Famous Dave’s

For my family of seven to go on vacation in a tourist trap and eat dinner for under $ 125 bucks I call that a win.
The food was really good. We ordered the trashcan lid meals — two of them. We had some leftovers but not much.
It’s convenient and the view is great. It’s within walking distance from Cedar Point and frankly it was a bargain in my books considering other theme park dining prices.

I honestly went into Famous Dave’s expecting to thoroughly disappointed. I’ve eaten at another FD in Wisconsin and it was pretty mediocre. Given that this location has a captive clientele from Cedar Point, I felt sure it would be high priced and low quality.
I was wrong (at least in terms of quality).
The appetizer of burnt ends had us swooning. Our ribs were falling off the bone tender. The beef brisket was wonderfully smoked and equally tender. The cheesy mac & cheese was so good, I wish I would have ordered double. And all the sauces were so tasty it was hard to pick my favorite.
What kept it from 5 stars? The firecracker green beans were thoroughly bland. The corn bread muffins were stuck to their cupcake wrappers. The floor seemed greasy enough that you could moon walk on it while wearing a pair of cleats. Oh, and it wasn’t terribly cheap — dinner for 2 adults and 2 kids ran us almost $ 150 (with 2 beers and 2 glasses of wine).
Service was solid and the food was great. You could do a lot worse while at Cedar Point.

I should preface by saying I am not a bbq person. On a trip to Cedar Point with friends and it’s on the grounds. I got the burnt ends sandwich, most of which did not taste burnt. The garlic mashed potatoes were good. The soda? Cost $ 3.25.
If you’re hungry and want a place close to Cedar Point, have at it. Otherwise, save your money. With tip, I spent $ 25 for a sandwich and soda.

Not much more you can say about Famous Daves food beyond it’s some of the best BBQ in the country. Great experience at this Famous Daves (located in Cedar Point Marina area). Prompt and courteous service despite being very busy. Food was out in a short time even tho restaurant was packed on this Saturday evening. Great job FD, keep it up!

My wife asked for a gluten free menu and they handed us this notebook with print outs of every dish they have. Each dish had the ingredients spelled out very clearly including the sauces and spices they used. This sounds all good and fine and I applaud them for being honest and open about their ingredients.
The problem was the ingredients. I am not sure if you knew what chemicals you were eating, you would eat here? There were so many ingredients that are so bad for us and some even are banned in Europe. Famous Daves is not serving us anything that is illegal but they just chose to ignore the issue with their ingredients.
Beware .!

A friend of mine showed me how easily you can get to Famous Daves from inside Cedar Point and I’ve been coming here since. You’ll exit from the gate on the side of the park near Raptor.
The food is good and has more than ample portion sizes. It’s not super cheap but it’s much more reasonable than buying $ 7 hot dogs from a concession stand inside the park.
They have a wide variety of sauces on each table and they are all delicious! The hardest part is choosing which ones you’re actually going to put on your meat. All of the food I’ve had is good. It’s not my favorite BBQ ever but I never am dissatisfied with my food.
It’s well air conditioned, clean, and is a great place to sit down and rest in the middle of a day at CP. Service is friendly :)

Always a great choice for delicious St Louis style ribs – perfectly cooked and juicy. The corn muffins are amazing. I love the Devil’s Spit hot BBQ sauce. To-​go carry out was available since we arrived exactly at closing time 10pm. The staff happily accommodated us with beers at the bar while awaiting our order.

Atmosphere is great but food was ok. I’ll check out nearby restaurants next time I boat here.

Despite what cedar points info page says this is NOT celiac /​gluten free safe. Even their bbq has wheat. Their grilled chicken and chicken bbq were supposedly safe, but I became very sick about 15 – 20 min after eating. Waitress came to the table and said «who is gluten free? Well here’s your cornbread on the side». I say «I can’t eat it» she says «but it’s so good it’s to die for…» Yes exactly… Thanks but no thanks. Food for gluten eaters was ok. I found the little show about sauce tasting was annoying. I’d rather talk to my family.

