Brian’s Bar-B-Q

Best people in town and fantastic food. Serious BBQ in this local gem. The steaks and other specials are also great. Brian has added live music on weekends. For real deal southern BBQ this is the place. If you like heat, ask for the RED bottle of sauce. The salad bar is more extensive than any other local spot.

What a hit and miss joint —
HITS — corn fritter, AUCE chicken, friendly hostess, sweet tea, price.
MISSES — beef brisket, bacon grits, slow waitress,

Not a fan of Brian’s BBQ. The two times we ate there, the meat was cooked too quickly and it just didn’t live up to our expectations. However, the kids did like the turkey, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.
The salad bar leaves a lot to be desired.

After trying two different BBQ places, I feel like I can leave a decent review.
I was not impressed by this establishment. I will not be back.
We were seated right away. That’s a good thing. The place wasn’t too busy. The waitresses were very polite and nice. That’s also a good thing.
Let’s get to the ordering and food. These were not good things. The first issue was our waitress had a large amount of tables to tend. Not her fault, she did her best. It took a looooong time. Food took a loooooong time. We were starving.
My hubby ordered the baby backs. These also were not a good thing. I noticed he wasn’t eating them and had a steak knife on his plate. So, as I lift my face from my feed bag, I ask… what’s wrong with the ribs. They were dried out he said. Poor guy, he was hungry so he ate all his sides up. Double beans, lucky me.
The waitress noticed he didn’t eat. She was upset by the ribs being dry. She got the manager. These ladies were amazing. They fixed the bill so we didn’t pay for our rib jerky. They apologized and we left.
Weird smells exiting the restaurant. I wanted to run out. And the creepy dirty pretend old couple sitting in the restaurant are gross.

Have been going to Brians regularly for 8 years — this time with a group of 6. As before, I ordered the lunch brisket (smaller size) with the salad bar. Should have been $ 9.99. Got the bill, was charged $ 11.99 PLUS $ 2.50 bc it was a «premium» meat. The meat was dry & definitely not «slow smoked for 18 hours.» I returned it to the kitchen. Still was charged. Spoke with the manager — she was indifferent & pretty much blamed me for not «understanding» their menu. Will be sharing my experience with our Snowbird friends. VERY DISAPPOINTED. Wish we whould have read other recent reviews on Unilocal before going tonight ;-(

I am not sure why everyone gives this site such great reviews. The BBQ was ok, but my sides were not. Corn (husked) tasted burnt like it was in a slow cooker for hours on end. The mashed potatoes had so much garlic or something it ruined them. Go to Sonny’s or down the street is a small dive, porky’s.

I went here awhile back and expected the usual Sonny’s experience. However, I was even less impressed. The baby back ribs I ordered were dry and it seemed as though they left them on a bit to long. My Mac and cheese was cool as well. Overall, I guess you get what you pay for.

Nothing was overly good or bad! It was just mediocre.

Well, it’s obvious that this place has potential, but man did they have a rough night when we visited! My father in law took us here because it is his absolute favorite restaurant, where him and his wife are regulars. But brom the moment we walked in, it was chaos! Our drinks were wrong and not corrected for some time, and then we never received our appetizer. After waiting almost an hour, we received a steak that was way over cooked, incorrect side items, and raw chicken! The server was new apparently, but she didn’t seem to care or have a clue about how to take care of us. We tried to be understanding since our family loved the place so much, but even they were extremely disappointed. The manager ended up comping our entire meal-​which was greatly appreciated. Hope that if we ever get to go there again, it’s a better experience! Didn’t have the heart to leave them only one star!

Another try, average bbq at best… Never consistent from one visit to another. I had the ribs and chicken tonight and the ribs were warm and chicken was cold. Too much drama to send back to kitchen, won’t be back.
The sauces are basically doctored up cattleman’s — overly sweet and lacking depth of true flavor.
Check out, no «how was your meal» just poor eye contact and banter between the staff.
Brian, remember we chose your restaurant and drop more cash — remember try to exceed expectations. Complacency is not good!
Btw, the fluorescent lights in the ding room are tacky.

My ribs smelled like sweaty feet, tasted bad. My mac and cheese was Kraft box mac and cheese. We also had the pleasure of listening to the entire female wait staff talk about another server who was obviously not working that day. My husband liked his food, which is the only reason for 2 stars.

