Famous Dave’s

Came in to visit my sister Tori, a hostess willing to greet with a smile and wound up at the bar enjoying a beer and some burnt ends (perfectly cooked) just because I could. I met Taylor and Jarrett at the bar and have thoroughly enjoyed their service and conversation. I will say that the manager present, Ashraf, pointed out to Taylor that there was, «still a lot to do at the bar,» whilst she was engaged in pleasant conversation and giving wonderful conversation with me. This sort of behavior made me feel rather unwelcome and almost as if I had a curfew. Otherwise I encourage visiting the wonderful service staff to enjoy fantastic Barbecue.

Worst service I’ve ever had… There was only 1 other table in the entire Restauraunt and we saw our server once to take our order and once to take our money. I had to walk to the bar myself to get my drink filled. I’ve been here twice and it seems to be the norm here, no sense of urgency what so ever. there was no management to be found anywhere and all the employees seemed like they didn’t want to be there. Over priced food for what it is, with small portion sizes… Sad

I can not speak to the total quality of their food (when I find something I like, I usually stick to it, in my case it is margaritas and Famous Dave’s Sassy BBQ salad with pulled pork). The service is always excellent, the staff is on point, and a few of them actually remember me on sight, and can not say I have ever had a bad meal here. And for the price I am paying, this place is a bargain. Any place were I can eat with my wife, get dessert, and drinks, and walk away just dropping sixty bucks (and that is with a nice tip, wait staff need to be appreciated) I concern value for your money.

Thanks Famous Dave for changing your music to more appropriate BBQ eatin’ music, particularly the blues!

Famous Dave’s has some decent bbq. The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is I was dragged here in the early morning and bbq is definitely not a balanced breakfast lol. But all in all the sauces were good. The meat was good quality and if I could try it again in the evening in sure it’d be a lot better.

Is it the BBQ of my/​your dreams? No. But it is reliably pretty good and for the most part offers good value.
If you are in an area where great bbq is few and far between and you don’t want to DIY, Famous Dave’s is good enough to satisfy the smoky meaty goodness you crave until you can get to the Q of your dreams. The St. Louis Ribs and chopped pork are my go to’s. I don’t really bother with baby back ribs but if that floats your boat I’m sure it is fine as well. I REALLY wish I could recommend the Brisket, but every time I’ve had it, it made me sad. If you like a little more fatty goodness (fat=flavor), the rib tips are a good value. The sides are also quite good, they add jalapeños to the Mac & cheese and the green beans (though canned in sure) are simmered w/​bacon goodness. I do like their cornbread, but for me it’s more of a dessert since it is sweet and kind of between a cornbread and cake/​muffin. They have several sauces to choose from and not stingy about it. It leans more to sweet than vinegary, but there’s one called Devil’s Spit for the chili heads.
If you sign up for their P.I.G. Club email, there’s some decent offers/​coupons occasionally.

Greeter and server very friendly, but the place was an ICE BOX. Neither all of the drinks or dinners arrived altogether at ANY table including ours a party of 3. Food was luke warm except for the fries.
I think the problem was the kitchen and at the bar. Bartender was too busy chit chatting and slow with the orders. The table had 3 small polite kids and the server brought them 3 milk chocolates with tops on without straws! When I was younger I worked many years in this field so I know what I am talking about.
There was plenty of staff and they were ALL working, all the sauce bottles were clean and full papers towels but I will be trying a new place.

Went in for some BBQ but should have drove to Urbana to the black hog instead. Every time we go here we are disappointed in food, service etc… No sense of urgency here, never a manager in sight just an absolute free for all. The patio is always a mess and servers rotating tables so they forget about you and you get terrible service. Ribs were overcooked and dry. Employees were sitting out back smoking black n milds and playing games on their phones. No thanks

This resturant is situated in a new shopping center in Germantown, a much needed row of resturants and Wegmans if i might add. I visited during lunch time it was a pretty chill. Greeter did her job well, the server was super nice and attentive, the food was delicious.
I ordered a Bahama Mama from the bar and had the lunch (pick 2). My two choices were the brisket and ribs and I had a side of the greens — I was pleased. Everything was fresh and delicious!

Decent food but the Portions here are tiiny. I got the chopped pork combo and I’m not kidding it had about 5 bites of pork and two bites of baked beans. Husband ordered the beef brisket sandwich and I swear it was kid’s size. On the upside, the Fire Island iced tea was yummy.

