James Brown Famous Flames BBQ — Restaurant in Avon Park

Wow!!! I've got to eat at some of the best BBQ places across the country and let me tell you, this place is up there with them. Unfortunately, I got there right before closing, so I didn't get everything as fresh as I would've liked, but no complaints from me. I ordered a combo with, ribs, pulled pork and chicken. For sides was collard greens and Mac N Cheese. The ribs were great, with awesome flavor, tenderness and pull. The Pulled pork was outstanding as well. The chicken, although a little dry had great flavor too, thanks to good smoke and a good rub. Had the chicken been a little more fresh, I'm sure it would've been outstanding. The collard greens were really good, some of the best I've ever had, but the Mac N Cheese was a little lackluster. Not bad, but okay. Mac N Cheese is always one of those hard things to get right though. Remember, this is a BBQ place, not a sides place, and they do BBQ great. Also, I don't know if they make the BBQ sauce or not, but if they do I want to buy some or at least find out where to get it from. Both the sweet sauce and the mustard sauce was outstanding. Mustard sauce is kinda hard to find around here. It's more of a Carolina thing, but when done right, it's one of my favorites, and this place does it right. I could drink that mustard sauce. Anyways, the place is going to get more famous than it already is real soon I feel. If you're driving through Avon Park up Hwy 27, you gotta take a little detour to go to this gem. I loved it and you...

Brisket cooked OK but sliced wrong (my meal was thin like roast beef, and not a 1/4" cut across full length like usual). Honestly underwhelming both in taste and portion size (~2oz) for the $5.50 it cost. I'm surprised at the other reviews for the brisket. Does not rank favorably with Franklin's, Lewis' or Scott's. Ribs however were seasoned well, great ring and perfect color but the pull was a bit too strong. low scores for tenderness around 4/9. In all fairness I did stop in shortly before closing time (7pm) so they like have been in a faux cambro for some time vs. fresh off the smoker.  Approximately $17 total for 1/2 rack ribs and two slices of thinly sliced sad sad brisket. On a positive note, its by far the best BBQ I've had in this town but overall that's not saying much as Sonny's is a horrible abomination and Cody's ribs tastes like they are boiled in liquid smoke before being carelessly tossed on a grill. James Brown's decor is exactly what I'd expect a mom and pop rib joint to look like and the staff seemed friendly and accommodating....

Get you some of this. Go out of your way! Don't miss out! BEST BEST VERY BEST BBQ EVER! I recently went to TX and had some bbq there and it was good...but this blows up any other bbq I've ever had. Not only is it delicious, but the price is right and there is a little bit of everything to choose from. My hubby and I got a lb of brisket to share and he got the rib dinner w/ corn nuggets and greens and I got pulled pork dinner w/ mac n cheese (best ever) and fried okra. We never expected to get SO MUCH food! There had to be a lb of pulled pork in my container and a healthy serving of sides too. He got 5 fat ribs w/ his dinner. We have so much food leftover we can make 2 more meals of it....