Rudolphs Bar-B-Que

Beware: Poor food, service & waitress stole.
It started out with poor service (very few customers). The food was well below average. The kicker was the waitress added an additional $ 10 onto the tip. I will not revisit or recommend.

Went to Rudolphs Christmas Eve to get take out. SUPER DISAPPOINTED in the food. Portions were small, store bought ribs are better than what they served, and the sides were terrible. The brisket was also the worst and tuffet I have had in a long time. Save your money and go to another place for BBQ.. .…this place’s time has past.

Cockroaches! Came here for midday lunch, sat at the bar ordered the ribs they came fast, too fast for my liking. Food was cold? & ribs were dry. Anyway, as I’m eating I see a baby cockroach on the bar counter where I’m eating. I immediately ask for my check & leave. This place has totally gone downhill over the last 3 years. Nasty!!! service was okay. They need to sell this place to someone who can get it back on its feet. Sad this place use to be a MPLS staple

Quite possibly the worst rib tips I’ve had. Tough, tasted boiled, no flavor. They used to be delicious… Not sure what happened to the food.

I see several 1-​star reviews of Rudolphs. Looking at them it appears that some bad service led to a bad night. But also appear to be one-​time events.
I have been to Rudolphs 20 or more times in the last 4 years. I debated 3 or 4 stars. I’m giving it because I think that for what it is, it is mostly average, but still good. The BBQ is good but not great. I personally like Famous Dave’s better though I don’t think that is great BBQ either.
My wife gets a chopped salad with avocado here that she really likes. I usually get a sandwich and sweet potato fries, which I think they do very well, maybe just a bit too salty. I think this place is pretty good bar food at a decent price and is a decent bar. There is usually a diverse clientele which is kind of fun.
3 – 4 stars. Not fine dining, but good to pretty good. I have never had the bad service that others experienced and I have been here a lot. Not saying they didn’t have those experiences, just that I don’t think it is to be expected if you come here.

I hate this place! I made a big mistake of coming there for dinner. This place needs a huge makeover with looks, food, and attitude. They will never see me in there again!
The food was terrible, and the waitress was downright rude! The food got messed up three times. After the third, I just had to eat the plate that I got. I wasn’t about to go through that torturous round again. It tastes really bad.

It is ok they have good gumbo. Service is ok. :) B+ rating nice atmosphere. And ur. Here the fish is good too.

Had a great experience with 14 of our family members getting together, ages 3 – 70! Food was great. We couldn’t decide which BBQ meat was the best but the rib tips were hard to beat. Love the cole slaw, a classic that they have served since they opened. And the size is generous. Only downer was they had run out of 3 kinds of beer. But still a good selection.

I love the ribs my mom didn’t like the BBQ sauce order french fries the onion rings are super big and good. overall for the 40 year anniversary of the food was good do not give me how many stars

This review is for their 40 year anniversary celebration where the prices are based on the prices back in the 1970’s. The wait wasn’t that bad – mostly for the promotion, about a 30 – 40 min wait. They had a lot of tables but didn’t rush to seat ppl. My boyfriend got their full rack ribs for $ 6.75 and I got the sirloin for about $ 7 and onion rings for $ 2.50. We also got 2 soda drinks so that total came to about $ 25 bucks. Not bad for lunch for 2 ppl.
The food: sorry to say but a horrible experience. My sirloin steak was totally butchered — -dry, overcooked and hard on the edges (look at the pic). It was okay for $ 7 bucks but if I were to pay full price for it ($ 25) I would have complained to the chef. I give the steak a negative star if I could. The ribs were also dry (2 stars). The ribs, compared to the steak, were edible though. But there are better ribs places in mpls for half the price if you’re gonna pay for price for this place (ie: smoke in the shack on Chicago ave). The onion rings were different. I didn’t like them because the batter was thick, way too much batter, and non crispy. Maybe it’s how others like their onion rings — but it was a 2 star for me.

40^th anniversary special = prices back to 40 years ago. The menu could NOT be beat. Lines were crazy long and they stopped taking walk ins by 8:45pm. The place was bursting at the seams with people and yet service remained courteous and prompt. Kudos to Rudolph’s.

