Famous Daves

Okay, I have been to Famous Dave’s on Columbus Blvd and would give a great review this location from the moment I walked in the door I was disappointed.
Instantly I felt like the place was disorganized. Not to mention this place is now closed…

I really like the Famous Dave’s I’ve been to (Cherry Hill and So Philly). They have all been consistent and flavorful, with pretty good service. The center city location, however, is pathetic.
First of all, it doesn’t have the usual cabin-​type décor. Instead it looks like some dumpy mix of Five Guys and Cheeburger Cheeburger. The tables aren’t a «rustic» feel, but rather covered in what appears to be an extra thick trashbag. Gone are the condiments on the table. Instead you have to go find the few they have at their condiment station. There were no napkins on the table or anywhere in the restaurant, they keep them behind the counter. For god’s sake it’s a BBQ RESTAURANT!
As for service, there is none – everything is self-​serve. You have to order up front and seat yourself. It took several minutes for anyone to even acknowledge me even though the place was empty. Eventually they managed to look up and help me. After you order, a «waiter» is supposed to deliver your food, but when I was there, no such thing happened. Instead, our «waiter» made a beeline for the bathroom and he did not return until we were done our meal. He came by as we were cleaning up to ask how everything was, and we said «eh ok,» and he pressed us for more detailed info, at which point we said, «it’s fine.» and he got the message.
The food wasn’t quite what I expected. We ordered what we usually do, brisket, pulled pork, and ribs. The brisket tasted the same, but the rest was very inconsistent. Between 2 orders of pork, one was more cooked but with no sauce on it, and one had a ton of sauce. The sides were mediocre (though I’m glad they finally have mac & cheese). I also like the new extra hot sauce, Wilbur’s Revenge, but it didn’t really make up for the inconsistent product.
This place is far different than your usual Famous Dave’s. Perhaps the should call it Dave’s Express. It really seems to be geared toward your average ghetto Philadelphian. You’ve gotta hide everything behind the counter because your patrons might steal them.

my first experience at a famous daves, after hearing from multiple people that i needed to go get some:
–rittenhouse prices, for little portions.
–garlic mashed potatoes i could eat for the rest of my life
–jalapeño mac n cheese i could eat for the rest of my life
–ribs hot off of the press, enjoyable sauces to smother them in (devils spit!)

Famous Dave’s made it downtown via an express type location. They do not have the full restaurant menu, but you can still find all the usual suspects. I’m definitely a fan of their restaurants and this location is not far off. The food tastes fresh and service is friendly and casual.
The menu is painted on the mirrors and is tough to read, but basically consists of sandwiches and platters where you get your choice of meat. They also have a bag lunch special that changes every day and includes chips and a drink for $ 8.99. It was a chopped pork sandwich when I went and that’s what I got. They also had a special offer where u could add buck-​a-​bone ribs, and I was hungry so I got two of ‘em. Portion size was perfect for lunch; full, but not too full. The chopped pork was smokey and salty which blended perfectly with the sweet & zesty sauce i doused it in. There’s 6 sauces to choose from and i recommend you try them all. I laughed when I read the name of their spiciest sauce, Wilbur’s Revenge – named after the Charlotte’s Web character (duh, the pig). Homemade chips are good and perfect for taste testing all the sauces.
The restaurant itself is very casual, clean and comfortable. Lots of TVs in the back and tables facing chestnut street up front. It was real nice yesterday, and they had the windows open, so I sat up front.
Would give this place 4 stars, but the BBQ itself is not as good as the stuff they sell in their restaurants. Still a good lunch spot, but definitely looking forward to the new Percy St BBQ that’s supposedly opening in October at the Comcast Center’s food court basement.

Let’s face it, Famous Dave’s is not a cheap place, but I have been eating at various one’s for years and I can tell you that different store locations charge different prices.
I always do the 4 rib ala carte. Ribs are too thick for me, but will do as I like the sweet caramelized sauce.
I can actually make better ribs myself, but the apt. complex won’t allow it.
I tried to venture out and try the brisket recently for the first time ever. I thought it was bland and believed it to be boiled and then microwaved. It didn’t have the normal color and crust that real smoked brisket usually has. I didn’t like the lunch-​meat flavor it had to it. I wished I had of just stuck with the all ribs.
I paid $ 25 for 4 ribs, 9 oz of brisket (which looked like about 3 oz) and just one cornbread muffin which was succulent. Cornbread muffin used to come with the 4 bone, but they took it out charging extra now for it.
If someone knows of another rib place that is good but lesser price tag, let me know.