I’ve been to Famous Dave’s in Northeast Ohio and California. The dining experience is simply, consistent. The staff is UBER friendly (they LOVE barbecue) and the barbecue is spot on. For a franchise to crank out tender brisket with a serious smoke ring, fall off the bone ribs, crispy tender burnt ends and sides that are delicious is no small feat. Trying to pull that off in an amusement park with very demanding customers is even more impressive; Dave’s does that. We were just at the park on Friday, came in out of the rain and it was like arriving at an oasis. I forgot the weather and was all about a burnt end app; tender, sweet-​spicy and flat out good. My wife had the brisket (if you don’t get it when you go, turn in your carnivore card) and my five year old had the cheeseburger. Food was hot, smoky, and yums! If your at the Point, just get your hand stamped and follow your nose out to the Marina. Well done, Dave’s!

The food was OK but extremely expensive and the portions were small. I lifted the top bun of my chopped pork sandwich and saw as much of the bottom bun as I did pork. The worst thing about spending $ 100 for 5 sandwiches and sodas is coming away hungry. You are better off eating somewhere else.

I’ve been a fan of the Famous Dave’s franchise ever since I tried it out on a previous trip to Minnesota a few years back. Yes, it’s a chain, and the food will never quite hold up to an independent bbq restaurant in other parts of the country, but that doesn’t mean that there food is bad. On the contrary, they offer up decent bbq at good prices that will satisfy a craving when you just have to have some ribs and coleslaw!
The only thing disappointing about this particular location is that they charge a lot more for the same food. This isn’t too surprising, since it is located on an amusement park property, which results in tourist food prices. However, they have a good variety of food options, and the ribs, coleslaw, mac & cheese, and Texas toast I had were delicious. There is also lots of seating and a pretty view of the water where you can watch the Cedar Point fireworks at night. If you’re too tired to walk over from the park entrance, there is a shuttle that can take you door to door at the front of the park.
This is the closest thing you’ll get to «real food» on the Cedar Point lot, so if you don’t mind the prices, it’s worth a stop.

Famous Dave is a great place to eat. the food is reasonably priced and comes out fast. The staff is friendly and helpful.

The worst service I’ve ever seen. We made 3 orders at the same time, one came out in 5 minutes the other 2 came out 10 minutes later. The bus boy brought it out and set it on the table next to us and the lady handling to go services walked by it 3 times before giving it to us. After looking at the order we realized they didn’t include our side of ranch so we told her. It took her 20 minutes to bring out our side of ranch… honest to goodness 20 MINUTES for a side of ranch. Our shuttle left us we had to wait for another one after that. She didn’t even apologize for being so late with the ranch and she had the nerve to tell me to come back again real soon.

