Racq Salon & Spa in St. Louis, MO

This is a slap in the face to the old KC Masterpiece. I work downtown, so I go here for lunch every now and again.

The ribs are okay - for a fast food joint. It's really the luck of the draw. I've had ribs ranging from dry and disappointing to pretty good for fast food. Sandwiches are okay, nothing really exciting.

The worst part about this place is the sides. They're not seasoned at all, and are just an all around failure. This makes eating ribs even worse if you don't have anything good to go with it.

Throw on top of that the completely unfriendly and inattentive staff. When I call in an order, I can expect to be on hold for at least 5 minutes. If you go in to order you will realize no one's really in a rush to do anything, and more times than not my order has come out wrong or they just forgot to make it (and apologize with a free Pepsi, woo hoo!).

My advice: go here if you are stuck downtown and desparate for barbecue. Steal a container of sauce on your way out to make your trip worth it.

Ok, I'm in St. Louis on a business trip, what to do for dinner? Hooters?  Nah, not really interested in wings and orange short-shorts.  How about some ribs?  I stumbled on Masterpiece and got pulled in by the smells, who can resist ribs?  Order at the counter and grab a table, within 10 minutes I'm greeted with a large slab of ribs over white bread along with a side of cheese bread and baked beans.  

Overall Masterpiece made some good ribs but not great.  A bit drier than I expected, I'm guessing they were sitting outside for a while.  Sides were ok but nothing to write home about, nothing particularly fresh.  I do enjoy my KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce at home but can't really say that you've got to try the place when visiting St. Louis.  There are probably better and more authentic rib joints in the city.  But I have to admit, the Gateway Arch on the walk back to the hotel was VERY cool....

was disappointed in the ambiance of the place.  thought it would be a little more down home and less like a fast food joint.  That said the food was good not great.

Trust me, this is a gem of St. Louis.  Want good food and good attitudes?  Go to Masterpiece Bar-B-Que, you'll get both!  We walk in and Right Away are greeted with smiles and then are asked if we're dine in or carry out.  They led us to our table, making small talk, give us menus and take our drink order.  While we waited I took note of the roll of paper towels on each table and laughed.  This place knows their stuff.  I've traveled to 47 of our great states and always make a point to sample the food.  I'm not someone who doesn't know good food from bad food.  This is good food!  I got the pulled chicken meat platter with a corn bread muffin, cinnamon soft butter, crinkle fries and green beans.  I got a heaping of perfectly smoked and pulled chicken served on a piece of white bread with sauce interlaced throughout.  The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the green beans, but everything else was amazing and CHEAP!   The staff was so warm and friendly and the food so good that I know I'll be going back again and again!  

The story about the place is interesting and is featured on the menu.  Apparently the guy who owns the restaurant worked with the man who created KC Masterpiece Barbeque Sauce, and started his own restaurant on his own.

I am from Georgia: my barbeque standards are high. I have heard that Missouri is the home of some fine barbeque, but you wouldn't guess it from Masterpiece.

If you didn't guess it from the name, this restaurant is descended from the folks who made KC Masterpiece barbeque sauce. The original restaurant is outside St. Louis, I believe. Even though there are only three or four locations, this place feels like a chain. I'm really thrown off by the bottles of KC Masterpiece sauce on the tables. Forgive me for being a snob, but any barbeque place worth its salt has to make the sauce in-house. You can't use sauce from a factory-- not even if you built the factory! It's just... not right. Plus they don't brew their own tea. Bah humbug.

Two stars because the baked beans were pretty good.