Red Lion BBQ & Pub

Yea I know a southern boy in WA. At an Irish Pub eating BBQ and giving 5 stars. This place has great drinks, wonderful staff and environment but the BBQ is awesome. Must try the Salmon.

I’m a Packers fan, and I love the atmosphere here. I’m only giving three stars because every time I’ve been here, I have had to find someone and ask if I could order — the servers seem to be overworked especially when there’s a big game. That means a long wait for service/​food/​your check, and often the servers are not too friendly probably because of how busy they are.

The Red Lion is a quaint little bar with 1970’s décor that offers BBQ, burgers, beer, fried food and a few salads. The place does have a certain charm to it being that the inside is quite dated and slightly resembles a place a Hobbit might eat and drink at. There are plenty of loyal regulars that will swear by this place.
I found myself at the Red Lion after being shunned and ignored at a restaurant down the street. Had no problem finding an empty table and was greeted immediately by a young female server. She was very polite and friendly. Placed an order for the BBQ and coleslaw sandwich (Dave’s Special) with onion rings. The onion rings there are very good. I wasn’t feeling too well so my wife and I decided to box up our food and leave early. It took awhile for our server to come back. She seemed really busy as she was also pouring drinks behind the bar. From the few bites I had of my sandwich it was okay. Not great. Just okay. Nothing I’d order again. I wasn’t too crazy about the pulled pork. It wasn’t the amazing BBQ I’ve read about in all these reviews. But the real adventure began when I got home.
I decided to reheat my sandwich at home later that night. As I was eating it, I bit into something kind of hard. I pulled the item out of my mouth… it was a dried, hardened leaf! Now, I’m no coleslaw expert but I’m pretty sure whole leafs aren’t supposed to be in there. Idk how it got there or where it came from but upon the discovery I expidited the remainder of my sandwich into the trash receptacle.
Probably won’t return to the Red Lion anytime soon. Definitely will not go out of my way to go there. If somebody invites me I might go but I’ll just have a beer and maybe some onion rings. Not sure I’m willing to try their ribs either. Who knows what I might bite into next…

Not used to giving out many 5 stars, especially for bbq, but this was well deserved. I had complained to all my friends that bbq was dead in Spokane, WA. Literally, every place i had been was worse than the other place. Well I can actually say I was pleasantly surprised when I sank my front teeth… the both of them, in the tender spare ribs I ordered. Everything was so good I went home planning to sneak back there somehow within the next few days. The food was great. Truly, it was actually great. I know I sound like a commercial, but I was amazed because from the outside you wouldn’t think it was an eating establishment. More like one of the 1000s of bars/​pubs that dot all areas in Spokane. The outside and the inside might not be much to look at but these people take pride in their food. You can tell by the way it tastes. I highly recommend anyone that likes bbq to come to this restaurant.

Ray was a very good friend of my grandfather Bud Sacramanto whom started the Italian grocery Cassano’s. Nevertheless this is the best BBQ around and Ray makes the best Bloody Mary in Spokane.

We went on Sat and arrived during the WSU game. There was a small and vocal crowd. Our first visit-​first impression. We had only water to drink, but I understand they make good and inexpensive libations. Service was stellar. 3 Nice gals who all checked on us. I had ribs and chicken with cole slaw. Wife had ribs w/​salad. We agreed the ribs were very good. Big meaty, perfectly cooked, and a very good sauce. Chicken was also very good. Slaw was a little sweet for me but very fresh. Fry bread was OK, still would rather have corn bread. All in all everything was very good. Only issue I had was parking. But downtown that is always an issue.

Place is a dive bar but great BBQ either during the day or late at night once you’ve wrapped up a night of drinking in the neighborhood. They also cater, which I’ve utilized before for events and parties. Drinks are cheap and there is usually plenty of space no matter the time of night compared to other bars in the area.

Outstanding. The homemade sauce is incredible. The chicken is amazing. Oh, and the fry bread… wow.

Awful. I first tried this place about a year ago and had the fish and chips, which made me sick the following day. Gave it another shot, because a coworker really likes the place and the service was awful, the waitresses attitudes were piss poor, and this time I tried the BBQ and ended up sick again. Definitely never going there again!

Niki the waitress was very rude. If you work in a «Packer» bar, don’t badmouthing the team.

Atmosphere was interesting. Certainly a pub feel. The combo dinner platter was excellent. Was a little disappointed the onion rings were not hot. Beer batter was great. The only real issue we had was lack of cleanliness. It wasn’t horrible, but noticeable. Overall a recommend.

Amazing BBQ great drinks but you gotta try the fry bread with fresh local honey! Yum!!! Oh, and have a shot of tequila with Tony!

