Broken Bones Smokin' Good Barbecue ~ Colorado Springs, Colorado

Latest visit: Sep 2022

First visit: Jan 2019

Time for our annual review. In a lot of ways one can certainly say Broken Bones is consistent. Much of what I said below applied to this visit as well. I purposely tried something new on this day, looking for that one craveable food item that makes me want to return again and again. I did not find it. In fact, this visit resulted in a -1 rating. I opted for the 2 meat platter. I chose pulled pork and pulled chicken. The latter was - I really don't like to be this way but... terrible! It was like a boiled thigh that they pulled and served on a plate. It had zero barbecue flavor, and it was tasteless. Broken Bones - hear me - the only pulling you should be doing with chicken is pulling it off the menu. It was an embarrassment. The pulled pork was better - at least it had a barbecue flavor. But it was too mushy. Miles away from Red Hot and Blue that's for sure - and they're a chain for crying out loud. I wanted to try the jalapeno tater tots as the side, but they were out (of course they were). Nothing else looked appealing so I went back to the mac n' cheese. That - and all 5 sauces - are exactly as described below. It doesn't appear Broken Bones has any intent on getting better. Time for the RJG and Broken Bones to break up so to speak. That's too bad as they are the only BBQ place in this part of town (not counting Dickey's). Oh well. Hope another barbecue restaurant will replace it.

They have one other location up north in Monument, which is their original spot.

--- 7/10/21 review

Broken Bones is the RJG's neighborhood barbecue haunt. We had gone a few times before the pandemic, but this is our first visit back since. It's a wide open space, with bench and chairs anchoring the tables. Very comfortable. Walk in, get in the prescribed line, and order away. Broken Bones sticks to the more basic BBQ options, and doesn't offer very many multiple meat options, beyond the too-filling 3 meat platter. I like to mix and match, but OK. On this visit, I settled on a sliced brisket sandwich with mac n' cheese on the side (part of the combo). Drinks are extra, but I went with H2o, as their fountain selection is limited. What I do like about Broken Bones is they offer 5 (count 'em) different sauces, all conveniently in squirt bottles on each table. As is my tradition, I first have a full bite of the sandwich sans sauce. Pretty good - not the most flavorful brisket I've ever had, but it certainly was tender and the flavor was strong enough. Little by little, I added various sauces: Original (OK); Sweet (not usually my favorite anyway, but at least it wasn't syrupy); Mustard (unique BBQ sauce, though surprisingly mild); Hickory (excellent smoky flavor); Spicy (very nice piquant sauce with a slight kick). The bread is kind of dull to be honest. The mac n' cheese was a bit gummier than I prefer, but at least it was served at a very hot temperature, so it was enjoyable on the whole. The RJG likes Broken Bones, though it doesn't stack up against Billy Sims, for example, and it should. We'll be back anyway, and work our way down the menu, and maybe find our craveable dish to rave on about. See you next year in the annual update. 

1/11/19; 7/10/21 (new entry); 9/4/22