Big Daddy’s Family BBQ

I really wanted this place to be good. I lived in the south before moving to Enumclaw the southern states know Barbecue. I got the chicken, cheesy mac and cheesy potatoes. The first thing I noticed was the absolute lack of flavor of everything. Both sides were bland, and the potatoes were not fully cooked. The chicken looked delicious but fell short when it came to flavor to which the BBQ sauce couldn’t rescue.
I miss the «real pit» style barbecues down south. Maybe I’m a bit spoiled, but if you’re looking for the good stuff, it’s not here. I will give 2 stars for cleanliness and atmosphere. the inside was really well done and that is a start. I hope this place can change the recipes for the better or I fear they won’t survive.

I love bbq food, one of my favorites. With this said in all of my years (62) I have never had such pathetic bbq. The dry tough ribs were met only by the dry overcooked chicken. My sides beans tasted like can chili con carne, the corn muffin was like dried paste. Then to top it off my server recommended her favorite a cheesy potato casserole which had a long dark hair inside so obviously we didn’t get to try that. Pathetic! Really sad that the plateau missed here again.

We decided to try Big Daddy’s after a day of skiing at Crystal. I saw the mixed reviews, but decided to try it anyway. I’m from Texas and feel like I know BBQ. First off, the waitress was VERY nice and personable. I asked which of the meats get the best marks, and she said definitely the ribs. We ordered the 4 meat combo platter to share between 2 people (plenty of food). We doubled up on the ribs and added chicken and brisket. It also came with 3 sides and 2 breads.
First the good news: The ribs were meaty, moist and smoky. They had a great smoke ring visible. The rub was not too interesting, but the sauces were good.
In Texas, BBQ is judged by the brisket. Brisket is usually a sliced meat. Smoked brisket should have a smoke ring all around. Big Daddy’s brisket was a bunch of shreds of overcooked meat which didn’t look like brisket at all. The taste was ok, especially put on the bread with sauce as a sandwich, but it wasn’t like BBQ brisket.
The chicken was cooked ok, but had virtually no BBQ or smoked flavor.
The sides were ok. The beans had a great flavor and the cole slaw was good. I was not a fan of the cheesy potatoes, but that’s just a taste thing. The breads were served warm, but as they cooled the corn bread tasted rather stale, like it had just been microwaved.
Bottom line: nice people, very fair price, marginal BBQ.

Sadly this was the second time I’ve eaten at big daddy’s, and the second time it was garbage, literally. I got lunch right as they opened so I was expecting the freshest cooked food. Instead The brisket was so old and dried up it looked like beef jerky. Out of all the meat that I got only about a quarter of it was edible. The rest of it was dried up and nasty. The coleslaw was tasty, and the beans were OK. The cornbread muffin was nasty, I guarantee it was just a box of Jiffy cornbread. Sorry big daddy you going to have to step it up.

Well it was just ok. My GF had the one meat thing because she cannot eat beef. she said it was just ok. I tried to be a pig with the $ 26.00 4 meat thing. The baby back ribs were over cooked and very dry. the chicken was just ok at best. the tri tip on a bun with au jus was good. the brisket was a joke!
At the time we sat down at about 5 we were the only people there.
All of the sides were like something you could get at Safeway.
But the very worst thing were the ribs… dry-​dry-​dry! way over cooked like they had been sitting around all day in a warmer. and about 3 hours after I ate I had a very up set stomach!!!
Will we go back? I doubt it.
Over all I would give their food a D.

I usually do not write reviews but I thought I should with this one. I am a picky eater and was a little worried about the meat as I can’t stand super fatty meat but I was pleasantly surprised. The food was delicious and tender. Our server was friendly and even offered to give us to go cups for our soda. We will definitely be back!

Welcome Big Daddy’s, it is about time that a country town like Enumclaw has a «go to» place for BBQ. I was one of their first customers and remain loyal these 6 months later. First of all their space inside the recently remodelled «The Claw» on hwy 410 is decorated nice and everything is clean and new. The family is always warm and inviting when you walk in. And for $ 10 you get your choice of meat, two sides and bread. Its the perfect price. My favorites are the ribs and the brisket. However they only serve the ribs in the evenings but they are moist and meaty. I normally order the brisket in a basket (instead of on a roll) smothered in their home made barbecue sauce. Each tender chunk is carnivorous bliss. I also mix in their hot barbecue sauce for a little kick. My favorite sides by far include their potato salad, it must have cream rather than only mayonaise with pickles and egg. It’s a real treat. I also like their beans although I squirt some of their hot barbecue sauce in them to ramp up the flavor. One other fun thing is they put together take home packs for Seahawks games and holidays if you call ahead. I’m doing my best to support them because they deserve it, great addition to Enumclaw.

My girlfriend brought me home a plate of their BBQ and the food was amazing. I returned on a Saturday night about 615 (early dinner) to experience the food again. Really want to love this place, but… they had 1 person hosting, waitressing, bussing, serving. After seating ourselves we were approached 10 minutes later. They have 5 different meats, pulled pork, chicken, ribs at dinner only, tri tip and brisket. We were informed they were out of ribs and tri tip, can be understandble at a true bbq place the food isn’t made to order since it’s slow cooked. We ordered the 4 meat option and double upped on bbq chicken and we’re given 3 side options. After 15 minutes after ordering we were informed that they were out of chicken and we would need to double up on the other meats. We agreed and then we’re informed they were out of the 2 of our 3 sides at 615 on a Saturday night. It was now 650, 35 mins after we walked in that they had nothing to offer. A small apology was offered and we were charged for the beer and soda we ordered before being informed they were out of the majority of their food. Great food, poor management of food availability and staff support.

