Sam P.
Yelp
When I was a teen, me and my friends used to (lamely) rate the attractiveness of girls, mostly the ones we would never get a chance to date. We'd use a scale of 1 to 10, but if we ever gave a rating of 8 or higher we'd always ask:
Is it really a 10 or is it a California 10? That being the reputation of the beauty of Californians (I had never been to California at that point) merited a different scale.
I feel the same with KC and their BBQ. A BBQ joint in say, Boston, should get us Kansas Citians saying "Is that really a 10 or is that a KC 10?"
Many people who go to Rosedale would probably give it a score much higher than I would, but for me this is a 3/5...a KC 3/5 though.
I went there and ordered a two meat plate that included pulled Chicken and Burnt Ends. I paid $17.50 for the dinner sized plate (tax and tip included)
Let me get the great out of the way. The price is right, a similar meal would have cost $17~18 at Joe's KC or Q39, pretax with no tip. While a $5 different doesn't seem like much, it is a 20% price difference.
And the portions were enormous. I had enough for a second meal. Just because it is cheaper doesn't mean they skimp on the portions.
The Nice was that the place is a great hole in the ground with great atmosphere and I appreciate it that it is a woman led business. We need more women in the world of competitive and retail BBQ. The fries were also good (although they were of a mass produced quality), crispy with no seasoning. Some may not like that, but I don't like salty fries when I'm eating sodium laden bbq.
The okay were the rest of the sides. The beans had a canned quality to them, with meat added to give them a "homemade taste". Canned beans are often overly soft and these were. The cole slaw was overly sweet and I prefer a vinager based taste, rather than KFC style.
The burnt ends would have been pretty good in a non-bbq town, but this is Kansas. They were good, but nothing outstanding, so they were just average. Most of the meat was tender, while others were hard, which is not how anyone I know like them.
The disappointing was the pulled chicken. It was wet, and I don't mean moist, I mean like they came out of chicken soup, that also caused the sauce on it to have a gross, watery taste to it. I'm not sure why it was this way, but I was not a fan.
I was also not a fan of the sauce they used. It had no bite to mean and tasted bland.
I recommend visiting this place if you are a frequent visitor of BBQ joints, as the money you save over the long run will add up. I would call this your everyday, working persons bbq joint.
if you go to BBQ for special occasions or once in a while (to preserve your health!), I would recommend skipping.