Famous Dave’s Bar-B Que

Many years ago I got introduced to Famous Dave’s when a location was in my area. The location has since closed down but whenever I have the opportunity, I will always make time or find a reason to go to one. Even if I’ve just gotten done with a meal and I see one down the road I find it hard to not go in.
Famous Dave’s is a chain. You can’t deny that. But as far as BBQ Chains go, Famous Dave’s has it going on! Sure, independent places are typically the best when you’re looking for the best in BBQ. But, when you’re looking for one in an area where they typically won’t have one offs, Famous Dave’s is the place to be.
I always get the ribs. Usually the baby back ribs. For the sides, I’m a big fan of their coleslaw. Somewhat sweet and very creamy. Their cornbread muffins are also excellent. The downside to the corn bread muffins is that they’re usually not warm. I prefer them a little warm. The beans are good also.
The beauty of Famous Dave’s is this: whether you are in South Dakota, Michigan, Kentucky or any other state, when you walk into a Famous Dave’s you know what you’re getting into.
Would I go back? Damn! I wish I could get to one right now! I’ve been talking about it long enough now I got a taste for them.
I’M HUNGRY!!!

Good to have Dave Anderson back in charge. Already see the change in food quality.
Brisket was a little under cooked, but overall good meal for the money.

BBQs are always delicious! Love their foods! If you are late lunch person like me, their lunch hours are till 4:30pm!

I should really try more menu items since I’m sure they are awesome but can’t move away from the ribs and chicken. Very good. I like this location. Drove by yesterday and smelled the food. Couldn’t resist a to go rack.

Occasional customer. Full slab of ribs this time– thumbs down– greasy and fatty at $ 24. Rib experience changing for the worse. According to staff– smoked ‘same day’ then thrown into the warming oven until heated on grill before serving. Where are they smoked and how do you steam em to keep em warm? I thought they were focusing on the barbeque? Steak fries nice and hot. Traditional corn bread muffins– out– too expensive I guess, now you get a square of cornbread. They will save on the muffin cups. Beer prices– too high for the beers on offer– $ 5.29 for a short Blue Moon. Server Tanner– nice and friendly-​answered my questions and made sure the carryout order was right for me. Bottom line on this visit– corporate cost cutting compromising food quality but service friendly as always. Message to CEO– I don’t want my ribs fast– I want them right.

I love Famous Dave’s and I used to work at a Famous Dave’s. I called in for my to-​go order and the guy who answered could not find the correct buttons for my order so after a long wait I was transferred to a girl where I had to repeat my whole order. She also had problems entering my order into the computer. My order was simple a 2 meat combo and a chicken tenders appetizer. Service was nice when I picked up the order. My boyfriend loved his two meat combo, but my chicken tenders were not as good as they usually are. I’m not sure if the chicken tender recipe changed, but they used to be a lot crispier. I may stick to the Plymouth or Uptown locations.

Impressed to get seated right away on a Friday evening, service was good and food is consistently good. Seating next to windows can be a little chilly in winter months.

Was at this location for lunch and will not be returning. While the service was good, that should be expected at a big chain joint. I got the lunch special of ribs and pulled pork with a side of slaw. The food was weak and overpriced. Considering the prices the portions were very small. They only gave me 2 ribs, which were dried out and tough. The small scoop of pork was also dry. All the food was passable, but not at all up to what should be coming out of a kitchen that has some fairly serious competition chops.

I eat at FD a couple times a mouth. Today’s visit was the first time to order a burger. It was very good. I had the Jacked and Stacked medium well. It was a perfectly cooked burger patty with Texas brisket mixed in and topped with a huge load of fried onion stings. The bun was soft and grilled. I added a mix of Wilbur’s Revenge and Texas pit BBQ sauce to make it a perfect meal.

The place seemed lively and food smelled great! Too bad we didn’t get a chance to eat there last night though! 20 minutes call ahead turned out to be just as ‘reminder’ that we were coming, so…20 more minutes MAX, I’m quoting the Hostess. I work at a restaurant too and understand when it’s busy, things won’t turn out as planned. More than half an hour goes by, «5 more minutes.» 10 – 15 minutes pass… What a waste of time! When I used to host, at least an apology was given for a long wait & that’s exactly the one thing that should had been given but wasn’t! Thanks for putting up our hopes of getting a table and ruining my Dad’s 49^th birthday. He had really hoped to had dinner there! **Not that I agree with him, but my father feels a little race favor there.

great food, awesome service!!!
i had fish and was very tasty… i know, why i had fish here, but i don’t eat meat and we came here with friends…
everybody loves their food and was happy!!!

I like the food here. But I mostly want to comment on the floor in this particular location. It’s COATED with grease. It’s slippery to the point that if you shift your weight even a little bit your chair is moving. Overall leaves a bad impression of this place and is probably dangerous.

Awesome BBQ! I haven’t tried one thing here that I don’t love, but I tend to go back to my FAV — Georgia Pulled Pork sandwich. Love the slaw, beans, absolutely everything! Even their pickles rock! LOVE all the sauces from Rich and Sassy to Devil’s Spit. My husband also goes for Rib Tips. When the kids are with us, we enjoy the All-​American Feast. Love FD so much, I had them cater my son’s high school graduation party. Excellent food, excellent service. When I moved from Naperville, IL where we have not only a Famous Dave’s but an annual Rib Fest (where rib guys come from all over the US and the world to compete – even Famous Dave competes here) to MN, I worried that we wouldn’t have a Famous Dave’s then I remembered, duh, Famous Dave’s started in MN! Thank goodness, I don’t have to live without my FAV BBQ. Been up North all of three months, and already have eaten at the Famous Dave’s in Maple Grove… they didn’t disappoint!!!

