Mom Explores Michigan: Good Eats: Red Rock Downtown BBQ Ypsilanti, MI

Go early. While I usually tell families to go early because it's easier to find a seat, for this spot I say go early because they run out of items on a regular basis, mostly because they smoke their meats. The restaurant is just over 1 year old, so it hasn't quite mastered quantity yet, but the upside is, they run out of things because they are good.

Dine al fresco. Red Rock has a small patio right on Michigan Ave and it is a fun spot to have lunch or dinner. If you have kids, you know how nice eating outside is significantly more pleasurable than dining inside. Inside, the restaurant is nicely decorated but a bit dark. However, it was surprisingly quiet, which is nice if you are out with people you like talking to :).

Order this. Everything at our table looked so good and my meal was especially delicious. The side dishes were the stars of the night, but the meat was pretty good too. If you go, this is what I would order again:

Deconstructed Wedge: forget about iceberg, this wedge really took things up a notch with the baby romaine lettuce, smoked blue cheese, smoked bacon and tomato with a balsamic dressing ($8). Plenty big to share with 2-3 people.

Pulled Pork entree: I love smoked, pulled pork, how can you not? Mine had a little excess fat but the flavor and texture were fantastic. It comes with 2 sides ($13).

Mac and Cheese: I ordered this as one of my sides and it was heavenly. The sauce was flavorful but not too heavy and the pasta was cooked perfectly. ($13 for a full portion, $3 for a side dish).

Sweet Potato Mash: I love sweet potatoes and it was nice to see a mash on the menu instead of fries only. I loved the brown sugary but not too sweet, whipped flavor ($3).

Cornbread. The cornbread muffins have fresh corn kernels inside the batter and a honey flavor. They almost tasted like dessert and I happily helped myself to more than one ($3, comes with 2).

Green Beans. I was expecting wilty looking, over cooked beans, but these long fresh veggies looked fantastic ($3).

Try this too. My friends at the table seemed to really like their pork sliders ($3 each), the sweet potato fries, the waffle fries and the smoked chicken ($13). I was hoping to give the burnt ends ($9) a try along with the ribs ($17) and really wanted to try the Apple Cherry Slaw ($3) but we were too late. Oh well, gives me something to look forward to next time.

Sample the BBQ sauce. I love trying different types of BBQ sauce and there were 5 options on our table. I wish they were labeled, but I found one I really loved along with the mustard BBQ sauce to jazz up a few bites of my mac and cheese.

Bring the kids. There are fully equipped for your little diners. They have plenty of kid friendly items on the big menu (the sides are especially good for children) or they have a kids menu consisting of Mac and Cheese or any flavor slider, one side dish and a drink all for $5, what a deal!

If you go.

Address. 207 West Michigan Ave. Ypsilanti, MI

Hours. Monday-Saturday 11am-2am, Sunday 12pm-12am

Parking. There is no onsite parking but you can find plenty of parking on the street or in close by lots.

Menu.

Specials. Red Rock has lots of fun specials depending on the day. Check them out!

Catering and Events.

Interested in other great spots to eat? Click here.