Grady’s

Delicious mom and pop bbq!

Grady has closed up shop. They can be found at the Downtown Phoenix Market
721 N. Central
SE Corner of Central Ave. & McKinley St.
(2 blocks south of Roosevelt)
You can buy the sauce here to.

I’ll be sad that I can’t stop in to my local neighborhood storefront for the best BBQ in phoenix,
but I’ll get over that since I can go down to the Downtown Farmer’s Market every weekend for a fix.
I’m downright inconsolable about not being able to see as much of my two friends, Grady and Carolyn.
8,^ (
Viva Grady’s

.

i don’t have to say a whole lot about this place, because everyone else already did. the people are friendly. the food is great.
the only think i would advise — make sure you know when they’re open.
sunday through tuesday — closed
wednesday through friday — 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
saturday — 2:30 — 7:30 p.m.
i only point this out because it took three times of driving up to a darkened restaurant before we finally got to eat here. however, it’s worth the wait. enjoy.

After reading reviews I gave it a go. TASTEY!!! I will be eating everything off this menu. I had brisket sandwich — insanely good bbq sauce. The Mrs. ran the front and the Mr. ran the back. Phoenix needs more mom & pop joints. Highly recommended.

Great food!!! We would not have gone to this place without the rave reviews. In fact, I have never noticed Grady’s, nestled in a small, half empty strip mall. The owners were so friendly and welcoming. We ordered the ribs and the chicken. The side of mac and cheese is excellent! Creamy, with a bit of a crunch. The ribs were great! A little fatty, but the portion was so large, the center cut, that I was only able to finish about ¹⁄₃ of the meal. My husband had the chicken, but he liked my ribs so much, he finished my meal. We will definitely be back for seconds!

All you need is love. For some things it’s all you need, but for BBQ you need skill. Grady has got the skills.
The beef brisket dinner was finger licking awesome. It came with a hot side and a cold one, so I got the Mac n Cheese and coleslaw. I digged the mac, but the slaw was average eats. The beef brisket sandwich was just as good.
We also had the three meat dinner: beef brisket, beef ribs, and bbq chicken. As before, the brisket was awesome and the beef ribs were off the hook. They were slow cooked to perfection. The meat slid off the bone. You just took a bite and it just melted like butter. Everything was slathered with Grady’s sauce, which was magical.
I only had a 1 star taken off for the chicken being a bit on the dry side. It must have been a fluke b/​c Daren C. says it is «tender and mmm good.»
4 stars delicious. I will be back to Phoenix soon to hopefully make this a 5 star review!
P. S. The place all about the food and the owners love what they do.

«Don’t judge a book by it’s cover» and «If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all» are two common expressions that come to mind when reviewing Gradys. Since I don’t want to say anything mean or hurtful, I wont tell you that this place looks like they should be conducting 12 step meetings. Oh darn I just blew it. Okay, its an extremely clean dive, but it’s so humble in it’s décor (especially the outside) that it borders on pathetic. The tables are card tables, the menu is a large wall written in magic marker and surrounded by a surreal drape, or tapestry or some cloth. The cutlery is all plastic… and they’re not putting out the good plastic… it’s the lightweight stuff.
Now I LOVE a good dive and normally I would never criticize the décor of a dive because most of the time the dive’s décor gives it character. And I’m not sure I’m really criticizing Grady’s, I’m just making an observation. The décor in Gradys really doesn’t give it character because… basically… there is no décor to speak of.
Regarding the food observations… the BBQ brisket is AMAZING. The coleslaw is spot-​on and the mac-​and-​cheese was really good. But again, the BBQ meat is about as good as it gets. The sauce is fantastic. But what makes this place really special is Grady and his wife (Mrs. Grady). These are two of the nicest, coolest and sweetest restauranteurs I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Grady definitely knows how to slow cook some meat.
In closing, I went to Grady’s one time and I met two really cool Unilocalers (who apparently dine there weekly) and now their my Unilocal friends. How cool is that? Amazing BBQ sauce at Gradys.

This place is great. The B.B.Q sauce has a nice little kick to it. I tend to get the brisket sandwich with a side of potato salad. Im not a big fan of the macaroni salad because it taste to picklelish, The seasoned fries are also good. My cousins usually get the pulled pork. They seem to love it.
Mind you, this place is a hole in the wall. Very small with minimal sitting area (2 small tables). The food is good but frankly it is a little expensive. But just a little.

I’m always looking for good barbecue in Phoenix, and I tonight I came across Grady’s BBQ while searching through Unilocal.The reviews were all positive, and the location wasn’t far from me, so I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did, because this was the best barbecue brisket I’ve had in a long time.
The place is a little hole in the wall on 19^th Avenue and Cactus, in a little strip mall that you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it. Inside, there were only two small card tables with folding chairs and a hand-​written menu with pictures on the wall. This is definitely a good sign — if a place this small, in this location, stays in business, it must be good.
I typically try the brisket at barbecue restaurants, so I went with the brisket sandwich and fries. There are three flavors of sauce (mild, hot, and super hot) — I decided to go with the hot. When the food came out, I was anxious to try it, mouth watering from the pictures on the wall.
The bun was a standard hamburger bun, and the fries were good but nothing special. The meat, however, was excellent. The brisket was incredibly tender, definitely cooked for a very long time. There was just the right amount of fat, just enough to give it flavor without being invasive. A little bit of the meat was slightly crispy, which blended in very well with the overall tenderness. And the sauce was outstanding — thick and sweet, with just a little kick to it. I’d be interested in trying the super hot next time I’m in.
Including drink and tax, the total came to $ 9.67, and I dropped a couple bucks in the tip cup. It’s a little more than the $ 5 El Paso BBQ lunch special I used to get all the time, but still well within reason. It’s only slightly out of my way home from work, so I’ll definitely be back many times.

