Billy Sims BBQ

The ribs are spare ribs not baby back. It’s mostly fat and cartilage. Potato salad is mustard based. Not my thing. I do appreciate it’s long storied tradition, but It’s just not good food.

Dexter bussey, Horace King, Billy sims, another 1 bites the dust! Soo was hoping for a really good carry out .did not happen. 12 small kinda gristly ribs, with 1 baked potato on the side for $ 25. Famous daves for same price– much better ribs and more sides.

Stopped in on Sunday (between football games) Only regret is that they are not closer to our White Lake home. Party of 4, no waiting. I had the full back (full rack of ribs), baked beans, white potato salad, pickle, onions, pepper. Meal is just plain perfect. Ribs could not be improved upon, spoon stands at attention in the beans and the potato salad melts in your mouth. If you have not eaten here, you have not experienced great BBQ. Tablemates had the pulled pork sandwiches. Plenty of meat, great taste. Sauces are available (but not needed).

Went here for lunch and was suprised by all my disappointments. First the staff seemed like they never barbequed before. They were distant and confused. I ordered the 2 meat sliced brisket and polish sausage. Got the beans and mac and cheese as sides. Added a drink and the bill was 17.04! I was stunned! I have ate at their competition and for the same thing the bill was 5 dollars cheaper. All the food was room temperature and the sauces are decent at best. The sweet tea was hot, melted all my ice and was still warm. I will never be back here. They need to hire some people to put some lovin’ in the food. Bad location and ok food for an arm and a leg.

Got carryout again. Everything was spot on. They were pretty busy, but the food was ready in 15 minutes as promised. Glad to see consistency in the food.

Not bad I don’t mind this place at all food is really good and you can smell the smokers working

Another chain-​not fresh BBQ. brisket and sausage tasted old, sitting in holding box all day. sides were horrid.

This was my first time in a Billy Sims BBQ franchise, the restaurant itself was immaculate. this is pretty close to fast food and it was as clean as any high end restaurant you will find.
service — i can only assume that the lady behind the counter was the owner because of her dedication to excellent customer service. while i was eating she would come around and see if anyone needed anything, make small talk and was overall friendly.
food — i had AYCE ribs for $ 12.99. the meal came with 2 sides, grilled bread, pickles, hot peppers. the drink was a few dollars more. the ribs where tender and cooked perfect, the sides where lacking but still cooked perfectly. i had Mac & Cheese it wasn’t Kraft but it wasn’t gourmet. the chips where a single serve bag of lays.
some of the other sides i saw looked better then what i got.
I would definitely go back if i was in the area again. great stop for quick good bbq

Friendly employees, quick service, and good food. A nice place. Good flavor on the meats.

We were out on the Clinton River Bike Path & knew this was near enough to scope out.
Mary & David the owners & hosts took great pride in explaining the menu & the smoker.
We ordered the 3 meat platter, chose chopped brisket, ribs & chicken.
It also included 2 sides we chose coleslaw, mac-​cheese plus Texas Toast, pepper, red onion and pickle spear.
The brisket was very flavorful & moist which was a pleasant surprise, ribs were good, I would not order the smoked chicken breast again, as it was very dry & lacked flavor.
I smelled the hot links cooking & had to go fetch one although it had some good flavor & seasoning the texture-​consistency did not have the snap or casing of a sausage at all.
Mary stopped by multiple times to check on us, and even brought a sampler of 1 – 2 more sides for feedback –input as she knew we were first timers.

Very delicious! The beef was excellent the taste was great, great friendly people working there and not too bad of a price. Might not be busy but was great food. BBQ sauce they have on the tables is very good, makes the beef great

