Circle J Bar-B-Que in Ruidoso

BBQ was tasty. Fair prices. Great service.

Friendly staff. Good atmosphere. The only problem was in their choice of wood. Bad smoke taste and at too high of a temp.

Food was just okay but the service here is terrible. The waitress ignored us the entire time we were there. I would recommend going somewhere else.

Very good brisket and ribs

the brisket was good because I had no flavor and the beans are kind of a ranch house bean that tastes like something out of a can. I was very disappointed in the sides. The amount of food for the price of it was very small.

Way over priced, for average food. Potato salad was tastless, as was the coleslaw. New owners need to get the recipes from the old owners. Prices are ridiculous. BBQ was very dry. The only way to save it was to slather it with sauce. If you think this is great BBQ, you don't get out much. On a scale of 1 -10 it's barely a 6. I talked with other locals, and we all feel the same. Dry brisket, bland sides, poor atmosphere. There is a lot Bette BBQ in town, at a lot better prices.

Overpriced for the exteremly tiny portions. Service was lacking as well.

Some of the best BBQ we have had in a while! Would definitely recommend ordering the brisket! It LITERALLY melts in your mouth!! Definitely will be stopping by again next time we visit Ruidoso, NM.

Good food but too pricey for the amount of food you receive 💸

Good meat, sides could be better. However in their defense I rarely feel the sides are top notch at any BBQ place. The menu is set up deferent, however it's nice because it allows you to get exactly what you want. The price isn't ridiculous, and the service isn't bad.

My bread for my brisket sandwich was so hard, I couldn't bite into it. The mustard they gave me was like clay, all 5 packages they gave me. My husband's ribs were caked with pepper. We went there years back when the previuos owner was still alive and it was great. That is why we went there, but it was a huge disappointment. We will not be going back there whenever we go back to Ruidoso.

First BBQ place I have been without sweet tea. Smh

Closed Monday and Tuesday, employee sent us to sacred grounds where they supposedly served bbq. We got to sacred grounds and they were transitioning. Very unorganized!

This was our first time visiting Ruidoso and were looking for some good BBQ...we found it at the Circle J.Tried the brisket sandwich and sides.The brisket was tender and moist with a nice layer of smokey "bark" and came with a sweet and slightly spicy sauce.As for the sides we especially liked the potato salad (with a touch of green chile).

Very good food. Fay and friendly service. In and out in about 30 minutes.

Great barbeque! Actual yeast rolls! Pleasant help and atmosphere.

Without a doubt the most satisfying experience you could have. The pulled pork and sausage is just bursting with flavor. The spicy beans are absolutely out of this world. No barbeque in San Antonio even compares. You gotta try it!!

The food was great! People were super friendly 😁

OMG. I read all these bad reviews and thought, no way!! Well, yep! It is BAD!!! We Got here when It opened at 1130 am. and the food was cold, flavorless, not good at all. Cold barbecue sauce on top or cold meat makes it even colder. the beans weren’t even warm. Macaroni and cheese had no flavor. Only thing hot, was the peach cobbler. the rolls are full of sadness! This place does not deserve to keep the name Circle J! Nothing like the old restaurant. If your come thinking it’s like the old Circle J’s, you’re going to be disappointed! Very over priced!! Go up the road to Ranchers Grill.

Best brisket I have had, all food great. Friendly service.

Glad they are back open. BBQ is very good.

Enjoyed a delicious barbecue sandwich with chips and a peach cobbler for dessert.

It was pretty much the worst $41 I have ever spent! Food was charbroiled to a point you couldn't eat it. Every thing was spicy, even though we did ask we were told it wasn't at all. The chicken was so dry, the ribs were burned and unless you like rib jerky go else where. Our waitress was clueless even after we told her it was aweful she asked if we wanted a dessert. Don't eat HERE!

garbage amount of food, pretty much got left over macaroni. the ribs were disgusting and the food took at least 30 minutes to finish. the service was horrible too.

Food was ok, staff was friendly but it is overpriced.

This was the worst restaurant I’ve have ever been to. They had TERRIBLE SERVICE and none of the servers knew what was going on. The restrooms had no soap and our server was seen walking out of there!!! We waited for our food for nearly an hour, our orders were wrong, and to top it all off the food was COLD. I’m just waiting to get some sort of food poisoning from this because if my server didn’t wash their hands, I’m gonna bet the cooks didn’t either.

