Famous Dave’s

The food here is always delicious. We got here around 5pm and was out at 6pm. The service was excellent and the food was on point. We took the leftovers home for another meal. Will definitely go back.

Salt overload! I felt like everything I ate was too salty and I had to chug a gallon of water after each bite.
I ordered from their special menu of the beef ribs. It was not what I was expecting. I expected ribs like the pork ones, but it was more like 1 bone and a huge slab of meat that wrapped it. I wanted the knawl on the bones and have a nice char to it, but it didn’t have it. Yes, the meat was soft and tender, but it didn’t really satisfy. Plus, it was very salty. My favorite part of this meal was probably the string beans.
My wife ordered baby back ribs — chicago style. She ordered this because it says seasoned then sauced with sweet zesty with a touch of honey. What she received was just seasoned. We asked the server that it was supposed to be the saucy one and she said the ribs are only seasoned and not sauced. Really?! I’m reading the menu as I’m writing this online, and it definately says sauced! With just the rub on the ribs, it made it extremely hard to eat.
Overall: Although service is nice, I highly doubt I’ll be back. I feel like they overdo it with the seasoning and not give the meat a chance to shine.

My family and I have been going here for years. I haven’t been there in a while, but when I was there it was great. They offer a good selection of food to adjust to anyone’s food needs. The sauces they have are very unique and tasty. All of the plates I’ve had from there are delicious and the staff is nice. Overall really good place to eat.

I have been to a famous Daves before in Ohio and really enjoyed it. So I took my mother and brother for them to try. I’m a BBQ snob and must say. I make mean BBQ myself. But for when I just can’t sit around for 12 smoking my own meat and my favorite whole in the wall BBQ place closed this is a good back up. We enjoyed the burnt ends as our app. Also about half price since it was Tuesday. We got the feast for two (it really feeds 4) to share. It was all really good and when with two grown men at the table we still had lots of left overs. we really enjoyed our meal and I will return.

Waited 10 minutes for a table at 2:30 with ¾ of the restaurant empty. Our server, Megan, took another ten minutes to get to the table. When taking our order, she seemed rather inpatient, and she dumped the chip platter on our table while speeding past.
However, they did give us a free refill on the chips, which are very tasty.
We waited for about 30 minutes for our food. I ordered the St. Louis ribs and meat and got the extra meat so I could have catfish and the brisket. They forgot the brisket.
The ribs were not juicy or tender or fall off the bone, but the sauce was decent. The catfish tenders have shrunk in size. The mashed potato side I received was subpar, and you can save yourself all of the disappointment by skipping the collard greens.
My brisket showed up 30 minutes later when I was finished eating my meal. I asked the server to bring it in a box. I tried a small piece before leaving. Sadly the best part of the meal was the brisket that will now be my lunch tomorrow.
The corn bread is really good though. They have that going for them.
Final total on the meal was 94 dollars for 4 adults, no appetizers, and no alcoholic beverages. It’s a bit pricey if you ask me, considering the overall subpar meal and mediocre service.
If you’re going to eat here, get the brisket and cornbread. Sides are at your own risk. I will not be returning for anything besides that.

I came here on a sunday around 4:00.not busy at all. our server Taylor was sweet. but food came out 3 mins after our salads and chips. and was cold. but it was tasty when i heated it up! I got a pulled pork sandwich w/​fries, the hubby got ½ of a rack of ribs w/​collard greens and mashed potatoes. Had the food come out a little after our salads and had the entrees not been cold, it would have been a 5 star experience (:

Food is OK, however, the service is just flat out SLOW. The people they hire at this place just don’t get it. It’s never busy, I think that is the reason why. Slow slow service, even when nobody is in the place. I don’t think the employees care… it shows. Won’t be back.

It was January 11^th, 2003 when I first became introduced to Famous Dave’s. It wasn’t by way of their restaurant, but rather their BBQ sauce. The setting could not have been better, as a group of friends rallied together in FDR Park for an Eagles tailgate party. Fellow Unilocaler, Tom B. (VA) had brought a bottle of FD’s Rich & Sassy BBQ sauce for our soon to be grilled chicken. The sauce was absolutely terrific! I ended up locating their product online and ordering some bottles for myself shortly thereafter. It remains my sauce of choice to this very day! By the way, the Eagles were victorious that night, as they went on to a 20 – 6 playoff romp over Michael Vick and his Atlanta Falcons on a bitter cold but joyous evening in South Philadelphia!
To date, there are approximately 200 Famous Dave’s nationwide. In the later half of the first decade of the new millennium Dave’s started to infiltrate the Delaware Valley including their monster of a location in Springfield, PA (adjacent to the older Target and LA Fitness). I still recall the joy that I felt when the news had been broken.
In addition to the great sauces, I have always found FD’s to be a great destination when we have the kids in tow. The restaurant itself is neatly decorated with the plenty of eye catching animals (including Smokey the Bear), signs, a big fireplace, etc… The kids are also provided with coloring books and crayons upon being seated. Lil’ Wilbur’s menu offers 6 options all under $ 6 and include, drink, side, and Oreo cookies. Our kids love the chicken fingers.
As indicated in my first paragraph, I love their sauce. To atart you out, FD’s serves up a plate of their kettle chips, which provides the opportunity to sample a plethora of sauces that they have available. The Sweet & Zesty and Rich & Sassy are my favorites. Their sauces and seasonings are also available for purchase in the rear of the restaurant from their take-​out section. I believe their sauces are also distributed through select grocery chains. FD’s also provides full catering menu options for parties.
The food is decent here. Famous Dave’s claims to cook from scratch and to start the BBQ fresh around 4 a.m. or so every morning! I usually go for the ribs and the wife will opt for the Hickory Chicken sandwich. They also offer some great side dishes. My favorite is the sweet corn, which is seasonal. The fries are also very good, more like mini potato wedges, and provide another great opportunity to test out the sauces!
I am fully in favor of getting «sauced» at Famous Dave’s!