Ok, I lived in Texas for 17 years and I am also in Culinary School to become a chef so I know food and barbecue in particular. That disclosure being said, my wife and I decided to have lunch today Billy Sims as she wanted a pulled pork sandwich. As I didn’t sample her sandwich, I will confine my review to my lunch, The Option, or 3 meat combination platter with brisket, Polish sausage and ribs.
Our experience with Billy Sim’s started off pleasantly as we were greeted by all 3 employees behind the counter, including the manager, in a friendly manner. The staff seemed to have a good knowledge of the menu and even suggested that my wife get the «Triple 20» pulled pork sandwich instead of the regular sandwich. This sandwich included melted Provolone and coleslaw on the sandwich and my wife did enjoy it. The food came to the counter fast and our table was cleared after we finished our food. A friendly «Have a nice day» rounded out our experience with the staff.
The first thing that I will say about the barbecue is that I am always disappointed when you order and the staff reaches into a hotbox for a pre-​portioned, cling-​wrapped, pre-​cooked meat. If a bbq joint doesn’t have enough volume for the meats to go directly from the smoker to the cutting board to the customer then close down. Also, I am not even sure that the bbq is smoked on the premise as I could not see a smoker. The smoker should be front-​and-​center for all customers to see. To the meats… The ribs come without sauce which I prefer and were, all-​in-​all, ok. The meat on the ribs yielded to the tooth and made a nice bite mark when taken from the center, as it should instead of it all coming off the bone. This is actually how a bbq judge will judge a competition rib, they don’t want the meat falling off the bone, just tender enough to give when bitten. There wasn’t much flavor to the rub on the rib and it was D-​R-​Y, presumably from being stashed in a hotbox for a while. A slathering of either of the sauces at the table gave the rib some flavor and added needed moisture. The next meat, the Polish sausage, was the best meat on the platter. Even though the link came from the hotbox, the fact that sausage has a roughly 20% fat content ensured that it was moist and tasty. The casing had a nice snap to it, the requisite Polish flavoring of garlic was there with a nice tint of smokiness from the cooking. The third meat was the beef brisket. Now, as I said, I spent years in Texas where beef brisket is king and I have eaten it at some of the most famous bbq place in the Lone Star State so I know my brisket. This brisket was no Texas brisket. Chopped from a slab of meat that came from the hotbox it was dry and tasteless. The crunchy bark which forms on the outside of the brisket during smoking was obliterated by its time in cling wrap and I could not even taste a hint of salt and pepper on the outside of the brisket much less any sort of spice rub. No juices flowed from the slices to run down your hands and the only way it was smoked was by the smoke ring. I didn’t even finish the brisket. The two sides that I chose for with my lunch, the mustard potato salad and mac-​n-​cheese, were also not show stoppers. While the potato salad was good, it did not have the kick you in the head twang that a good Southern mustard potato salad has and the mac-​n-​cheese seemed to be a variant of Velveeta Shells and Cheese pre-​packaged dinners.
If my wife and I do decide to come here again, I will get the sausage. However, to me even mediocre bbq isn’t worth the trouble.

Simply delicious!!!
I am originally from the south and know what real barbeque should taste like. The franchise definitely has got it right! The ribs are great. Not to dry or fatty. Excellent smokey taste. The sides are all hot, delicious, and well seasoned.
On top of having great food was the phenomenal service. Everyone was welcoming and friendly. My family’s first visit definitely won’t be the last. Encourage everyone to visit so this nice restaurant won’t disappear:-)

I’ve rarely ever had BBQ where I didn’t like everything I tried, so I had high hopes based off Pauly and Bill’s reviews but the Boomer-​Q (as they call it here) fell way short. I had to try a little of everything they were offering so I ordered the two meats combo for my girl and the three meat Silverdome combo for myself.
She had the chicken and the pulled pork with mac n’ cheese and the Billy Beans and I had the polish sausage, pulled pork and chopped brisket… they were out of turkey yesterday. I also tried the mac n’ cheese and the coleslaw.
I liked:
The chicken was tender and juicy and had a nice smoky flavor to it. The pulled pork was OK enough but it could’ve been juicier and a little fattier… my girl liked it a lot. Their baked Billy Beans were really meaty and they had great flavor. The coleslaw was solid too. The polish sausage sounded like it was a better choice after reading the reviews of their hot link… it was a solid choice. The complimentary pickles and onions were fresh and tasty. Lastly the caramel brownie, it had a graham cracker crust with fudgy browniness going on and then caramel drizzle on top… worth trying for sure… get two.
What I didn’t like:
The mac n’ cheese was less than stellar ending with some kind of off taste… really sub-​par. The Texas Toast they serve wasn’t really toasted as much it was buttered and warmed through, so you may want to ask for it fully toasted if that’s your thing. The «chopped» brisket was dry and stringy and more like a pulled beef. It had a strange texture and not much flavor even with the sauce added. The pepperoncinis that came with the pickle and onions tasted soapy and weird and I didn’t really care for either of the sauces offered but if I had to I’d lean towards the original sauce if I came back… I didn’t get any heat from the hot BBQ sauce.
For a quick grab-​and-​go type BBQ joint this isn’t terrible but it’s a far cry from places like Lockhart’s that go over and above to make the BBQ experience more traditional and tasty. That said, you’ll pay a premium here… our tab was $ 33 and change and while we did try a lot off the menu the quality wasn’t up to snuff.
2.5 stars

I must preface this review by telling you that I judge all BBQ by the standards of Lockhart’s in Royal Oak.
I came here on a Thursday afternoon with a friend. We got the Brisket, Pulled Pork, Ribs and Hot Link. We also got the sides of Mac and Cheese and Beans.
The Ribs are a good flavor. A little more meat than other places and a good smoke. They are a dry rub, which I do prefer. The Brisket is leaner than most BBQ joints and is a bit on the dry side. It may have been a bit overcooked. The hot link was a quagmire. The texture was like a paste, and seemed a bit under cooked. The opening flavor was very bland, then BAM, HEAT! The heat was tolerable, but the flavor was off. Not a fan. The Mac and Cheese left a lot to be desired, as it was a bit bland… Tasted of a cafeteria Mac. The Beans were a bit on the soggy side for my taste, but the flavor was ok.
The star of the show here is the Pulled Pork. This was the saving grace here. The smoke was great, the flavor was spot on, and it wasn’t a fatty mess. Put a bit of their sweet BBQ sauce on it, and eat with some onion… You’ll forget the other food wasn’t that good.

