Mark’s Smok’n BBQ

We went there for ribs and a pulled pork sandwich. We ended up getting two combo meals. The total was just under $ 15. You can’t beat that for great tasting BBQ at a very reasonable price.

Great place to grab a barbecue sandwich. The lady who served our food was very friendly. Even though it’s located in the food court, the food is restaurant quality. I like that they have sandwiches in 3 portion sizes and priced accordingly. They have several sides and few different bbq sauces to choose from. We would probably return when in Council Bluffs again.

I wish I could give them a higher review. The prices are more than fair, but the food is avg at best.
The sides are hidden under cover and bbq sauce is squeezed out of plastic bottles. The brisket was «Ok» but the ribs which just came out of the smoker were barely edible. One of the sauces was too spicy, but I have no idea which one; as I asked for two on the side.
The owner seems like a real nice guy and walked around the few occupied tables to check on diners and thank us for coming in.
Wish them a lot of luck, as the mall is a ghost town; but I will not be coming back :(sorry.

We were stopping for gas and a quick lunch on our way to MN and decided to try this instead of fast food. It is actually inside of the mall — you go into the food court next to the fitness center. But it is absolutely amazing and we’ll worth the extra 15 minutes. The ribs and brisket are incredible and the spicy sauce. The quality of food is better than many nicer restaurants and the prices are great. I highly recommend the fried zucchini too. You will not be disappointed. This will be one of our new favorite stops when we travel.

Extremely good barbecue! The pulled pork combo was a generous portion of both the sandwich and the side, and it was pretty cheap as well.

Awesome food, great prices. Would definitely recommend to everyone. Bought two pulled oork sandwiches, 2 mac and cheese, 1 baked bean and 2 sodas for under 12.

I was super excited to try Mark’s BBQ after my parents-​in-​laws raved about the prices. There are only a hand full of BBQ places in Council Bluffs, and each presents something unique. I also love family-​ran restaurants and supporting local business.
I knew ahead of time, that we wanted to try a little bit of everything, since the prices were dirt cheap. They were able to customize a platter with a little bit of everything. I would urge them to make this an item on their menu, as many other BBQ places have this as an option. We tried the roast beef, the pulled pork, brisket, ribs, and burnt ends (not featured on the menu). We also tried three of the sides, beans, mac and cheese, and potato salad. Mark was very upfront about the sides that were made in house, and that the roast beef might be dry, and that is still trying to perfect it. Only two of the sauces they offer are made in house as well, the house and the spicy. They were very accommodating for the high demands we had.
When it come to the food, everything was pretty spectacular. The pork wasn’t dry, the ribs fell off the bone, and the brisket was delicious. I will say that the house BBQ sauce was very spicy, but I have a very sensitive palette. The beans (made in house) were also very good. Mark let us know that is is a family recipe passed down.
I would have been more than glad to give them 5 stars if everything was home made. But in the words of Mark himself, «you have to pick your battles.»
Mark’s is located in the mall. Once a thriving atmosphere, it is now a dying entity, which worries me that they soon will be auctioned off and sold. I also think their prices are too low, which may end up hurting them in the future. I love to see them eventually make everything in house and add corn bread to the menu.
Come try Mark’s for tasty, fall-​off-​the-​bone, melt-​in-​your mouth family style BBQ.

If I could copy and paste Kurt S.‘s review I would — he hit the nail on the head with this one, ya’ll.
We truly had a *wonderful* experience at Mark’s, and who the heck knew such awesome ‘cue would be in the food court of the Mall of the Bluffs?!?
Customer service? I felt like I was at my Grandma’s house for Sunday dinner — Mark and his wife and their grandkids were SO friendly and helpful and *excited* for us to try their delicious offerings.
The menu is very straightforward — spare ribs, pulled pork sandwich, smoked roast beef, brisket. I wanted a little sampler platter of a few items and they didn’t really have an option on the menu that matched what I was hoping to get, but Grandma (I’m not kidding, after «the twins» called her Grandma I did too) just told me to tell her what I wanted, so I got pulled pork, ribs (3 good-​sized spare ribs), baked beans and a small side of cole slaw with a fountain soda.
Baked beans? Good. Tender chunks of pork, a nice rich sauce, tasty beans.
Cole slaw? I am NUTS about cole slaw. Usually I’m very, very disappointed. The best cole slaw on Earth, hands down, is at a pizza joint in Wonder Lake, IL (my hometown), and I have NEVER had cole slaw that even holds a candle to this stuff — very, very finely chopped cabbage with a creamy mayo taste balanced by a strong, tangy vinegar (and plenty of it).
Mark’s has cole slaw that is just a teeny tiny bit less vinegary, so it takes my #2 spot in BEST COLE SLAWS EVER. It’s Mark’s grandma’s recipe and, I kid you not, as I’m sitting at our table telling Kurt S. and Jess S. what, in my opinion, makes a perfect cole slaw (to review: finely chopped cabbage and more vinegar than mayo) Mark comes over to ask us how everything is and says his grandma always said the key to good cole slaw is «finely chopped cabbage and more vinegar flavor than mayo.»
I was flabbergasted.
Pulled pork was tender with plenty of chunks with crunchy, spicy bark. And the ribs. You guys… the ribs. Now to me, the perfect rib is a baby back that’s full of smoky flavor, a good, spicy rub, fall-​off-​the-​bone tender AND a good amount of char on the outside. I usually don’t get spare ribs because, I don’t know, they just aren’t as good to me as baby backs… most of the time.
But Mark’s spare ribs? Wow. You could literally pull the bone out of the ribs. The rub was a bit milder but had a nice crust to it – not quite char but a good bark regardless. The meat was juicy and tender and full of intense smoke flavor.
I was in BBQ heaven.
AND they make their own house & spicy BBQ sauce with crunchy little chunks of garlic. More on the ketchup side than vinegar but the spice even in the house sauce was just the right amount of tongue-​tingling goodness.
AND the younger fella (didn’t get his name) who does his fair share of BBQ chefery (made up word) in the back got Mark to let him whip up a batch of his Yellow Chicken Curry with jasmine rice as a special for the next day because Mark was going to be doing some smoker maintenance. So they gave us a sample and this yellow curry WAS LEGIT, ya’ll. The cook told us he’d been making it for 12 years.
Homemade yellow chicken curry at a BBQ joint in a food court at a mall in Council Bluffs that’s on life support…
Maybe it was all a dream. How could this be? How, how, how? Well, it was real. And all ya’ll need to get over there and spend some dough on this delicious and ridiculously modestly priced barbecue.
Mark and Grandma have taken a long-​time passion for smokin’ meats and turned it into a business — they’ve taken their aunt’s baked beans recipe and Mark’s grandma’s cole slaw recipe and given YOU the opportunity to share something they and their family have been making for decades.
Go there. Now. Eat it. Eat it all. Grandma will take care of you. The twins will hook you up. Mark will smile and treat you like you just wandered into their family cookout. Be friendly to them, ask them questions, get a sense of their love and passion for this food. Do it. Eat it!
I love me some Boxer BBQ… but I think the next time I go out for ‘cue, it’s gonna be Mark’s.