Dry, dry meat. The 6 year old complained that his burger was over cooked. I got salmon that was ok. Mac and cheese comes with jalapeño’s in it, which I didn’t mind, but it didn’t mention that on the menu, and was hoping for some regular mac and cheese. Maybe it was just this location, having a bad day, but I won’t be back to any FD’s.

I walked in and waited, not because it was busy, there were only three tables in use, but because no one was manning the greeting post. I arrived before four but since I had to wait I want seated until four thirty. This was veterans day and I, a combat vet, asked about the special I was told that there was none as I had to get here before four. The beer was slow to come out, but I don’t know why as there was no-​one at the bar. The appetizer was mostly crumbs. I have never gone to an establishment that made me wish I went to Applebee’s. My waitress was just fine, my entrée was par, but I guarantee I will not return to this famous Dave’s, unless they completely revamp the management.

This was not my first visit here but it may have been my last.
On Sunday they advertise Fried Chicken Sunday only. We showed up to try this special and after being seated we ordered without ever being told of any changes or updates, when our app arrived to our table our serve apologized and told us they were out of fried chicken that we would have to order something else.
We had already started on the app or truthfully I would have left.
After speaking to the manager to get clarity on why this was happening we were informed that the kitchen ran out and didn’t have more marinating, they would marinate more and have more available in 2 hours or so. We also heard over a dozen other groups being told the same thing. I also heard these same folks complaining about the service and the soda mix being off among other things.
I was struck by how sticky the tables were and the attitudes of the staff and the manager. It may be that they were frustrated with the customers for felling lied too due to the false advertising that occurred here but I am siding with the guests on this one. We were told one thing and what appeared to be a staff that was powerless to fix an issue that was the result of poor management, lack of communication, and missing control measures may have led the staff to be in a «mood» but why even leave your house to be treated bad? Only to be disappointed that you were a victim of false advertising and not getting anything in the way of an effort from the restaurant to try to show that they care about the effort you made to come to their place or the gas money you wasted on coming only to be shortchanged and then treated this way? So much for a reasonable experience this place is a mess.

My boyfriend loves this place, I don’t really understand why. Maybe i’m spoiled; where I live in Georgia there are probably 3 high-​quality, non-​chain bbq joints in my town alone. However, for a chain, Famous Dave’s is decent and the only bbq place I know of in the area. We stopped here for lunch about two weeks ago. The free chips they give you to start with all the special sauces I don’t think are anything special. I wasn’t in the mood for real bbq so I got the hickory chicken sandwich, which has grilled chicken with jack cheese and bacon. It was pretty good. I could not finish it though because it was a bit too much for lunch for me. One thing I will note is the service was GREAT for a chain restaurant. Our waitress (I forget her name but my bf says she has worked there forever), was great and very attentive! I will be back here if i’m ever craving cheap bbq.

Famous Dave’s is one of those chain restaurants that really surprises me. I’ve gotten taken out a couple of times from this location and have never been disappointed. If you’re a die hard BBQ aficionado this might not be the spot for you, but if you’re someone who can appreciate some decent BBQ take out then I’d suggest checking it out.
In my most recent experience, I ordered the beef brisket (side of mac & cheese and coleslaw) and the georgia chopped pork (side of mac & cheese and potato salad). My order was ready to go in ten minutes. What I like the best about Famous Dave’s that other restaurants don’t always do is that they double check your order with you before you carry out.
For a chain, both the brisket and pulled pork were pretty good. The brisket was a bit on the chewy side, but the flavor was enough to hit the spot that day. The mac & cheese was pretty basic, nothing that amazing; while the potato salad and coleslaw were both pretty good. Cornbread, as always, was moist and perfect.
If you like a bit of kick to your BBQ sauce, I highly suggest stocking up on the Devil’s Spit — it’s everything you need to complete your meal.

I Enjoyed myself a long with my lunch bunch group of ladies from the senior center on Thursday. The food was very good. The atmosphere was relaxing, we had a good lunch.