I ate here when i dropped my son off at camp Winona in Deleon Springs.
I had a lunch portion of baby rack ribs. I chose broccoli and green beans as my two sides. 241 on the draft that I had so my bill was very modest. Service was attentive and welcoming. the food was hot and tasty upon arrival. I promptly had my second beer. My meal was delicious.
I came back shortly later when I pick my son up from camp. He ordered the half chicken and he chose potatoes and corn bread and mac & cheese is his sides. I had a full rack of ribs and again I had the green beans and broccoli.
Again everything was great service was great food was great bill was modest and I would go back and recommend Sonny’s barbecue any time.

The staff is pleasant but the greens need to buy homemade and not heated up straight from a can! The ribs are good but I stopped going because the chicken was served pink and some blo in the chicken bone! Grits need to improve as well!

Just wanted to comment on an awful experience I had at Brian’s on the 9^th of May, my birthday and graduation day. I brought 11 people in my party, including my twin sister (her birthday). My family had been planning this more than a month in advance, and made our reservation at least 72 hours in advance. They couldn’t seat us inside comfortably, in spite of our reservation. We sat outside in the sun. Our birthday coupons never arrived, and to this day still haven’t (even though we filled out new bday club papers). The kitchen must have been super slow, bc one of our guests had to wait 15 minutes after everyone had gotten their food. Probably because the tip was already decided, no one took any pains to give good service. I have never been to a restaurant on my birthday that didn’t sing or provide some kind of birthday service with maybe one candle. Not even one for my twin sister and I to split.
I have frequented Brian’s for years. It was the first restaurant that I ever went to in Deland. Unfortunately, I don’t want to ever go back. The food and service were very disappointing, and my family traveled from the West Coast of the United States to be there for my sister and my birthdays.

Food was ok but very small portions for lunch menu. Sliced pork was better than the sliced brisket. Service was good.

First time eating here. Ordered two of the lunch specials (meat with two sides and a piece of garlic bread). The got one sliced pork and the other beef brisket. I am a huge fan of beef brisket and this one feel short for me. It was dry. Don’t know if they cut it long before the order and then throw it on the grill to heat up. It was dry. The pork was much better. For sides we got the Lima beans (good), the baked beans (really good), mac and cheese (nothing special), and cheesy bacon grits (was expecting great things with the use of cheese and bacon and was let down).
The staff was wonderful and the ice tea (sweet) was not too sweet just the way I like it.
If I’m in the area again would certainly try it again

I’ve eaten BBQ from Vegas to Kansas to Florida. After reading the reviews and the pedigree of the owner, I had my hopes high. To me, BBQ is about the ribs, the sauce, the chicken, the meat, the cole slaw and the mac n cheese. That’s what I get, that’s how I judge.
So the ribs were good. A little dry but they didn’t even need sauce. Which was good because the sauce was terrible. Ketchup based and lousy. The chicken was good. A little smokey, but not bad. I decided to get the smoke turkey and it wasn’t so good. The Mac n Cheese was not good. The cole slaw was average. The prices were fine. Black Bear in Mt. Dora is better across the board on those categories.
Next time we are in Deland, we will be trying one of the other 3 to 5 BBQ joints. Sorry, this was fine, but not great.

We had a party of four and we all enjoyed our food.
I had a chicken sandwitch which was very good. The chicken was tender, not like the tough birds you get some places.
The salad bar was great. There were many selections and everything was fresh.
The wait staff was very slow. The place wasn’t particularly crowded, but our waitress took forever to respond to our needs. We asked another waitress if she could flag down our server. Several minutes passed and the second person asked if «she» came back yet. There’s a lot to be desired with the performance of the wait staff.

Brian’s catered our wedding (March 2014) and they were absolutely wonderful to work with. The food was delicious and the staff that came out were polite and very professional. Organizing the catering for the wedding was a lot easier and more affordable than I was expecting. The manager and catering manager were so nice, organized, and flexible.
If you like this style of bbq and have particular arrangements that are necessary — I definitely recommend Brian’s BBQ. A breeze to work with and delicious food. The catering truck was perfect for our event, thank you for helping reduce the stress of planning our wedding reception!

Look I really enjoy good BBQ I can eat it three times a week look at my reviews, Brian’s is really good but not excellent but I understand volume can do that. The service is always excellent, the potions are a little on the small side but not over-​priced so the value is there. I’ve eaten lunch here many many times and will continue to be a loyal customer. I also noticed that on Veterans Day Vets eat free no matter what they order, not being a Vet myself I think this shows the true character of Brian’s BBQ thank you for recognizing our veterans and you will continue to be successful because you «do the right thing» see you again soon :-)