Rackz BBQ — Restaurant in Carmel

Doing a review on a BBQ place is always tough for me! Anybody can make a decent sandwich, decent pancakes, a good omelette, a good burger, a good steak etc but for me, BBQ is different!

At a place like BJ's or Red Robin, your food is made fresh to order. At a BBQ joint, you invest anywhere from 5 to 15 hours on a piece of meat and then you have to hold it for service later. The product that arrives at your table is not representative of the product that came off the smoker. They are two very different things! That's a big part of the reason that BBQ reviews are difficult. It's hard to critique something that isn't being served at it's peak freshness. I've been doing BBQ for a LONG time and FOR ME, if I can't serve it fresh, I prefer not to serve it at all.

All of that aside, finding really good BBQ in Indy is not an easy task and I found Rackz to be kind of underwhelming! The Brisket was tough and had little if any smoke flavor and my ribs were pretty far past done. They too didn't have any real smoke flavor to them. The Mac n Cheese and the greenbeans were both pretty bland as well.

On the plus side, the hand made chips were spectacular and the beans were really good! Give me a plate full of those chips and some of the spicy BBQ sauce to dip them in and I'm a happy guy!

Ultimately, I gave them 3 stars because I understand the difficulty in what they're trying to accomplish and I appreciate their investment in time. I would like to try it fresh off the smoker; after the appropriate rest of course. I'm guessing that it would be infinitely...

Tried the Combo platter with pulled pork, brisket, add $2 ribs & tangy sauce. We felt the food portion/value/price was just right. Our side was mac & cheese and there was a corn bread muffin too. We had the iced tea to wash it all down...Our favorite by far were the ribs, so flavorful and delicious. Our 2nd favorite was the pulled pork. It had some end piece flavoring bits and it was tender. The brisket was ok, but plain in flavor, not as tender more dry. I did like that it wasn't as greasy as the other times we'd tried BBQ. I can't compare it to any other place here, we just moved here. The tangy sauce was thick and delicious, vinegary and not too sweet but a little, just right in our book. We saved the extra, there were 6 dip cups of BBQ. All the meat comes just plain without sauce & you add how you want. The mac & cheese was full of cheese, but not as good as some homemade recipes, not baked. The corn bread also, I could take it or leave it, but I generally LOVE corn breads. It had a tiny bite of jalapeno. It was extra soft & tender. The tea was beautiful, clear and fresh ~ a delicious black tea, but expensive for a pretty small glass we agree. We would go here again and go for all pulled...

Our party of 5 stopped in for the first time tonight after hearing all the good reviews. We all had the brisket or pulled pork dinners. The young man at the counter was very nice and seemed knowledgeable of the menu. After ordering we found a table, looked around, and were impressed with the decor and cleanliness. Didn't take long for our meals to arrive, and WOW, what a table full of food! The brisket and pork were both juicy and tender. Great BBQ flavor and the sauce ( we got both sweet and zesty) were spot on. The sides, oh the sides. You never really know what your going to get when you order mac-n- cheese, or slaw, when your out. Well, they both are great here! Both are obviously home made. The slaw is not to sweet, its creamy and has an interesting spice I couldn't place. The MAC---- All 5 of us had it, and all 5 dishes were empty. Creamy, cheesy, and thankfully not too salty. Finally, the corn bread muffins---hot, moist, and whipped butter---YUM! We all left stuffed, and had a bit of a snack to take home. They even included little to go cups of BBQ sauce to go. Nice touch! Welcome to the neighborhood, and keep doin what your doin! We will definitely be...