I live close by and ended up here because another place we wanted to go was closed. The pulled pork sandwich was yummy but there was a lot of fat on it. I didn’t understand or like the beans here at all. The slaw was good. I feel this is over priced for the food and quality of the food you get. If you’ve had BBQ in Memphis, in Kanas City, all over TX & GA, and even in Chicago then come here… In my opinion it’s not up to par. I don’t get fancy BBQ joints either… If it’s Fancy it’s not real BBQ. Corky’s in Memphis man… Is legendary. Food that good will stay with you as a memory for the rest of your life. Sorry but I would save my money & just go eat at Famous Dave’s.

I went with a friend around 2 pm on a Thursday. The restaurant was mostly empty, except for a few groups sitting the the tables surrounding the bar. When the host came out from the kitchen we requested a booth. We were told that no booths were available. We could clearly see several booths within ‘spitting distance’ that were totally empty, including one large on in the bar area. She didn’t offer «you can wait for a booth», she didn’t say «that large booth is reserved» and she didn’t explain «those booths that are out of our servers section» (because walking an extra five feet is way too much inconvenience). She just stuck her heels in and said «you can’t have a booth». We asked if she was sure, because that is some seriously poor customer service, and she literally rolled her eyes and said «yes!».
My friend asked if we could be relocated to a booth if one of the groups left, and she didn’t even respond.
Our waitress wasn’t much more pleasant. She seemed totally annoyed by any questions. When my friend inquired if the dishes had onions because he has an actual ALLERGY to them, she just looked super annoyed and shot off «No.» I am not sure how well this waitress knew the ingredients of all of the food (maybe she is a chef, too?) but I found the apathy in her answer off putting. At least pretend you thought about it.
It’s okay to not be all-​smiles-​all-​the-​time but you could make some effort to not treat customers like they are an «insect that needs to be squashed».
So since we made the poor choice to stay and try their food I can review that, too:
The Skillet Cornbread was dry and bland. I can tell they had made it several hours before and just warmed it up before serving it. It tasted like sawdust. I would not recommend it. I would’ve asked for honey to serve it with, but the waitress seemed to intentionally depart from the table in a fashion that barred us asking for anything.
The Veggie burger was boring and soggy. I think they put enough onion on it to kill my friend, so I am not sure what that was about. I would not recommend it.
My friend LOVES pulled pork and he didn’t enjoy the pulled pork sandwich at Rudolph’s at all.
I felt embarrassed for taking my friend here. He came from out of state and I wanted to show him that Minnesota has some good BBQ (not that I would know, because I am a vegetarian). After this experience I think we can both say that people visiting Minnesota should probably just stick to trying our craft beer and Juicy Lucy’s. And stay away from Rudolph’s.

Been going here for years. Ribs are amazing. Coleslaw is the best. Not opinion but a fact by scientists. Baked beans are anything but normal. Chickens ok

You know what, for 11pm at night, their barbecue and beans tasted great!
Our bartender was incredibly friendly and that always makes it or breaks for me.
Seemed to be all locals hanging around, very stress free, good music and good vibes.
Decent selection of beers as well. I miss my Kansas City barbecue but this was just shy of 5 stars for me.

A mid-​high-​end barbeque joint, Rudolph’s has an wide selection of ribs and other popular American faire. Rudolph’s isn’t cheap, but damn, if their food isn’t tasty.
I’ve been twice now, the first time ordering baby back ribs, which where phenomenal, and the second smoked beef ribs, which were simply rather good. Your rack of choice will come with a number of side dishes that compliment the meal nicely. I almost always hate coleslaw, but the coleslaw at Rudolph’s is the best I’ve had anywhere.
As far as drinks go, I tried the Franklin Fizz, as well as another involving apple cider and vermouth. The Franklin Fizz was really excellent; the other was alright.

