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| - Lil Porgy's is my favorite barbecue place in town. It's also my favorite barbecue place overall, and I've been to Memphis and St. Louis.
I think some of the low-starred reviews here expected something different than what Lil Porgies is. Lil Porgies is solid, delicious food for cheap. If you want fancy sandwiches I recommend Black Dog instead - and the thirty+ minute wait. If you want something dryer or Texas style, try Hickory River. But if you want ribs, slathered in sauce, or barbecue chicken this is where you should be.
I'm not a big fan of the sandwiches - they are kinda soggy - and I cannot begin to understand why you would order fried shrimp or fish sandwiches at a barbecue place. The smell of slow cooking wood tells you what you should order. That smell brightens my evenings as I drive home each night.
The ribs are awesome. There is a range of quality - some days they are just Very Good, but other days they are Amazing. I think it has to do with how long they sit on the shelf over the smoke - the longer, the better. The barbecue chicken is also awesome - tender and very smoky. I prefer the mixed sauce, which is both sweet and spicy, but the mild is more sweet. They also sell the sauce along for cheap if, like me, you can't get enough of it.
There are some seasonal offerings as well, like chili in a bread bowl or smoked turkey legs. The chili was good and a reasonable price but I always come back to the pork ribs.
Meals come with big steak fries and white bread, both of which soak up the generous amounts of delicious sauce. There are daily specials, but the best days are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - beef ribs, pork ribs, and chicken ribs respectively. The lemon shake-ups are sweet and delicious, too.
I've eaten here many times and never been disappointed. One of my stand-bys. When I moved from Champaign to Urbana I was relived that I was still within a couple minutes' drive of a Lil Porgies. The building look a little sketchy but it's worth it to stop in.
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