Oh how do I describe the BBQ Sims Billy. Overall you are somewhat tasty, but your meat is quite dry. Perhaps I had you on a bad day. I split a 4 meat combo with two side with a friend. Brisket, ribs, pulled pork, hot link, mac/​cheese, and beans.
— Ribs: Solid smoke flavor, pulls off the bone with a decent chew, pretty tasty.
— Brisket: Dry, uneventful. I’m sorry but you kind of sucked.
— Pulled Pork: You were dry, but very flavorful in the smoke department. With sauce you were my fav, and I would eat a plate of you again given your close proximity to work, and convenience.
— Hot Link: An awful texture like pâté to me. The heat came after and was nice, but up front flavor and the texture lacked.
Mac & Cheese: Creamy, but noodles cooked into mush.
Beans: See Mac & Cheese, except the piece of pork in it was a nice boost in falvor, but the beans were extremely sweet.
At 12:45 on a Thursday there was no one in there. I dinned in for about 30 minutes, no one else came in. I will stick with Dickey’s no doubt.

Amazing sides. Hot links have cheese in them (not posted everywhere). The ribs, pulled pork and chicken are great. The ribs in my opinion are the best in Detroit. Chicken is in the running for best our second best. This is a fairly new place and I hope they keep up the good grub!

Not the best BBQ that I’ve had, but not the worst either. I’ve driven by this place a few times and finally made some time to come here tonight.
The place is fast casual, and has a nice variety of menu items to choose from. Pork, chicken and beef are all on the menu, and they have a nice selective variety of side items. Some of the side items were green beans, baked beans, coleslaw, Texas toast and I think one or two other items. I personally went with the brisket sandwich, and they offer it either sliced or shredded (but the menu says cubed
The staff here is super friendly and helpful. Loved the wonderful friendly service! The brisket itself was good, but didn’t have much flavor or taste to it. It was sort of dry as well. I was not completely turned off by it, but it just wasn’t what I consider to be great. Plus, they don’t put any BBQ sauce on it, which normally would be fine, but I’m used to BBQ coming tossed some form of sauce before they serve it to me. They have BBQ sauce at the table, but you have to squirt it on yourself, which normally isn’t a problem, but I would have rather them prepared it behind the counter then me continuously squirting BBQ sauce all over the place.
I will say the prices, menu selection and staff were awesome. I’m willing to give this place another shot, and come here again. I also love the fact that it’s by a former Detroit Lions player, which shows the reinvestment in the city of Detroit and the suburbs by opening a restaurant here in metro Detroit.

Click… Click…Click…Click…The sound that this roller coaster of flavor makes as it drops you smack dab in the middle of Sims in Troy. Surrounded by some of my favorite kind of comfort foods, the smell of fresh smoke & Sim’s pleasant staff my eyes lit up like a kid at an amusement park.
A trip to a BBQ joint can be very painful, if you love BBQ as much as I do. You know exactly what I’m talking about. The mere thought of not ordering something delicious and missing out takes a normal dinner bill & multiplies it by two. I’ll take one of those, two of those… & let me get a couple of those.
Sims certainly qualifies, with delicious ribs smoked on sight center stage along side fall apart tender brisket, scrumptious pulled pork & some spicy moist hot links.
Throw in some bomb Mack & cheese, a creamy house made coleslaw, squeeze bottles of above average BBQ sauces & some of the best baked beans simmered with some scrap pieces of pork, mmmm… is your mouth watering yet, because mine is.
Sims has plenty of combos to choose from so if you have any questions ask Andre, he’s the man with a plan & if your smart you will save a little room for some of their turtle brownies that everyone who has ate here has bragged about. Thanks to Matt W for the recommendation & if you haven’t checked out Billy Sims yet I would suggest you check it out!

Ok, since my first review about a month ago, I’ve been back several times. I’ve ordered the ribs 3 times and they have been consistently outstanding each time.
The chicken is also definitely worth a go — very tender and tasty. A friend tried the turkey and really liked it — I didn’t get to try that though — next time.
The pulled pork gets the same compliment as the ribs — very consistent — good smoke flavor (not too strong) with great flavor.
Location owner Dave and his staff have proven to be very friendly and welcoming. Hopefully that attitude is maintained.
Last Saturday I heard the cashiers having a friendly conversation on the amount of brownies that had sold during the day — more than they ever had. So, that created some curiosity. We ordered two for carry out — one was wrapped up nice and tight for us so it’d be good for the next day, the other was devoured after we got home.
Not to sound too positive — but we loved the brownie. It’s got chunks of chocolate and is super soft and more than a little rich. One was definitely enough for two to share and indulge.