Zero stars!
Do NOT ever even think about this.
Delivery = no delivery but a lot of excuses (they didnt tell me the apartment number, my phone is dead, your doorman doesnt know your phone number, your doorman cant type the cell number on the receipt) etc.
Food was cold when we got it — very cold — very very cold. Congealed cold pork fat and fries. Ugh Ugh Ugh.
If you must order, then book a hospital room, but maybe for a couple of days in the future, when you actually get the food.
Do NOT do it

Famous Dave’s on Columbus is great. Well, maybe not great, but perfectly acceptable, tasty, chain-​restaurant barbecue. I went to the Chestnut location around dinner time (7ish) on a Tuesday. Placed a to-​go order of a combo meal with ribs and the chopped pork. Wellllll let me tell you, the only thing that went smoothly was the order taking process. After placing my order, I sat down and waited approximately 25 minutes after being told it would be roughly 5 (which I thought was a little short anyway, but hey, its all pre-​made, they just have to shove it in a to-​go container). So after waiting a relatively ridiculous amount of time, given the fact the restaurant was basically empty, and nobody else had ordered after me, I finally got my food from some random worker who seemed to appear out of nowhere and proceeded home. Worse than the wait, was the quality of the food. Like I said I’ve eaten at a couple Famous D’s before and they’ve all been pretty decent. However, how can slow-​cooked pork and ribs be dryer than sand? The ribs were borderline edible, and the chopped pork, even after a pretty hefty dowsing of sauce was literally dryer than the sahara. Completely inedible. The cornbread as well was desert-​quality, and the corn on the cob, mushier than baby food. The only redeeming element was the coleslaw, which I guess would take a serious, serious effort to mess up. Overall 0 stars, but I can’t rate it that low. I will definitely not return to this location, and I seriously hope a corporate review board or something stops by there soon.

The BBQ is really good. It’s always really good. The joint is Nat. American founded and I like that I’m not just throwing my money at some conglomerate.
BUT THE SERVICE IS TOO SLOW. I am willing to wait in the ridiculously slow line because I know the food is good, but Famous Dave would be pissed if he came to this restaurant! It is not understaffed — it is massively unorganized and the staff seems to suffer from soul-​crushing management. They all have hallow expressions in their eyes. And the profusely sweating, short, over-​weight man who took my order kept call me «Honey» and «Doll», he was this [.] close to pulling out Sweet Cheeks on me — CREEPY.

2^nd try — around 12:30PM, Thursday — prime lunch time. Again, not many people inside — there were a few seated, one waiting in the back for food, one ordering and three in line in front of me.
What was the most obvious was the utter chaos behind the counter — four people working the orders, all looking confused — with one guy, possibly the manager? running around but not really helping, barking orders. When they received the print-​out of the order of the person who was in the front of the line, you’d have thought it was written in some decipherable code. .. total confused looks on the faces of the staff.
After 10 minutes in line and only one person getting an order in to the kitchen, I left. .. and, I think I’m done.

I came in expecting the sit down restaurant like the one near Penn’s Landing, but it turned out to be more of a fast food joint.
However, I was pleasantly surprised that they had a nice hybrid of both. I came with a big group of around 10 people, and they were very accommodating. While you usually go up to the counter to order and pay then sit and eat, with our bigger group they sat us and gave us a waitress which was a nice surprise. On top of that, this waitress was one of the best waitresses I’ve had judging from my other reviews, and it was very welcome. They service was quick and the refills were plenty and they never rushed you to finish your meal. She spent a lot of time socializing and making us feel welcome as well as giving some of the first times at famous dave’s a «sauce tour».
Food quailty here was great especially for the price. They are my #1 favorite ribs by a franchise. I also have to say that the corn bread and fries are awesome as well!
This combo of good food and service make it a place that I could keep coming back to for my barbeque fix!

