Mad Man Jack’s Bar-B-Que

Great food. Great service. Had the pulled pork sandwich and quarter chicken. The owner prepares the food and you can tell he loves BBQ! I will definitely be back.

I went today February 25^th 2013 because i had seen on multiple places that they sold amazing bbq and had even seen a couple groupons floating around. I finally decided to muster up the strength to make a visit but after i walked in and recieved an awkward stare fron the staff I was informaed that the resturant known as Mad Man Jack’s is no longer open. The location is still physically there and the building still has the décor of the restaurant Mad Man Jack’s but the owners have changed and they now sell Honduranian food. My quest for delicious BBQ in miami was cut short before it even began. BTW the star rating does not reflect the wuality of the food at the new place. I didn’t try the food.

Mad Man Jack’s is closed as of 1÷18÷13
R. I. P.

After reading reviews of this place near work, my co-​worker and I decided to give it try. We both had the pork sandwich which came with fries and coleslaw. To our surprise it was a whole lot of food, we could have shared one. Fries are fries, coleslaw was very good and for the pork sandwich… WOW! It was delish. Too bad the number is disconnected, wanted to order from here again! =(

I’m going to admit off the bat, this review is on a sliding scale. If I reviewed MMJB in Chicago or Louisville, I’d probably give it a ‘3’ but relative to what else is poppin’ in Miami, it gets a ‘4’ for a few reasons:
1.) Incredibly nice owner and staff. While you can’t eat or buy people (at least, you’re not supposed to), the owner and staff are real pluses to come to MMJB — especially in a city landscape of out-​to-​lunch owners and surly employees. It means a lot to the consumer to feel like a welcomed and appreciated person once you walk through the door and the folks at MMJB have got this down in spades. It’s pretty amazing hat genuine smiles, attentive service and a desire to please can do for the dining experience. It’s greatly appreciated.;
2.) $ 3 Yuengling. Ice cold. Just a bit more in price than a soda. As it should be. No cray cray mark up, just good, ice-​cold beer to go along with your food. Again, this shows an appreciation to/​for the customer. If you’re going the soda route, though, be prepared for one of those giant, red, Big-​Gulpish glasses from Pizza Hut. You get more than your money’s worth with those babies.;
3.) Allapattah. You’d think this ‘hood was west of the Everglades with all the pearl-​clutching I experienced when mentioning to people that I was interested in coming here. It took me fifteen minutes to drive my vehicle from the beach to the restaurant. Door to door. It’s too bad that people miss out on good restaurants/​businesses because of a lack of curiosity about the city. Patrons the local, unique small businesses that make cities thrive, people! It does an economy good.;
4.) The food. While this isn’t the best barbecue I’ve ever had, it was pretty good. My super-​sized bbq chicken was all juicy/​tender/​flavorful dark meat (loves it) as requested, the sauce selections ranged from sweet to hot to tangy, the onion rings were gigantic and encased in nicely-​seasoned batter and the cornbread was respectable. This is Miami. It’s hard (but not impossible) to find incredible, real deal Southern ‘cue. But, in comparison to what else is out there, MMJB acquits itself nicely and is definitely worth a stop in.

I barely leave reviews unless I feel either extremely happy or pissed by a business. This place, i’ve been there for 4 times, every time, I couldn’t be more satisfied and surprised. It is a family-​owned small restaurant in a kinda «remote» area, and I just feel like being treated as a family memeber when I was here all the time. Great service! The most important thing is the food, huge portion, fresh, tasty, and affordable. The chicken tastes like heaven and the corn bread is so soft and delicious! Definitely a perfect place for a casual meal!!! I will go there as often as I can.