You know, I was afraid to go to Famous Dave’s. Another big barbecue chain. I knew I would be disappointed, so I went in with low expectations. We wanted something modest on our way out of Cedar Point, and it was right on the way– and open, which some things weren’t since it’s the end of the season and there’s construction going on, etc.
Service was super. Hannah, our server, was perky but not overbearing, and right on top of things. We ordered the appetizer sampler to share: rib tips, chicken tenders, catfish fingers, onion strings, wings. She explained all the sauces (5 barbecue, plus 4 more with the sampler, so, yeah, 9 sauces– too many.) The sauces… were okay. Their main one, «the one that made Dave famous,» was okay. Nothing special. Tomato-​based, a little zesty, a little sweet, but not very interesting. The «Sweet and Zesty» was that, but again, didn’t stand out. The «Texas Pit» had a black pepper kick and was a bit better. «Devil’s Spit» disgusted Sweetie on the name alone, and had a little hot pepper heat, which did build a bit as Hannah said, but really was not spicy. No watery eyes, no gulping drinks, nothing. The «Georgia Mustard» actually had more heat, it seemed, and was probably the tastiest. It was slightly different than other southern mustard sauces I’ve had, maybe a bit thicker. Not bad.
The sampler then added: remoulade (pretty good,) honey barbecue (Sweetie’s favorite, sweet, pretty good,) South Side (smoky, a bit of heat,) and bleu cheese (which I used for the veggies.) The rib tips were pretty good– meaty, smoky, flavorful without any sauce. The wings (we got them Buffalo style) were excellent: done just right, meaty, a little spicy. The chicken tenders were very average. The catfish fingers were slightly more interesting, but we didn’t finish either of those. The onion strings were tasty and a nice change from all the meat.
Hannah talked us into dessert– we got bread pudding. It came out in a huge dish, with ice cream and whipped cream. Plenty to share. It tasted fine, but most of it was soggy so we didn’t finish it all.
This location is right on the water, with a nice atmosphere inside and out. It’s a bit pricy, just like everything else at CP. But you’re paying for location, and with great service and decent food, it didn’t seem all that bad.

We had a very large group with 8 kids and 6 adults. The service was fantastic and great with the smaller kids. The food was excellent (combo meals, family meals and kids meals). Great atmosphere on the harbor with easy access in and out of the park.
So glad someone in our party suggested it!!!

Okay, so this is not a full-​fledged Famous Daves. It’s run by Cedar Point and has a limited menu. There will always be a wait, so don’t wait until you’re starving to head over there.
I went over the weekend and not only were we hungry, but we were exhausted from playing in the park all day. We ended up sitting on the floor of the lobby while we waited for a table.
Here’s what I ordered:
Devil’s spit bloody mary. It was so damn spicy! Like, almost too spicy. I wish I had asked for a cornbread muffin to accompany it and kill the fire in my mouth.
Side caesar salad. You can’t go wrong.
Rib & meat combo with burnt ends, mashed potatoes and coleslaw. Hot damn, this was delicious! I don’t usually like brisket, but burnt ends are different. They’re like little caramelized nuggets of beefy heaven. Think super tender jerky. And they use my favorite sauce, sweet & zesty, to baste them. Yummo!

This place was awesome there wasn’t a thing that we didn’t like in the all American feast. We got 2 for our party of eight and it was the perfect amount with a few leftovers. We will definitely keep famous Daves
at the top of our BBQ restaurants list! :)

This place is awesome! I had never been to a FD and I had the chance to go twice when visiting Cedar Point this past week. It was excellent both times. I had TJ serve me and he seemed knowledgable and enthusiastic about his service. Ruthie the manager had control of the floor but with a fun attitude. There was a great family atmosphere and the food was delicious! I would definitely return!

YUM!
I have never been to a Famous Dave’s before this weekend, and now I want nothing more than to go back. My friends and I trekked into this location for lunch and to take a break from the pouring rain in Cedar Point. We were promptly seated and were constantly checked in on by an extremely nice waitress throughout the meal.
As for food, our group opted to split the $ 65 All American BBQ plate, which kind of looked like a pile of food served in a small garbage pan lid. It was a LOT of food, and it was all wonderful! If you order this plate you get chicken, brisket and/​or ribs, several sides of your choice and a few other items. Once the meal arrived our group happily dug into plates of meat, Mac & cheese, potatoes, fries, and some of the best corn muffins ever. Someone ordered an appetizer to share that we all loved as well, so Dave’s offers consistently good food across the board, it would seem.
What else can I say and what else has to be said? The food was amazing and so was the service. The environment’s really friendly and laid back. It’s a perfect addition to the Cedar Point area, and it’s really nice to have somewhere you can go for good food. Be prepared to have leftovers if you don’t share things, though — our group had leftovers and we DID share something!
By the way, others have mentioned it costs a lot, BUT so does the junk in Cedar Point. At least here you get your money’s worth!