First look: The Pit

Located in Science Park in Beachwood, in the former Ly's Thai Gourmet space, is the latest addition to the city’s restaurant scene, The Pit. A casual barbecue joint, The Pit cooks its signature ribs, chicken and pulled pork for 12 hours over oak and hickory wood. A welcoming scent of burning wood permeates the restaurant and the barbecued food should make this a popular place for lunch and dinner.

Food: While The Pit is primarily about barbecue, it's also a full service restaurant with a rather diverse menu. Outside of the barbecue fare there is a selection of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers and signature entrées. The entrées include steak and seafood dishes that are a bit on the pricey side ($17-$28), but the rest of the menu is fairly reasonable.

On our recent Saturday night trip we opted to sample a couple of the barbecue dishes, along with the chef’s signature lobster martini appetizer ($13). The lobster martini was very good, with large chunks of lobster claw meat filling a martini glass soaked in a rich butter and vodka sauce.

However, as good as the appetizer was, the barbecue food was better. Between two of us, we shared a half slab of the baby back ribs ($15) and the turkey breast ($10). Each dish is served with your choice of barbecue sauce and two side dishes. We chose a sweet Kansas City sauce for the ribs and were not disappointed. The meat slid off the rib bone with ease, melting away in our mouths. For the hand-carved turkey platter we chose Caesar’s pit sauce, the owner's own secret barbecue sauce. It's a thin and slightly tangy barbecue sauce, and while it wasn’t the best we've tasted, it did complement the wood taste of the turkey meat.

Unfortunately though, the side dishes we chose were nothing special. For the turkey, we had sautéed spinach and mac and cheese, and for the ribs we had steamed rice and sautéed mushrooms. None of the dishes were memorable, and really were an afterthought on our plate next to the barbecued meat. Further, after telling the server of a dairy allergy, the "steamed" rice wasn’t really steamed at all, and instead was very buttery.

Drinks: The Pit features a full bar and modest wine menu. About a dozen choices are available by the glass and bottle, with most glasses less than $10, and bottles in the $30-$40 range.

Décor: Nothing has really changed since Ly's Gourmet Thai inhabited the space, which is perfectly acceptable since the building is rather new. The clean, modern yet conservative space features a central semi-circular bar and two nice-sized dining rooms. 

Service: Service was OK, but could have been better. After informing our server of a dairy and gluten allergy, the manager stopped at our table to suggest a barbecue sauce he was sure would be acceptable (that was the Kansas City sauce), however, he failed to adapt the steamed rice or the lobster martini (which was supposed to be shared). The server did offer to have the kitchen make a new lobster martini, which we politely declined, but we didn't even bother asking about the rice, and left it on the table untouched. 

Insider tip: The Pit is open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week. Recently, on Fridays and Saturday nights a jazz/R&B band has been performing after 9 p.m. in one of the dining rooms.

Bottom line: The Pit serves some of the best barbecue in the city. With the aroma of burning wood, and succulent, juicy dishes, The Pit is a must visit for the region's barbecue lovers.