Slow Groovin BBQ

Great bbq and you can’t beat the location. Service was fun and friendly and had great food and sauce suggestions. A must if you’re near Marble!

Fantastic bbq and awesome staff! Anytime I’m close to Marble we make a detour to eat here

I have driven, flown, motorcycled, and walked this country in search of perfect barbecue. I have tasted the famous, and the not-​so-​famous. I have savored slabbed, racked, pulled, sliced, chopped and chunked. I have never been so fortunate as when I decided to try Slow Groovin’ Barbecue today.
There are few things I will rave about; but you can add Slow Groovin’ to the list. Elegantly selected and prepared meat in a casual atmosphere served with sides and sauces which deserve their own praise. I chose ribs and pulled pork (see criticisms below) and each was bountiful, flavorful, and a belly full! Just the right amount of pul from the rib, bark in the pork, and smoke in the meat. Served unsauced (an enormous plus in my book), each bite was divine plain — but, as is a sign of a superior sauce, any amount or combination of sauces only brought out subtle notes of porcine goodness yet undiscovered. These drizzly liquids enhanced the experience — which has not always been my experience!
The sides — slaw and beans — have their own distinct mission on the plate to provide texture and contrast. They did not detract from the featured players; rather, take the stage as does many a great character actor who advances the scene, but never upstages the star. (and never misses a «‘cue»!) Bravo! Author!
The three sauces are misnamed and described. Call them Purr, Growl, and Bark (pun intended). Each drop is precisely matched to the desired effect of sweet, savory, and spicy.
It is a perfect BBQ experience in the western slope of… Colorado!?!
If to be fair, one criticism is not to describe the «Gold Rush» sauce as a «Carolina Style.» First, we all know there are several distinct Carolina styles — and this mimics none of them! This one (and the others) stand to define «Colorado Style» as a new term to be mimicked perhaps in Carolina???
The only other criticism is to offer 2&2, or 3&2 type ordering options: 2 meats/​2 sides, 3 meats/​2 sides, etc… I regret not sampling more — I’ll just have to go back!
If you are serious about smoked meat and hidden gems, do whatever is necessary to experience this place! Also, their commitment to local and ethically-​treated product is admirable!

Open seasonally, until October 31. I’m usually a little suspicious when I see a restaurant with a 5-​star rating in the middle of nowhere. But Slow Groovin BBQ deserves all the praise it receives. We ordered the Caesar salad, fried okra, and the 4-​meat selection. We chose the pulled pork, half chicken, beef brisket and St. Louis ribs. Everything was great, the salad was the perfect compliment to the meat. The pulled pork was the best of the meats. We ordered a couple local draft beers. For 2 people, it was a feast and we had nice leftovers. Even though we are only in the area for 5 days, we may have to make a second visit.
They have a resident black dog named Brisket, who is a sweetheart.

This may be the best BBQ I’ve ever eaten. The folks who work there are friendly and act like they’re genuinely glad you’re there. It’s worth the trip to Marble from Crested Butte just to eat here. Highly recommended!

It’s very simple: order everything, because you can’t go wrong with anything. My family and I ordered a little bit of everything and we had no leftovers. My favorite appetizer was the buffalo turd. Favorite sides were the corn, baked beans, and coleslaw, and favorite main courses were the ribs and chicken. It’s the best bbq place in the state in my opinion and the best in the valley. They are only open for a few months a year so go before they close!

Incredibly good food. We had Mac n cheese with pork & green chile which was AMAZING, roasted corn … OMG delicious, the best cornbread I’ve ever had, plus chicken & pork BBQ … all excellent. The rustic décor & grounds are beautiful also I wish someone in Denver had a BBQ restaurant this good, but nothing can compare. Definitely one of my favorites, I wish I lived closer

I just cannot say enough about how wonderful this place is. Slow Groovin catered our wedding on Saturday and the food was incredible. The service was top notch and I would recommend them to anyone. Every single person at the wedding mentioned how amazing the food was, we are so so happy that we had them do our wedding. I will go back time and time again!

BBQ at it’s finest! If you happen to be anywhere near Marble, this heavenly bbq joint is a can’t miss. The restaurant itself has a gorgeous patio that overlooks the serene town, and the smoker was going full force, filling the air with smokey goodness. I was able to sample the 2 meat platter. Delicious baked beans, homemade, non-​greasy coleslaw, and perfect Texas toast, BUT… the real hero… the meat! The pulled pork was juicy and scrumptious, but the brisket was some of the best I’ve ever had!

It’s really hard not to like this place. The location is great,. The vibe is laid back. The people are amazing. The food is super. What else do you want in a restaurant?
We saw the sign off of 133 but we didn’t really expect to stop here. It wasn’t until we passed it that we backtracked because we immediately sensed this place would be great. We didn’t bother looking at any reviews ahead of time and it’s no surprise to see it’s all 5 stars.
We had 2 meats with the beans, coleslaw and Texas toast on the side. The brisket and pulled pork were fantastic. I didn’t care too much for the BBQ sauce options but the way these were prepared you really didn’t need sauce. These were great on their own. The slaw was homemade, and the other sides were also very good.
It’s the little things in life sometimes and it was this little town that made a huge impression on us and this BBQ joint that gave us an unforgettable experience.

