King Ribs

The ribs are really good. The sauce is different… in a good way. It has a nice kick to it. I went about an hour b4 closing and i got the last ½ rack of ribs. Next time I’ll go earlier so I can try other items

Sweet, tender ribs right on the waterfront in DC! King Bufus knows how to do it right.

Ribs are quite decent. Not the best I’ve ever had, but nowhere near the worst either. I’d definitely come back here next time I’m craving ribs. The ribs are quite tender, although not exactly fall-​off-​the-​bone. They also came slathered in bbq sauce (which I don’t really like), luckily the bbq sauce was quite good– it was sweet and smoky with chunks of sauteed onions. I think I will just order them with sauce on the side though because the sauce takes away from the true flavor of the ribs in my opinion. At $ 12 for a half rack, the price wasn’t too bad. Keep in mind that this little shack is cash only and they also have several other things on the menu such as chicken and sausages.

I am giving it 4.5 stars. I love the ribs here. They are juicy and finger licking good. The price is reasonable. People are nice.
I got ribs with sauce and dry ribs with sauce on the side. They are both good. I hear the sweet potatoes are good, but they were out of them when I was there.
The ambience is not fancy, but this is an authentic rib shack which will satisfy your BBQ cravings.

Delicious food, I’ve had the ribs, chicken breast, and sweet potato. The sweet potato is so good it doesn’t even need butter. The portions are always large and I’m a big fan of the tangy, spicy sauce.

came for the chihuahua run and some food
food: we got a half rack of pork ribs to split. overall, i would say they were good not great, they also came with 2 pieces of bread (which im going to feed to some birds). this reminded me of horace and dickies. not sure why folks like pieces o’ bread
i didnt try any of the sides
service is ok. nothing seemed off to me
cash only

Good ribs. Limited hours and cash only. Been a neighborhood staple for years and happy to see the new booth in place during Wharf construction.

got a half Rack of rib. it was way too smoked n burnt, all black outside. half of the meats were burnt. not worth 11.5.

Seriously, if it’s busy on the waterfront, avoid this at all costs. Between the barely-​functioning counter staff and the interminable wait to order and then again to stand in line for your food, you literally could walk to Virginia and get BBQ more quickly.

The ribs are simply scrumptious. You can buy half or whole racks of ribs, if you choose. Don’t expect a wide variety of side orders to choose from though. Oh yeah, they do not accept credit cards either. However, if you want some down home ribs off the grill, this is the place to get them. YUMMY & finger lickin good. Get there early too, because they do run out.

I really wanted to give this place 4 or 5 stars, because sometimes the ribs are fantastic, but sometimes they are just acceptable and sometimes they are really nasty. Basically, every now and then you get little more than a package of «ribs» that is a lot of nasty fat on a bone. I say give it a try but be prepared to accept the fact what you may pay $ 11 for just is a bunch of fat.
NOTE: NEVER EVER get the pork steak, or you will likely get a steak that was cooked the day before but did not sell. It was so bad I am tempted to lower the place to 2 stars. Strike that, I am giving this place 2 stars now.

We got the half-​rack for $ 11, served with 2 slices of the same white-​bread you get as a whole loaf from Safeway for $ 1.50.
The ribs were very meaty, and the portion was good, although the meat could have been a bit softer. There was also very little noticeable smoke flavor, but perhaps that was because the sea of sauce put on the meat (see pic). The sauce was incredibly hot, and sweet, and very watery. I prefer mine a bit more vinegary and spicy, but sweet and tangy seems to be the trend in the DMV.
All in all, a good price for a half rack at $ 10+tx ($ 11). Nothing I’d seek out, but walking around the Wharf it makes a cool pit stop.

Right at the Wharf. Worth the trip.

Very good barbecue. It’s ribs only, so the pulled pork or sandwich crowd will need to shop elsewhere. They have other offerings but I’m not sure what the point would be?
The ribs themselves are great. The first time I stopped at King Rib, brought my order back home on my bike. I did not want sauce getting all over in my panniers so I kept them dry. They were darn near perfect plain, and that’s how I ate them. The next time I ate there (and when I say there I mean the area overlooking the channel) i had sauce. The sauce is spicy, standard red, and plenty of it– it might be a better choice to have it on the side. Again, the ribs were great and very reasonable at $ 11 for a half rack of 6 big, pre-​cut ribs. They were thick, meaty and not at all fatty. Many BBQ places don’t trim up their meat and the result is a very charred and fatty meal. It can ruin an otherwise good process.
Don’t mistake this for a food truck or restaurant – it’s a stand with a smoker off to the side, located steps from the docks. It is only open Thursday to Saturday with (I think) some Sundays. I believe it is a cash only shack. I’m not sure where these two are cooking M to W, but I bet it’s good.