I wanted to love this place, because I love barbecue and it would be super-​convenient and is very reasonably priced. But no matter how much slack I give this place, the food doesn’t rise above acceptable. Which is OK. It’s nice to have an acceptable local BBQ joint. But damn it would be nice if they could get beyond that!
The very good: The pork. It isn’t really pulled pork. It actually reminded me of brisket … except made of pig. It had some lovely flavorful charred bits. The flavor was incredible. It was not fatty at all.
The good: I really like the space and the service was great. The staff was very friendly and the place was clean and I think the layout works well. I’d have to see it crowded to judge whether the more narrow area between the front and back dining areas ends up getting crowded, but I think it’s a nice way to separate the people waiting for takeout from those who are going to hang out to eat.
The meh: The brisket was pretty fatty. I know brisket is a fatty cut of meat, but this was to the point that I spit a few pieces out. Some fat: delicious and melts in your mouth. All fat: not delicious and makes you gag. There is a fine line, this crossed it. The mashed potatoes were over-​mashed and under-​seasoned. The corn on the cob tasted like elementary school lunch food. And they really need some actual vegetable offerings for sides to counteract the carbs.
They also really need to put sauce and a roll of paper towels on all of the tables. For serious, dudes. You’re serving barbecue. Don’t be ridiculous.

Let me first start off by saying I love the Famous Daves on Columbus blvd. Their sweet and zesty bbq sauce is my favorite and their food is good. So this one star rating isn’t about the food as much as the service. I’ve been to this location 3 times and each time the service is worse than the last. The first time I went was during their opening week, it was really busy but given the volume of people the amount of time we waited wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. The second time I went was a few weeks later and the service was strange. Four different people asked me my name before I even started ordering, while we were waiting they directed us to stand in a different spot for take out, kept asking us if we were first timers, and kept trying to ask me my favorite sauce while I was in a conversation with the people I came with. It was still a little slow getting my food and such but it was bearable. The third time I went was today for lunch and this is why I won’t go back. It’s 12:05, I walk in with a friend (we were both on our lunch break) and there was no one else in front of us, no line nothin. (That should have been the first clue, what food venue in center city isn’t crowded during lunch time?) The presumed manager opens the door, which was nice, and we go to order. It was all downhill from there. We were waiting for 15 mins and suddenly the manager was no where to be found. The line was making food for people that were sitting down and eating already. Then they all started arguing about the ticketing system. They asked us our name 5 times to sort of orders. The manager finally appears and starts asking us our names and yelling at the staff, random employees start going in behind the line and try to sort out the orders, random people start coming in and hugging the employees. The manager goes to the front of the house. I still haven’t gotten my food, people that ordered 5 mins after we came in start getting their food. My friend was about to blow a gasket. Five minutes later they call my name and as we are about to leave the manager gives us a 5 dollar certificate to come back. The total amount of time we waited was 30 mins (we got out at 12:35). When we got back I noticed that I didn’t get a corn on the cob, and my friend ordered fries and they gave him baked beans.
Overall I won’t be back.

Everything about this place is awful The service is painfully slow, it’s not clean, and the food — let’s say it’s an abomination. The worst BBQ I have ever eaten (well, started to eat, the rest went in the trash). It isn’t even BBQ, it is just reheated, previously frozen corporate garbage. Rubbery and tasteless — it’s why you are given 6 types of bbq sauce — in the hope that you can swallow it. I even recommend the homeless to search garbage cans before eating at Famous Dave’s.

So excited this location opened! They are great and the food is second to none. Yum!

Wow! Famous Dave’s opened mini-​branch in Center City — and they have lunches for $ 7.99 — $ 8.99!
The management was so accomodating to us today — and the staff was friendly — especially Jennifer who greeted us at the door. I hope the high service level continues (they are still new and trying hard — so please don’t stop trying!)
Our orders were filled quickly & correctly and the BBQ chicken, ribs, corn muffins & sides were delicious — and just like at the «big» restaurant (chain) in South Philly.
I am so glad to have them in the neighborhood. Oh — and they have a $ 19.99 per person (10 people minimum) holiday party special — includes drink, tax & tip!
Can’t wait to take my little one here to see Wilbur!!!
And maybe ONE day I will try the deep-​fried bread pudding with pecan dipping sauce. (Or dare I even metion the deep-​fried oreos?)
Oh, my thighs!

Hey, it’s fast food but it’s barbecue fast food so it’s a strong 3 stars. Get a combo meal and a beverage for about 12 bucks. Pretty good and right in center city. Staff was quite congenial, making sure all was good.