Famous Dave’s has decent BBQ for around this area, and most of the time the pulled pork has less fat than other places around (including the Dutch Market). We usually do pick-​up, but on the occasional trip in to the restaurant the staff are courteous and professional, food arrives hot, and the atmosphere within the restaurant is pleasant (not very loud!). There’s outdoor seating, which is nice!

I had high hopes for this place, but was a little let down overall. First, they told us we had a half hour wait– they never mentioned that if we wanted to sit at one of the high tables we could be seated right away. They were clearly very understaffed, and we noticed other tables almost getting ignored. That said, our server was very friendly once we actually got seated, and did try hard to accommodate the many tables she obviously was trying to serve at once. As for the food, I went with a BBQ combo of the beef brisket and the spare ribs. The brisket was actually the highlight of the meal– nicely seasoned, tender meat with the right amount of kick to it. The ribs were a disappointment– tough, overloaded with sauce and not much actual meat or flavor. The corn bread didn’t taste very fresh, and the mac and cheese was average. The mashed potatoes were the best of the sides I tried, with a the right amount of garlic for flavor. As Unilocal says for 3-​stars, it was OK overall.

Generally great service, but the food was below average (compare to other Famous Dave’s restaurants).
Service: our waiter, Dave, was attentive, fast and friendly. We were happy with his service. I wished he had asked us how was the food. I would have asked him to pass on some suggestions.
We had reservation for 12. They pulled 2 tables together and set up the table for 10. When I mentioned, this, they squeezed 2 more chairs in. They really should’ve pulled in another table. But the table right next to ours were taken at the time. There wasn’t enough space to add another table. It was uncomfortable to squeeze in 12 people for tables normally set up for 4 people. And it was very hard to eat (especially if you need to use knife and forks).
I was not happy with the food and how it was served.
It took awhile for the food to come out. We waited about 30 minutes before we received the first entrée. After that, they would bring out one or two entrees at a time. I think it took another 30 minutes (from the first item coming out) before everyone at the table received their food.
Corn bread: I have always had corn muffins at the other Famous Dave’s restaurant. We had corn bread this time. They were very moist and fluffy, with a sweet crust. It was warm when it came out. Delicious! It was one of the best corn bread I had.
Dave’s burger: nicely done. Burger was juicy. Bacon was crispy.
St. Louis-​Style Spareribs and country roasted chicken: nice flavor and texture. Comparable to the other Famous Dave’s.
Beef brisket: This is my favorite thing to eat at other Famous Dave. The meat I had at this restaurant was juicy and tender. But it was seasoned unevenly. Some of the beef briskets were just slightly salter than usual. Some of them were extremely salty.
Baby back ribs: nice texture, but again, too salty. And there was barely any meat on the baby back ribs.
Garlic Red-​Skin Mashed Potatoes: one of the worst mashed potatoes I had. It was dense, not creamy, not fluffy. We had two orders. One of them had way too much garlic powder. I took a tiny bite and had to drink a lot of water to wash off the taste in my mouth.
Southwest Chopped Chicken Salad: the dinner salad portion was smaller than expected, especially for $ 12. It was portioned to be a lunch salad. The chicken was charred and bitter. There was too much of spice on the tortilla chip strips that the taste was off. The corn was not grilled or roasted. And the chipotle lime ranch was a completely disappointment. It tasted like something that came out from the bottle and did not have any lime flavor.
I hope they will improve on their food and really make sure the food is seasoned properly.

I saw this commercial for their smoked turkey breast and drove up to purchase dinner for my family. I have eaten their food before and figured I would give them another try rather than smoking my own meat for 4+ hours.
The turkey on the commercial looked juicy and was cut thick. Aside from the fact that it only came as a meal, it looked like turkey cold cuts served as an open face sandwich covered in gravy. There were also 2 small sides, but not what I expected for $ 12. I ordered the All American BBQ Feast and my family was less than impressed. The chicken was dry and over cooked. The ribs were okay but Memphis dry rub should have enough flavor that you don’t even think about putting sauce on them. Perhaps I set the bar pretty high with my grill skills. Maybe I just caught them on an «off» day. In any event the $ 80 I spent there, this past Sunday will not be a repeat performance. The turkey had good flavor, but was sliced deli thin and was half a portion. Call me a sucker for falling for the images I saw on the commercial, but that was what got me in the door. The brisket was the best part of the meal and if I ever return, it will likely be the only reason. I wish I had gotten more of it and passed on the ribs and chicken. All in all it was a pretty average meal. Next time I’m in the mood for barbecue, I’ll have to get an earlier start and smoke my own because I won’t be going back to Famous Dave’s.

