BBQ Lover's, Rejoice! a Decent Place to Get Your Fill

I don't believe in reviewing a restaurant unless I've been there several times. After all, you can get lucky and catch a good meal at a usually bad restaurant or manage to have a bad meal at a usually excellent restaurant. Now I love my BBQ-ribs, chicken, pulled beef, and pulled pork. Famous Dave's restaurant, in my opinion, has got it hands down on just about any of the other BBQ chain restaurants I've been to.

According to the press release announcing the earnings for 2006, Famous Dave's has 41 company owned locations and has 104 franchised restaurants in 35 states. The press release also mentioned that the company has signed development agreements for an additional 166 franchised locations. Holy Moly! That's a lot of ribs! They must be doing something right!!

As you would expect there's the appetizers. Standard appetizers are the Onion String Basket, Chicken Tenders, and Chicken Wings. There are also types of appetizers you don't normally find at other restaurants like Sweetwater Catfish Fingers and Smoked Salmon Spread with Fire-Grilled Flatbread. We don't usually order appetizers so I can't comment on any of them except the huge portion of Onion Strings which weren't too greasy or too salty.

There are Soup and Salad choices as well. Examples are Chili, Fresh Garden or Caesar Salad, and Smoked Salmon Caesar Salad. My wife's favorite salad is Dave's Sassy BBQ Salad that is a basic tossed salad with your choice of chopped pork, beef brisket or chicken.

Fish lovers can order Sweet and Sassy Grilled Salmon or the Sweetwater Catfish. The platters are served with Corn-on-the-cob, a corn bread muffin and two sides.

My favorite thing to order at Famous Dave's is the baby back ribs. These ribs are incredibly tender but taste like the sauce has been baked/smoked right into them. And they are especially meaty. I usually order the full slab. There are probably around 10-12 ribs. I usually order the platter. For an extra buck you get corn-on-the-cob, a corn bread muffin, and two sides. Their 'Drunkin Apples' are fantastic. I'm not sure what's in them but they are best durn cinnamon apples I've ever tasted. The corn is very tasty but still tastes a bit water logged.

Some people prefer St. Louis style ribs rather than baby backs. St. Louis style are generally much bigger but also usually have a lot more fat in them. I've never tried them.

If you don't want ribs but still want some BBQ, there are beef brisket platters and sandwiches, BBQ chicken platters, and the essential chopped pork sandwiches. Prices will range from about ten bucks to fourteen bucks depending on what you get. The chopped pork sandwiches and platters are delicious. The pork has a good barbeque taste, is tender, and not dried out. There's several different types of sauces on the table to choose from. My favorite is the Georgia Mustard. I have had the beef brisket. The menu says that the brisket is flavorful and tender. I disagree. At least the couple of times I have had it. I have had MUCH better brisket at other BBQ restaurants. This was dry and I did not care for the flavor. The only thing that makes the brisket better is to add some of the other sauces to it.

Oh yeah. There are several types of burgers and chicken sandwiches as well, including grilled chicken, hickory chicken and Cajun chicken. The menu indicates that the burgers are 1/2 pound, but I have not tried them or even seen them served.

My kids love Famous Dave's. There's 1/4 roasted BBQ chicken, rib dinner, chicken tenders, chopped pork, hamburgers, and Mac and Cheese. My kids usually just have the Chicken Tenders. I can't tell you much about them other than the kids always order them and are very happy. The kids' meals come with fries, two Oreo cookies and a drink.

There's a selection of desserts. I have had the Hot Fudge Sundae and the Bread Pudding and the portions are HUGE!

VEGETARIANS, BEWARE!!! This is definitely not a vegetarian friendly restaurant!!!!

Oh, I almost forgot. One real negative about this place. My wife does not eat pork so she always looks for a BBQ place to have beef ribs. Famous Dave's does NOT have beef ribs. I wrote to them to inquire and they have no future plans to include them in the menu!

What about service? Service is usually with a smile. I have visited several locations and can say that only one time in perhaps a dozen have I had poor service. After visiting this location about 7 or 8 times there was only ONE time that I had awful service. And it wasn't even crowded. Good service can really make the difference. One time the cook skimped on the fries so we mentioned it to the waitress. She apologized with a smile and came back with a nice size basket of fries to make up for it. And then she apologized again.

I have tasted really good ribs at single mom-pop restaurants that are excellent, but it's difficult to find a chain that do it right like Famous Dave's.