Baldy's BBQ — Restaurant in Lakeville

I used to live near Baldy's and had always enjoyed it. So when I was back in MN to visit family, we decided to try it out again. My sister and I both ordered their mixed plate, with 3 different meats, and we both had pork. Well, when the meals came, the pork was EXTREMELY dry. The waitress came back and checked on us after we got our food, so we told her, Both of us had extremely dry pork. So she want to see what she could do, and came back with small bowls of the same extremely dry pork. We told her those were also extremely dry, and basically inedible, and that's the last we heard of that. I figured she was either going to take off one of the meals, or ask if we wanted a different meat, but neither happened. When we got the check, there was no discount, so I asked about it. She actually said that she didn't charge us for the two extra sides, and acted like I should be grateful for that. I looked at my sister and we both were wondering, what extra sides?? We hadn't ordered any extra sides. So I asked, What extra sides? I was told the 2 small bowls of extremely dry pork that were brought to us to try to replace the extremely dry pork we already had, were the sides. At this point it was ridiculous, and I tried explaining we should have not been charged anyway, especially since those extremely dry pork sides were just as bad as the original extremely dry pork, and we ate neither. Well, Just enough to tell us they were extremely dry. (Which you could tell just by looking actually) So she went and talked to the manager, and the manager eventually came over and told us she took $4 each off our $16 meals for the pork we never ate. Which was something, but just ridiculous. She tried blaming the waitress for the dry pork for leaving the meals sit too long, but we saw the waitress didn't wait at all to bring the food once it was ready to bring to the table, nor did she wait on the bowls of pork. So it was excuses and no apology. The $4 was also a nearly meaningless token as well. So needless to say, my sister and my mother, who still live in the area, will never again be back there to eat after this experience. Treat your customers better, especially when you are serving things you shouldn't even be serving people. I felt sad for anyone else also getting the pork, as even slathered in sauce it would still be dry. So I don't recommend...

This is NOT TX BBQ. This barely qualifies as BBQ...where do I begin....let's start with the "brisket."

The brisket was tough, grey and lacked all any kind of smoke. What smoke flavor it did have was most likely due to liquid smoke in the marinade. This is obvious by the distinctive lack of a smoke ring in the meat. I know BBQ...and this would have caused a riot in Austin.

OK...now the sausage. This too was horribly overdone. It was dry, chewy and came in a link form that is similar to a breakfast sausage that was split down the middle. I will admit that the sausage has potential, if not over done.

The chicken...mediocre at best. Even when ordered as a 3rd meat, it only comes in it's pulled form. The chicken was also a little dry, but did have some good seasoning to it. This isn't bad, but when you don't serve bread with your BBQ plate it's sucks.

Overall, any BBQ that this place sells is wholly reliant on the 3 kinds of sauce that they give you. None of the BBQ can stand on it's own merit, and that is truly the mark of good BBQ. If you go to Blacks in Lockhart, Franklins in Austin, or hell...even Rudy's, you can eat all of their Q without needing to drown it in sauce.

I will admit the corn back is bland but not bad, and the corn bread is pretty good (really dense).

Baldy's would do better to make limited amounts and when they sell out, they sell out. Right now they have the advantage of minimal to no competition, and most Minnesotan's don't know the difference between good BBQ and crap. Take one trip to the Saltlick in Driftwood, TX then try this...you will taste the difference.

I wouldn't waste my time on this place...honestly, just go to famous daves (I can't believe I just...

Service was terrible. I had to ask for our table to be wiped down when it was visibly dirty. Only 3 of us for lunch and got 1 of the 3 drink orders wrong... food came fast, dry rubbed chicken wing were great. 2 of us orderd the #2, 1/2 slab of ribs and your choice of other meat- they were out of smoked Turkey, no problem I ordered brisket, it was 4 pieces of dried up meat. It was tough with no flavor, and it looked unappetizing. The ribs were ok. The other meal orderd was 1/2 slab ribs and smoked chic. It was pulled chix- eh, not bad. At first glance the ribs looked good with some crispy pork fat near the end of the rack. It was the 2nd bone from the end of the rack, as he continued to eat he realized it was a long pies of plastic wrap- gross! When we brought it back to the kitchen(open into the dining area) the cook said "we wrap our meat in plastic wrap to keep it moist" A normal food service pratice, but ensuring you take it off before serving is KIND OF IMPORTANT! The cook didn't seem to care that the plastic was left on. When the waitress finally came to see what was going on her attitude was the same. Her reply was, "we can't alwys catch that" ARE YOU KIDDING???? not only should the cook inspect what plate he is putting up for service, but the waitress should also ensure that everything is correct. In addition to that under the pile of pulled chicken was a French fry. Not a big deal on first thought, even though none of had FF as a side at our table but after the dirty table, wrong pop, plastic on the ribs and a rogue FF you begin to wonder WTH....would not visit again! BTW, the waitress was NOT a young inexperienced server. This gal had been...