Kansas City Barbeque

Wouldn’t eat here again. Not bad food, but zero customer service. The hostess was too busy flirting to seat us, we only saw our server twice, we hated our beer choice but were never offered the chance to reorder. The place seems to be all about the one-​time «Top Gun» client – which they also seem to scoff at. Meh!

My friends and I have always loved the Top Gun movie. We thought it would be fun to visit Kansas City Barbecue on a recent trip to San Diego to check it out.
This restaurant is Home Of The Sleazy Bar Scene In the Top Gun movie. This a restaurant and bar. There are Plenty of «artifacts» hanging around, including an assortment of bras hanging from the bar ceiling. Displays include signs, pictures, bottles of Cobra wine from Thailand and Viet Nam (there is a cobra in the bottle), the hat Tom Cruise wore in the movie, license plates from all over, and much more. My girlfriends and I had fun taking photos and looking at all the memorabilia, but the service and food wasn’t all that impressive.
We sat outside to enjoy the weather, but it made us almost invisible to the wait staff. The service was pretty slow. The ribs and the side dishes were ok, nothing to write home about. But the decorations were definitely something to write about. That part was fun. It’s worth checking out.
Just a note. Parking in this area is horrible. Expect to pay for parking or a meter. The waitress took so long to get us our check, we were 5 minutes late and we got a ticket. Not a pleasurable ending to our road trip.

Worst BBQ I have ever had… I honestly have been sick for two days since eating here. The food is bland and overpriced. How can someone mess up onion rings?! Our waitress was so rude to our entire party and kept complaining that she had to keep her sunglasses on at night because she wasn’t wearing makeup. It is dirty and the cook came out and started smoking a cigarette with some of the regulars when we were there… gross. Please do not go here, there are so many better places for BBQ!

Probably the worst barbecue in sandiego.
Honestly I will never return!
Food was god awful, and the woman waitress was so nasty and rude. Couldn’t believe her behavior. Definitely wasn’t happy to be waiting on people.
Back to the food, terrible!

Was looking for a new place to try BBQ so I decided to try this place. We were greeted & seated immediately. Waiter was friendly, food arrived in a reasonable amount of time. Food was bland. The onion rings need more flavor & the BBQ sauce is ok. Overall everything was ok.

OMG probably the worst BBQ sauce I ever had. Ribs have no seasoning or flavor. Burned ends aren’t burnt at all. Corn on the Cobb is dry with no buttery to it. Customer service is good. But the food is gross. Also dust from all those hats hanging up had me grossed out. Never again

This has got to be one of the worst places I’ve ever eaten at! Service was fine and our waitress was friendly and quick to serve us. We ordered the baby back ribs, buffalo chicken wings, Mac and cheese, and fries. Wings tasted like they were refried and the buffalo sauce was bland! The ribs were dry and I can only describe the sauce as disgusting… The ribs had a bit of a cigar taste to them. Mac and cheese was inedible — not sure how many days they’d sat around.
Wish I’d checked Unilocal before I entered this joint!
My advice — Save your money and eat at the Cheesecake Factory across the street.

This is a must do activity in San Diego, but not for the food. Yes, it is a dive bar. It truly is. And the barbecue is nothing exceptional. But it’s a lot of fun, well at least it is if you like the movie Top Gun. Honestly, the food was OK. The beef brisket is the thing to get here. The pulled pork was OK. But I would go for the beef. In case you didn’t know, this is the place were one of the scenes from top gun was filmed. For some reason, there are two chandeliers over the bar that are packed with brassieres hanging from them. I suppose an insider would know the story behind that. I don’t. But I’m such a barbecue fan almost any place is worth a try. The service was great. The wait staff were friendly and fast. The prices we’re good too. Nothing to lose, just grin and have fun.

From Kansas City and absolutely loved it! Highly recommend the pulled pork sandwich and KC Mac and cheese balls!

Mike was fantastic and the food was ah-​mazing. I have been to KC, MO for bbq and this is the place to go to for mouth waterin bbq… especially the burnt tips and mac and cheese! Top Gun was the reason we went but the food and Mike are the reason we stayed.

