Zarda Bar-B-Q — Restaurant in Lenexa

I finally tried Zarda Bar-B-Q restaurant after living in JOCO for the last 15 years; I went to the Lenexa location. I was greeted by Hector who was extremely friendly, polite and more than willing to help out. I told him I had Celiac disease and he helped me select items from a "Gluten-free menu" they have, and answered all questions for me. I tried the Friday evening special Variety Plate for $29.50 which included a little of everything! It's enough for 2 full meals. It inlcuded a 1/4 chicken (breast and wing), 3 oz pork burnt ends, a pork ribs (snack)-- like 3 or 4 ribs, 2 oz of thinly sliced sausage, and I selected my 2 sliced meats to be thinly sliced brisket and turkey. It also includes 2 classic sides--the Celiac-safe ones are green beans, BBQ beans, cole slaw, potato bake, potato salad and cheesy corn. The green beans were freshly made with caramelized onion and bacon bits. The potato bake was delicious and had chunks of potato, cheese, sour cream and bacon from what I could discern. I really enjoyed the ribs (fall off the bone tender), chicken (moist, not dried out) and pork burnt ends. I think for the sliced meats they could slice them little thicker rather than razor-thin, micro-,millimeter slices. The turkey and brisket reminded me of deli meat tbh. The sauces and rubs are all gluten-free, and I only sampled the basic Zarda BBQ sauce which was sweetish and smokey. Overall it was a solid meal and I enjoyed it and was very satisfied. The atmosphere of the dining room was very, very clean, albeit a bit old-fashioned and country-homey, playing country music overhead, and complete with wood paneling and wooden spindle barrel seats. This restaurant attracts a lot of older clientele, but it's kid-friendly too. There was plenty of staff at the counter, bussers who were on top of things, and staff cleaning even the windows on the doors of the greasy fingerprints. The bathroom was pristine and nicely updated. When I come back I will try the Ltd. Reserve brisket burnt end platter, recommended by Hector. Btw, Hector is a rock star, he seemed to do it all, order taking, expediting orders, answering questions, bussing if needed, all with a smile on his face. Of all the BBQs in KC I have visited, Zarda is in the...

LUNCH BBQ

I have no idea how this one has escaped. I have eaten here a number of times and loved the food each time. This is one of those places that I go to for the sides and enjoy the BBQ. I call this pubsides... let me explain.

Some places serve amazing beans (like here) and some do amazing cheesy corn stuff, and some have PubSides: specifically all the fried stuff... Fried cheese cubes (called something else and delicious), Fried Pickles, Fried Mushrooms, Fried other things, and my favourite in the world! Fried Sweet Corn Nuggets!

Everything here is good. I have never had a bad sandwich. But now for the bad news... You have to eat hear multiple times and try the different combos to find the "right" meal for you. The different tastes of the individual lend to the different BBQs. And in light of other reviews I would say you really need to test what fits your taste.

The sauce... BBQ in KC has many elements and one of the big ones is the sauce. I know some people that LOVE the Zarda BBQ sauces... I am not one of them. I enjoy how it comes and rarely add anything else to it as the sauces I like tend to be more on the Brown or Yellow sides. The redder the sauce the less I tend to enjoy. (There is no star bearing from this statement as it is only a preference of the taster. Love dry rub too!)

Note to Zarda: Keep up the good work. The plate sizes are good the portion sizes are large and the majority you are doing it right. Beer selection could ALWAYS be bigger. And you saw my sauce comments.

Thank you for reading and...

i’ve only been in Kansas for two months I’ve been trying some barbecue houses because you hear about the Kansas City barbecue and how great it is Unfortunately, maybe I have a different acquired taste to smoked or and barbecued meats The menu said enough to feed two or three people The rib pack I think it was something like $39 They’re St. Louis style ribs they don’t offer baby backs. Not sure why most places don’t I guess they don’t want a better product It comes with beans, coleslaw and one rack of ribs I ate most of it with the exception of the oversweetened beans I asked the lady at the counter to give me a dry, rubbed with no sauce or sugar She assured me that there would be no sugar unfortunately, they based their ribs in some sort of sweetened basting sauce or marinade Most barbecue places that don’t know how to barbecue meat like to put sugar on everything, because sugar hides the lack of understanding how to flavor and cook meat They seem to be busy enough, but for a guy like me that’s trying to avoid sugar stay away from this place they put sugar in everything they had 15 different barbecue sauces, I tasted three of them they were supposed to be spicy. There was no spice but plenty of sugar. If I want sugar, I’ll go to the store buy a box of Cap’n Crunch cereal because I like that if I want sugar that’s where I’ll find it In conclusion, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, if you don’t know what you’re doing use a...