If you’re going to visit Washington and u rent a car, u must visit this place!!! chep and great to-​go.

Do not be discouraged because its a shack off Maine Ave. Great ribs and the kielbasa is awesome. Very friendly people running this place.

The ribs served here are like dinosaur ribs compared to what other places serve. I was actually shocked at how much meat was on them. It is kind of hard to eat them without looking like a disgusting carnivore in attack mode. I would not recommend ordering them if you are out on a hot date.
I live across the street from King Ribs, so I always know when they are open for business just by stepping out on my balcony and smelling the smoker. They are open Thursday through Sunday evenings till approximately 7:30, but they run out of food very quickly. I was hoping that this would be improved over time, but it has not. I tend to ask «What do you have left?» when I order as opposed to saying what I want to have. Then the person usually says she does not know and takes a while trying to figure out what is left. There are free concerts happening each Thursday and Friday in the summer next to King Ribs till 8 pm and I would think they would bring more food in order to make more money, but the last time I came on a Thursday at 6:30, they didn’t have much left for sale.
The half rack of ribs at $ 11 comes slathered in sauce and with two pieces of sliced bread. The ribs are super saucy and not that smoky. The BBQ sauce they use is similar to other DC BBQ sauces in that is it very sweet and slightly runny. King Ribs add chopped onion to the sauce, which helps the texture and flavor. The chicken ($ 8) and kielbasa ($ 6) are also large pieces of meat for the price. They have steak, turkey legs, and hot dogs on the menu, but were not in stock whenever I have been there. For sides, they have cole slaw for $ 1 and baked potatoes for $ 1.50. Each time I have visited I purchased the last order of cole slaw or the last potato available.
King Ribs is a great addition to the Waterfront and I am definitely planning to be a repeat customer. I just suggest to others to come early, bring cash, and be patient if they run out of some food options.

King Rib has been open for awhile now and I have no idea why it took us so long to try it. Located in SW DC, King Rib is right down the street from the seafood market and a little hard to find if you’re not looking for it. We ordered 1 rack of ribs for $ 22…very affordable for this area. Each individual rib is very meaty and just about falls off the bone. For me, the sauce is the highlight of the experience with bits of onion and a sweet mildly tangy flavor. They are open Thursday through Sunday which is a good thing… it gives me time to recover from the overabundance of deliciousness before my next helping.

This place is really terrific. I noticed it first working at the Kastles this summer and decided to check it out a few weeks ago. These are the best ribs I have had in a while, and I think a lot of that is attributed to the home made BBQ sauce. The 3 people that work there are extremely cordial, and don’t be fooled by the «½ Rack,» you get a ton of ribs for the price.
Note: it says on here that they take Credit Cards, they DO NOT

King Ribs offers ribs and smoked meat at a very reasonable price. The ribs I tried were meaty, but not exactly masterly smoked. Although the meat was pretty good, it was a bit tough and quite thoroughly stuck to the bone. Much of the fat needed to cook a bit more, as it wasn’t very close to the wonderful «almost falling apart» stage that really defines a perfect rib. Overall, the ribs landed right in the middle of the spectrum… and for $ 11 for a ½ slab, I think that’s a fine place for them to be.
I also tried their Kielbasa, which for the area was pretty good and at only $ 5 for what might have been fourteen inches of sausage, a great bargain.
The BBQ sauce is decidedly DC-​style. If you’ve never heard of DC style BBQ sauce before, that’s probably because the bigger, better BBQ sauces from Memphis, the Carolinas, and even NYC collectively beat it up & booted it out of the public lexicon of sauces. DC style BBQ sauce is sweet, runny, and pretty minimally spiced. It often resembles sweet and sour sauce from a Chinese restaurant, but if you’ve ever done a query of places that sell ribs in DC, that should make perfect sense. That being said, King Ribs has possibly one of the best DC style BBQ sauces I’ve ever had. It’s still sweet and corn-​syrupy but has a bit more BBQ sauce flavor than some other, much more established places (I’m looking at you, Kenny’s). At least the sauce at King’s is passable. It’s got some onion a zest to it that lifts it over some of the other metro area BBQ I’ve tried.
Anyway, King Ribs isn’t BBQ worth traveling for but it’s a perfectly acceptable place to grab a bite to eat if you’re in the neighborhood. They’ve got ribs that are enjoyable, a decent kielbasa, and chicken that I haven’t tried yet. The staff I met was very friendly and they were even hooking people up with free samples while I was there. If I’m in the area again, I’ll definitely grab another Kielbasa and maybe try their chicken, too. I’d love to see them carry a few more side dishes, but as-​is, I’m glad they’re in the neighborhood. DC needs more places that are serving up decent food at decent prices.