Famous Dave’s

Just the basics here, given that I have visited several times but just sporadically enough that I could probably never be considered a regular (I’m basically just a tag-​along when my parents choose to eat here and they like me enough to invite me with them):
— I usually will get one of their salads, despite a freakish issue I have with lettuce, because they are delicious. You just can’t replicate BBQ sauce on your greens at home!
— Service is typically fast and friendly, though it depends on the atmosphere; on the other side of the coin, though, I’ve been served immediately during busy times and waited for quite some time during slower periods, though the servers are always pleasant and smiling. Be patient for their sake, if anything.
— My last visit was this past Saturday afternoon, and I really didn’t know what to expect as far as the crowd was concerned — there will be times you wait forever for a table and can barely hear your dinner companions because the spot is jam packed, though this time around our visit was nice and relaxing. Keep an open mind and be ok with the fact that your dining experience may fall somewhere between quiet and rowdy.
Some may see this restaurant as just another chain at The Plant, but when compared to the surrounding options I’d wager a bet to say Famous Dave’s will please everyone in your party way more than other spots possibly could.

Big space, but gets packed on weekend nights. I’m not a big BBQ person, but overall wasn’t super impressed. The first time I went I got an entrée of some sort of meat and a couple of side dishes. The meat wasn’t very memorable and the mac cheese was just ok.
Second time I got chicken nachos. They were pretty good. Definitely sort of a tex-​mex kinda taste. BBQ sauce flavor/​chili + chicken and then your usual nachos toppings.
I do like all the sauces they provided.

Disclaimer coming up…4 stars for the food and the extra star for the stellar service.
This isn’t your old school, mom and pop, Q joint you typically find in the East and South. But, that’s okay as the food is delicious! Compared to the other BBQ chains in the area, they are slightly better than Armadillo Willy’s and much better than Dickie’s. One of their weapons is the burnt ends. Most places don’t offer it and theirs is super tender, smoky, and decadent with their sauce on it. The spare ribs have the right amount of bite and flavor. 6 sauces are brought to the table and offer a number of sweet, sour, spicy options to suit virtually any flavor desires. My only suggestion will be to offer some righteous «greens»!
Regardless of the how the food tastes, the dining experience can make or break an establishment. Well, fear not, Famous Dave’s of San Jose. You have Destinee on your side. She was friendly, personable, and contributed so much to providing us with a very enjoyable meal. I had just finished a road bike ride and was not looking (or smelling) my best. She didn’t «judge» or treat me differently. She is a true and shining example of what customer service should be. Major «props» and kudos to her. We will definitely be back because of her!

My husband and I recently had Famous Dave’s cater a baby shower for us and the food was excellent. When my husband called in the order they took great care of him suggested great ways to lower our costs and provided excellent service. The day of the baby shower the food arrived on time and was hot and ready to be served. I would think it is a great place to have a party of your catered. The food excellent, the price was great and the service outstanding! Thank you Famous Dave’s for having our guests me happy and full!

We stumbled across Famous Dave’s on accident. Our original plan was to go eat at boiling crab, but after finding out the wait was more than two hours, we decided to give Famous Dave’s a shot. And what a good decision that was! It took about 15 minutes to get seated on a Saturday evening. (Party of 4) very surprised at how fast we were seated.
We ordered the All-​American BBQ Feast which is supposed to serve 4 – 6 people. But holy cow it can feed at least 8! We also ordered a side of onion strings and Mac n cheese. The BBQ was delicious, the meat fell right off the ribs! It was to die for. The brisket combined with their famous sauces was a match made in heaven. Be careful with which sauce you decide to use. Devil’s spit and Wilbur’s revenge is hot stuff. The onion strings were okay, I’d much rather prefer onion rings. I didn’t know whether to eat it with my hands or a fork. Either way it just felt awkward.
The servers here sing happy birthday! Or their variation of it. So if you’re looking for a place to celebrate someone’s birthday. This is the place! You can embarrass them and enjoy a good helping of BBQ!
One thing that struck me was how dark it was in here. We were seated in the back of the restaurant near the corner. It was like a dungeon in there. Our server wasn’t great, or terrible. But he got the job done. I will be back for sure.

So the parking at the plant is terrible! You really need to get there early to circle around a few times in order to find a decent spot. So my recommendation is show up a little earlier then you plan on eating. We went on a Thursday. Once inside we didn’t have a wait time and were seated in a booth in the bar area, which was on the noisier side but understandable. When we sat down a waiter came up and greeted us and asked what we wanted to drink. However a few minutes later another waitress stopped by too. Our waiter came back to us and took our order and then the waitress followed after him. Some how we got two waiters. Which was very confusing but eventually they figured it out amongst themselves. We did have to ask a few times to get paper towels since our dispenser was empty. Overall the experiment was ok. I’d go back again but during a less busier time.