Famous Dave’s, if only you were a bit closer… I seriously love this place! I know I might get in trouble for saving this, but I prefer Famous Dave’s to the other non-​chain BBQ places I have eaten at (Branded ’75 and Rocklands). It’s amazing!
BP took me here after a Wal-​Mart and Giant run for lunch and we did not have to eat again until lunch the next day. This place is amazing! We had the Burnt Ends as the appetizer (even though not all the ends are traditional/​original brunt ends, they are still very tasty) and had fun playing around with the sauces (shout out to Devil’s Spit).
Our waiter was attentive and quick. He brought me three re-​fills of the raspberry lemonade and re-​filled BP’s water without being asked to.
For our entrees I had the double platter with catfish tenders and chicken tenders with mac and cheese and corn bread. The chicken tenders were nothing special and totally bland, but the catfish was amazing! The best I have ever had (which isn’t saying much, but I loved it). The mac and cheese was okay, but the corn bread was better.
BP had the pulled chicken, and I loved how saucy it was. Delicious.

Still a nice bar/​restaurant with friendly service. The food is always flavorful, but the quality of the BBQ, their staple, seems to vary greatly visit to visit.
The last time I was there I had the burnt ends, which were great, and the brisket, which was awful. I’ve had it before when it was good but last night it was very tough sliced beef. I had to use a fork and knife to cut it. If you’ve had good brisket you know that it should fall apart or be easily cut with a fork.
They have also gotten rid of the BBQ sauce caddies which had been a staple at Famous Dave’s for years allowing you to conveniently sample all of their sauces. The excuse I heard was that people didn’t use them (?) and the staff had to clean them every night at the end of their shifts. You can still get the sauces but there are a lot less bottles going around and you have to know what to ask for.
These days I think I’ll go more to watch a game at the bar and not come counting on good BBQ. Updated summary of the things I have tried…
–Brisket is variable. I’ve had it great and awful.
–Wings are dry but flavorful.
–St. Louis ribs are good.
–Roasted chicken is moist and flavorful. Not as good as the local Peruvian places, but pretty good.
–Chopped pork was awful hard chunks of dry pork. Tasted like it had been chopped the day before and left to dry out under a heat lamp for a day before it was topped with sauce and served. Probably good if they freshly chopped it before serving, but this CLEARLY was not. Flavor seems like it would have been good, if it didn’t have a the dry burnt end consistency. 2ND TIME I had it, it was moist and flavorful… but very greasy.
–Chili was par. Not bad if you are in the mood. Some nice flavored meat in there, but an overall acidic taste vs. a strong tomato & meat flavor.
— Burnt ends are good!

Hey Jim M, your review is similar to my experience. In my opinion, I can confirm that Seneca Meadows, Germantown, Famous Dave’s has shrunken down the quality and quantity of their ribs and it’s not your imagination. My last year’s review of Famous Dave’s in Frederick MD (check out my review and update of that location w/​pictures, of what a full rack should, or used to look like), shows a full rack of meaty spare ribs having 12 bones, which is considered a full rack in the BBQ industry. A 12 – 13 rack is considered a full rack. A 10 bone rack a called a «cheaters rack.»
Today, I ordered a half-​rack of spare ribs with mac & cheese, baked beans, and corn bread. The spare ribs here were not as good as I remember them being at the Frederick MD location. The flavor was good but the ribs were definitely smaller, less meaty, and served with only 5 bones. This, half rack should have been served with 6 bones, not 5! One bone (or 2 – 3 bones on a full rack) may not sound like much, but multiply that by all the racks/​ribs they serve, and it adds up. I hope Famous Dave’s hasn’t changed their business plan and instituted a portion and quality reduction in the name of profit. The sides were good as always; however, I’m disappointed with the shrink ray approach they’ve taken to their ribs.
I also agree with the foo-​foo ambiance this restaurant has with its pretentious white square fancy plates, flat screens, and sports bar atmosphere – this is, or was, a BBQ joint, not some yuppified sports bar masquerading as an authentic BBQ venue. If you have a winning BBQ formula that put FD on the map, don’t mess with it as BBQ fanatics/​fans are the most loyal of patrons, but also the harshest critics. Famous Dave’s Germantown need to step up its game and not cut corners on the quantity and quality of their ribs as other BBQ places have. This location reminds me of Black Hog in Frederick and their portion control and inflationary price mentality. This is my first warning! Two more strikes and I’m done w/​FD. And this comes from a loyal customer!