If you’re not a big BBQ person you might find Famous Dave’s acceptable. As an enthusiast though, what you get here is middling BBQ at best, and you pay too much for it.
$ 25 for 12 short-​ribs is just not a good value when the ribs lack any real smoke flavor, are chopped down to thin pieces and perhaps most importantly taste a little dry and bland. If you go to a real smoked BBQ family restaurant the difference will be all over the plate. In addition when I ordered a take-​out order recently they didn’t put any sauce on the ribs or in the bag, forcing me to use store-​bought sauce I had at home.
In contrast the side dishes are pretty good. Thick fries (though obviously processed), nice ears of corn and a cornbread muffin that was delicious though perhaps a little too sweet. I feel like the side dishes vastly outperform the average meat, though not enough to make the meals more valuable.
Service and décor is serviceable, not what you would go there for. It looks and feels like a restaurant that should charge much less than it does.
Put simply there are much better BBQ options out there, even in a Yankee city like Philadelphia. No reason to go here and spend a lot of money unless you literally can’t go to any number of better places with tastier food.

This was the first time going and will be the last time for a while. The waiter was very nice and attentive. The food on the other hand was mediocre and was over priced. The sauces were good but the chips were greasy and burnt tasting. I had the combo which consisted of the brisket, georgia pulled pork, beans, cole slaw and corn muffin. Both meats were dry but had decent flavor. Unfortunately they were warm but not hot. Both the slaw and beans were good. I also sampled the baby back ribs and was very disappointed. I would have expected the meat to fall off the bones and it didn’t. They were like the brisket and pork, dry and warm.
For a place that is supposedly known for their BBQ, it was rather disappointing. I have had better.

As my fellow Delco Unilocaler Steven B stated so eloquently (as he always does), when it comes to chain dining you need to manage your expectations. I do agree with his assessment that if you judge this place within the realm of chain dining, it actually does very well and better than most chains in existence.
But please, pretty please… don’t call this place real barbecue. It’s just an insult to those who are real purveyors of the craft. No, I’m not one of them myself. But we have to be frank. The taste experience here doesn’t even come close to the taste experience you get at a place where the owner is there smoking the ribs himself. It’s just two different worlds.
But I’ll judge this based simply on the fact that I do generally enjoy eating what I get here. Tonight I went on the lighter side in a meal with friends and ordered the turkey burger. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t a totally fresh burger patty (looked like t came from frozen to me), but taste wise I had no complaints. Generally I have enjoyed their ribs and wings in the past, and their portions are incredibly huge. Some of their sides leave a bit to be desired, but the corn muffins always please me. I do like the idea of the house made chips with the barbecue sauce dips.
I’d give them 3 ½ stars if I could. 4 might be pushing it for me. The barbecue snob in me won’t let me give them 4. But they are always worth a go if you need a quick barbecue style fix and your favorite places are closed for the evening or too far for you to want to drive to that night.

Love this place!
One of my favorite chain restaurants. The flavors are bold and portions large. When you have a craving for red meat and want to be very full after your meal, this is the place to go.

Horrifying Vegetarians Since 1985! I saw this sign a while back at a BBQ joint in Austin, Texas and it made me laugh out loud. There are plenty of places like Austin to find great BBQ in this country but Delaware County is low on the list. The pickings are slim.
If I want the best BBQ in the area I go to Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse but it’s a pain in the butt to get there and sometimes I just need my BBQ fix quicker.
If you go to Famous Dave’s, like all chains, you need to manage your expectations. The lovely wife and I think that in the world of chain dining these folks do a great job. Since they opened this location, between lunch and dinner we’ve visited over a dozen times.
A word of warning. This place gets really busy on Friday and the weekend. This includes both lunch and dinner. If you go at prime time be prepared for the dreaded «beeper experience.»
As you peruse the menu remind yourself of the BBQ lover’s mantra– «It’s no sin to get sauce on your chin!» If your cholesterol is a little low you can fix that quick with Loaded BBQ Chips ($ 6.49) as an appetizer. You’ll get house-​made chips, jalapeño bacon and diced tomatoes, topped with bleu cheese dressing and crumbles.
If you want the full Famous Dave’s experience get the All-​American BBQ Feast. You’ll receive ribs, Roast Chicken, either Beef Brisket or Chopped Pork, Coleslaw, Fries, Baked Beans, Corn-​on-​the-​Cob, and corn bread muffins. You can get this monster for two for $ 36.99. I guarantee you will be stuffed. We have always found the meats to be moist and tasty. The coleslaw is also especially good. Make sure you wash everything down with and ice cold beer. As mentioned before, sauce on your chin is expected. I once saw a thirty-​something woman here with sauce dripping from her forehead. Avoid that if you can as it’s just too weird.
So if you go here expect a chain environment, and a filling tasty BBQ meal for a decent price.

Not really a fan of BBQ, but my fam loves this place.
The boys wil kill an order of ribs! My husband loves the variety of sauces. The meat is always tender and the sides are good too. Although, they can be a bit on the spicy side if you are a lightweight like me. I have had their burgers, which are good. THis time I had the roasted chicken, which was surprisingly good. It was seasoned so well. The boys like their steak fries and the homemade chips they bring out in the beginning. I like the beans and veggies for sides.
The sweet tea is good too!
It was crowded when we got there, but the wait was way less than the 30 min I was quoted. AND the manager remembered my name when saying gn as we exited!