Best BBQ in Miami!
Mad Man Jack’s had high expectations going in and from the look of the outside of the place, i was to be disappointed. It’s located on a sketchy street in Allapattah and I was skeptical at first, despite all the glowing reviews and winning Best BBQ by Miami New Times. When you first walk-​in, you’ll notice how unassuming the place is. They’ve got a diner countertop and a small little dining area reminiscent of every little Cuban restaurant in Miami. The menu is small but includes all your BBQ staples. The service is absolutely stellar despite not knowing much English. I loved how helpful they were despite our lack of Spanish skills. (There are plenty of places that seem irritated by you if your Spanish isn’t good… you know those places)
My friend ordered the Mad Man Jack Burger and I had to try BBQ so I went with their Chicken and Ribs combo. The burger came with fries while the BBQ combo came with cole slaw and bread. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t get a side or anything cause it was close to $ 15, but that disappointment faded away as soon as the meal arrived.
The BBQ Ribs and Chicken were amazing. Amazing. This isn’t your typical BBQ that you find in the South (Alabama, Georgia, etc), but it was still very good and had a Miami twist to it. The BBQ ribs had a sweet BBQ sauce and the meat was so smoky and fell right off the bone. The meat was so tender that I went from using a fork to straight up digging the stuff up with my hands. Some people might not like the fact that you can’t really use a fork, but I think you gotta get down and dirty when it comes to BBQ. The ribs were HUGE and came about 3 – 4 to an order of the combo. The chicken was an entire leg quarter that was cooked till it fell apart in your mouth. The sauce was covering the chicken as well and it was just incredible. The bread slices were just there to help you mop up sauce I guess. Even the cole slaw was incredible. Maybe I was in a state of euphoria, but the slaw tasted great and was sweet.
The Mad Man Jack Burger is a double cheeseburger topped with a fried breakfast sausage patty, THICK cut slices of bacon (i capitalized thick because it just was), and a fried egg. Essentially, it was a breakfast burger of sorts, but it looked incredible. The combination of all of that could not be taken down by a normal person. It was held together by a skewer and looked mammoth on the plate with fries.
I will definitely be coming back to try everything else on the menu. Sketchy area or not, this will not be my only visit. Miami is a bit disappointing when it comes to good BBQ so I’m glad I was able to find this place out from all you Unilocalers and such. Thanks so much.

These other reviews must be written by Mad Man Jack’s employees. Aside from the nice girl waitress, the food and experience was awful. It’s Miami’s foolish spin on what is advertised as a tried and true bbq joint. No southern sweet tea, no collard greens, no baked beans, the mac n cheese is worse than what u make out of a box, the ribs are average, and the pulled pork sandwich was terrible. This is a latin version of a bbq restaurant and should be advertised as such. If you are expecting traditional southern bbq, this is not the place. We had great expectations after reading the other reviews, but found this place to be on par with cafeteria food. I hope they will make a commitment to improve their menu and the experience.

This place has some of the most awesome BBQ sauce I have had and that’s saying something considering we lived in Georgia the last 3 years. The portions are ridiculous. I got the pulled pork plate which came with coleslaw (and bread but I didn’t want it). The pork was tender and had great flavor although it could have been a tad smokier. The coleslaw was also good. We ordered a small side of mac & cheese to try it out and holy moly out came a huge bowl of it! Th sauce was way to runny but the flavor was good and when we had the leftovers the next day the texture of the sauce had improved immensely.
We will definitely be coming back next time we are craving BBQ.

Fantastic for Miami BBQ, the sauce is amazing here, some of the best I have had. The chicken was tasty and tender, as was the pulled pork. The portions are massive, and the food is very well done. There isn’t an amazing amount of smoke in the meat, but it’s still great.
The owner works very hard, and puts out a great product, nice guy!
Would come back.

This is a hidden gem. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich and my wife ordered a BBQ chicken sandwich. Both were served on soft Cuban bread which was a nice twist on BBQ. Food was tasty and came with sweet potato fries. Staff was very friendly including the owner who made sure we were taken care of. The place was clean and well ventilated so it didn’t smell like smoke. We will definitely be eating there regularly or when we want a BBQ fix.

After my second trip, they earned the fifth star!

