17. Kansas City Barbeque

Give us a break: 10 Best, Bull-oney! Waited 35 minutes at lunch, then got cold, fatty ribs. Eat anywhere else.

I am from Kansas City and this BBQ simply cannot compare. The sause was homemade (I think) which is a nice idea, but they are just not good at it, and the food was delivered in about 3 minutes telling me that it was already made before I ordered it. We take pride in our BBQ in Kansas City and this place doesn't.

I live in San Diego so I'll spare those of you looking for good BBQ: immediately go to Phil's BBQ on Goldfinch St. in Mission Hills. Do not go to KC BBQ – this place [is horrible]. I wholeheartedly agree with reviewer #1: bad food, incorrigible service – the only thing this place has going for it is location and memorabilia, which is a dime a dozen these days anyway. I do not know how this place was voted Best in City. It's awful, unless you like fatty chunks of fat with fat on the side.

John from Grand Rapids could not have assessed KCBBQ more accurately. This place serves atrocious BBQ and should be reprimanded for claiming to serve BBQ. To be fair, it serves as a nice, casual spot to grab a beer and a snack after work, but the BBQ is terrible. Locals with the least bit of BBQ acumen know not to go here for the food.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting San Diego on business and during my stay I ate at Kansas City BBQ. I have to tell you that I am a BBQ aficianado and I make it a point to eat at BBQ joints whenever I am on the road. I've eaten BBQ at chain restaurants in Georgia, greasy spoons in Michigan, roadside shacks in North Carolina's Outer Banks, inner city joints in Dallas, and rural bars in Wisconsin. I even compete in BBQ cook-offs. In my experience, the BBQ I had at Kansas City BBQ in San Diego was the worst I have ever had. I was there at about 4:00p.m. on August 10. It wasn't that busy, maybe three four-tops and a couple of people at the bar. There were two waitresses on duty and a surly bartender. I ordered the pork ribs, coleslaw and onion rings. About twenty minutes later my food was delivered to my table. On the plate was a scoop of coleslaw, no onion rings and maybe four anemic, dried-out BEEF ribs that looked like they had been sliced off the rack the day before and left to sit in a hot oven for a couple of hours. Knowing from experience that you can't judge good BBQ by the way it looks, I dug in. Unfortunately, the ribs tasted as good as they looked. They were dry, stringy, flavorless, and greasy. They had barely been touched by sauce and no extra sauce was offered on the side. The ribs were almost entirely bone and what meat there was clinging to the ribs had the succulent juiciness of stale beef jerky. Realizing that this was a mistake that I was unwilling to eat, I tracked my waitress down and made her aware of the order mix-up. She apologized and went to the kitchen to fix my order. About ten minutes later she returned with a new plate of ribs, pork this time, onion rings and more coleslaw. The ribs were a porcine version of the beef ribs. Dry, chewy and an unholy waste of good pig parts and an embarassment to the very idea of BBQ. I wouldn't go back to Kansas City BBQ if you paid me.

Great place if you are a bbq lover! When back in San Diego - I'll dine there again!