I really, really wanted to love this place, or at least like it. Smaller restaurant, locally owned, BBQ… it had everything.
We walked in and were were immediately greeted and seated. Which is just as well, because it was almost empty. I wondered about that, but the waitress was terrific. She took our order quickly and brought our food right out. That pretty much ended the good.
I had ribs. I love ribs. Adore them. Could eat them all day. These were big, meaty, moist… and the meat was not all that great quality. Could have still lived through that, but the overwhelming flavor was SALT. Plenty of salt in BBQ rub isn’t necessarily bad, but when I say I tasted SALT, I mean I tasted salt. Not salt and… Salt. Just salt. Did I mention the ribs were salty? Husband said the pulled pork was equally salty.
The beans had shreds of meat in them, which sounded sort of good, but it wasn’t. It tasted kind of like chili, but mostly it tasted not great. The potato salad had no onion, no mustard, no egg — but lots of mayonnaise. Not godawful if you like potatoes covered in mayonnaise, but not amazing. My son did say the cole slaw was terrific, unfortunately I didn’t have that. I did have a corn muffin. It was a muffin. It did have corn. Husband liked it. I didn’t really care for it — I think good corn muffins have a little coarseness. They’re CORN muffins for gosh sake! This was moist and muffin-​y, but not really corn muffin-​y.
Dinner was a bargain, $ 10 for a meat, two sides and a corn muffin. They were generous with the meat. The service is great. I wish the food was.

Living in the South you get spoiled with good BBQ. I have been up here 8 years and found a few places. My wife and I have been to this place 4 times and I have tried about everything even getting to try the prime rib special. Food is good and staff is always friendly.

My wife and I had tried Big D’s shortly after they had had their soft opening. At that meal they were out of the tri tip and chicken. The brisket and ribs we had were cooked correct and were moist and flavorful. A bit on the fatty and salty side, but they had a nice smoke ring to them and overall a C+.
We then tried them last week to see if things improved and were hoping to try the chicken. We both got the chicken, my wife got the tri tips and I ordered the brisket. When the food came, I could recognize the chicken, but could not actually tell what else I had on my plate. I had to ask the waitress if I had the brisket. She said yes. They were blackend cubes of meat that would break my plastic fork if I was not careful. I tried one and quit.
Went on to the chicken and pulled the wing off the breast and knew I was in trouble. I cannot guess how long the chicken had been around being cooked or held warm. It was beyond crisp, with zero moisture. My wife’s chicken was exactly the same.
The waitress came over to see how we were doing and noticed we pretty much had not eaten anything and appeared to be done. I asked about the brisket and she said she would replace it. The next brisket that came out actually looked like it should and was OK, but REALLY REALLY salty and again, too much fat (they need to source better grade meat).
The waitress brought out her Mom (assuming owners wife) and I questioned her why they would ever bring out the first round of brisket to anyone since it was horrible. Her answer was that it was the first Tuesday that they had been opened… ummm so what? I asked her if she should have ever served the first brisket, she said no. Asked about the fried out chicken and she said it must/​may have been in the smoker too long.
So, my wife’s tri tip was OK (still fatty) and the beans were OK.
They did comp us for the few bites that we ate and only charged us for our drinks.
I had a nice discussion with assumed owner and said I hoped they would succeed but they really need to focus on their food.
Enumclaw has so many good choices for food, no need to spend it on bad.
We were the only people there the whole time we were present. I sincerely hope they get their act together.

Great food, excellent service. The beef briquette is moist and smoked to perfection. Sides of beans and coleslaw were also very tasty.

Excellent meats but their sides are very bland. The mac n cheese tasted like cinnamon, the beans taste more like chili and their cornbread has no flavor. I know they are new and are probably still working out the kinks, I will definitely go back for another try. Great ambiance and nice and clean and their prices are good as well.

Offered to take my wife to lunch here yesterday, glad I did! I am what my friends call a «Meat Hobbyist» so I generally shun BBQ restaurants as nothing seems to hold up to what I can do at home. I’m happy to report that this place is the real deal when it comes to their smoked meats, served properly with no sauce to let the meat stand on it’s own. I had Tri-​tip and pulled pork both moist & tender and well seasoned, nice smoke ring.
The baked beans were pretty good, leftover pulled pork is part of the recipe which is always a good thing. The mac and cheese was really nice with a mix of cheeses that held together well. The only thing I can say is the sides were just a little bland and could have used some seasoning to match up with the excellently spiced meat. But everything was excellent once I deployed a little salt and pepper to the sides.
We’ll definitely be back for more, really awesome to have such a real deal BBQ so close to home.

This place has the best smoked meats my goodness… The owner’s built their own Smokers and everything… Just opened today… Recommend it highly. Can’t wait to see how their business grows as Little Mama is quite the baker as well… Wish them all the success possible!