Rudy's "Country Store" and Bar-B-Q — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

A friend of mine and I recently visited Rudy’s barbecue around 4 PM and was greeted very well by Nick who is a great customer service person. We wanted to order 1 pound of moist brisket a half pound turkey and a baked potato loaded. Guess what, at 4 PM they were already out of baked potatoes! Seriously! We were looking forward to having the baked potato ALL day! The manager did not offer us any alternative solution, C’mon!!! So we went ahead and ordered a pint of new potatoes. After we received our food, there was at least a quarter pound or more of fat on the moist brisket ugh! How disappointing. I went up to the counter and asked the young Spanish gentleman with a full beard and he said oh that’s normal. I think that’s a normal joke because guess what Rudy’s can simply cut that fat off and throw it away like they do the blackened. In fact, they used to give the blackened away because it’s nice crunchy and like the ends of toasted toast I used to love it, but they won’t even sell it to you. Anyways, this guy behind the counter, decided to go ahead and order a quarter pound for free which was nice. However he ordered moist brisket with extra bark! What the Heck is “Extra Bark! After we received the “Extra Bark” it was almost like black chunks of asphalt. My friend hated it. When we were cleaning up to leave a very nice man named “ERMANI” asked how our service was, and we told him about all the fat. In fact showed him one of the little paper containers, full of fat! he immediately looked at us with a great big smile and said oh I’m going to take care of you, I will get you another 1/4 pound of moist to go! Wow, that was super nice. Once “ERMANI” came back to the table to bring us the additional quarter pound of moist brisket, we proceeded to let him know the reason we came obviously not only just the Brisket & Turkey but for the Baked Potato!! He looked at us and said “oh that’s no problem. We have some fresh baked potatoes, ready to go. I’ll go get you one right now”. So he immediately brought us a fresh loaded baked potato. “ERMANI” wrapped up the potato and wrapped up the moist brisket for us and said I am so sorry for the poor food portions and the quality of the people behind the counter. He was such a wonderful person. I also want to let Rudy’s know the way they serve their sausage on Breakfast Burritos is an absolute joke. Why would anyone want a sausage burrito with little teeny tiny cubes of sausage that look like hash brown material and/or sausage that has been put in a blender? If you want sausage you want slices of sausage not little tiny cubes like the size of Green Peas! Our overall experience was wonderful because of only one thing, “ERMANI”! He is a wonderful employee. He should be the manager and by the way cut out the fat please it’s a joke because only probably three or four out of 100 will complain which means the other 95 to 98 is getting at least a quarter pound of fat and that’s just profit in your fat wallet! I’m still disappointed in your fancy “EXCUSE” that Moist Brisket is Just That Way! It’s not just that way that’s the way you want it to be so that you will convince people not to complain! Give More and More will come back to you. It’s the small things in life people that make people the most happy. And it’s the small things that mean a lot wouldn’t you agree? Local Manitou Springs resident! Do Better! Quit putting Sausage in a Blender for your Breakfast Burritos and Cut off “MORE” of the Fat on the...

I first visited Rudy's in Leon Springs in 1993 as a college student working at a summer camp along the Guadalupe River, and I thought I'd found Heaven, so I went back a dozen times over the next few years. I've lived in Kansas City for the past 25 years, but on a recent business trip to Colorado Springs I saw the Rudy's and convinced my wife to go there for dinner on a Friday night. We were sadly disappointed by the food, and my memories of glorious BBQ have been colored by this recent experience. The first HUGE mistake was ordering a 1/2 pound of "Spicy Chop" in "sause." I was told by the cashier that they'd be something like beef burnt ends but chopped and saused, so I had very high expectations. Instead, we got a lump of pulverized beef that had almost no meaty texture at all, and the only thing we could taste was "sause." There was literally no meat flavor; it was very similar to the consistency and flavor of a school cafeteria Sloppy Joe, and we were very disappointed. We ate it scooped onto slices of white bread with added pickles, but it wasn't great. Our second choice was 3/4 pounds of pork ribs. Rudy's definitely leaves the silverskin on their ribs, which was surprising. But what really surprised us was how incredibly dry the meat was. We were eating dinner at 5:30pm, so it's not like we got the end of the night leftovers, but those ribs were tough and dried out. We liked the sauce options on the table, and we definitely had to pour it on thick to get at least some moisture on those ribs. (My wife kept commenting how much better my own smoked ribs are than these, which made me feel really good but certainly is no complement to any BBQ joint!) The potato salad was another mistake: only get it if you LOVE mayo with unflavored chunks of vegetables in it. I added a significant amount of black pepper to it, some salt, and a whole lot of dill pickles that I found on the generous condiment bar and chopped up. That helped. But I wish I'd ordered the "New Potatoes" so I could have diced up some of those and added them to the potato salad to get a much better mayo/potato ratio. I must say the "Rudy's beans" were excellent! And you gotta love Rudy's ambience! The whole place is a fun family picnic full of great vibes. Next time, we'll definitely just stick with the...

Rudy's "Country Store" and Bar-B-Q is a huge restaurant that offers a taste of Texas-style BBQ and I got to experience this during a recent work trip to Colorado Springs.

I came here during a cold day and was warmed by the comforting ambiance that Rudy’s offered. Walking in, to the left was a little section where items can be purchased. A few more steps and there is a metal trough full of ice and cold drinks like chilled beer. It even had rows of bags of chips. They also have a refrigerated section with potato salad and other cold sides.

There is a large menu board above the counter where you place orders. The orders come out in these durable trays where you can take it to the cart full of condiments, which had pickles, sliced onions, pickled veggies, chilis, and others. It also has napkins and trays to put the veggies in.

It is all pretty much self-service after you place your orders. They also have a soda fountain with the usual drinks.

You can choose to sit inside the main restaurant or in the closed-in patio or outdoors when the weather permits. We chose to sit in the closed-in patio to look at the snow while we ate.

I ordered the BBQ Brisket Sandwich and it was a little on the dry side. It did have a good smoky flavor to it. Adding a combination of Rudy’s Bar- BQ Sause and the Sissy Sauce, along with some pickles and onions made the brisket sandwich much better. I got to try a piece of the jalapeño sausage and that was delicious! Just the right amount of heat. I also liked their potato salad.

Overall, this was a cool spot to check out for lunch. It has just about everything you need for BBQ, the portions are large, there’s plenty of seating, and the...