Gates Bar-B-Q — Restaurant in Kansas City

Went to Gates on a Saturday night ordered a double decker beef (lean as possible and light on the sauce ) with pickles in a cup, fries extra crispy, and lemonade. I heard the employee repeat everything to the cook. There wasn't a big crowd so nobody was shouting out orders to anyone. Paid for my food and went home in the falling snow. Once I opened my sandwich all I saw was extra extra sauce the bread now was mushy and the beef wasn't lean at all but was all fatty along with pickles on my plate not in a cup. My fries weren't crispy - but not cooked all the way through. I called Gates (12st @ Brooklyn kcmo location) and talked to a Mrs. Smith explained my order and she did say I could bring my order back, however, I explained that I was 25 minutes away and with this weather it didn't seem safe to try and travel there and back again. She said to put her name in the receipt and next time I was able to come in show it to them and they would reimburse me my food. So, today (Monday)that's what I did only to be told by a Mr. Bryson that unless Mrs. Smith was there I couldn't get it. I tried to explain to Ms. Bryson the story - and all she did was keep cutting me off from explaining. Seems like Ms. Bryson only wanted to see the food from Saturday night and even said next time keep the food. Seriously! Mrs. Smith had said I'm so sorry but please try to enjoy whatever I could from the bad order and we'll take care of you when you come back in - and that is what a person says who knows her customer service. As for Ms. Bryson -she said - well I'll give you the sandwich and that's all anything else you have to pay for because that's what we do here. Unless Mrs. Smith is here to look this over I don't have to give anything to you. I asked her when does Mrs. Smith come back to work and she wouldn't tell me. I preceded to tell her my sandwich order and she just hollers to the cook the WRONG order. I tried to stop her and the cook said he had heard me and said he made it correctly. Ms. Bryson's customer service was horrible - she continued to speak loudly at me while I was talking low so not to make a scene - the customer that walked up behind me said that could everything she was saying to me but not what I was saying. When the cashier asked her about my fries on the receipt Ms. Bryson said that she was to give them to me only if I paid for them. So not to get the cashier into trouble I did pay for fries and she made sure that they were extra crispy. My second sandwich on the other had was FULL of FAT - I did take pictures of it before I threw it away) another disappointment. I'm sharing this because my family is a huge fan of Gate's BBQ - four generations of walking thru the doors - every location..... My mother's (who's resting in Heaven) favorite was the ham and beef combo - this incident has made me see that I really don't need to be a loyal customer anymore - I have options. Mr. Gates. I pray that you continue to prosper and that Ms. Bryson can improve her customer service skills. It's sad that even the cook didn't give a care about my request for lean meat and light in the sauce - just served...

Food- sandwich was great! Fries are just so so. Most times under cooked.

Ordering - online so it was easy

Value - we go here for the Nooner. Was $7.99 and has since increased to $8.99. We get it. All places have raised their price. Still a great deal.

Timelines- Ordered for pick up at 11:15. Received an email after 10am day of saying would not be ready till 11:45.

Friendliness - its Gates. ‘May I Help You Please’ seems a little intimidating in this atmosphere. Although I did not hear that today.

Long story short, we will not be visiting this establishment ever again. We buy lunch for our employees once a week and once a month we use Gates. That’s 30 Nooners. I get it. That’s a lot. That’s why we like to order a day or two ahead. First time was excellent. Lady was friendly. I complimented them having this done and ready. Second and Third time, still good. Today. Nope. Bad experience. Very bad. Went in and lady gave me 4 bags full of my order. I requested seasoning for the fries. She said ‘they cannot provide seasoning for 30 orders’. I told her all I needed was 4-5 small containers to we can sprinkle our fries ourselves. With attitude she obliged. Mind you, there is an option for seasoned or regular fries on all orders with fries. Got back to work and divided Nooners up and discovered we were 3 sandwiches short. Called to let them know and inquire if there was an additional bag. No, they gave me all of them. They said they were not short. I said I was. Lady said she would make me 3 more and I could come pick up. Went back. Same lady saw me, sat my bag on counter and walked away. No words spoken. Manager stops me from taking bag and proceeds to tell me I am wrong. He had 3 employees verify they counted 30 meals. That is fine sir, but I can guarantee you I only received 27. And I had another employee setting them up and labeling with me plus we have cameras to show I had 27 in the bags when I arrived. Manager still insists I was given all 30. I again asked if there is another bag somewhere because, no, I am still short 3. I explained to the Manager we have done this order 3-4 times over the past months. I only got 27 this time while I paid for 30 plus gave a good tip. Manager said yes, lady had told him we have done this order before and she said we have claimed we were shorted in the past. Um, NO. I do these pick ups. I have never had an issue in the past nor called and complained. He said I could have the additional 3 meals this time. All this in front of employees and other customers. Nope. I will not be returning. And by the way Sir, if you have a repeat customer that makes the same accusation of being shorted, shouldn't you be counting and verifying the order with said customer???? Makes sense to me especially with such a...

Well where to start ah the door (in this case the gates ha dad joke). A buddy and I were out of town and wanted to try some BBQ. Kansas City is known for good BBQ but this place on 9/8/24 fell short of mark by a lot. The service is the only in this place worthy of 5 stars. Food was not even edible. I walked in and saw a full tray sitting in the table barely touched as I walked into the order line which should have been red flag number one. The building was also filled with a haze of smoke from the smoker making it difficult to enjoy a dinner. Definitely not a non-smoking section in there. I ordered the brisket and a side of baked beans. My buddy ordered the burnt sandwich with coleslaw and baked beans. I sat down and confirmed the tray of food mentioned earlier sat there in touched. The brisket was tough, very fatty, and poor quality. Taste wasn’t bad but not much flavor given the fact the whole place was smoke filled. My buddy sat down and took one bite of his burnt end sandwich. He expressed it wasn’t good at all. I asked why and he expressed too salty. After I tried a small piece of The sandwich, I was applauded. You might as well just put a pile of salt and fat on your plate and ate it. The very nice waitress came over and checked on us. She asked if we needed any salt we responded no we are okay. A few minutes elapsed and she came over again to ask how it was. I expressed the meat was too salty on the burnt end sandwich and she responded well thank you. We were both like what? Your happy with that product? Also as mentioned previously the sides he ordered were baked beans and coleslaw. Beans were okay but the coleslaw wasn’t coleslaw but potato salad. The sauce on the sandwich was straight salty tomato paste. Overall if it was possible I would give 1/2 a star on atmosphere, and food. Not a good value. The service is the only thing good about this place. I’ll save you the disappointment and send you to Mc Donald’s for a Mc Rib that is closer to BBQ than this. I’d say go ahead and lock up the Gates a with a chain and lock on it until you figure these issues out. Smile zone? Definitely didn’t leave a smile just a salty taste.

Addendum: I highly recommend OG Bandits BBQ. Got it at the airport and my goodness what a value. They also are a local company out of Oak Grove. I totally support it. The portion sizes are good, meat is tender, the burnt ends aren’t just straight burn ashy fat. Flavor is definitely what BBQ is supposed to be. Not sure what we were served last night but that wasn’t it. Come down to OG Bandits BBQ....