I get it… it’s a chain. But we’re in Minnesota and I defy you to name another restaurant where you can get BBQ this consistently good.
The chicken and ribs are excellent. The cornmuffins must be sprinkled with crack, because they be callin’ me, yo. Since I’m talking about the cornbread, I would like for «management» to clarify for me why you can’t get the entire cornmuffin out of the liner. Probably an effort to get me to buy extra muffins… no need to play coy, Famous Dave, I am going to buy extra muffins anyway.
Get there early, this place fills up fast. Don’t let them seat you by the window. It’s 40 degrees cooler over there and they seem to put many of the trouble makers there.
This is one of our go-​tos in the Grove.

My dad and I went here for Valentine’s Day. I think the food is a little pricey for what you get, but I always find myself coming back. Every time, I order the baby back ribs with my favorite two sides: Wilber beans and Mac and Cheese. Yum! The atmosphere is laid back and fun! Service has been great! Seems like a great place to bring a family.

On a trip back from Albertville I stopped at Famous Dave’s with Dustin G. It was questionable choice after forgoing a reservation at Lurcat in Loring Park however we were hungry from power shopping at the outlets.
First off the service was spetacular. The hostess greated us with a smile and our server with even more.
We split the St. Louis Rib-​N-​Meat BBQ Combo with the Country-​Roasted Chicken and mac and cheese and mashed potatoes for sides. I’ll say no one does BBQ like Famous Dave’s. It was the perfect meal for a Sunday evening. However the mac and cheese and mashed potatoes could have been bigger and warmer.
Overall great experience. The décor was entertaining, a lot more organized and less dusty looking than an Apple Bee’s or TGIF.

Oh,. HELL to the YES!
I am a HUGE BBQ fan… I think it’s in my veins. If it’s not, I’d like to get an IV drip of Famous Dave’s sauces. I’ll switch out the type depending on the day, but it will usually be Devil’s Spit. I may even try to run the remoulade sauce though, but I think it will get clogged up.
They are incredibly flavorful and compliment their smoke perfectly.
The ribs are never a let down. The pulled pork is heavenly. The brisket can be a little dry sometimes, but it’s still awesomely flavorful and I can just douse it with one of the delicious sauces. The Devil’s Spit burger is one of only a couple burgers I’ll order in a restaurant (ANY restaurant). Another thing I’d never order in a restaurant — chicken strips. However, the spice that they toss their strips in makes them undeniably awesome and they stand out from any other place. Dave’s has an amazingly unique sweet and sour sauce that compliment the strips like nobody’s business. I’ll go ahead and eat those while the IV is running.
The Cajun Chicken sandwich is so amazing that I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. Let me put it this way… if you’ve never worked at a restaurant, you should know that employees will get tired of that restaurant’s food fast. I worked at (a different) Dave’s for nearly a year and looked forward to eating there during EVERY shift and I still crave it to this day. Extension of the Cajun Chicken note… it was by far the employee favorite at my location (Fargo).
The blues music is a great addition to the restaurants! And it plays at all of them. I’ve never been into a Dave’s and had bad service. The service at this particular location, however, has always been fantastic and consistently so! There are 3 Dave’s closer to me, but I always go up there specifically because of the service.
BRAVO, Maple Grove Dave’s…BRAVO!

The food is always good, solid American BBQ fare.
The bar staff (I eat at the bar on purpose!) make my day.
Always fun and with a smile, Jo-​Jo and his crew make me laugh… constantly.
Family friendly and a fun place, it’s my Friday night stop!

prepare to feast! cause i sure did!
Since Ive moved to MN, Ive stumbled upon many Famous Daves’ locations. The one in uptown looks fun but since I was in Maple grove and was super hungry one day– I needed something that i knew would be filling so andrew and i decided on Famous Daves and boy was it filling! Andrew and I ordered the feast for two– I think they should rename it to feast for four cause there was way too much food for the two of us. I tried the ribs, brisket, chicken, cornbread, corn, mash potatoes, fries, and by the end of the night I had to unbutton my jeans. The ribs were good but I wasn’t feeling the brisket– it was bland to me but good thing there was a variety of sauces to choose from to add taste. the corn bread was delish! I ate both of it and didn’t share any with Andrew… that’s how much i liked it. the waiter was from CA too so he hooked us up with free desert but i had no more room and it looked soooo good. I can’t really describe the taste when i dug into the melting ice cream brownie. I was barely able to inhale…
we ended up taking a boat load of food home– i ate the left overs the next day too… and because of the guilt, I spent 2 hours at the gym trying to burn the calories off.

Tried Dave’s for the first time tonight. Was not sure what to expect but turned out very good.
Was with a group so we got the All-​American BBQ Feast. Comes with ribs, chicken, brisket, corn, fries, slaw, beans and cornbread. A huge variety of food for a decent price. The brisket was not as good as I hoped for but the rest was very good. The ribs were quite flavorful and worth the try.
Our waitress was also amazing. She had drinks to us as we were finishing them without us having to ask, was on top of things. She was also very understanding and was able to split our feast 4 ways.
I would definitely go to Famous Dave’s again.