Two Scotts Barbecue

Sliced Brisket is my go to! This is a great start up on the NW side of downtown Grand Rapids. It’s near the Riverview Center building and Plante Moran by the fish ladder, just down the street from the FreeWheeler Bike shop. Everything is made right there by the 2 Scotts and their staff. Great place for a business lunch and there is outdoor seating when its nice.

Grand Rapids is not a city known for its barbecue, and if that changes, it won’t be because of Two Scotts, whose food is good, but not as good as its Unilocal rating would suggest. Having not been there previously, I ordered the recommended «newbie» menu item, the Scott #3 combo. It consists of your choice of three meats, two sides, bread and pickles, and a drink.
For each meat, you are given a 3 oz serving, for a total of 9 oz of meat in the combo. I got the burnt ends, brisket, and sausage. To my amazement, the sausage was the MVP, well seasoned and with an excellent snap to the skin. The burnt ends were good, but pale in comparison to those I used to enjoy when living in St Louis (admittedly, a city known for excellent barbecue). The brisket however was disappointing, not so much moist as soggy, and with far more fat than I am accustomed to with brisket.
For my two sides, I picked the pimento mac & cheese and the home made tater tots. I’ve not had pimento cheese macaroni before, so I don’t have much of a comparative reference. Overall it was enjoyable, but not quite warm enough in terms of serving temperature. The tater tots were quite well made, albeit not particularly well seasoned.
The slice of bread included is generic white bread, though not at all fluffy. It isn’t enjoyable. And the «pickles» were really just three or four pickle slices like you’d find on top of a burger, not anything substantial. Also, while the combo included drinks, there was an upcharge for draught root beer, so the included beverage is just a 12 oz can of soda of your choice. Given the $ 16 price for the combo, that is a bit disappointing.
When I visited, there were five sauces on offer — the house sauce (sweet and tangy), dog sauce (similar to runny mayo), South Carolina Mustard, hot sauce (which seems to have the same base as the house sauce but with a kick), and the verde sauce (also hot). I found the verde and hot sauces to be quite good, and found myself continually alternating between the two. The house sauce was also good, though brought nothing new to the burnt ends (which were covered either in it or something extremely similar). I did not care for either of the other two sauces.
I would consider returning, and either ordering a pull pork and cole slaw sandwich (which seems to be the other popular option) or just a larger order of sausage. But I doubt I’ll be ordering the combo again, and I certainly have no desire to revisit the brisket.

As someone whom has traveled to 44 out of the 50 states, you can guess that I have eaten quite a bit of BBQ.
Two Scotts will stand up next to the best that the South can dish up. The «Burnt Ends» matched with their Mac and Cheese are really something special. Two Scotts is exactly what it presents itself to be– Great BBQ.
4.5 stars from me.
Quick tip: Get there before noon to avoid a long line and lower the risk of them being sold out of your favorite meat.

I went to Two Scotts today for a late lunch, and if I’m being perfectly honest, it wasn’t love at first bite. I love supporting local spots and see potential here, which is why I went with 3 stars, but there is room for improvement.
I got there about 2:15, and wanted to try a variety so went with the 3 meat/​2 side combo. Unfortunately, of the 7 meat choices, they only had 4 left. I understand because of the time it takes to make BBQ joints tend to run out of menu items, but it was still dissapointing especially since they had run out of my top 2 choices.
I could have called an audible and gone with a just meat ½lbs pulled pork instead of the 3 meat treat, but I hadn’t eaten all day and I panicked, and had been looking forward to a food-​coma inducing had case of the meat sweats all day!
Now to the main course of the review, pun absolutely intended, sorry not sorry. I ended up with pulled pork, burnt ends and sausage, with smoked beans and mac n cheese for the sides. Both sides were satisfactory, I’ve had better but they did an adequate job of playing the supporting role to the BBQ.
For $ 16 portion size could have been more generous, I wasnt still hungery but not stuffed either and would have been nice to have left overs. That being said I get that meat can be expensive and my dad bod is a testament to my healthy appetite, others may find the portions more than plenty.
The pulled pork was excellent, top 3 I’ve ever eaten. The suausage was good but not great, and the fatty parts of the burnt ends was good, but the non fatty parts were a bit dry and tough, overall wasn’t impressed with the burnt ends.
Now for the accompaniment: the sauces. The house sauce didn’t knock my socks off. It’s not that it was bad, just somewhat unremarkable. That’s just my opinion, I’m no pit master. The dog sauce and SC style were both interesting. The dog sauce was the thinest and light pink in color. the SC at least to my pallet seemed to have prominent tones of horse radish and either honey or Dijon mustard, which gave the sauce the most bite, but not in a way that was overwhelming.
I definitely recommend BBQ lovers give it a try, and may go back to try the stuff i missed out on, but probably not super soon.

This place is amazing. Burnt ends and brisket to die for. I’ve waited in line at 10:30 in the am (they open at 11) just to get those two items as they sell out fast. The ribs are always juicy with an appropriate fat layer.
Get here early for an amazing meat treat!