Baldy’s BBQ Dinkytown

The Good: They have some decent lunch specials for cheap pulled pork sandwhiches. Their fries are very good. Full bar.
The Bad: As far as real BBQ goes this is pretty bad. Dry brisket. Very little seasoning or bark on the ribs. There isnt much for smoke flavor in their meat. They probably use an indoor electric smoker. Their BBQ sauces are aweful. They taste like sour steak sauce. The parking situation is terrible. You would be lucky to get a parking spot within a mile during the day.
Overall, not at all what im looking for in a BBQ restaurant. Its more of a bar that happens to serve cheap pulled pork sandwhiches.

The «Southern style» pulled pork is nothing like anything I ever ate in 30 years of living in the South. The texture wasn’t even right. The pork was totally flavorless without the horrid sauce, which tasted like A1 – no thanks! The other options were «sweet» and «spicy.» No vinegar-​based sauce in the restaurant? Slaw was ok.

This is all about the wings. Stopped in on way to Viking game not knowing what to expect. Ordered wings, dry, with sauce on the side. These wings were awesome. They have a dry rub and are SMOKED. I am normally a fan off Buff Wild Wings but these were so much better. Actually, in comparison, Buff Wild serves up some weak ass wings. ALSO, top marks for tap beer selection — esp. Surly Furious.

Ate here before a pre-​season Vikings game this past weekend. It was not very busy at all and our food came out very quick! I ordered the Sloppy Chick with fries and it was very good. A LOT of food! My dad and I each ordered a bloody mary, which was good and had a little BBQ taste to it, but they definitely could’ve used a garnish (literally nothing came with it – so weird). Overall, everyone left satisfied and it is a pretty good value for the amount of food you get. Waitress was very friendly as well!

Gross! This isn’t bbq!
I’ll expand on my review. They get one star because they played country music and another because the ONE employee there was nice. We couldn’t try most of the things on the menu because the cook apparently left since it was too slow. Our options were anything that is fried and any bbq sandwich. So we had the pulled pork sandwich which was meh with S****Y A** bbq sauce. We also had fried cauliflower which strangely tasted a bit fishy. Point is don’t do it.

Was in town for a long weekend. Baldy’s was so good we ate there twice. Ribs were excellent and corn chowder was a real surprise. A great casual BBQ eatery.

Probably my favorite place for lunch though I try to limit it to once a week since they offer very hearty meals. I like all of their meals, the Chicken Tenders, Pulled Pork, Missouri Sausage, Buffalo Chicken Salad, Buffalo Wings, and the beast but my favorite meal is the Sloppy Chick with is a BBQ pulled chicken sandwich. For any of the meals you get your pick between, original, sweet, and spicy BBQ sauce, all are delicious!
All of the sandwich meals come with one side and a drink. I would highly recommend getting the fries. The fries are some of the best fries I’ve ever had, unlike most fries with I like to eat with ketchup I opt to eat these with BBQ sauce, these also come with a spicy mayo sauce that everyone I’ve met loves. I don’t eat any form of mayo so I wouldn’t be able to tell you from experience but I trust my friends opinion.
I would also highly recommend using Baldy’s for catering. They offer a great value for their services and are always on time and professional.
Parking: As with all areas in Dinkytown parking is limited. If you are looking for a meter the closest place to park would be a block down on 16^th St. off University Ave. otherwise you can park in the 4^th St Ramp on the corner of 4^th St and 17^th Ave. The struggle with parking will be worth it.
You can also have it delivered on BiteSquad!

Delicious barbecue. A ton of food. Excellent potatoe salad. I had ½ rack ribs and pulled pork. I am now in a food coma and ready to take a nap. Sauce was ok, sweet was the best one but only 3 options.

Poor excuse for barbeque. I ordered 2 racks of ribs for take out and arrived before my order was ready. As I was waiting, I observed them quite literally putting pre cooked ribs into the microwave and heating them up for order. The ribs were severely undercooked and without slathering them in sauce they are nearly inedible.

The price is right and the location is neatly positioned close to the gate of the UMN campus. Seems like something changed about the pulled pork sandwich since the days when Baldy’s was on the west bank. The roll is super plain and crumbly, and the meat, while it may be healthy, seems steamed rather than slow-​cooked and is lacking some of the fat and flavor I expect from a restaurant quality bbq sandwich. The side dishes save the day. I’m pulling for this place to up their game because I love having a bbq place near campus.