After eating at Kansas City BBQ twice, I found it high time I left a review in hopes that others will avoid the same disappointment I’ve experienced.
During my first dine in visit I was rubbed the wrong way when the waitress made a fake southern accent and stated «you’re not from around here is ya» after I asked for sweet tea. The quickest way to offend a patron is to mock them. The name is Kansas City Barbecue. I can assure you that any restaurant you go into in Missouri has sweet tea… It wasn’t an unreasonable request. –further more my ribs were cold and clearly heated up in a microwave.
Now, to my second visit.
I decided to try one more time with a takeout order during the weekend. I ordered the brisket plate and my friend had the pulled pork. Both of which were freezing cold, even though I came to get the order ten minutes BEFORE they said it was going to be ready. The meat was bland and had zero smoke flavor at all. The sauce tastes just like the Kraft brand BBQ sauce they give you in grade school. Honestly, this is on par with gas station prepackaged meals. I’m not being dramatic. I didn’t even finish it.
After visiting twice it is evident this restaurant only survives off of its link to top gun… Truth be told, if you go inside, you won’t recognize anything. None of the inside is set up how it appeared in the movie. If you are a top gun buff just tour the midway and give your money to a museum and not a exploitative resultant serving dog food as barbecue. Gross, offensive, and overpriced.

I am giving this place a 5 because we had a blast. My coworkers and I were tired and hungry after driving 3+ hours in traffic from LA to check in at the Manchester Hyatt across the street for a work conference. All we knew was it was a pain in the butt to find parking at our hotel due to a Marine Corp. Ball (yes I support the troops but I was tired and f*cking hungry lol) anyway we thought it best to walk around and grab a spot somewhere local.
We walked up and it looked slow (probably because we got there at 8pm after dinner rush and before the 10pm beer rush lol
April was our waitress :) she was on point with our requests understood that we needed separate checks for our expense report. Made our time there awesome. Food was great (never had a fried mac ball, now in move). Lots of laughs with her and the other workers. This place is down to earth. If you are looking for table manners and meek waiters this is NOT FOR YOU! If you wanna chill, eat GREAT BBQ and have a beer or two or three than definitely hit this spot. We walked in hungry and tired and left full tummied, with happy faces.
April if you read this, take a «shot» for your down Mexican BITCHES LOL!!!

** One of the best San Diego landmarks !!
* Great place to stop in and have a beer & wings before heading off to a Padres game.
Wife and I stopped in to relax and enjoy a beer. We sat at the bar and knocked back a couple and enjoyed hanging out with all the regulars at the bar.
We enjoyed the wings … you will too … especially if you like meaty spicy hot wings (not scoville heat)
Don’t be confused, this is definitely a dive bar and not some fancy restaurant.
Some things are just best experienced and this place is one them.
Check out this video for more details

They filmed scenes from Top Gun at this bar! I actually didn’t eat or drink anything, but just took photos with the cutouts they have out front and by the piano. That’s very kind of them to not be bothered by this sort of behavior. The low ratings and other lunch plans were a detriment to actually eating there, but for what it’s worth, the food did smell good. I might have stuck around if I had more time.

I read the reviews before coming here so I wasn’t expecting much, but still wanted to try it out for myself.
I had no problems with the service and would give that a 4 star rating if that is all I was rating here. The servers were friendly, quick, and didn’t complain when we had them turning on and off the heat lamps outside.
The food: I ordered BBQ chicken with slaw and fries. All of their bbq dishes come served over 2 slices of bread. The chicken didn’t have much flavor and it seemed that they cooked the chicken and then just dumped some bbq sauce on the top, something McDonalds could probably do just as well. The sides were only ok, nothing to write home about.
I understand we are not in Texas and so I wasn’t expecting amazing BBQ, but this place def needs to step up their game.

Great bbq for a great price is how I would characterize this iconic barbecue joint in downtown San Diego. I didn’t expect barbecue this good in California, so I was pleasantly surprised. The brisket, though not Texas-​level, was very respectable. I had the combo plate, so it also included the hot links, which were among the best I’ve had. I was joined by a coworker and we both ate for under $ 30.
The location’s claim to fame is that it is where the seedy bar scene in Top Gun was filmed, so the place is decorated with pictures and memorabilia of both the movie and US Navy. So even if you don’t eat here, it’s worth dropping by for a beer.

I hesitate giving this 2 stars. I have been here two times. My first time was over a year ago and it was an ok experience. This past time on July 4^th weekend was below average.
My first time the food was good. I had the brisket and it was tasty. This past time, I decided to order something All American on the 4^th of July holiday and ordered macaroni and cheese with hot dogs and corn on the cob.
The food took quite a while to get to our table. Then it arrived and was not good. The corn on the cob was overcooked and hot. My mac m cheese was barely warm, to the point that the cheese had cooled down enough to become almost solid again. My friend ordered a bowl of chili and it was served warm but not warm enough to melt the cheese on top of the chili. We tried to rationalize this stuff by saying that since the food is served on paper plates and plastic bowls that the food cant be served too hot to melt the plastic? Needless to say, I had a hard time eating my meal.
The service was not the best. It was not overly busy and the staff did not look short handed. However our server kept walking past us. And would call out, how’s everything. but since she actually did not stop at the table we were not sure if she was talking to us when she asked the question.
After much disappointment on this visit, we left and walked down the street to Puesto and grabbed appetizers and drinks. Paid about the se price at Puesto as we did as Kansas City Barbeque. Got better service and food. More disappointing is that this was my friends first time at both places. And she refuses to recommend Kansas City Barbeque to anyone due to the below average food and service. Kinda a bummer since my first experice was what made me suggest that we stop here.