Ribs and chicken delicious. Potato salad was terrible. Out of coleslaw. No bread offered to go with meats.

This place is a great place to eat. Service is awesome. The food is good.

Stay. Away. Period! It’s hard to mess up Mac n Cheese and even harder to mess up pinto beans, RIGHT?! Cole Slaw & Tater salad are down right shameful. The owners are from Texas?! SHAMEFUL. They forgot to make our sandwiches even. This place should have stayed closed. If your going to stay open give me a ring and I’ll show you how to make sides. #sobad #shouldvestayedclosed#worstsidesever

This place is disgusting. Overpriced. The service pays homage to the name, circle J, as in "sometimes in between circle jerks we take two seconds to serve and clean". There was no soap in either the men's or women's restroom that guests and employees utilize (do the math... gross).

Great smoked meats. Exceptional... Very reasonably priced.

Good foods. Nice people. Random fly on an onion but no biggie saw it moved it. No extra protein for me.

So very disappointed! We have eaten there on and off for years and was so looking forward to eating there again and having their delicious rolls, as we live in Roswell. The food was not good at all. We got the food to go and only ended up with 1-1/2 ribs per plate. I heard they have new owners. We will not go back.

Way over priced. Not very good.

The mac and cheese is gross. The ribs tase weird even with the barbecue sauce it’s still really bad. They used to be good but they ruined it.

Tasty bbq. Average service. Had to get own butter and tea refill.

Disappointing at best. To say the food was terrible would be wrong as that implies you cant eat it. I however, threw my plate unfinished in to the trash. This is basic garbage food at best. To the clientele that regularly patronize the place; this is why you are fat and unhealthy.

You need to understand what this place is all about. It’s the MEAT and the SAUCE. As for portions of the basics such as the pulled pork and ribs and BBQ - you will get your money’s worth and then some. Everything else here is NO FRILLS. Very basic. This is a GREAT place to order out from. But “ambiance” it does not have. The place is super clean. But also SPARTAN. Also fair warning for cell phone users - your connection will be cut off inside - the roof is metal and the whole place acts like a faraday cage. Had to wait until I left to post my review. So - bottom line: Great BBQ. Good sized portions. Meat is cooked well. But NO FRILLS and better to order ahead from and get food to go than to sit and eat. Overall recommended with those caveats.

I'll be nice and just say this place has a long way to go to be considered a decent bbq joint.

This place is clean and staff is friendly, but food is horrible. I had never spent $100 in food and regretted it, they serve you a like a 6oz cup of tea and have to be asking for fills constantly, all sides have no flavor at all meat has soo much fat and pork is nasty, over cooked.

The lady that took our order was very polite and nice. The food was prepared quickly and was very good. The sauce for the turkey sandwich was a perfect match. Best BBQ in Ruidoso, and I have gone many places. I definitely will be returning again.

Great barbecue! We've tried 2 other places in Ruidoso and this is, by far, the best. The brisket was so tender, and the sauce is great. Hubby got the sausage and pork ribs which he said were delicious. The potato salad & coleslaw were good, too.

Customer service was excellent, Barbara was amazing she brought The menu To the car and she answered all our questions...Food was really delicious 😋...Barbara offered the best customer service in town.

What a clean restaurant! The staff is very friendly, ready to serve and Happy. The food is some of the best we've had since leaving K.C. Mo. Make it a point to dine here.

Some of the best link sausage I've ever had. Moist brisket was beyond respectable, and I'm from Texas. Rolls delicious.

We have been coming here for 20+ years and we are so happy it's open again. We weren't impressed by the food for a few years but we LOVE it now. We came with a large group and ordered brisket, sausage, turkey, all the sides and fruit cobbler. It was all really good.

Extremely slow service. Ordered our meal and got the first half, finished it then had to wait 20+ minutes for the second half to even come out. Great food, terrible service.

Huge beef ribs! Beans and potato salad were good and had a great meal, will definitely be back

Lovely food and lovely people. Welcome back!

I really wanted to like this bbq place but the chicken was raw and the Mac and cheese was extremely dry. It also took over 30 min to get our drinks (water). I felt bad because everyone that worked there was over 65.