What a great find! I got take-​out for my friends birthday and ordered an assortment of items. Everything was fantastic. The ribs fell off the bone, the wings were juicy and perfectly spiced, the pulled pork, chicken and brisket were amazing. Meat, by far, was the standout at Baldy’s. I dare say, this was the best barbeque I’ve had in Minneapolis! And all ordered on a cold Wednesday night in January. I’ll be back for sure!

Good BBQ is Minnesota?! Yes! I have lived all over the country and before I move to MN I spend a year in NY and never truly satisfied my craving for the tasty BBQ I found in TX, LA and even Venice, CA. Thank-​you Baldy’s for satisfying that craving!
Wonderful smokey flavor, meat that just falls apart. Bold savory sauce. The corn chowder is great, I even liked the fries, usually I just give mine away but these had a great seasoning, slightly crispy. Great cheese curds too!
Super cheap as well, with several specials. My one complaint, there is NO where to park, most of the streets don’t even have parking. Considering the icy tundra that is MN this can be a problem. I suppose if you live on campus you are all set, if not the utter lack of parking may pose an issue.

This was our first food stop on our trip to Minneapolis, and I think we made a good choice! When we got there at 4:45 (we were still on New York time) the place was nearly empty. Within the hour we were there though it quickly filled up and got progressively louder (understandable being a college area). We ordered cheese curds to start, which I liked on their own. I wasn’t a fan of the dipping sauce, that in combination with the seasoning on the curds made them too salty.
I ordered a brisket sandwich, my boyfriend ordered pulled pork. He completely loved his sandwich. Mine was a little dry, but still good. I REALLY loved the original barbecue sauce — it’s exactly the type of barbecue sauce I tend to go for. The spicy sauce was also really good. I think if you like sweet barbecue sauce you’ll like theirs, I’m just not a fan of sweet barbecue sauces.
Even though the waitress got very busy by the end, she was still very prompt and made sure we had everything we needed.
It was a great little restaurant and I’m a little bummed out it’s so far away from me.

If you see a tall bald guy, that’s Baldy. He’s awesome, and will chat your ear off if you get him going!
As for the food, the bbq sauces are delicious. If you’re into fried food, this place is great. Unfortunately, there really aren’t any veggie or health conscious options, but the fries are amazing if you just give them a chance.
Drinks are okay, but a lot of young people clog the place up during specials so it’s hard to get your money’s worth. Otherwise, the drinks are a little pricey for the area, but wouldn’t be bad if it weren’t in a collegiate area.

Order the special on Thursday — The Big Baldy’s is was a pull pork top with Colestraw. Great taste!

For those of you who have been wondering about Baldy’s since it opened near campus last year, I’d say give it a try. There are a lot of reviews that say the meat is dry but in my experience, the rib tips have been fantastic. Other notable items include the chicken tenders (very Raising Cane’sesque), corn bake (cheesy corn with chunks of ham), pulled pork sandwich, potato salad, gold bbq sauce. Even though this is a BBQ joint, I’m going to have to say the FRIES are really the star of this show. I have no idea what type of seasoning they sprinkle on those things but these fries are the crispiest, lightest, most amazing potatoes I’ve ever tasted. I always bug the cooks about the seasonings and they won’t budge on their secret blend… all I know is there is celery salt in the blend and celery salt is the best.
There really isn’t parking so if you are not already on campus, you can try somewhere on 4^th street and then walk over to Baldy’s.
If you are looking for affordable catering, Baldy’s also offers really good, flexible options.
I think the ambiance still needs some development because it’s usually not very busy but as people figure out this is the place to go for good BBQ, it will get the following it deserves.