Did you know Famous Dave’s now serves brunch? I didn’t. My friend and I went the other day to use my Birthday Coupon (BOGO ½ off) and saw the new brunch menu. There were some yummy sounding dishes, but I already knew what I wanted so we skipped trying chicken and waffles or an omelette. I ordered the ribs and rib tip combo w/​broccoli and french fries. My friend had chopped pork w/​broccoli and fruit. Oh, another thing that changed since our last visit was the sauces. They were back on the tables. I guess too many people complained about that so they’re back. Thanks for the yummy birthday lunch, Famous Dave’s!

Came here for the first time with family. It was packed & we were told that it would be a 15 minute wait. In less than 10 minutes we were seated. The manager personally stopped by our table to help us because they were so busy. I love that he jumped in to help his staff. He told us about each of their sauces that were on the table and even gave us a big complimentary bottle of sauce, since we had to wait a while for service because they were so busy.
The food was awesome & the portions were huge. The meat was tender & seasoned just right and the sides were delicious. The service was fantastic. We will definitely visit again!

I think after yesterday, I now remember why I haven’t came back here in years… Lol. The quality of bbq is not up to par. I normally always do the feast (ribs). But I wanted something light and opted for the bbq pork tacos. It was VERY* salty. I can literally taste the grains of salt on the shredded pieces of meat. The service was also not that great. Our waitress did not check up on us once. Also, when she brought out our food, she just placed it at the corners of our table. Instead of placing it on front of us… I love their Mac n cheese and cornbread so much, but I don’t think I’ll come back. I’d take the extra drive to Texas Roadhouse! :)

One of the best place for great BBQ ribs in San jose… food was late but they took care of us very well… will be returning due to the great service… thanks you guys…

They obviously have good catering but my first time here for dinner sucked. Old dried out brisket, fruit that was awful, mashed potatoes that tasted like they were made eith old almost rotten potatoes, and old beans. The only thing I ate was the chicken that was mediocre.
I’m absolutely shocked that this is the same place that catered our friend’s wedding and I really liked the food at that event. Get a rope!

Jessica was attentive and provided good service. My favorite are the buffalo wings and burnt ends!!! I heard they tend to get busy but I’ve only really come during lunch hours so it’s no wait and fast service. No complaints.

Ordered a rack of ribs and it came out in less that 5 min but they didn’t give us plates or utensils or sauce. We had to wait for the waiter to come back and make his rounds. Adding 5 more minutes to for us to start eating. They use to have the basket of sauce now you have to ask for it I guess. The ribs were ok, a bit dry. It’s no Henry’s High Life but you can’t complain. More than anything we come for the Mac and cheese and banana pudding.

My boyfriend and I were originally going to go eat at the Boiling Crab next door, but we parked right next to Famous Dave’s. I last minute suggested we should try something new. After reading the Unilocal reviews about this place, my boyfriend and I decided to walk into this place expecting okay service and great food. To our surprise and relief, the reviews were wrong about the service. The service was amazing!
As soon as we walked into the place, it smelled amazing. The assemble consisted of a country related background. The walls were wooden, the place consisted of nice booths, a bar area and normal tables with wooden chairs. There was a fire place in the dining area as well making the dining area cozy.
The host greeted my boyfriend I with a smile and was super friendly. She sat us down in the dining area inside a booth. The booth was very comfortable. Shortly after sitting down, our waitress introduced herself. If you go here, please ask for Famous Francine! She was amazing as our waitress. Since it was our first time here, we asked for advice on the menu. She introduced us to her top picks, and she gave us a bowl of their famous BBQ chips. They were very tasty as well! She bought us the BBQ chips on the house, and introduced the 6 BBQ sauces they are known for. She squirted out a little of each sauce on the plate for us, and they all were delicious. There is a honey mustard like sauce, a sweet BBQ sauce, two different kinds of spicy BBQ sauces, and two other BBQ sauces. As stated before, all the sauces tasted amazing!
Off the menu, my boyfriend and I got the «the big slab» deal which comes with two different sides and a cornbread. Oddly, this meal only comes with one cornbread so if you are sharing, you have to order a second cornbread for 99 cents. For the «the big slab» deal, it comes with 12 pieces of ribs. Two people can share this meal easily. The two sides my boyfriend and I got were the mac and cheese and the baked beans. Also, we paid $ 2.49 each for two additional sides. One side was baked beans so that we could have our own, and a side of sweet corn on the cob (comes with two corn on the cobs).
The ribs were very tasty. They were tinder and seasoned well. They weren’t cooked with too much BBQ sauce. The sweet corn on the cob tasted good. It wasn’t anything amazing or special. The baked beans were pretty good. I’ve honestly had better. The cornbread was too sweet for my taste. My boyfriend decided to eat his at the very end of his meal because it was that sweet. He liked the taste of it more than I did. While I drunk water, my boyfriend decided to get the sweet ice tea lemonade which was really good.
Our waitress, Famous Francine continually checked on us throughout the entire meal. She made sure our drinks were never low. She was always one step ahead of us and refilling our drinks. Our food came very quickly as well. I also had a conversation with her about the extremely popular BBQ cookout that takes place in Reno every year. Famous Dave’s is a part of that huge cookout, and I’m glad to say I will be checking their booth out this year.
Overall, Famous Francine made our first visit here more than welcoming. The BBQ chips were great, the mac and cheese was typical mac and cheese (although, it looks very cheesy, it doesn’t taste very cheesy and could be seasoned better), the sweet corn on the cob was typical corn on the cob, the ribs were amazing (definitely worth ordering), the cornbread was too sweet, and the baked beans were pretty good. My boyfriend and I will be coming back here again to try the ribs!

