Brody's Restaurant — Restaurant in Elk Grove

06/02/2025 at 12:52 PM

Bartender: N/A Bar Back: N/A Server: Julian L

FOOD & DRINKS The Tri-Tip ($31.95) is cooked nicely and has good flavor. I didn't have a scale with me You can look at the picture in this review and judge for yourself if it appears to be a full pound. I think it is.

Side of collard greens ($7.95) was cooked aldente, the way I like it. There was shredded port in the greens. I would have preferred bits of bacon or fatty ham rather than shredded pork. The greens tasted good. I think for $7.95 there should have been a bit more.

Side of corn bread ($9.95) was good. Could be a dollar cheaper in my opinion or kick it up a notch. It is tasty, just slightly expensive.

Side of Granny Coleslaw ($7.95), as far as I could tell had NO Granny smith apples. This is it's calling card, Granny Smith apples in the slaw. It's in the name, it's in the description and try as I might, I couldn't find any in the slaw. I dug to the bottom from multiple sides, ate from the top and nowhere was I able to taste (not even a hint) of Granny Smith apples. These are my favorite apples to eat and love their flavor.

Peach Margarita ($15) was tasty and has some room for improvement. Crushed ice was used rather than cubes. Could slightly taste the tequila over the peach and lime. This was made by a young man, not sure if over 21, not a permanent bartender. Not sure if they have bartenders, it might be that each server make the ordered cocktails. I'm not a fan of wait staff making the cocktails. You may want to stick with beer.

SERVICE It was adequate. I walked in the door before 1 PM and the kitchen staff called out to the staff member helping me, "no more brunch!". Luckily I wasn't there to have a late breakfast.

They refunded my Granny Coleslaw, that was good. They were nice helping me get the only table with an outlet. They were polite.

DECOR Nice decor for BBQ restaurant with plenty of seating both inside and out, three different seating areas outside.

CLEANLINESS Relatively clean, the table is a little tacky to the touch. Might be warm skin moisture makes it feel that way.

LOCATION On the river road in Freeport, nice location.

PRICE Seems a bit on the expensive side.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE Enough good to out weigh the various short comings to warrant a return visit on a different day at a different time. They weren't busy at all. I'm wondering if things improve during busy times when everything and everyone is firing on...

So I have some mixed feelings about Brody's. But let's start with the good things first. The food. The food, I have to say was pretty good. The tri tip sandwich that we ordered was yummy. The meats had a pretty good smoke ring around it, giving it a nice smoky flavor, and the ribs fell off the bone. The meats were also very warm and tender. There are not many good tasting BBQ places here in Sacramento, but this one actually is pretty high up there in the yummy charts.

Now comes the bad part of this place.

We placed our order online and when we were done, they told us our order would be ready to be picked up in 20 mins. So we left our house 20 mins later and arrived at the restaurant. The cashier lady was super friendly and very accommodating, and helped us pay for our order, however, she told us that our food was still not ready and we would have to wait another 5 minutes. Then she handed our receipt to the guy behind the counter who was responsible for handing out the food or packaging it for to-go orders. Although he was nice, he kept making us wait for our food even though the food was already ready. And instead of packing it into our bag, he gave our food to other customers that ordered after us. And then he kept looking at our ticket asking for the same food again to the chef. And when it was ready, he gave it out again to the customers that ordered after us. So this kept going on until 45 minutes later when we were still waiting and he finally packed our last item into the bag and handed it over to us. Now, mind you all while this was happening, I was observing the other staff members and most of them were just standing around not really doing much to help move things along. Needless to say, things could've been handled better and more efficiently if the guy behind the counter took care of the old tickets first before working on the new ones, and making others like me and the other few customers behind me wait for more than an hour before we had our food.

And granted, they are fairly new, so I guess I should give them the benefit of the doubt... But this was common sense and something that could've been handled better. And from reading the other reviews, it seems like this was not the first time this has happened here at Brody's. Hopefully as time goes by and the place ages, the staff is better trained to be more efficient at prioritizing and handling...

I wanted to like this place. I really did. Saw a reel on IG promoting this place and the comments, pics, etc looked amazing. Arrived early in the evening and liked what I saw initially. The place has a great facade and the perfect look for the type of establishment. The parking is extremely limited. There was a sign for overflow parking. No idea how far away it is. Inside, things were neat and clean and again, the decor fit the food type. Spent some time reviewing the menu and was a bit surprised at the prices. After making a selection, i placed my order. Chicken and ribs. 2 sides, and a dessert. $75!!!!!! Ok. Ordered to go. Sat for about 10 minutes in anticipation of the food. Presentation was poor, but it was a to go order. Good thing I checked my order before leaving. My dessert was missing. I get it, mistakes happen. But they weren't busy. I took some of their BBQ sauce, hoping the food would not need it. Hoped for a great rub, some great spices, or at the very least, and solid smoke flavor with hints of some fruit wood or hickory. Something. The way the sauce was displayed, i figured it HAD to be good. Maybe a signature flavor or recipe. Let me say we all have different tastes. So it's not my intention to bash the place. However, my experience, and I like to think I have a fairly developed palate, was disappointing. The food quality was just about the lowest grade you can have before getting in to animal feed. ESPECIALLY the ribs. No attempt was made to trim the fat. Super greasy. Over cooked. No flavor. 3 ribs for $32. No sides. Just 3 ribs. The chicken, the skin was so hard and dry it was inedible. The inside of the chicken was not fully cooked at the bone level. The mac n cheese tasted like the frozen kind that you heat and serve from the oven and the potato salad tasted like mustard and potatoes, garnished with paprika, scallions, and some red onion. The apple cobbler dessert was edible. Probably the only thing of my entire order that wasn't repulsive or gag invoking after the first bite. They have a great location. The appearance is fantastic. The staff and service was friendly. Not over the top, just what you hope and expect at a dining establishment. But in my opinion, when bbq places already struggle to compete, this place needs to do something about their taste asap or they won't last. Good luck to the staff...