I mean… hopefully you realize that there are places that serve real and authentic BBQ, and then there are those that serve just BBQ. Famous Dave’s (FD) is a chain so you can expect some consistency from location to location (in terms of the food, hopefully), but it’s more of like the McDonald’s of BBQ. You’ve got to know and expect what you’re going to get.
The BBQ is not terrible, but it’s not even really close to being good. When I visit a BBQ joint, I always check out the burnt ends first. At FD, the burnt ends are a couple of tiny cubes of meat served with pickled onions and pickles. They do not have the smokey and charcoal-​esque flavor you would hope to find. I’m not sure how long they were sitting out when I get them (got my order to-​go), but they were extremely dry as well. Unctuous? No. Umami? Hell no. Decent? Maybe.
I understand brisket needs to be cut to order and eaten fairly quickly as the meat can dry out. I’m not sure, again, how long my order was sitting out (I got there while the order was still being prepared), but the brisket I received was borderline disgusting. I had to drench the meat in BBQ sauce just to make it edible (I hate wasting food). Will not order this again.
I also ordered the St. Louis and baby back ribs. Both orders were well cooked and flavorful. Sauce is a bit heavy but overall pretty tasty.
Sides ordered included: fries (good), coleslaw (nice kick with the horseradish that is added), corn (good), wilbur beans (flavorful), and corn bread (meh).
I would definitely recommend Shane’s Rib Shack over Famous Dave’s if you have one close to where you live. Also a chain, but I find their selection, preparation, and sauces a bit more appetizing.

One of my favorite places for bbq. You can start with an appetizer of catfish strips $ 8.50 or a big pile of rib tips $ 9.50.
My favorite thing is a slab of St. Louis ribs. Gotta have a full rack for $ 24 which comes with 2 sides a piece of cornbread. I always choose the potato salad and the mac and cheese.
If you aren’t that hungry go with the two meat combo for $ 16…beef brisket and rib tips.
The chicken isn’t too bad here but I always go for beef. Dave smokes beef very well!
If you have any room left, try the banana pudding for $ 6 or the hot fudge Kahlua brownie for $ 6.50.
Take note that Famous Dave’s has moved out of the Kentlands in Gaithersburg and can now be found in Germantown right outside of Milestone.

We came in on Friday for dinner.
Ambiance: Inside is industrial and spacious. High ceilings and carnival-​esque lighting and décor. It’s a chain, so it was kind of generic.
Service: There was a 10 minute wait when we arrived. They text you when your table is ready. This was kind of silly since the wait was so short and hubby and I were one of maybe 3 couples waiting. I think that will make more sense in the summer if the wait is long and you want to hang out outside. I gave them my number and have only received 2 messages: one saying that they would text me when the table was ready and another saying just that. Our waitress was really nice and the kitchen was pretty quick with getting food out.
Drinks: I got the punch. It was sweet and tasty. Hubby got whatever Flying Dog IPA was on drought. Not a huge drought selection, but I was pleased to see the local brew.
Food: The food was good, but not great. The portions were decent. I got the chicken tenders with honey BBQ sauce, mac n cheese and grilled pineapple. The pineapple was the BOMB – smoky and delicious. My mac n cheese was not hot when our waitress brought it out, but I asked for a new one and she quickly brought over a replacement. Hubby got the catfish, garlic mashed potatoes and coleslaw. Mashed potatoes were garlic-​y and yummy and the slaw was decent, too. I tasted the catfish and had to use every ounce of self control I have not to spit it out. Apparently «catfish is supposed to taste like dirt.» I have no idea why someone would order that, much less eat it. GAG. We finished our night with a brownie sundae. It was phenomenal. Rich and chocolaty and yummmm.
Bottom line: Decent for a chain. We’ll probably come back in the summer and sit outside.