Famous Dave’s

We Enjoy This Place a lot especially with several differently baroque sauces. We loves their lunch combos too. I enjoy the white chicken barbaque. If you like dessert the bread pudding is the best.

Very poor BBQ
Burnt ends aren’t supposed to be this way
Someone needs to explain the term «render» to them
But if they actually tried to render all the fat on these tiny meteorites they would have disintegrated.
BY FAR THE WORST EXAMPLE OF WHAT BURNT ENDS ARE!
All it was tiny cubes of fat with sauce that was burnt to a crisp.
Sauce was so burnt, it’s amazing some idiot would actually serve them to anyone.
Wilbur beans had not even one piece of meat in them.
I have been to Famous Dave’s all over the country and this has got to be by far the worst one.
Since Dave sold off his name and restaurants to big business years ago, they have went completely down the toilet, thats where the food should go also, this is a perfect example of how all they think about is $$$$.
Terrible terrible food
Bartender/​waitress however was good, too good of person to be working in this embarrassing mess!
I brought 3 customers here and wasted $ 100, only thing of any value was the $ 13 tip.
Go anywhere else but here

The nachos with pulled chicken was great. The ribs were as everyone keeps saying «mediocre». The worst part of the meal was the Mac n cheese. The menu says it’s a special blend of 4 cheeses with jalapeños. Ummm no, it’s Kraft Mac n cheese. I don’t even know if that powder stuff you use for Kraft Mac n cheese is really cheese. Instead of 4 cheeses with jalapeño the menu should say «one unknown type chemical that we say is cheese. The end».
We spent $ 41 and we feel it was worth about $ 11.50.

Love the staff at Famous Daves they will get you what you want. Definitely try the chicken its amazing my favorite

I’ve been here a few times with my parents. We’ve had the ribs and in my opinion the food is mediocre. Also, one time when we were picking up food at the counter, and no one was there. We had to wait 5 minutes during a nonbusy time just for someone to be at the counter and realize we were picking up. The waitresses also seemed to disappear when we tried to get their attention to see if they could have someone come to the counter. Mediocre food with mediocre staff, I can find better.

I recently have only done carryout with Famous Dave’s. I have eaten here several times, and I have never had a good experience with their waitstaff. There is a waitress who has been there at least for the three years that I’ve lived in this area, and she always seems uninterested/​miserable. The to-​go counter is usually good, although sometimes the staff talk as if you aren’t standing right there. (e.g. «Have you helped this guy yet? –No, he’s looking at the menu. –Ok, I’ll wait here until he’s ready to order).
So in short, I do recommend this place for the food, but not for the customer service.

Famous Daves has really changed from how I remember it. It used to be my favorite chain bar b que restaurant. It had the bar b que vibe. Not trying to be fancy and the food was always good. My girl has never had it so we went the Sunday after valentine’s day and I was pretty disappointed. Service was eh. It was slow, our server checked on us maybe once the whole time but my main complaint was the food. Everything just tasted like it was bathed in Salt. The ribtips were unedible even slathered in sauce, brisket was tough, fatty and real salty, the stand out for me was the catfish. Always good. As were the sides. Pulled pork was tasty. But I don’t know. Seems like they’re trying to fancy it up with the plates and presentation. Do what you do daves. Bar b que. Go back to serving on trash can lids. Leave the fancy rectangle plates to Fridays or ruby Tuesdays who also left what they were behind. From now on whenever I get that bar b que craving I’m taking the drive out to monk’s in Purcellville

It’s winter outside, temperature is 10 degrees with a –5 degree below zero wind chill. What a great night to have dinner at Famous Dave’s with my motorcycle buddies! No one had studded snow tires on their motorcycles so all attendees had to drive their cages (cars) to dinner.
Despite the snow, ice, and chilling temperatures, 14 folks showed up and we sat a single table with two servers waiting on us.
Service was excellent, and the food was delivered promptly for most folks.
The food was hot and of good quality. I had a BBQ sandwich and side Caesar salad. The sandwich was tender and moist and the salad crispy. Is this the best BBQ I’ve had in northern VA? No. But it is very good considering the price and convenience.
The servers even prepared individual checks for all 14 of us. A solid 3.5 stars from me. I’ve eaten here before at a veteran days lunch and the food was equally good.
Is it located the best location? Probably not, tucked in the back of shopping center behind a Home Depot. I’m a local so it’s easy to find, but someone new to the area will have to look twice, maybe thrice to find it.
I’d go back, but must admit that the Famous Dave’s in Chantilly rates a full half star better.
Your mileage will vary of course.

