Famous Dave’s BBQ

As it should be this restaurant is now closed permanently. Signage removed and no more yucky food or service.

Growing up I have always been a gates fan, but this is my second trip to Famous Dave’s and I can honestly say they are better than Gates. The brisket is so tender and flavorful. The ribs have a good amount of meat on them and the chicken is amazing. You should definitely try them out.

We visited this for New Year’s Eve. I had never eaten inside, and the smell alone was a win.
I had a the burnt ends appetizer, which comes with a hefty side of onion skins. For an ap, this was grand. I also ordered their baked beans (I forgot to read my last review, their baked beans can be passed). The burnt ends ap is a large portion for $ 8.99 with onion skins. The burnt ends are soaked in the Sweet and Sassy sauce, which I have in my refrigerator.
My mom was with me, and ordered 4 ribs and a baked potato. They got her with the fully loaded baked potato and didn’t pause to tell her the loaded had an up charge of $ 1.50. I believe they should always add that when they asked if they want it loaded or not.
The service was pleasant and my appetizer was a meal. Yes, I’d return there. It’s not my favorite, but it’s pretty good, and cheap for me. I’ll remember to pass on the baked beans, and order an extra corn muffin. I love barbecue, and I’m glad we have this in our area. Eating in is much better than take out for sure.

Went at lunch time, less than 10 people in restaurant… maybe a bad sign, yep. Ordered a burger, after waiting about 25 minutes I received a charred hockey puck with no lettuce, tomato, onions, etc. The fries were cold and they forgot the pickles. We were told that it was a longer wait due to the burger takes longer… anyone else take this long to grill a burger? Other person’s food was cold too… so there food and my fries sat in a window until they could char a burger. Beware, if you order lemonade and the waitress offers you a flavored one it will be almost a dollar more… did not see that on menu, nor did they mention this initially. I have been to other Famous Dave’s and had better experiences. I would not recommend if in Independence, there are plenty other places in the area to eat.

My brisket was very good, All the staff was very pleasant, the plate presentation seemed average but everything tasted good. I know I ordered off the lunch menu, but still I felt my portion was small. See picture.

Since the new management change, things have gotten much better. The food is delicious of course. The service is great, place is clean, good environment, overall awesome place!

WTF did I just eat? I ordered a brisket sandwich and received what I think to be 6 fatty small bits of corned beef. It seriously tasted like corned beef! This had no smokey bbq flavor at all and I think they forgot to put the other half of the meat on the sandwich. My mother died and we were up the street at the funeral home making arrangements so I had no energy to fight or complain. I said to the waitress what it tasted like and that I was not satisfied but she completely ignored me. I just didn’t have it in me to pursue it at that point. Never coming back.

Honestly what made me try this BBQ place over the other 30 choices in Kansas City was their mascot. It was near the 39^th street waving at cars, which caught my daughters attention. She loved the pig!
The mascot came into the dining room while we were eating and spotted my daughter and the happiness on her face … They came over and hugged her and then posed for a photo. If you’re a parent I don’t need to tell you the importance of these little extras that create fond memories for our kids and ourselves.
The food was good, dining room was clean, and the service was extraordinary.

We went in on a Friday early evening. I would say the timing was right not to busy and the right server as we set down we got our drinks and made our order and less than 10 mins we were served dinner. We got the 39.99 dinner which was well worth the money I like the choices of sauces to choose from. Lets just say we need to hit this place a couple of more time. :-)

I ordered $ 45 worth of to-​go food (meat by the pound and a few large sides). The brisket was the most disgusting «food» I’ve ever gotten anywhere. (See photos). I called restaurant immediately to tell them how it looked. Manager apologized. I asked if they sliced the meat to order (VERY VERY obvious this order wasn’t). He paused. «Uh, yeah, we should.» I didn’t check your order. It was so unbelievably gross. He was nice enough. He said he’d like to send me a gift card. When I received it, it was only enough to cover the pound of dried up brisket I had. Uh, you ruined my families meal. Half of us ate frozen pizza because your brisket wasn’t fit to eat. You couldn’t send enough gift card value to at least cover the cost of my entire meal? It truly was disgusting. We went when they first opened and it was great. We’ve been two times since and it has been horrible. I’ve noticed they aren’t as busy. Possibly serving old food because they’re not busy. I don’t know for sure. Just my opinion. Don’t waste your money here. Head 1 mile away to Smokehouse. Please see the pictures I posted of the brisket. You’ll see that this bad review is 100% founded.

I was going to give 3.5 stars however the service bumped it the extra half star. The meats were tender, juicy and flavorful and the hot BBQ sauce was so so tasty (brought home a bottle). All at a very reasonable price. The service, from the staff and the manager, was above par and for that, I will return.

Famous Daves is nothing more than another chain restaurant that serves barbecue. With that said it is extremely busy because this location is new but I have also visited Famous Daves in Omaha years ago. I have noticed that the portions have gotten smaller and the quality of food is inferior to Kansas City’s home town barbecue. If you think you’re going to find something special and you are from Kansas City you will be disappointed. I guess if you’re from out of town and you know nothing of barbecue this place might be for you but don’t go blaming Kansas City because it’s not our barbecue.