Best BBQ in the Roaring Fork Valley! The menu changes every year just enough to try something new. Amazing service and awesome food!

If you are anywhere near here be sure to stop! Great quality, wonderful service, and nice setting. We enjoyed 2 appetizers which filled us up and we were impressed by both. We split the wings, which we got half raspberry chipotle and half BBQ. Both were delicious. We also shared a huge bowl of pulled pork and green chile mac n cheese which was outstanding. We will bookmark this place so we remember to come back.

I ate at this restaurant in 2010 when it was owned by Woody who served very good BBQ. Coming back I had high expectations and am please that the new owners have improved every aspect of the restaurant and taken it to a much higher level.
BBQ is very subjective and based on personal taste. I admit I am a BBQ snob having judged for 10 years at the Chicago Rib Fest. I always eat BBQ when traveling and I found that Slow Groovin does a terrific job of providing a very high quality product that will appeal to BBQ connoisseur as well as the occasional feaster. Every aspect of our experience; the food, the service, the environment was first rate.
We had turkey, ribs, brisket and chicken and found all to be moist, tender and with a wonderful smoke flavor. Personally I prefer a heavier mesquite smoke flavor but this was a milers but wonderful fruitwood based smoke. Portions were generous and serving the meals in the metal «prospecting pan» added a unique touch.
Their coleslaw is a course texture and I enjoyed the clear dressing. Baked beans were a unique tomato based receipt that my wife loved. Me — not so much because I like my beans made with a greasy bacon and molasses based receipt. (Just because they are not my favorite does not mean they are not great) The cornbread was a terrific and moist and denser than most I have tried.
Their choices of sauces included a Carolina, Kansas City and a full flavor hot sauce. Here again the owners have developed a very fine offering that will appeal to everyone. The hot sauce is one of the best I have ever had and bought a bottle to take home.
The deserts were over the top good. We had three including the coconut cream pie that was so rich is was like a custard pie, the warm apple cinnamon pie and the warm cornbread with ice cream. All were fricking awesome.
Slow Groovin also has great drinks served in canning jars. (Nice touch and size) The Margaritas were great and made from scratch. (No premix used here) Daiquiris my daughter had was not short on alcohol and my beer was cold the way I like it.
It is really enjoyable to have the privileged to dine at a place where the owners take such pride and care in every aspect of their business. I spoke with a few employees and servers all of whom took pride in the restaurant and went the extra mile to ensure we had a great experience. Slow Groovin is one of my favorite BBQ places in the country and if I am within a hundred miles of this place I will make the detour to stop in again.

Very good BBQ! Their meats are slow smoked, tender and flavorful. I highly recommend the Beef Brisket. Their sauces are spot on as they offer a nice spicy/​sweet ketchup based sauce, a great spicy mustard based sauce and a fiery pepper sauce. There’s nothing better than taking in some amazing BBQ after a day of hiking, climbing, off-​roading or camping. If you’re in the area and love BBQ you’ve got to try this place!

I’ve only been here once but all I can say is damn. Service was awesome, atmosphere was awesome, and the food was great. I definitely got the sense that some care was put into the food we ordered. We will definitely return.

Started with the atomic buffalo turds which were not spicy at all but, very flavorful with a house made ranch. Yum! Pork and green chilies Mac and cheese was a nice touch. I added BBQ sauce which made it better. The house made sauces were all excellent including the hot sauce. Regret not buying some to take home. Hand cut fries were great. The slaw was a great blend of creamy and vinegar. They are on to something with that creation. Two of us had the pork. One liked it & the other said it needed a lot of sauce but, they really like the bread. The chicken sandwich was ok. Ribs were eh! I’ve had better brisket. Tasted more like pot roast. Wish the meats had more of a smoky flavor. The real winner was the sausage. Juicy with the right amount of snap.
Overall the atmosphere was great. Our waiter Brian was superb! Had a great experience.

