Famous Dave’s

Some restaurants have ways to distract patrons from inherent issues that make an average dining experience into something worse. Enter the corporate crafted look of Famous Dave’s. While nothing about this franchise location is, in itself a deal breaker, there are enough individual problems to cause concern. To be sure, flavor profiles are well crafted, but when you serve everything at varying degrees of warm instead of hot, one wonders if the microwave is doing the most work. To back track, I started my meal with the chicken with wild rice soup. Flavor was good, but the wild rice was under-​cooked enough to be noticeable. Next, the rather anemic sized brisket sandwich. Flavor and seasoning was acceptable, but the meat was dry. The small portioned sides also had good flavor, but were gone in three bites.

Famous Daves is the perfect place for some old fashioned comfort food. Is it a chain? Yup. Does that mean it’s not delicious? Absolutely not! The parking lot is definitely a rarity downtown, and super nice, but the inside leaves a bit to be desired. It’s clean enough, but a small space with no booths (where do I put my purse???) and server stations are right by the tables. It feels like you should be able to get your own refills at the soda station but instead your server does it about a foot away from you. The service was efficient. He was not one for small talk, but we didn’t wait for anything he was very on top of everything. Food is good, my mashed potatoes were only like warm but everything else was good as usual! Good place to go for some American BBQ and a cold beer (in a frosted glass!)

I was still a little pissed about the wings and the fish sandwich. I learned my lesson. Good place, good BBQ, good ribs, good sauce. Overall, pret-​ay, pret-​ay, pret-​ay, pretty good.

Slow service but the food was great. Brisket plate and half slab of ribs… baked beans, mashed potatoes, coleslaw and corn muffins were all excellent!!! People mention the price is too high, I felt it was a good price for the volume of food we got.
Called in for take out… was told that it would be ready in 10 – 15 minutes. 30 minutes later the food came out. Small trade for the dinner they provided.

We were sat close to the bar but tucked out of the way. The problem with that was we were forgot about just as a table near us was left dirty during most our visit, 3 servers walked over food on the floor near our table, our server seldom came to our table, we had someone else bring our food. I’m pretty disappointed in this location. I do enjoy the location in Lake Delton and Wisconsin Dells. I will never frequent this location again.

Just visited this place? Lousy service!!! I would not recommend to anyone. Had to go to register to get check and both the waiter and mgr thought it funny!
DO NOT GO!!!

I was very pleasantly surprised. Don’t get me wrong– this place’s flavor profile is almost entirely made up of butter, but you probably knew that if you’re considering a chain barbecue joint to go eat aren’t you? The tenders, ribs, chicken are all great. They offer a variety of different barbecue sauces depending on your palate for sweetness and for spice. The corn muffins are sweet and moist, which makes them easily delicious. Wait staff is attentive. Good spot. That being said, my good experience probably cost on the order of 3500 calories, so just know thats whats happening.

Yummy! I’ve now eaten here twice in the past month. Both times the good was delicious. I ordered chicken BBQ sandwich Memphis style with a side a Mac n cheese.

I would love to bump Famous Daves (FD) up to 4 stars. Even for someone who isn’t crazy about BBQ, I can appreciate the great flavors you get from some good smokey BBQ. I really like FD’s beef brisket and salt water catfish. The brisket is perfectly cooked encompassing all of the natural flavors of the cut of meat. The catfish, while small, are seasoned perfectly. Corn muffins are pretty damn good to be restaurant. Very buttery, moist and lighted toasted. Services generally has always been good.
Now, where I have to knock off some points is their banana pudding. When they do have it in stock, I always get it because it is that damn good. Absolutely amazing. The only person I know that makes great banana pudding is my auntie. However, considering the non-​instant kind of banana pudding is time consuming, she can’t always make me a batch. It’s nice to have a restaurant in town that serves it and serves it well.
The last three times I’ve dined at FD, they were complete out. One time, we even asked the waiter if they had any and we were told yes. Well, when it comes time to order it, we are told they were out. What?! How can this be so?!
Last time we dined, we (again) asked the waiter if they had any. He said yes. OK. About 15 minutes later, he tells us there was only enough to make 1 more serving. Our table had to share it.
I am not sure how many batches they make during a day but I would recommend they make more. The last three times we’ve came, it as during general dinner hours so it is not like we are coming too late in the day and are just missing out. It seems that they simply do not make enough. Their banana pudding is the most popular dessert. That being said, why not make extra when there is high demand?
Also, they got rid of the apples. Not sure why when they were very popular.