We came here on a Friday night after spending the day at the boardwalk. Parking lot was packed! Very busy for the weekend. As we walked up to the restaurant, there were people hanging outside waiting for their name to be called. We put a name down and waited about 25 minutes.
The inside of this place definitely says «BBQ»
From the wooden tables and chairs with deco and food of course. There’s plenty to choose from. I chose wings. I know that’s not typically a BBQ joint staple food but it sounded good that night. I had the Buffalo sauce for a spicier taste, and also had the option to choose 2 sides with cornbread! Mac & cheese with corn it was. Yum!
The boneless wings were good. They were tasty and I had them with almost all the different sauces. Every table gets a tray of 8 different house sauces to use. I thought Mac and cheese would come in a larger portion, but I got my fix! Corn was tasty too. Service was just OK, came by our table a couple times but couldn’t get a reach of her when we later needed more water.
Overall, this is a place to check out if you’re into Barbecue. Be ready to grub!

Pretty good for bbq. Our server was great and the guy who greeted us kinda looked like guy fieri, but skinnier. I got to try out their catfish, mac and cheese, and bbq chips. Everything was delicious, but it’s a little expensive like most items I saw were about
+$ 15.
Catfish: good texture of fried batter. Not too thick or thin, but could use spicier seasoning. The catfish fingers came with sweet/​sour and some other kind of sauce. The entrée came with 2 decent size fillets.
Mac n cheese: side that is according to menu is spicy, but felt ZERO burning. Still love mac n cheese though. Since it’s a side, it’s served in those little sauce cups instead of a bowel.
Bbq chips: also a side, but in a little bowel. I think these are made in the restaurant since they were warm when we got them. Bbq seasoning very light, but the chips overall were delicious since they don’t tasted like the artificial junk. Chips kettle style.
There is a deal for military vets if you show ID and a $ 50 feast deal for 2 I think. Friend’s fish tacos also looked good, but didn’t try them. Smoking pig in downtown is also supposedly good, but idk. They don’t allow any substitutions on your order.
Restrooms: walk to left towards bar and take a right at the bar. Separate men women restroom ls. Overall, famous Dave isn’t bad for bbq. There’s also salad, soup, burgers and tacos if you don’t feel like bbq.

Came here for lunch on Sunday and the wait time was about 15 – 20 mins for two people. The resteraunt is very dark but had a nice All-​American theme to it. The host was very nice and welcoming when she sat us… but the service went downhill from there which I will explain later on.
It was my first time so I wasn’t sure of what was good. My bf and I ended up ordering the All American Feast for two people which was sort of a sampler of most of their popular items. The portion was huge when it came out. It included ribs, chicken, side dishes, cornbread and fries. This sampler for two could actually feed up to 3 btw** As for the sides included in it; instead of the beans and coleslaw, we switched it out for the garlic mashed potatoes and their mac n cheese. Not a fan of beans and my bf doesn’t like coleslaw): I am a huge fan of their big sauce selections though (mild to xxx spicy)…ALL 6 of them were good. Overall the food was mediocre to me. the ribs were tender on the inside but hard to bite into.
Service here definitely needs some working on… we were not once checked up on and it wasn’t busy at all during this time. It seemed like they wanted to avoid us as much as possible. The only service we received was when our food and check was dropped off. which isn’t really customer service; that’s already supposed to happen.
Overall ³⁄₅ only for the food and yummy sauces

I had a great time with amazing people. I’m not talking about the staff.
My alligator and sweet mamas punch drinks were watered down :(
Totally bummed about that.
My chicken pulled sandwich thingy had a bone in it. Super more bummed.
Best thing was the Wilbur’s revenge sauce. Oh yahhhh
I will probably never come back unfortunately. I was expecting a lot more from this place.
3 stars because of the fun time I had with my co workers. :)

This place is pretty good. I think the food is great, service is so so. Busy place so make sure you get here early. I do have to admit that the ribs are really good though, so I will come back :-) One cool thing is the bar. Cool place to grab a quick drink. Try the take out too. You can go to the counter and do a take out order.

i remember a lot of people told me that famous dave’s isnt so great because it was a chain restaurant.
BUT from my point of view. i kinda like it. my kids like it. so its settled. we like the place.
the BBQ isnt «out of this world» but its decent. i can literally feed my family with some leftovers for under $ 50 with tip included.
cornbread is THE best here though. i like the crunchy muffin top.