If you’re in town for Comic-​Con and thinking about eating here, I hate to say it but avoid!!!
We came here in 2012 on recommendation of comic book writer/​author Thom Zahler (who has even illustrated this restaurant in his drawings, a big poster of it is out front!) It was fine then, and we thought the Top Gun theme was cute, so we came back this year with a group of six.
It was a big mistake. Our food took over an hour to come out. During this time, they didn’t even come by to refill our water. When I flagged down the waitress to ask if our food would be coming out soon, she muttered three words: «I hope so» and kept on walking past and did not return with any updates on the status of our orders. Those were the only three words the waitress spoke to us after taking our order our entire time at the restaurant.
When one of my friends (who has herself worked as a waitress) had enough and spoke with the manager, the manager said we were informed when we were seated that there was currently a 40 minute wait for food (this style of food isn’t even made individually!)
This was a big fat lie and doesn’t even make sense – the only thing we were told when ordering was that the potato salad would take longer than usual to be made, and encouraged to order something else. If we had known from the get to we would have gone to eat somewhere else and we wouldn’t have missed the ComicCon programming we wanted to see because we were stuck at the restaurant for two hours. The manager explained that they were busy – which explained the delay but not the lack of transparency about the delay.
Kansas City style BBQ is already meh (no collard greens or cornbread) and alongside the styrofoam cups and really dirty bathrooms (both men and women’s) this would have already been unimpressive even with the terrible service. To add insult to injury, we were the party seated closest to the kitchen so we constantly saw wait staff walking past and ignoring us and bringing out other people’s. I don’t know if it was because we were the only PoC majority table at the restaurant, or just bad luck, but I’m never going to this restaurant again.

It came to the realization of my best friend and I that neither of us had seen Top Gun. With that, our boyfriends decided this was unacceptable and we had to have a «Top Gun Night» immediately. So, what did we do? We bought some beers and wine and rented the movie. BOOM. Top Gun Night begins.
Afterwards, because we live so close, my boyfriend and I came up with the plan to walk over to KC BBQ after the movie to experience it now that we had some context. Sounds great right? Top Gun spot after watching the movie? What could go wrong?
Well, I ended up being so freaking embarrassed we brought them here! While there was an awesome deal of $ 10 Miller Lite pitchers, the place is just not up to cleanliness standards. We were a little hungry after having watched the movie and thought about ordering food. As soon as we decided to look at the menu at our table on the patio, I spotted two HUGE cockroaches climbing up the side of the building about ten feet from us. They ended up going inside some cracks in the exterior and all I can say is I sure hope that’s not 1. Accessible to the kitchen or 2. To anywhere they store food. It was disgusting. After that experience, I could never order food there. I was mortified we had suggested this place to our friends and I would definitely not risk taking anyone here again.
Sorry Kansas City, it’s great that you were in the movie Top Gun, but clean up your act. You’re bar is in a prime location across from the hotels. You’re in one of the most popular movies of all time. Clean up, buck up and figure it out.

This review is for the bar and late night happy hour. My brother and I strolled in around midnight on a Thursday night after a long day of travel and checking into to the hotel next door. We ate some late snacks and had 3 happy hour beers ($ 4.50) in the hour before they closed, so I can’t fully review the food.
The place is a classic dive where you walk in and the soles of your shoes stick to the floor every time you pick up your feet. We wanted to sit at the bar and there really wasn’t anywhere clean. After we picked a spot, the bartender came over and attempted to wipe the bar with a napkin that was sitting on the bar top instead of using the proverbial white rag. He proceeded to smear whatever sauce that was on the bar even more.
We split an order of pork sliders ($ 5), buffalo sliders ($ 5), and onion rings ($ 4.50). The same glass was used for all of our beers with the bartender «claw grabbing» the rim of the glass with each refill and pouring the beer until the tap was immersed in the beer. At last call, I had probably a quarter beer left. The bartender claw grabbed my glass, topped off my beer, and charged me for a full beer instead of just pouring me a new one. I also noticed that while restocking the beer there was no semblance of rotation of the beers already in the cooler.
Despite the laziness and lack of sanitary practice, the food wasn’t that bad. The pork sliders were actually moist and the sauce on the buffalo sliders was actually pretty tasty. I thought all the Top Gun memorabilia was pretty cool along with cough syrup wine shot with the passing train. If you’re feeling lucky, stop in. My luck will probably run out if I stop in again, so I won’t.