First the Positive: The jerk chicken is one the best I have had. It is spicy without compassion, and tasty. The portions of ribs are huge, as in you won’t be able to finish. The sides are all good, specially enjoyed the corn nuggets. And the people serving you and cooking are super cool.
Second the Negative: Wow those ribs are greasy. There was about a cup of oil left on the plate, incredible. The sauces were a bit too sweet, but still good. Then there is no rice and peas for the jerk chicken. How are you supposed to stop your mouth from catching on fire?
Twist: Man, they have the best salsa in the house, and I don’t mean dancing. While you wait for your food, they bring out some chips and salsa, and that salsa was delicious.
Note: The waitress told us the chips also bring guacamole, but they had run out. Funny because they also had ran out of corn bread, and on a previous visit they had ran out of ribs.
Twist: On our way out we saw some corn bread on a cake dome. We asked about it and the waitress laughed, noticing her mistake. We took it to go. But it wasn’t regular corn bread, it is Jalapeño corn bread.
More Positive: I like it overall. The people are cool, the food is tasty and cheap and plentiful. There are a few things out of place in the menu, but I liked the inventiveness of the cooks. There is room for improvement but as it is the food is pretty good.

Read reviews and was greatly encouraged and then hugely disappointed. Got an order to take home on the 4^th of July, had to try as soon as I got into the car. The ribs tasted like they had been leftovers, no real smoke ring or bark, and not much flavor. Great ribs should have a bit of a «pop» when you bite into them, these you couldn’t even pick up without the meat falling off the bone, not good. The meat also had the consistency of mush, they were too far gone in my book, for even a sandwich. The smoked chicken was much the same, tasted leftover and reheated, grainy and broken down in texture, our 15 year old cat did like it, he’s lost most of his teeth. The two sauces though were excellent, as was the cornbread, the only bright spots. The slaw and mac’n cheese were average. I reference my BBQ to some really great BBQ. Myron Mixon’s old place up in northern Fl, since closed as he’s become a TV chef. Charlie Vargos, Neely’s and Continental BBQ in Memphis and numerous road side BBQ shacks throughout the south.
Maybe they were trying to coast and have an easy 4^th of July. I don’t know, this eater was less than impressed.

Hells bells, Mad Man Jack! That’s some tasty Que!
I finally was able to stop by for lunch with my area partner for lunch sammies. At first, I saw the pretty basic set-​up and menu, and though I am always skeptical of BBQ outside of GA, I’m willing to give it a go. I went for a smoked BBQ chickie sammie for a quite reasonable $ 7. Only fries are served with the sammies, with no substitutions. So I had to order the slaw (my typical order to judge any que spot). At the same time I was ordering, another customer at the counter says, Damn this is great cornbread. So… okay, counter gal, you can add me a slice of cornbread too.
After a little wait out food came out. I opened the box to find a gi-​normous BBQ chickie samm with grilled onions (great idea guys!) on freakin’ Cuban bread! Wha!!! That’s right Unilocal,a BBQ sammie on Cuban bread packed FULL of smoked chicken. Not to mention the heaping serving of fries. For $ 7! An insane amount of food. I could not wait to eat it, so much, that I actually forgot to photograph my food (freak occurrence!) OMG. The grilled onions with the lighter BBQ sauce, made for a bomb-​ass sandwich. I could only eat half the sandwich, half the cornbread and a couple bites of slaw. Luckily my co-​workers are all guys and were able to down the fries.
I can not wait to go back and try the Redneck Taco, which is totally up my alley. A cornbread Johnny Cake with pulled pork or chickie and slaw!!!
Way to go Mad Man Jack, you won this GA girl’s heart today. NOT an easy task in this town.

No cornbread, no rice and beans… just rice, and other items on the menu I forget. It was a bit disappointing.
Mister and I ordered a half stack of ribs, chicken with corn on the cob and mac & cheese. The meat definitely was juicy and fell off the bone but I felt that the bbq was missing something. I don’t know.
Mad Man Jack’s BBQ is definitely off the beaten path but worth a try.

WOW! Was in the mood for some barbecue and found this place online. Let me say that every review you read is dead on! This place is amazing. The ribs were excellent. the mac n cheese as well. Overall, it was so good that I came back to work and am writing this review. Which is the first online review of any kind I’ve ever written.