This is my 3^rd time here and it’s always the same regardless of how busy — slow and sub-​standard food quality for famous daves.

Great BBQ and great environment! I have had nothing but great experiences at the place and we eat there monthly.

Omg I love famous daves! Their food is amazing, the service is above average and I always get my food right away. I would eat there every day.

Yuck pulled pork is ok but brisket is well not sure you can even call it brisket. Touch chewy sliver slices. So sad. Be sure to look at the picture. That is really what they served me!

Lemonade was great. Sauces are good, flavorful. Cornbread was buttery and crisp. But the brisket was tough and gummy. The chicken was ok but wasn’t much. Gone after a few pinches off the bone. I don’t like thigh meat. I expected pulled bbqed breast meat. But it was whole chicken thighs so the meat was not flavorful. The beans were described beautifully but it was just plain olé beans with no flavor.

This is decent BBQ. Basically, if you really want some BBQ, and you’re in Madison, WI, this will be fine. I’ve just had a whole lot better.
The BBQ is average. The flavor is pretty good, the meat is iffy, and the food seems sloppily prepared. It’s almost like they could earn another star if they only took the 3 extra minutes to properly prepare the food before it comes to the table — pick out some good slices of pickles, arrange the meat neatly on the bun so it isn’t falling off onto the plate, etc. It feels lazy — and they can afford to be because there is little competition in town.
Other bad things — their pop is gross. I don’t know if I just caught them on a bad day, but I hate flavorless pop like this. The service was okay. A whole 10 min passed between the time I was finished and the time I got the check, and it was not because they were busy. I did get my food pretty quick though.
Overall — average at best, and certainly unimpressive today.

As you’re aware it’s a chain. Occasionally the bbq can be a bit dry, but it’s easily made up with the various sauces.
They have a good variety of sauces to appease a wide variety of people.
I recommend hitting the place for lunch. The you pick 2 meats deal is very reasonable.
My hint would be if you’re debating an early or late lunch, go later. If you are early sometimes you get meat from the night before. Later it seems to be fresher.

I was really amazed by the BBQ here.
I’m from the South Chicago. Therefore, I know what good BBQ is. Haha… I got to say this place is not bad at all. Sure you may second think it by being a chained restaurant-​ish, but looks can sure be deceiving.
Sadly, this place was very dead, but the service was well awake. For me, BBQ is really hard to describe in words. It’s a type of food you just have try for your self.
Even though most of the items on the menu are sort of pricey, you have to get, I guess the sampler, «the feast for 2.
It’ll change your mind about overrated BBQ joints.

Went it today at lunch time.
I had ½ rack of Ribs, Beans & Coleslaw.
I got my food quick and everything tasted very good.
Cammy was the Bartender/​Server she was Smiley and very friendly.
I give her and Dave’s 2 Thumbs up if I had 4 thumbs I would give her more.
I will go back again Great Job Cammy!!!

This was a tough one for me to write as overall I like Famous Dave’s quite a bit but I have had a couple of «not so good» experiences as of late, and I thought I should let people know about them.
FIRST — Do not get take out from this location — I cannot comment about other locations but this one is just not good. It seems to me they save the best ribs for those dining in and give the old, dry, cold ones to the take out people… BOOOOOOO.
Secondly — the restaurant as a whole just seems to be in decline. We live very close to this location and I drive by it regularly and it just seems to always be very slow around the place. Not sure if it is the poor quality of food they are putting out or what but something should change.
I absolutely love ribs and their sauces are the best but come on Famous Dave… get your quality back up and maybe just maybe you will get people back in the door.

Where else in Madison can I get good old southern American barbecue meat? Famous Dave’s is the answer.
I’m a huge fan of the rib tips here. I never fail to get them as they are juicy, mouthwatering, and delicious. If I get anything else, I usually do the half and half combo, where I can try something else for one half of my plate and still get my beloved rib tips. I’m also a fan of having the cornbread and a side dish come free with each order. It never hurts to eat more food at a very affordable price.
The best thing about this Famous Dave’s location is their service. I feel like every time I’ve been here, I’ve come with a group of 10 – 15 people and the staff is so quick to put together tables and take our orders.