I’m a huge fan of this place, but keep in mind it’s not quite as good as some of the more famous (and classic) KC bbq restaurants.
A good friend of mine used to work here so I would go see him a lot. Their ribs. pulled meats, and burnt ends are good; their sides other than their beans are only okay. I think part of their problem here is that their sauce is just not as good as other area bbq joints; I don’t know if it’s because they are a chain or not, but that’s the reality. I think it’s a good place to grab some grub, but I wouldn’t plan on coming here if I want to show an out-​of-​towner the best that KC bbq has to offer :)

A complete dissapointment. It will take alot for me to ever go there again. I ordered ribs, and burnt ends and the burnt ends were «burnt» ends. they were like charcoal bricks. Hard as a rock. The ribs were disgusting, the had no meat on them, i may as well have just ordered bones.
Everyone else i know thats been there has told me they like it, so i may have just been there on a bad day, but i will probably never go back

I decided to try again after a couple months to break in. I got the Feast for 2 to go, which on Tuesdays is $ 11 off the normally $ 35 price. It’s half a slab of ribs, half a chicken, another meat of your choice, 4 halves of corn on the cob, beans, slaw, french fries, and 2 corn muffins. It really is a lot of food for 2 people.
The ribs were small, dry, and really hard to find edible meat on them. The brisket was much better this time. It was moist and cut much thicker than my first visit. Only bad thing was the amount they gave on that item was by far the smallest. The chicken was very well smoked and moist, which isn’t easy to achieve when smoking.
The sides were all OK. The fries were crispy albeit a little too oily. The beans are just kinda bland, even with the meat they put in them. I liked the slaw the best, crunchy and had a little bit of a bite to it. The corn was corn. The corn muffins are good according to my son, they give so few I opt out on them for others to have.
I think the problem here is consistency. Some people talk about how great the ribs are, I haven’t had a good one yet. The burnt ends were awesome the first time I went, some people on here say they are gross. I know the ones I have been to in other cities have been slightly above average BBQ. Will keep trying… once in a while.

Average bbq and slow service
Came in on a friday night. We had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated. Our booth had a puddle of water right next to it. We had to wait another 15 minutes on a waitress. I ordered the manhandler with mac and cheese. The sandwich ok but the beef was a little dry from overcooking. The mac and cheese was suprisingly good, and they do have an ok beer selection. However their 6 bbq sauces are nothing to write home about that being said their best sauce is the TEXAS PIT. This was my first and last time ever eating here, thank god im in KC, bbq capital of the world.

The only thing worse than «Famous» Dave’s is Bandana’s. Both are an embarrassment to the word HORRIBLE!!!
Avoid like the plague,

I love good BB and was looking forward to eating at the new location in Independence. We arrived at 5pm and the place nearly empty. The server was great. The dinner I ordered was the Ribs & Ends my wife got the Brisket dinner. The amount of food was really generous. The ribs were moist and tender and well smoked. The burnt ends however were rubbery and needed more time in the smoker to breakdown the connective tissue. My wife reported her brisket dinner was very good. I would go back and try another combination but would not try the burnt ends again for a while.

Famous Dave’s BBQ opened a new restaurant a couple of months ago and we spotted it last time we drove by on 39^th and made a mental note to give it a try when we had the chance. Today at lunch was the chance and it looks like Famous Dave’s just may have another winner.
Hubby & I love barbecue and, since we live in Kansas City, the competition is fierce. Kansas City Barbecue is mighty fine and we have a cool half-​dozen local options that we love and try to visit often. However, Famous Dave’s can offer up a good variety of well prepared barbecued meats as well as about eleven different sides that are good compliments to the meats.
For lunch, I ordered the lunch sized portions of the Classic BBQ Combo and decided to go with two favorites: Texas Beef Brisket and (Dave’s version of) Hot Link Sausage. The full link of sausage was done up just right for my taste: a little light char without loosing any of the mild heat or flavor while still remaining tender and juicy. I tried all the five sauces and enjoyed every morsel. Dave’s Beef Brisket is also a marvel and was fork tender. In the lunch portion, it is a bit smaller than I would have wished — just because it didn’t last long enough! But actually it WAS enough when combined with my Wilbur (baked) Beans and a corn muffin. Hubs did nearly the same lunch combo with the same meats, but he had mashed potatoes for his side. And he said everything was a-​okay for him, too.
Service was adequate but, if one thing causes me to withhold a forth star on our visit today it would be that. There were lots of employees; all seemed competent. But the food was a little bit slow in coming out from the kitchen and after we were finished eating I watched our server punch in our bill, put the bill into the folder while visiting with another server then stand for a couple of more minutes with it in his hand, continuing to talk with the same person, before finally bringing it out to our table. It is nice not to feel rushed into leaving before you are really ready but in this case it was a few unnecessary minutes delay.
Famous Dave’s won’t ever get all our barbecue business but it is likely to be our destination on occasion because of the quality of the food and because it is a handy location to our home.

8÷16÷2013 — @ 5pm — With all the places for GOOD BBQ around KC I would skip this place. The burnt ends were horrible. In fact, on a side note, my wife’s workplace had lunch brought in from here yesterday (8÷19÷2013) and it was still horrible. You think they would put out there best stuff for a corporate lunch. There were a couple of good things and that was the St. Louis ribs, fries, and the corn bread that came with the entrée. I would give them 4 stars. Other than that Blah!