You know a meal was hearty and delicious when the food coma starts kicking in before you finish it!
I stopped for a weekday late lunch while doing some things in the Wynwood area. MMJ’s had been in my bookmarks since opening and I figured it would be a good time to stop by. Greeted by Bibi the cute waitress when I walked in, my eyes promptly darted to the tray of cornbread cupcakes on the window to the kitchen. My palate was as pleased as my eyes by their soft texture and sweetish taste. Next up was a freshly made tray of thin cut house chips and a deliciously spicy pico de gallo. Made with a sprinkling of jalapeños, I actually broke a sweat!
After a large bowl of baked bean soup with pulled pork pieces and crispy fries came my ¹⁄₃ rack of spare ribs. Lathered in a St. Louis sauce perfectly balancing sweet and smokey, the beef fell off the bone and to my belly. Tender and seasoned, the pieces were larger than some of the cows near my office :). Seriously, these ¹⁄₃ rack were bigger than the full rack at the chains. The owner /​chef comped me a large, sweet chewy chocolate chip cookie to end my meal!
Located a few blocks of the main arts walk strip of NW 2^nd Avenue and next to an auto shop, the restaurant has a casually fine neighborhood look and vibe. They also had a flat panel TV on the wall, and I was told they open later weekend nights around art walk.

Okay, where do I start? I saw this place by chance on my way home from work last night with people inside eating (always a good sign). I don’t understand how I haven’t seen it before being that I drive by it everyday. Now, it’s important that you understand that I’m not a Miami native. I’m originally from Orlando, but have lived in GA, NC and SC so I know BBQ. I have searched high and low for good BBQ down here and to no avail, have been disappointed by the lack of two things– the number of BBQ establishments altogether and that the few there are even have the word BBQ in their name. So you can imagine how wary I was to try it. I, like most of you jumped on Unilocal when I got home to see if I could find any info and read the previous review. It sounded great but I thought it could’ve been written by the restaurant itself. I decided to see for myself…
I drive a few minutes away and park in front. I walk in to see a few people sitting at the bar (a bar to eat, not to order your mojito although they do serve beer). The lady behind the bar saw on my face that I hadn’t been there before and slided me a menu. I won’t go through everything that happened, but I met the owner (I’m assuming) but didn’t catch his name. He said that they’d been open 7 weeks amongst a few other things like trying to get the menu up online. I was going to order the pulled pork and ribs, the owner sincerely apologized but a woman had taken them all for a party or something, so there were none ready. I will admit I was very disappointed, but got over it. I figured I’d get something for now and come back later for the ribs. So I ordered the pulled pork with grilled onions and bbq/​mustard sauce, 2 sides of macaroni and cheese, 2 sides of coleslaw and 2 sides of pork and beans– alas, she took all the pork and beans too! damn you woman!!! While waiting for my food I watched through the open kitchen as the cook prepared it– gotta love a open kitchen. I had small talk with the people there, everyone was very friendly and really did make you feel welcome unlike many places locally. My food was then bagged and I headed home…
Once home, I made everyone wait so I could take pictures and then divvied it all up. I gave my BF his plate and proceeded to give my son his mac and cheese. While making my plate, I hear «oh man, that is good» from my BF– he doesn’t let words like this come out for just anything. I sit down and start trying everything on my plate. The pork was up, the first bite made me say «oh my god» and my BF shook his head in agreement. It was extremely tender, juicy and flavorful. The sauces complimented it perfectly. The mac and cheese was next and it was good and cheesy. Now, there was something missing for me with the mac and cheese, maybe some pepper? I’ll make sure to put some when I eat some more later. Then came the coleslaw, I added some salt and pepper like I do with all my slaws and stirred– I took a bite and it was fkng delicious! I love my mayo based slaws and besides my own, this one takes the cake. It was extra creamy (which I love) and crunchy– I wish I had more. I looked over at my 2yr old who is a VERY picky eater even when it comes to mac and cheese and he was throwing it down– even got seconds. We continued our «mmm’s and wow’s» until we were done.
This place is the real deal, that shit is legit. I will definitely be back and I am SO happy that I have finally found real, mouth-​watering BBQ in Miami.
Oh by the way, it is hard to miss (I drove by it for 7 weeks, lol), but it’s 3 stores down the Dollar General if that helps :)

For the sake of complete disclosure: I AM A BBQ WHORE… I stop at every & any BBQ restaurant I pass by or hear about, in search of the BEST! Well, so far ‘Mad Man Jack’s’ is «IT». Their Ribs are cooked to perfection, BBQ Sauces are 2^nd to none that I’ve had & the mashed potatoes are obviously made from scratch (A must for me). I cant wait to go back. Who wants to join me for lunch on Friday?
–Z