Frankie’s BBQ

Love this place have been going here for years. Good team, very professional I would suggest this place to anyone looking for good bbq. Yum making my mouth water as I type this!

Went there and they literally had nothing bbq ready. Umm I know it takes a while to cook but you have nothing to offer at dinner time ?? Your a bbq joint. Pretty unpleasant looking inside. Gross

Much to be desired. Used to be great food and service. Now it will take at least thirty minutes to get chicken strips, rib tips are tough and fatty, and the service is absolutely horrible. I will never visit this location again. I must say Edison road has much better staff but I’d rather eat ribs from the gyro place.

Not good experience last time I went here was about five years ago will try again in anothet five years

Hadn’t ordered since they were at South Bend Ave location. Excited to try for lunch today. Loved the idea of craft beer and barbecue, two of my favorite things. Ordered two dishes: Frankie’s Platter (rib tips and chicken strips) and the half slab of ribs. Total of $ 45, approximately. A pricey lunch but it’s been a rough week and I wanted leftovers for dinner.
It was almost a total disappointment. The rib tips were the only palatable part of the meal. And for $ 18, they were a very small part of the meal. The chicken was frozen flash fried, essentially Tyson brand that you get at the grocery for a few bucks. The ribs were smoked: overly smoked. I love smoke. This was nauseating. The sauce was like bottom shelf grocery store. It was a bowl of sauce with ribs that were smoked dry and inedible. Faux-​rib soup? No way.
I gave it the two star rating because the tips were okay. I will never eat here again. Not only is it priced out of its market, but it is not good food. For the same price, the Prized Pig is appreciably better in all aspects. For a lower price, King Gyros is far better in quality of the ingredients (meat) and preparation. There is no rational reason why anyone should ever eat here unless you’re feeling sadistic and charitable.

Stuck at airport went here based on Unilocal reviews. Place absolutely deserted at 11:45 on a weekday and has seen better days. $ 10 min for C card charge. Had BBQ beef sandwich– beef was actually decent but it was drowning in sauce. Wouldn’t recommend this place.

I lived in South Bend from 1986 to 1988. As a single guy in my 20’s I used to salivate thinking about Frankie’s rib tips at about 4:00 every afternoon. I would drive there after work and pick up an order or regular sauce rib tip dinner to go. The plan was always no tips until I was home. But at stop lights I’d always dip into the container and by the time I was home my steering wheel was a gloppy mess of BBQ sauce.
I still salivate about Frankie’s tips. Now when I travel home to Michigan City, I will regularly take the 90 mile round trip to Frankie’s on Circle Ave. for their tips.
Back then I had every BBQ tip restaurant in town ranked and Frankie’s was number one by an incredible margin over all the rest.

The best ribs I have ever had. The one thing is you have to be prepared to get messy or you won’t get to enjoy the ribs without getting sauce all over your fingers and face.
Another thing is there isn’t a ton of room to sit so I don’t recommend staying if you bring a big group. But they bag up all orders so you can take out easy. As if they already had you covered.
Once again. Hands down best ribs. If you aren’t near by I can tell you. It is worth the drive. Load up some people. And get some FRANKIE’S!

Probably the best BBQ place in South Bend.

My go to BBQ spot. Love the mini tip dinner with fries and garlic bread. The sauce is really good.

Excellent ribs, sauce is phenomenal. Fries are always good. One of our favorite take out restaurants.

Ok BBQ, but not as good as the big boys in Chicago and other larger cities, but if you have to have some BBQ, go west on Washington till you smell the smoke.

Rib Tips! THE place.

Best BBQ in South Bend. Depending on how busy they are, you might end up standing in line for a while at this location but it’s worth the wait. Try the rib tip dinner.

A South Bend tradition. Frankies is the best BBQ around. The specialty is Rib Tips. Best BBQ Chicken I have ever eaten!!! I am also a fan of the chicken strips! Beef ribs are hit and miss.
If you are a BBQ fan you have to try it!

Heard good things. Tried to go but couldn’t find their hours anywhere… not on Unilocal not on their «website»…needless to say we drove down there while we were visiting South Bend only to find that they are CLOSED on SUNDAYS. Epic fail. Will try again the next time we visit maybe

One of the best BBQ joints around. A good place to go when you got those late night cravings. Expect to wait a little bit if you go there late. Even after 1am there will be a wait. It is worth it. Been going to this place since the 80’s with my dad and hopefully it will stick around so I can take my kids here and not close up like the other places.

Melissa H., I did, and they were excellent! I didn’t have any of the complaints Fr j S. had. Maybe it was an off experience for him.

I love food. It is so rare I find a food I dont like, especially if it’s called barbeque. But, in this case I could barely eat the stuff. The sauce was thick like pancake syrup and was basically ketchup jacked up on 3 times too much vinegar and 2 times too much sugar, and just the right amount of spice. Seriously folks, this was like trying to eat steak with a mouth full of sweet-​tarts. Yuck. Worse, everything was super smothered in the stuff. These overwhelming flavors left the meat flavorless, which is a shame because it looked so good.

Average.
Obviously it tastes good (as all BBQ and ribs do), but there is nothing that stands out about it. The food is clearly straight from a Sysco trunk and nothing is done to give the food real personality (I think they use Open Pit).
It is a pretty comfortable place inside. It is also a nice place to know on that part of town… But it is average.
Also, I ordered fried mushrooms and fried mushrooms were left out of my order. Worse things have happened, but… I would have liked some mushrooms (even if they came from a Sysco truck). Where my mushrooms at, Frankie?