I moved to the cities from Memphis, so my barbecue expectations are high. I read mixed reviews online and decided a Saturday lunch would be good for my family. The kids enjoyed the food and there is a limited kids menu. My teens ate off of the adult menu. I had cole slaw and rib tips with sauce on the side. I like to taste the meat before I add sauce. The tips were actually very tasty and good. The sauces provided were very tasty as well with both a tomato and Carolina based version as well as hot. The server was great and very nice. I would rate higher but: 1. For the food, the prices are high. It’s good but not over $ 20 per person for lunch. 2. The food was good but not compared to Memphis for pork or TX for brisket. Again great service and good food but not a great value, so as others noted Happy Hour may be a better choice for half price apps.

I gave this place a try a couple weeks ago. I was referred to here by a friend of mine. I have a feeling that the friend of mine was playing a practical joke on me. This is the worst restaurant experience I’ve had in a long time!
Once I ordered, I had to wait forever on the food (I ordered the ribs). As I was waiting, the waitress never bothered to apologize, and she was rude. Once I finally got the food, the ribs were undercooked, and they didn’t taste great. I asked them to recook it. Again, the waitress gave me a bad attitude. Then I had to wait quite a while again. When I finally got the «corrected» one, the waitress gave a dirty look. The food still didn’t taste that great. My patience had run out by this time so I went ahead and ate it anyway.
When I was done, I asked to talk to the manager. She was hesitant to get him, but eventually she did. The manager was rude too and blamed the whole thing on me. He didn’t offer me as much as a discount on the awful food and service. He still made me pay full price.
I will never be back here!

If you ask me, I’d say Rudolph’s is pretty basic for BBQ. I’ve only been here a few times but after each visit, the only memorable part is the cornbread. Last time I was there, I had the rib tips, which were just way too smoky. I understand it’s what make good BBQ good but this was just over the top. I do have to admit the different BBQ sauces were quite good — they are on the sweet side, which I prefer over the tangy. I was there during happy hour so the prices were between $ 5-​$ 12 for a lot of different items. The service was fast, portions were large, but at the end of the day, it just fell short of average.
As far as the atmosphere, it’s pretty fun and good for groups. It’s also really nice that there is a private parking lot across the street so you don’t have to deal with the stress of trying to find street parking near a pretty crazy intersection. Overall, if you happen to be near the uptownish area with a fairly large group of people, Rudolph’s is a decent choice. I do remember one time when I was there for a BDAY dinner, they charged a crazy ‘cake’ fee or something like that for bringing in our own bday cake… sooo that was pretty weird and unnecessary.

We’ve been wanting to try this place for a while now, ever since we moved to Minneapolis. It’s so close to us, and yet so far — too far to walk and too close to drive! Well on this day, in search of a place that showed a variety of football games on TV rather than just the Vikings, we gave up our search, and decided to just grab some BBQ @ Rudolph’s since we were near by.
Unfortunately they only serve their lunch specials M-​F because they all looked SO good. It looked more like authentic BBQ lunches — combination of different types of BBQ, to give you the real experience of what they have to offer. The prices for those combos looked pretty good too, but again, only offered on the weekdays. On the weekends you had to choose between other sandwiches or actual combination meals, which were pretty pricey for a place we just stumbled into. So we decided to get a brisket sandwich and a pulled pork sandwich. Both came with fries or baked BBQ beans (we went for the fries), and both were on a ciabatta bun. The fries were really good — they were fried perfectly, seasoned well, delicious. But the main star of the dish, the brisket left me wanting something better. The meat was okay, not the most tender or the most flavorful, so I drenched it in the BBQ sauces they had on the tables (normal BBQ, spicy BBQ, and mustard BBQ). The normal BBQ was pretty good and the rest were okay. The brisket itself needed something more because it was pretty dry and although the bun was obviously buttered and toasted, it didn’t really hep with the moistness of the entire sandwich. So in the end I felt like I was eating more BBQ sauce and dousing it with that rather than enjoying the flavors of the meat. The pulled pork sandwich was good, but it’s hard to get pulled pork wrong. For $ 13, I was expecting something a bit better. I’d probably come back again, but on a weekday, and to give their other BBQ options a shot. But I likely won’t be coming back again if I’m on the hunt for some good ol’ comforting BBQ.

Great Minneapolis staple. BBQ is great and their coleslaw is the BEST
The wait staff and service are all very good too.