Dickey’s Barbecue Pit Marana

Went here for a lunch date with my wife. No waiting. Atmosphere fit the place to a tee! Backwoods country playing. Lol. Ordered the pulled pork plate. Hardly any wait. Sides were Mac n cheese and beans. Home cooked taste. Pulled pork was a little blah but still good. Sauce was amazing! Would have given four stars because of pulled pork, BUT the free ice cream brought it back up! Lol. Just kidding. Everything here is great and would be back.

Where do I begin. I love good BBQ and have had my fair share from all over the the country. I can say that this particular Dickeys knows how to operate a smoker and produce some of the most mouth watering brisket and pork I’ve ever had.
I ordered the brisket and pork plate with mac n cheese and BBQ beans. The second that brisket hit my lips, I knew I was in love. The most tender, smokey, juicy brisket I’ve ever had. Throw on some of their 3 choices of sauces and get ready to take a euphoric roller coaster ride to pleasure town.
And do yourself a favor… go ahead and throw some BBQ sauce in your mac n cheese, maybe even a little pork. You’re welcome.
The Dickeys on Thornydale in Marana knows how to do BBQ.
I will forever be a repeat customer.

Great food and free ice cream! Very friendly customer service. Good kids meal. The sides are really big too

First time here. Service was great, food was great, and the place is clean. What more can I say? Great bbq and nice portions at a reasonable price!

This place wouldn’t be worth it even if it wasn’t slightly overpriced. The ribs were tough and the sauce wasn’t very good. The Mac and cheese had an okay taste but was so over cooked that it was all one sludgy texture. The creamed spinach was watery and just gross. Even the bun that came with the meal, although soft and fresh, had absolutely no flavor to it! Tucson doesn’t have a huge BBQ Scene but there are many places in town better than this place. When Golden Corral makes better BBQ than you… Something is really wrong.

Worst barbecue ribs EVER !! I ordered the rib plate to take home. There was supposed to be 5 ribs on the plate. What I got was a bunch of random meat and 3 ribs. The meat on the actual rib was not bad, but the rest of it was inedible. I could not chew it, it was so dried out. More like jerkey than rib meat. I would not recommend this «pit» to anyone !!

This food was very tasty. It felt, smelled and tasted like Sunday afternoon bbq with friends and family. :)

I love Dickey’s brisket. This location isn’t as good as the other two in Tucson though. They also don’t take the coupons from the paper or offer the big yellow cup discount. I’ll just stick to the other locations.

Finally made it through Dickey’s today. At first I thought it was a local eatery as I had never heard of them before, but then I learned they’re a national chain (not a bad thing of course). I went in with almost no expectations, except for a certain Unilocal review that lingered in my head (more on that guy later). As I walked in, it seemed a bit more upscale that I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an upscale place with crystal chandeliers and people pouring you wine and champaign, but by no means is it a dump. It was nice and clean and felt «warm» and inviting.
Not ever being a patron of this place, I asked what they were known for. Rodney, who was upfront cutting a fresh slap of brisket, told me that they are known for their brisket and ribs, but that everything there was worth having. He advised me to try the brisket and I opted for that and the turkey breast.
They had a several sides that sounded very appetizing and literally made my mouth water just reading them off in my head. As I stood there looking at the side choices, Rodney exclaimed that I should also try the mac and cheese and Raquel, the cashier, said I should try the baked potato casserole. I went with the mac and cheese ended up getting the jalapeño baked beans in lieu of the baked potato casserole as I wasn’t in the mood for potatoes of any kind.
Both the brisket and turkey breast were really good. I don’t eat red meat all that often, but I can say without doubt that this is some of the best brisket I’ve had in an establishment like this. It was tasty and very tender and went great with the spicy BBQ sauce. Now I’ve had better, but not in a semi-​fast food setting. They turkey was absolutely tender and juicy! It was so good on it’s own that I felt borderline bad that I was even put BBQ sauce on the few bites that I had with the sauce. The rest I ate as is, it was that good! I only wished my turkey at thanksgiving dinner came out that juicy lol.
The mac and cheese was very good and nothing like «box» mac and cheese, as another Unilocal reviewer had mentioned. I did wish that they had a more adult version of their mac and cheese though. One with bacon and jalapeño would be an awesome addition to this place. When I asked if this was an option, Raquel said no, but said she can give me a side of jalapeños to put in the mac and cheese. I took her up on her offer and regretted trying it with canned jalapeños still in the juice. I guess it works best with fresh jalapeños that are baked with the mac and cheese. The only real disappointing thing about this meal was the jalapeño beans. It was very bland and I didn’t not pick up on any kind of spiciness. Really wish I had opted for the baked potato casserole.
All in all, this is a good place to eat and I 100% recommend this place to anyone who enjoys BBQ, although I would hold off eating here for lunch and come for dinner instead, unless you’re a fan of spending $ 15+ for lunch. This did not play a role whatsoever in my knocking down a star. The one star was 100% on the jalapeño beans. I would steer clear of this choice.
Also, don’t let that one guy who rated this place a 1 star sway your decision, or me for that matter. If you like BBQ, I recommend giving this place at least a try and sharing your own opinion. My experience there was polar opposite of that one star guy. I would say one of two things is true of that guy, if not both, he’s an uppity BBQ elitist (is that even a thing? lol) or he genuinely had a bad experience at two different locations. If it is the latter of the two, I would just mark it off as a one off type of thing. Plus, I don’t trust reviews from people who don’t use a first name lol :)

Had to try the newest Dickies franchise in town, hoping that it would be better than the other one on Oracle but unfortunately not.
Basically this is BBQ for people who don’t know what good BBQ is, sorry.
Very dry, chewy and stringy brisket with almost zero smoke flavor that absolutely needed sauce to choke the stuff down.
The sliced chicken breast had no smoke ring or hardly any smokey flavor. Aside from the light dry rub virtually not much flavor either and dry. Also needed sauce.
Unfortunately that’s Dickey’s for you but if you like it then more power to you for fake BBQ.