Ever since hearing about Mark’s Smok’n BBQ a couple weeks ago, I’ve wanted to try it. It is in Council Bluffs, and the prices were supposed to be pretty good. My wife, brother-​in-​law and I stopped at Mark’s this past Saturday to try them out. Bottom line is, they have amazing BBQ at amazing prices. And it’s monumental as they are only the second establishment to receive the official Unilocal ‘Kurt’s Seal of Approval’.
I tried their pulled pork, roast beef, brisket, ribs, and burnt ends. The burnt ends aren’t on the menu and they don’t have them all the time. The ends tasted like smoked bacon, it was so good. The pulled pork was juicy and so flavorful. The roast beef was tender and tasty. Two of the highlights of the meal were the ribs and brisket. The ribs were ‘fall off the bone’ delicious with amazing smoke flavor. I grabbed the 4 ribs I got and I pulled the bone right off the meat; it was that tender! The brisket was SO tender and juicy as well. I haven’t had smoked meat like it before. It was delicious and cheap. The pulled pork sandwich had a pile of pulled pork and it was only $ 3! A full rack of smoked ribs is only $ 20! These prices are the lowest in town for homemade BBQ. My brother-​in-​law and I have already agreed, (spit handshake so you know its set in stone), that we are going to get a rack of ribs for a few of the NFL games this year. Yum!
For our sides, we tried the mac’n’cheese, baked beans, potato salad and coleslaw. We wanted to know which were made in house and which were bought. The owner said that they bought the potato salad and mac’n’cheese and he was completely up front about that. Needless to say, we could definitely tell that the baked beans and coleslaw were made in house; which isn’t a bad thing, but a good thing as their homemade sides stood out that much more. The potato salad and the mac’n’cheese were actually pretty good on their own. The baked beans were awesome; great flavor and it had little chunks of tender pork. But the coleslaw, was truly amazing and one of a kind, (compared to other coleslaw’s in Council Bluffs). The vinegar isn’t overpowering and the chop of the cabbage and lettuce were fine and not chunky, which is the basis for a good coleslaw. Mark was telling us that its an old family recipe, and you can definitely tell why it’s survived all of these years.
After the meal, I tried their homemade peach cobbler and outsourced ice cream. Again, terrific. Why would it not be? Everything else was. The peach cobbler had fresh peaches that were cooked just right and the vanilla ice cream was great.
The customer service is what pushed them to a five star rating on Unilocal.It’s a family run restaurant and you can tell. Mark and his wife were both super nice, down to earth and actually enjoy talking to their customers. Mark has a lot of passion for BBQ and the enthusiasm just pores out of him. Mark actually came out and spoke with us for a little while while we were eating; he wanted to know how everything was. He also told us some stories about the restaurant and his recipes. What owner does that? That was awesome. They even have their grandchildren, twin 16 year old boys, helping out as well. The other cook, (not sure on relation to the family), came out and talked to us as well and even let us try his curry chicken recipe that they were having on special the next day, (that was the special the next day since Mark needed some time to clean out the smoker), and go figure, his curry chicken was awesome! Definitely comparable to other Indian restaurants’ curry chicken around the heartland.
I can’t say enough positive things about Mark’s Smok’n BBQ. Every facet of the experience was top-​notch and amazing, (which is way they received the ‘Kurt’s Seal of Approval’ — this will catch on, I promise).
If you want to go to an awesome, cheap BBQ restaurant that serves up amazing BBQ from old family recipes, then come eat and spend time with the Mulkey family at Mark’s Smok’n BBQ at the Mall of the Bluffs.