pulse of DC dining, I gave him the task of coming up with a place that was both very good yet low cost and would let me in with jeans on. Hey, I was on a road trip and not at all about driving the next 10 hours in fancy dress. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. My friend did not fail me. He suggested Rocklands and it was a major hit with both of us.

Rocklands is little bitty whole-in-the-wall place in Georgetown. If you didn't know what you were looking for you would miss it for sure. Good luck finding parking here though. We lucked out and found the parking lot to a business that happened to be closed on Sundays.

When you walk in you will notice the entire wall to the left is shelving just filled to the brim with what must be hundreds of different hot sauces (They say over 120 varieties). We spent a goodly amount of time just reading the names of them all. Some are quite humorous, but this is a family site soooo... After laughing at the 'Wall of Fire,' we went up to the counter and ordered. Boy did we order. Someone had suggested to us that we try the Bellybuster for $12.99. This consists of ribs, chicken, brisket, sausage, and grilled onions. It's served with a scallion, Rocklands' original BBQ sauce, and a potato roll. Folks, this is enough for 2 people. I kid you not. Not being real bright at times, we also ordered a Pulled Pork sandwich ($3.99), traditional potato salad, and a nice minted cucumber salad.

There was not one item on this list that wasn't good... and by good I mean oh my gawd I'm gonna bust. We kept eating long after we were full just because we could. . not. . stop. . Serious pain here. Positively masochistic. I groaned all the way to Canada. Thanks a lot, Pal! We have both been back to Rocklands separately after that initial visit, and neither of us has ever walked out of there less than stuffed. He says it has become a serious addiction with him. If I lived in the area still, I am sure I would be just as addicted.

Seating is catch-as-catch-can. There is one community table in the center of the place with various hot sauces on a Lazy Susan kinda thang. I don't even recall now what we picked but I do know he kept trying to pawn off the hottest of them all on poor, unsuspecting strangers the whole time we were there. He's a bad, bad boy.

Since there are so many varieties of BBQ in the country, I feel I should note that Rocklands cooks with wood only. They also promise your food to be up in less than 8 minutes. This was slightly vinegary, but not so much that you would classify it as Carolina BBQ at all. I hate Carolina BBQ with a passion, and I loved this. I'm more of a Texas BBQ kinda gal and I'd have to say this was about a 10% Carolina, 50% Texan, and who knows what the other 40% was. All I know is that it was fantastic. (Did I say that already?)

This is more of a business lunch type of crowd so I'd leave the kids at home. It is not meant for Vegetarians at all... it's, umm, BBQ. Yanno? Duh! Being in the DC area, there is no smoking here.

I highly recommend Rocklands if you're anywhere near the Georgetown area of DC. It's a ton of great food for a great price.

202-333-2558

2418 Wisconsin Avenue
Washington, DC 20007