After hearing all of the great things about Famous Dave’s, I was excited to give it a try. And oh boy did I regret it! The prices are comparable to other fork-​and-​knife bbq joints, but the food just was not good. At all. I ordered the catfish with macaroni and garlic mashed potatoes which came with a cupcake, I mean cornbread muffin.
Where to start? The catfish was in strips, like «fingers». I hear this is their trademark, but the problem with catfish fingers is that you taste a lot of greasy batter and very little fish. The macaroni was obviously out of a box or can, and there was corn mixed in. Yuck! The garlic mashed potatoes were actually the highlight of my meal. Very well flavored. Almost good enough to give them 2 stars… but nope.
But then there was the cornbread… while I am a fan of sweet cornbread (or sweet water bread, as my husband calls it) this was just wrong. It was overly sweet and had the texture of a cupcake instead of a cornmeal. I had originally planned to order dessert, but the cornbread took care of my sweet tooth for me!

Good barbecue for a chain restaurant. Lots of variety, good food, clean and friendly.

I like Famous Dave’s but I will admit that the food isn’t good consistently, some days the ribs are awesome and then some days they are pretty much McRibs
The options and combos are all great, they have ribs, brisket, roasted chicken, burnt ends, pulled pork/​chicken and more, I like the sides and the portions that you get for your money and the deserts are pretty good as well, the staff here is always nice and the managers that I have seen here seems to treat employees and customers good
So all they need is that constant goodness with the food and Dave can be Famous again

Atendimento bom! Comida no ponto certo, ambiente familiar, e preço justo. Excelente!
As opções de BBQ são amplas. O sweet corn é muito bom, cozido no ponto certo.
A música ambiente é blues em volume agradável, sem impedir que você converse com quem está à mesa.
Serviço cordial, vale 20% de correta.

Been twice this yr, worse each time. Overall food quality is rather poor, hard to cover that w sauce. Ribs were tough as leather and pulled pork was bland and fatty. Sides were equally unappealing. Too bad b/​c they used to be decent. Not going back

Awesome Georgia pulled pork! Flavorful sauses. Staff could smile a little, but overall great place!

No brisket?!? How the hell are you a BBQ place with ½ of your menu listing brisket as an item, and you don’t have it? It wouldn’t have been AS bad if the waitress led with, «we’re out of brisket». But no, she waited for me to order then said, «we don’t have any brisket, I don’t know how it happened». No wonder the place is empty…
Famous Fail!

Terrific food — very consistent from location to location.
This restaurant is off the beaten path a bit but worth tracking down.
Ambiance is typical — cabin-​like feel, a bit noisy, big booths, deer heads on the wall, paper towels on a galvanized pipe holder on your table top.
Famous «Jo» was our waitress — solid, responsive, friendly.

This is a good reliable go-​to place. I’ve eaten here several times and it has always been very consistent. I realize that this is a bbq place, and the brisket is quite good, but I love the catfish fingers!
And sometimes I get extra cornbread muffins to go. Yeah, they’re that good!

This would be the VERY LAST establishment I would go to if I was STARVING… The ribs were disgusting the service far from attentive and all said the food was AWFUL.
Now, if I was given a «money back guarantee» for my meal, my opinion may change.
This review is based upon our last visit almost a year ago.
I appreciate reviews from my fellow UnilocalERS. It appears that there have been recent favorable reviews.
Staff and management change. We used to to DAVE’S on a regular basis.
But even my all time favorite of DAVE’S INCREDIBLE BREAD PUDDING was a disappointment. It was dry and the ice-​cream that is supposed to compliment it was ½ melted…
If I am going to spend my hard earned money on a dinner out, it will NOT be FAMOUS DAVE’S. :(

This is our new BBQ place! We just moved here from New York and just came here because it was close to our apartment. The staff is great and very helpful when trying to pick food or a sauce. We got pulled pork and ribs and thy were both delicious! They came with two sides and corn bread. Can’t wait to start trying everything else on the menu!

My wife and I decided to eat some barbecue in Sterling and went to Famous Dave’s. The host seated us at the table of our choosing in this family-​friendly restaurant. The manager, Patrick, provided us with a welcome package as first-​time diners which included a bottle of their standard sauce! As you might gather, the service is excellent, friendly, and accommodating.
The rib portions (full rack, ½ rack, and ¹⁄₃ rack) are excellent options depending on your appetite. Being from NC, we know barbecue… and this place serves the best I have eaten outside of NC! The coleslaw and potato salad taste like home and the corn on the cob tops it off. We both selected the ¹⁄₃ rack and a bottle of beer, all for about $ 35.00. High value for the money. Don’t miss it!

Famous Dave’s is always a tasty standard if you want some southern/​country cookin’. The food is good and super filling, if not very healthful.
However, this particular location isn’t nearly as good as some of the others I’ve been to. The hosts/​hostesses seemed very confused that we had a party of six and tried to persuade us that we’d all fit in a booth for four (not even one of those long booths either). Then they tried to seat us at a table with not enough chairs — after some confusion and recounting, they got us seated. Kids really can’t do simple math and problem solving these days.
The rest of the meal went fine, but the waitress got everyone’s sides wrong and had to re-​bring out all of the food. And we never got offered even one refill. At the end of the meal we finally just asked for refills and got them at the same time as the check.
Again, I like Famous Daves just fine, and the Oakton and other locations in the area are pretty good. Just steer clear of Sterling.