So, I sincerely regret not writing this review last summer, when I last had the chance to go to Slow Groovin’, but the experiences there were memorable enough that everything is still freshly burned in my mind, probably because this is one of the most unique BBQ restaurants in the country, and, as far as I was able to experience last summer, is the vanguard of a newly-​emerging style of BBQ, which I will refer to as «Rocky Mountain Fruitwood,» for lack of a better term at this particular juncture.
It had been a couple of decades since I spent any quality time in the Rockies, and when I came back to these parts to fish the Crystal, Roaring Fork, and Frying Pan I noticed a preponderance of BBQ restaurants all through southern Utah and Colorado, something that struck me as relatively recent. Not only that, the reliably BEST food that you will find in this region is at BBQ restaurants, shops, and trucks. Trailer-​mounted offset smokers are usually being used, rather than vertical drums or pits. Due to the presence of orchards in the region, many of these BBQ shops are smoking their meats over fruitwoods, like peach and plum. The better BBQ joints in the region have figured out that the stone fruits themselves make great additions to BBQ sauces. The best example of this style I was able to find after eating at at least 10 joints last summer was Slow Groovin’. Here, they used exclusively fruitwood smoke and made all their own sauces. Not only that, but Slow Groovin’ serves two of the best sandwiches in the country, BBQ or otherwise (and I live in the town with Phil’s BBQ, creators of the El Toro, one of Adam Richman’s favorite sandwiches on the planet). I cannot think of a better afternoon in Southwestern Colorado than catching a few cutthroat trout in Beaver Lake or on the Crystal and then quenching my appetite with a Megatron Melt or a Man-​Eater and a cold beer or two, for this is Rocky Mountain Fruitwood BBQ at its absolute best, something I can only get in this part of the world.
To be honest, the Megatron Melt is not that different from an El Toro. Both are sandwiches that start with a brisket that has been smoked forever and thinly sliced. But where Phil’s in San Diego slathers on a cloyingly sweet sauce and adds a nondescript bun, Slow Groovin’ throws on some fried twisted potatoes, caramelized onions, and pepper jack. Now we have crispy and gooey to go with our chewy and sweet, and the fruit sauce and caramelized onions add far more depth to the sweetness in the sandwich than Phil’s sauce could ever dream of doing, yet Food Network stars visit Phil’s and never come to Slow Groovin’. When I spoke with one of the owners, he confessed that they don’t always do that well at national BBQ competitions. Having been to a few of these, I knew immediately why: the Rockies don’t have a BBQ tradition, and the judges regularly don’t understand what Slow Groovin’ is doing because it breaks the mold. Colorado has no Santa Maria Tri-​Tip, pulled pork sandwiches, white chicken, Owensboro Mutton, «Texas crutch,» or Memphis dry anything in its culinary history. That doesn’t mean that Slow Groovin’ lacks tenderness or flavor – it just ain’t part of the same diorama of the Southeastern cuisines that dominate American BBQ techniques. SG breaks too many foodie brains to get the fanfare it truly deserves. Moreover, their Brunswick Stew is as traditional as Kentucky BBQ gets, so it’s not as if they lack the chops to execute the standards perfectly. They’re just boring to always do that way when you have access to different natural resources.
And the brave departure from tradition leads to the Man-​Eater; pulled pork piled high on Texas Toast with coleslaw and an onion ring. Brisket and Texas Toast usually live cheek-​to-​jowl, not pork and Texas Toast, but in this environment they work perfectly together, with the onion ring and coleslaw crispiness playing off each other. I could eat one of these every day of my life until I die, and I prefer a diet that’s as diverse as possible.
It’s not as if the only awesome part of the menu is from the «Knuckle Sandwiches» section, either. Their appetizers are excellent and the «Just Meat» contains only perfectly done St. Louis Ribs, Brisket, Chicken, sausage, salmon, and turkey. It wouldn’t hurt them to serve baby backs, but Marble is probably too out-​of-​the-​way to reliably get that cut. It should absolutely be pointed out here that Marble is literally in the middle of nowhere, the only things to do there are to bag peaks, flyfish, and eat at Slow Groovin’, and not only does the restaurant stay open (a feat in itself due to extremely low population density), but holds its own (at the very least) against any big-​city BBQ joint around. In short, the Rocky Mountain Fruitwood emerging BBQ tradition is something that every omnivore needs to experience before they shuffle off this mortal coil and Slow Groovin’ provides one of the best ways to experience it, ever.

I find it kind of surprising how many 5 star ratings this place has, it might be largely due to the fact this is the only restaurant in town and for 10+ miles.
Had the St Louis ribs and pulled pork, everything was pretty average and wouldn’t really stand out in a normal city. The service was a little slow as well.
Will be back since it’s the only choice, and I really like the Marble area.

Delicious BBQ and speedy too! Got the ½ chicken and the was so pleased! The rub was spicy and flavorful and the chicken was juicy and tender. No sauce necessary, but I love BBQ sauce so I did try a few bits with their colorado sweet and loved it! All in the party agreed the everything on the menu was great. Nod to the nachos and the brownies too!

Some of the best BBQ we’ve had… And that’s saying a lot since we’ve lived all over the country!
First, this place is so cozy and welcoming. From the deck, to the inside, to the staff. Makes you feel like you’ve gone to a friend’s house for dinner.
We started out with a half order of the «Hillbilly Nachos». Man, were they good! The pulled pork on them was amazing, along with the combo of ingredients. Watch out for the jalapeños though – intense!
We shared the deluxe platter combo: St. Louis Ribs and Beef Brisket. So good! You can hardly stab it with a fork. It falls apart because it’s so tender. And their house peach BBQ sauce is delicious with a little kick. The beans that come on the side are so packed with flavor. I had also ordered a side of cornbread, which was great.
I can’t forget to mention the beer. Fantastic! I had the wheat version on tap x2:) The brews are served in vintage mason jars. Loved that.
I’m super sad we only got to eat here one night! I told my husband I instantly regretted not coming each night of our stay. (And it is super affordable, btw!!!) I really wish we could come back again some day. Maybe they’ll franchise!!! Probably not bc it would lose that quaintness. But, one can hope!
Great job guys!