I got take out– pulled brisket and chicken, plus some buns on the side to make sandwiches at home. Driving home, the smell almost drove me wild! And the sandwiches! Full of flavor, without too much fat, and no gristle in the beef. I can’t eat highly spicy food, but the mild sauce is very mild indeed– I may get some mild and some hot next time to add just a snitch of heat. I highly recommend this place when you want something really tasty, but you don’t feel like doing the fancy at a restaurant.

I have been buying Gradys BBQ sauce at the Farmers market for years and swear by it. It’s really the best I have ever tasted. Not a stranger to the grady man

We had been trying to get to Grady’s for months and for some reason or another in never worked out… until this weekend. We headed up there for some takeout on Friday night with a hankering for the BBQ.
After finding the strip mall that it is in (note to those unfamiliar with the location, it’s in the same strip mall as Pappy’s, which has more conspicuous signage), we went inside, which was empty. I counted a total of six chairs at two tables (not including the two chairs in the waiting area) so if you are planning to eat there, hopefully it is during a lull.
Grady greeting us promptly and gave us a tour of the menu. We put our meat orders in, and Grady when to the back to get it going. While he did this, his wife (I assume) helped us as we chose our sides. The brisket dinner I ordered came with one hot side and one cold side, but I wondered if I could get double hot (mac n’ cheese) instead. She told me no, which was kind of disappointing because the menu said something about accepting all reasonable requests. I was later super surprised and happy when my brisket came out with double mac AND the cold side, potato salad, I had ordered. Now that’s some nice service!
On to the food, it smelled and looked great. I had the brisket (mild sauce), *double* mac n cheese and potato salad. The wife had a pork sandwich and cole slaw. She liked her food and commented that she would eat there again. My food was good, the first couple bites of brisket seemed a little chewy, but after that all was good. I liked the flavor of the potato salad as well, though my wife thought that it was store-​made. The leftovers were also good the day after as well.
The ranking above says 4 stars, but it is really 4.5 stars. The service was super friendly and food was very good. I will definitely be back.

This family owned restaurant heaps on the Barbecue Love! Located in a little strip center on 19^th Avenue just south of Cactus Road. Tiny place (2 card tables for diners, covered with red and white checkerboard vinyl cloths). Big flavors — Grady and his wife have a loyal following they built from their booth at the Downtown Phoenix Market selling their special BBQ sauces. Let’s hope everyone is willing to drive up north to support their new venture. In their new storefront they have vastly expanded their BBQ offerings beyond pulled sandwiches to include Ribs, Chicken, Beef Brisket, Chicken wings. Their menu is handwritten on the wall with color photos of each dish. The wall menu is covered with red curtains because, Grady says, «the food is the star here».
I had the ribs which were meaty, spicy and just fell off of the bone. Love those slow cooked ribbies. Dinners come with two sides and two slices of brown bread. I took an order of chicken to go and ate it later in the day, also meaty, moist and flavor filled. I’m working my way towards the brisket on my next visit.
Definitely worth the drive for Grady’s fans from downtown Phoenix Public Market! Grady’s still selling his famous BBQ sauce in bottles from his new storefront.
Hours are Tues-​Sat 11:00 am till 7:30 pm,
closed Sunday and Monday. Restaurant accepts cash, visa or mastercard (no personal checks) and they offer a catering menu.
The menu notes a 10% senior discount on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for those who are able to take advantage of that.
All you Moon Valley folks should be thrilled to have such a great little BBQ joint in your neighborhood!

The best brisket meal I’ve ever had! The place is small and unpretentious, but it’s all about the food. And the owners are some of the most pleasant people I’ve had the good fortune to talk to. I could hardly wait to come back to try the pulled pork and the chicken.

I have worked with Grady for the past five years and developed a healthy addiction to his BBQ sauce. When he and his wife Carolyn opened the restaurant 10 minutes from my house, we jumped for joy!
The sauce[s] are outstanding and the product of lots of practice and love.
Grady’s is a spot of smoky sunshine for N. Phoenix. Great food, spotless inviting space and friendly folks make Grady’s worth the trip from anywhere in the Valley.
Please support these folks-​its the American Way!

Even though the new place is limited on seating the food more than makes up the difference.
I took my wife and kids for lunch. We had some pulled pork and beef brisket sandwiches, fresh made slaw, and mac and cheese made from scratch like mom used to make. The kids gobbled up the mac and cheese. The meat was definately cooked with love.
Grady’s makes their own signature sauce in several varieties. They sell bottles of it as well. I liked mixing the Hot with the Super Hot to make that pork melt that much better in my mouth.
I also noticed they do catering. I’ve had events catered by some other BBQ joints before, but this food is much better quality and I think I can woo the crowds with Grady’s BBQ.
I fully recommend stopping into my new favorite barbeque place in Arizona.
Thanks for making good food Grady. We all enjoyed it and writing this made me hungry for more.

Hello Gradys!
I am so glad Daren told us about Gradys. We ate there today and had a great little lunch. While the atmosphere is sparse and its a strip mall location, they are doing a nice job with what they have.
They offer smoked chicken, pulled pork, brisket and racks of ribs.
We had pulled pork with mild sauce. nice and tangy, brisket very good and the mini me had chicken and macaroni and cheese which she enjoyed. Everything sounded good, looked good and tasted really good. I think in the future I might pick up food and take it home.
This is not fancy food, it’s just plain BBQ with a homey feel .
They also offer delivery in the area, catering, party food.