I’m staying at the hotel for business so after a day working, I decided to go down to the bar to grab a bite to eat. Full disclosure: I arrived in a pair of shorts and a t-​shirt with a small hole in the sleeve — thanks to the elevator!). The bar was about 20% capacity so I chose a table (its open seating as its a bar) with a view of the TV I wanted to watch. After 15 minutes, the waitress finally came to ask what I wanted to drink. I gave my order and requested a menu. She brought the menu over but made sure to inform me that if she gets ‘customers’ that want to sit at my table, she would have to ask me to move to another table. I looked around the near-​empty bar to see why she said that then I realized, she was insulting me based on my attire. She didn’t know (nor did she ask) if I too, was a ‘customer’ but just assumed I was a lowly bum that had no business in her bar! Waitress, if you happen to read this — don’t think I couldn’t afford a better tip than the 5% I left (I wanted to leave less but my husband is nicer than me!) on my $ 87 bill. But, let it be a lesson to you not to judge your guests based on the clothes they happen to be wearing. Had you not been so rude, your tip would have been considerably larger.

We went in today ⁵⁄₂₃ at about 3 pm. After being seated the waitress asked us if we were ready to order about 5 minutes after, which is great but I asked for a few more minutes since my daughter wasn’t sure. 20 minutes later Megan is still chatting at the bar and though I waved at her and she looked right at me, we still weren’t helped. We finally walked out 5 – 10 minutes later.
It sucks because the food is great, but the service has really gone downhill.

I had heard this place was a bit of a dive but the food was really good so I decided to give it a try. I really like the atmosphere and the staff was great but that’s about as good as this review will get. On the good side, the fry bread was excellent. The onion rings were good but I also had the ribs and they were probably the worst I’ve ever had. Very fatty and grizzly and did not come close to falling off the bone. When George, the nice bartender, asked me how it was, I told him that the ribs were not good at all. He told me let me get you some fresh ones and that he felt bad about that. Unfortunately the new ribs he brought me were even dryer then the first ones. By all means, come here for the fry bread, the atmosphere, and a great bartender. If you do decide to eat, go for the chicken.

Great place to catch Green Bay Packers games in Spokane! Wear your jersey– everyone else is!

In a nutshell: BBQ spot/​pub in downtown Spokane. Also… FRIED BREAD!
Okay, I don’t actually know if the area we were in was the official «Downtown Spokane». I went up with a contingent of the USC band for the WSU game, but stayed in Spokane for the weekend. Glad we didn’t stay in Pullman. This area that the Red Lion is located on has a few bars, and some of them get pretty «bro-​ey» because of it’s proximity to Gonzaga and a WSU satellite.
We went to Red Lion twice, once at the end of the night for Halloween, and again after we whooped up on WSU. Friday was a great drinking experience, and Saturday was a great dining experience. Drinks and food are fairly cheap here (compared to Los Angeles), so if you ever visit on business or pleasure, you won’t be disappointed.
Ambience ³⁄₅
A little cramped at the entrance where the bar is, but there is a back room is more spacious, complete with a buffet service area, and a pool table. A few TVs are set up around the place and they let you choose what you want to watch.
Service ⁴⁄₅
Our server was very nice and got us whatever we needed in a timely fashion. She was the only wait staff working that night, so big props to her for our large group and another large group eating there.
Food wait time ³⁄₅
I think they only had one guy in the kitchen, so the amount of orders that came in at the same time caused a long wait for our food. $#it happens.
Food ⁵⁄₅
HUGE PORTIONS!
Fried Bread — A+
The star of the show. Simple. Bread deep fried in their own batter. Dip in honey that’s readily available at your table and you’ve got yourself a new guilty pleasure.
Combo — A
It says it serves four, but it can serve 2 dudes, really. You chose 3 of the 5 or 6 possible choices of meats, and it comes with 2 large sides, onion rings and FRIED BREAD. A friend and I went with Pork loin, ribs, and tri-​tip. So good. Was lacking in BBQ sauce but our server hooked it up. The sauce here is on the tangy side, but really tasty. Combine it with everything else it comes with and you can throw yourself a shower for the food baby in your stomach.
Overall ⁴⁄₅
Good food, and it’s a chill hang. Doesn’t get too busy, so we liked that. Come here for good BBQ, stay for the low-​stress drinks.

Great sports bar & family bbq joint feel. The sauce is smokey & tangy without being sweet. Higher quality meat would’ve made the meal much better. The cooking time & sauce deserve better rib meat. The fried bread & onion rings were great. Potato salad needed just a little salt n pepper and it was good. The price was great. Dinner, Lynchburg Lemonade and tip for under $ 25. Raise the price a few bucks and buy better meat, you could be a 5-​star!

Worst ribs ever = ½ star
Slaw, rings, sauce = 3 stars
Wine selection/​price for pub/​bbq place = 4 stars
Cute/​sweet blond behind the bar = 5 stars :)

Best BBQ and Pub in Spokane!
Packers bar too