Not bad for a giant chain bbq place. It’s very clean & inviting inside. The staff are friendly and helpful, and the food is decent too. I’m a bit biased as a native Texan & I really haven’t found anything in Tucson that competes on that level. But still, the meats are good, sides are good, portions are huge, and if u dine-​in you get free ice cream. Try the sweet bbq sauce — it’s the real deal! Yum!

Got lunch here and got the sandwich and been waiting for our fries for 20 minutes and the lady said she end up giving our fries out to another place. Wish people can get it together.

I only gave this place a 1, because the food was good. I decided to try Dickey’s instead of Five Guy’s next door. When I came in they had four employee’s working and one customer that had already received their food. I approached the register and the girl told me, I had to order at the other end of the counter. So, I walked down to the other end and the employee standing right in front of me, said nothing. She was chopping up meet and acted like I was not standing in front of her. Then another girl, (I believe to be the manager) yelled «Someone will be right with you». I stood there looking at the employee at the register, doing NOTHING… and another employee standing right in front of me and still has not said a word. The other two employee’s moving boxes. I was getting so frustrated, I was ready to walk out. I was finally asked, what I wanted to order. I ordered a pull pork sandwich. It was good. Not great, but good. I will never ever go to this place again. Someone needs to teach the employees to help the customer first. I see know reason why the register girl could not have just taken my order. Besides listening to them talk about a car, while I waiting. VERY POOR SERVICE…

The food only gets 3 stars (dry meat, no BBQ sauce included on a to-​go order, salty side dishes), but they lose 2 of them on the customer service. Even though everyone shouts «Welcome» when you walk in the door, they don’t seem to notice you after that, I had to wait forever until the person behind the counter took my order. The menu is impossible to understand. They send out coupons showing a picture of sandwich platter with 2 sides, but it wasn’t until after I placed my order that I found out the side dishes don’t’ come with it and cost extra. I told the manager that that was deceptive, and he was rude to me in front of all the other people in the very long line that developed due to the slow counter service. The cashier was too busy chatting with the customer in front of me to finish my transaction. All in all, a very unpleasant experience — I won’t be going back.

The ribs came off the bone as advertised. The Mac and cheese was pretty much what I can get in the freezer section.
All in all, a pleasant experience, but I wouldn’t drive out of my way.

The menu is a little confusing at first, but I thought the food was pretty good. It took a long time to get to the counter, but the girl cutting the meat was very friendly. They were somehow out of ribs right after opening. I had brisket and pulled pork, and I thought the portions were on the smaller side. It is BBQ, so the prices are steep. The coleslaw was decent, and the fried onion straws were very inconsistent. My sisters were nice and crispy and mine were soggy. I was pretty bummed that they don’t have cornbread. They also don’t serve alcohol. One of the girls working there looked clueless about her job. It’s very hot inside, they really need some ceiling fans. The free vanilla soft serve ice cream was a nice end to the meal.

Good sides of Jalapeño Beans and Mac and Cheese. A not-​so-​great side of Fried Okra, however, straight out of a freezer bag and served in a french fry-​type sack. That should not be occurring in a BBQ place. The Okra should be cut and battered on the property. I could have bought that stuff at Safeway or Costco. Chicken was of a shape and texture that may betray it as from a shaped or processed loaf or the like. It did not look like a natural piece of bone-​pulled chicken.
I visited at 12 noon on a Saturday. They opened at 11. They were out of ribs already and the rest of the meat (brisket, chicken, etc.) was already pretty dry and cold. Your smoked meats should not be dry an hour after you open. Maybe by 5 or 6 they will be, but not noon. You’re not doing something right, apparently. As for the ribs, you need to plan better when smoking for the weekend traffic. Being out of ribs an hour after you open on a Sat; well, there’s really no excuse for that.
This place needs to get their fly problem under control. It’s very unsanitary and the Pima County Health Department is going to have a field day when they come and visit you. If there are that many flies in the dining area, then what is going on back in the food prep and storage areas, bug-​wise? I don’t even want to imagine. There are a lot of good exterminators in town. Find one and stick with them.
It’s very strange when a cashier at a BBQ place does not know the meat menu by sight. She looked at my tray and asked me what kind of meats I have. Seriously? You’re a BBQ chain out of Texas. You’re responsible for training your employees to memorize the menu, by word and by sight. Basic tenet of the food industry, not just BBQ. No excuses.
You need to try way, way harder. What you are serving here would not pass muster in Texas (even though your chain is out of Texas). You need to train your employees better and get your meat smoking moisture control and temperature maintenance technique dialed-​in. If I visit the original Dickies, I’ll bet it’s not going to be like yours. It couldn’t. It would never survive in the Texas BBQ business environment. If this store doesn’t improve, it will go the way of the now-​defunct one on 1^st and Wetmore.

If you are looking to have some great Barbecue and an awesome time you need to check out Dickeys Barbecue Pit in Marana. This place as amazing BBQ and FREE Ice Cream!!!

Went here last Sunday, it was still busy at 1:30pm, slowed down around 2:15pm. It was very warm inside. They need some ceiling fans instead of the wagon wheel lights. The food was great, but the menu is very difficult to figure out. This is the second time at Dickey’s, first was the Oracle location.