Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que

BBQ sauces are good. I had the burger which was good as well.
Kids menu is way overpriced. $ 13 for Kraft Mac and cheese? I watched with a tear in my eye as both my kids ordered it. Yep. I paid $ 26 for a box of Mac and cheese that wasn’t even freshly prepared.
Two stars because my meal was good. Got fleeced with the kids. Next time no kids menu and I’ll take their leftovers home.

Went with a large group for lunch and we were seated immediately. Lunch specials are a great deal with common combos running from around $ 8-​$ 11. One meat combo is a lower price or you can get two for the higher price. The food was good and hot, got mild boneless wings which were flavorful and filling. Came with a side of fries and cornbread, both were good, especially the fries. Would go back again for lunch, no doubt.

Great food! I usually go to the one in Lake Delton, since it is near my home. The food is always good. I do think the prices are a bit high, but I do have the unfortunate problem of living in the «Waterpark Capital of the World»…so, the prices and taxes do run higher. Most of the employees are exchange students, but I have found them to be very nice.
Overall, I think this is a very good restaurant.

OK, I admit I did not make it inside here, so the review is not of the food.
I arrived around 11:30 one day, having found the place through
and Unilocal.Figured worth a shot, although I am no BBQ expert. The parking lot was PACKED. But I found a place. Then I got on line, which I assumed would move with some sort of pace. Nope. And no bar to sit at if you are alone. I waited a while, then realized I may be there for quite some time, so I moved on down the street. But the patrons eating looked happy, the servers were busy but smiling and it smelled great. Ill try again when passing back through town.

Went here last night to introduce my husband to their BBQ. He’s from chicago, but thinks it cannot be good because they are a chain and his secret dives are the best. I’m glad they still proved him wrong because the smoke flavoring is always ridiculously good. However, my brisket was really dry (it’s always been juicy) and looked like it had been microwaved based on the tough texture and chewy ends. Smoked beef jerky is still good, so I didn’t complain, but I wish I would’ve checked Unilocal before going so we could’ve skipped this particular location…

Well Famous Daves, I walked in with some very high expectations for some good bbq. We were a party of 4, we were served by a «Famous Matt» who was only ok.
Lets talk about the food first, it was pathetic. My chopped pork sandwich was somewhat cold and the Daves Burger that my Fiancée ordered was poorly constructed. The other 2 in the party had entrees that were less than desirable as well.
Now during the middle of our meal something happened. The floor was pooling with water rapidly. Management and wait stuff were running around like chickens with there heads cut off. Then they proceeded to open the sliding doors that cover the front of the building. It was about 20* degrees out that day. The place was cold instantly. I was never asked if I wanted a refill on my beverage. Never asked how my food was.
I used to bartend in the Dells and it’s very easy to make small talk here. For crying out loud ask people what there plans are here in the Dells, where their staying. Our waiter did none of that. The manager never apologized for the inconvienance. That was $ 25 poorly spent.

My wife and I ate here the other night when I was in the Dells for a business trip. I was really in the mood for some good ribs and this didn’t fit the bill. First the place was very cold, they could have turned the heat up a little. The ribs I got were a zero calorie experience. I burned as many calories trying to get the meat off the bone as I did by eating them. My meal also came with brisket which was ok. The one thing I did really like was the macaroni and cheese. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. It had a little kick to it, and had corn in it. I won’t be back, but if I had to come back I would just order the mac & Cheese.

Same great Famous Dave’s taste however this particular location’s prices are much higher and they give you much smaller portions than usual. Way to take advantage of tourist Dave. Boo!
That being said, their ribs are still fantastic!

Famous Dave’s is great for an all around great meal, if you are a fan of BBQ. Great meal deals and choices of sides. Portion sizes are perfect and very fair for what you pay. All around, very tasty. The décor is pretty generic but generally the atmosphere on my visits have been OK.

We were very pleased with our experience at this Famous Dave’s.
We were seated right away, the manager on duty seated us. Our waiter was very nice. I wish I remembered his name. He was foreign, his name started w an O. Food was very good. We have been to Famous Dave’s back in Chicago so we were hoping this location would be just as good. They did not disappoint. The manager did come back over a couple times through out asked how every thing was and what we were planning for the rest of our trip. Very pleasant. We have been to the Dells before, not every meal has been a hit. this was for sure. We will be back here next time we are in the Dells.

We got to Dells on Friday night. After checking in to the hotel we decided to get some late dinner. It was 9pm so many places were closing already. After unsuccessfully trying to get into the Famous Dave’s in Dells downtown we came back here. The place was still open and we got seated right away.
I’ve tired Famous Dave’s in Chicagoland before. My fav dish is pulled pork platter. The waitress was foreign (summer work program I guess), but she was really nice and attentive. The portions here are huge! We couldn’t finish half of them. Overall, good experience.

Terrible acoustics – screaming children on several visits make Chuckie Cheese seem like a peaceful retreat. Actually spoke with manager on one occasion to appeal to him to get unruly children to stop hollering and running around – we literally could not hear ourselves think.
Hot links and catfish are delicious – good to see healthy citrus fish choices on menu as well. NIce selection of BBQ sauces to please any palate. Beverage prices – non-​alcoholic – seemed high at ¹⁄₃ to ½ price of lunch special itself.
Service has always been good here, but sometimes over the top — who needs a server asking «are you done with this?» for the fourth time when your fork is midair and your mouth is full?
Convenient location just off the interstate – good parking and on/​off access.

Overall we had a pretty decent experience here. The food was alright, but a little overpriced and the service was great. Remember, this is a chain restaurant and the BBQ has been sanitized to reach a more general palate, so if you are looking for phenomenal BBQ, you are better off driving past this place.

We stopped here during a Familiy H2O park trip because we’ve had good experiences with Famous Dave’s in Chicagoland. Our party of 10 was seated quickly, but I should have been more suspicious when they didn’t answer their phone earlier in the day (I wanted to see if they take reservations).
The service was poor. Our teen/​twenty-​something server must have been pulled off the street – poor intro, poor follow up visits (eg is there anything I can get you? howz the food?), molasses slow on taking care of our check and zero charm to top it off.
The food was poor. Brisket that looked and tasted like roast beef. All the food was served at room temperature. The heaping pile of rib tips was inedible– 90% cartiledge and disgusting.
If your are the Manager/​GM of this site and are reading this, you need to get your house in order. You’ve turned «Famous Dave’s» into «Infamous Daves».
Next trip to the Dells will definitely find us dining elsewhere.

Floor sticky in areas, tables not very clean. Rib tips very fatty, poor service on a Thursday night. I would go somewhere else.

Don’t go to lunch here if you are on a time schedule or want to receive what you order. On a recent trip to the Dells, we stopped off at Famous Dave’s for some bbq. We arrived at 11:30 for lunch, to avoid the rush at noon. The restaurant was ½ full, with some people eating. Our server took 10 minutes to take our drink order, and we should have known then that it was going to be a wait. It was another 10 minutes to come back with our drinks, and take our order. In this time two other tables walked out. We would have but my son was set on having ribs. (what we do for our kids…)
Our food came, two out of four people got the worng order. We talked to the the manager on duty, who said nothing but sorry. WOW!

Dirty plates with visible food particles. Discombobulated staff particularly on second floor.
Same great barbecue and sides but may be worth driving the extra 10 minutes to the other Dave’s in downtown Dells.