Dreamland BBQ — Restaurant in Hoover

As this new location of Dreamland was being built, my family kept an eye on the progress and checked every week or 2 to see if it had opened yet. It finally opened and so my mom, sister, husband, my 2 year old and myself all went for the first time recently. Oh my goodness were we ever disappointed! First of all, if you enjoy brisket sandwiches or brisket anything, don't waste your time here. They only offer pork and chicken sandwiches! No beef!!! Usually we all get the brisket sandwiches at other local BBQ restaurants around town. My mom and sister ordered a BBQ chicken sandwich and neither of them ate much off their plates. My sister tried different sauces they offer but we did not like any of them. She was hoping to use a sauce because her sandwich was extremely dry and didn't taste like anything. My mom had the same problem. They both left the majority of those sandwiches on their plates. My mom ordered fried okra as a side and that was actually really good! The only other good thing at the table was their Mac and cheese I got for my little boy. It was delicious! I ordered a baked potato. Seriously, you almost have to try to mess up a baked potato! It was so undercooked and crunchy. Yuck! The food overall, was so disappointing. The menu itself, to me at least, was a disappointment as well. Not much caught my eye. I'm a beef /brisket person all the way. I will only usually deviate if I'm wanting some ribs! With how poorly almost everything else tasted, I'm not interested in ordering one of the most expensive items to try. Also, I can not stand that their "before the meal bread" option is nothing but sliced white bread with some not so great sauce on the side! That bread isn't toasted or warm at all! I'm sorry, but I'm not a dang duck! I don't want to sit there eating cold, plain slices of white bread! We'll continue to dine at our favorite BBQ restaurant a couple miles down the road that serves hot cheddar biscuits and beef!!!!

The only saving grace was their staff. We were greeted as we entered and exited the restaurant and our server was okay. This is the reason for the extra star. If the service would've been terrible as well, it would've been a one star experience...

My first visit here was a tad disappointing. My server was friendly and helpful. Kind of a quiet evening and it was a little chilly inside. Smelled great! My mouth was watering for the ribs I’ve heard so much about. Guess what? They were out of ribs. So I had the Legendary BBQ sandwich, chopped pork, Doc style. Tried to order house chips, all out. The sandwich was definitely the best pork sandwich I’ve ever had. Fries were ok as well as the beans. The bread and BBQ sauce were a nice treat while I waited for my meal. I nibbled on the bread after dipping it in the sauce, trying to control myself in the same manner as chips n salsa at a Mexican restaurant. I failed. Followed up the meal with some banana pudding. REAL banana pudding. Lots of banana, not just pudding with a few bananas and wafers on top. Really good banana pudding folks! My disappointment was once again realized as I was finishing up my pudding and saw a pile of ribs being escorted back to the kitchen from the smoker. If I only had room left, I would...

I wish I could rate this higher. Every time I’ve passed dreamland bbq I’ve always been curious to try it out and finally got a chance to give it a shot. I guess I had set my expectations high and unfortunately it wasn’t quite what I had expected. It wasn’t a great first impression. It didn’t seem like there was much care taken in the cleanliness and aesthetics inside. The service wasn’t terrible but I can’t say it was great either. Our waitress wasn’t rude by any means it’s just that it seemed like things took a little longer than expected considering we were one of three families there. Our waitress seemed to forget a few things we had asked for including the silverware. They were also out of three out of the four wines they told us they had. The tips and chips meal I got, I would have to say, was below average. I was expecting succulent rib meat but it turned out to be a little on the tougher side. I don’t think it’s somewhere I will return but wish...