Meat Runs Dry
If you would have been with me during this next Gnaw adventure, you may have actually been able to see the tears in my eye. I would have even tried to hide the pain that was lying deep in my heart and it’s definitely not a pain I can’t hide. I was torn apart and all I wanted was some delicious smoked and juicy meat.
You would have thought I was checking out the newest place with the East Coast Family, that’s right Boys 2 Men, but I couldn’t resist the classic Water Runs Dry for this place. What place might that be? A place called Baldy’s BBQ. I was hearing great things about this place and when I arrived home from work one day, my wife had asked if I was in the mood for some BBQ and I thought of the perfect place to check out. After having all kinds of high hopes, we were nothing but, disappointed! Before I go any further, I will say one thing… It was edible and the pulled pork wasn’t too bad. With that said, the meat at Baldy’s was as dry as the dessert.
After looking over the menu and determining what we were going to order, my wife had just one quick question for our server. «Can you tell me what the potato salad is made with, is it made with eggs?» With a slight hesitation, the server replied with, «I don’t know how it’s made, we just buy it!» WHAT?! Here’s a better response young man, «mam, I’m not positive how it’s prepared, but I can check for you.» So far so good, right?
We wanted to try as much smoked meat as we could and decided to go with The Right Combination, a half slab of Baldy’s Ribs and your choice of one smoked meat — pork, chicken, brisket, turkey, Baldy’s sausage and choice of 2 sides, cornbread and a pickle spear. We went with the pulled pork and our sides were cheesy corn bake and coleslaw. The other meal that we went with was the Brisket Platter, 8 ounces of brisket layered on top of Texas Toast, with 2 sides, corn bread and a pickle spear. The sides we went with were the cheesy corn bake (it sounded good enough to get another order) and the baked beans.
At this point, I would be describing how I was drooling over the smells and the flavors were to die for, but like I mentioned before, everything was Mojave dry! I will save you a trip and help you with other places to go to for better food including some cheesy corn bake if my mom is willing to make a giant batch for all my readers. For some delicious meats, check out one of these fine establishments; Rack Shack, Lone Oak Grill, Roosters and even Dicky’s BBQ Pit. Like my mother and her cheesy corn bake, my uncle whips up some amazing food and his tiny little smoker he just picked up is whipping out some of the best food I have ever had. My wife even said she liked my ribs better!
Some restaurants will work things out, but some just don’t know how to change. A simple Google search will describe this place as «Premier BBQ House», not EVEN close! You might be making the biggest mistake of your life, so don’t do it baby. Or shall I say, don’t eat it baby! :)

I popped in here for lunch on a very snowy day. There was a group of about 8 bros in front of me and only one guy taking and delivering orders. I can’t speak for other times of the day but service was a bit on the slow side.
I ordered the student special ($ 7ish for a sandwich, side, and drink) with pulled chicken and corn poppers. The best part about the meal was the three BBQ sauces. I created a magical blend between their original and sweet sauce that I hoped Baldy’s grinning piggy would appreciate.
Seems like the perfect place to carb load and drink a truckload of generic beer. This isn’t the best BBQ I’ve had but I definitely think it is a nice addition to the food options in Dinkytown.

The ribs were good, but not spectacular. They gave one container of bbq sauce (you can choose from different flavors) on the side, which wasn’t enough. Because I ran out after my 3^rd rib, I used an old pack of Famous Daves sauce. With that said, I agree with Katia J.‘s comment in the below review… Baldy’s sauce is better. My advice, be sure to ask for another container.
The fries were really good and although there was a lot of it, I could have gone for a second order.
I ordered the corn popper based on the reviews, but when I got home discovered they instead gave me the corn bake. Given that I paid a dollar extra for the corn poppers and didn’t get them I was a bit ticked. Guess that’s what I get for not thoroughly inspecting all containers. Although, the corn bake was good, it’s not something I’d have again.
The meal came with a spice cake, that’s what I’m calling it, which was good.
Anyway, would I give Baldy’s another try, yes. However, my quest for great ribs in the Twin Cities continues.

This place is AWESOME.
A word of warning: don’t come here if you have an addictive personality and love yerself some goooood food and great BBQ. You, my friend, will have a problem.
I was worried that this was gonna be one of those places that does their BBQ reeeeeeally really good and then everything else is just «meh». Boy was I wrong…
EVERYTHING they have is excellent. And I know this because between me and the girls I work with, we have been there probably more than a dozen times.
Even down to their French fries, which are ridiculously flavorful and super crunchy and unlike any fries I’ve had before. I’m convinced they are breaded with crack and magic bc these things haunt my dreams now. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the Corn Poppers, which, admittedly, I thought would be kinda weird, but they are crunchy on the outside, but soft and creamy on the inside (not mealy at all) and the corn is tender and just the right amount of sweet. Dip it in their seasoned dipping sauce (which I would like to order a barrel of, please) and you will be one happy camper, I promise! Go for basically anything on the appetizer menu that’s breaded and fried because its all delicious.
And the main reason to check this place out, ze BBQ. I’ve tried the pulled pork and the pulled chicken sammiches, and had the smoked turkey on a salad. *drools* ALL delish.
It’s cool because their stuff isn’t floating in weird sappy buckets of sauce. You get to pick your own meat and custom add yer sauce to make it as dry to as saucey as you like it, you little minx you. I too like to live dangerously and mix some of the sweet sauce with their spicy sauce.
They have a KILLER student special. $ 6.99 (I believe) gets you a pulled pork/​pulled chicken sammie + fries + a drink. And they’re super quick too.
Oh, and did I mention they’re open late and have a full bar — with Surly on tap — AND some seriously kick ass drink specials? Those bastards…
For the love of whatever you think is holy, go eat here.