Dr. Rolf's Barbeque — Restaurant in Muskegon

I can't believe how highly rated this place is. But I doubt people in this area let alone Michiganders know what real and good BBQ is. Given how the food in this state is hit or miss and simply not good. I'm a Texan so I love BBQ. I wanted to be open minded with this place and I saw a news program on this place and from what I saw it looked good.

My husband and I went here last Friday. While looking over the menu he noticed there were no family options. Basically one, two, or three meats with oh so many sides for a certain price. We ordered a 1lb of brisket, 1lb of ribs, and 2 sausage links. Sides don't come with it so we ordered potato salad, Cole slaw, and buttered beans. Now this is where the order went wrong and pissed both of us off.

Their portion size is terrible especially for the price. You can go to Popeyes or Lee's and they have bigger pint sizes for their sides. This place only gives you a HALF of pint for $4 freaking dollars and for a FAMILY size meal lol. That's a joke and a rip off! My husband and I couldn't even share the sides lol. He got half and I got half which was basically a table spoon each. Seriously Dr.Rolf that's how you do customers?

The waitress lady didn't say the pint size she just said "if you look over there that's the cup size". Confused, because it was very small, I said "well there's two so which one", and she said the bigger cup is for chilli. Really? My husband and I both looked at each other confused and I was about to tell him to just forget the sides but he already paid. We did let the waitress know that was too small and for two people. It was silly small so for future reference to other customers if you are ordering a big order/family don't get the sides.

For what you get and pay isn't worth it. You can go to Aldi and get a container of potato salad and cole slaw for the same price and it actually tastes good and has flavor. Rolf's Cole slaw was dry and flavorless and definitely not worth $5. The potato salad was good though. The buttered beans had a good flavor but the beans themselves were hard and weren't edible the next day. I threw them out. If you are going to have Lima beans as your beans then you need to actually COOK them! Make sure they get soft.

The ribs were dry and had that nasty Swanson's beef broth flavor. I couldn't finish and threw them out. The brisket was good but wasn't cut the way brisket is usually cut. They just gave us a bunch of oversized fatty and stringy meat slabs. The meat was too fatty. More fat than meat. The sausage was decent. Cornbread was hard and dry. This is where the experience was ruined. Apparently they also don't give family size sauces or just let the customer get how many sauces they want. Their sauce containers are those small plastic individual containers.

For our sauces we got peach, blackberry, and regular. For all the meat we ordered that definitely wasn't enough sauce. We asked for more and the waitress said "I gave you all you are allowed to get but I'll give you more". Again confused like what. Apparently you are only allowed so much sauce with your meal lol. For $77 and some change you better give me what I ask and am entitled to as a paying customer. My husband explained how we ordered 2lbs of meat and that wasn't enough sauce.

I've never been limited sauce at a BBQ establishment or any establishment. My husband doesn't get frustrated like that with restaurants but even he said them limiting the sauce killed it for him. I would say it was definitely disappointing and didn't live up to the hype. I personally wouldn't eat at this place only if I found a really good BBQ place, and it was either too far, or closed that day and this was my only option. I also wouldn't order their sides.

Unless they make changes. The tiny sizes are only good if you are eating in the restaurant or take out for one person. For family sizes you need family portions. Also their Carolina sauce is TERRIBLE. I don't know what kind of liquidy sauce that was but it was nasty and vinegary. Not the Carolina sauce...

Was 5 stars.

SUPER SLOW SERVICE, Only paid for what we received and left.

Dined in on Saturday around 5:30pm Got waters and beers & Ordered 2Lbs of ribs & some brisket sliders. and a bowl of chili to go.

So then we sat for over an hour waiting for our food.(Mind you, when we got seated, they had about 5 or 6 tables empty. a couple outside were empty too. So they weren't terribly booked.)

After an hour goes by we walk inside to ask for an update, the waitress apologizes and says they have a skeleton crew. So we said we are going to have to probably cancel our order because we have to go because we have a hockey game to go to across the street.

We asked how long to get the Bowl of red chili to go. She told us 20 minutes....20 minutes to get a bowl of chili after already sitting there for an hour. so apparently they need 80 minutes to get a takeout bowl of chili ready. Your google stats state people typically spend about 45-90 minutes there. At the going rate we would have spent almost 1.5 hours there before even getting food.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT, PLEASE DONT SELL IT.

I've worked in a local, well known barbecue place who created a gap in the local industry for places like Dr.Rolf's to fill in. I know how long it takes to get a couple ribs and some sliders out. THIS IS TERRIBLE. Those meats are already smoked( I would hope!) All you had to do was put some sauce on those ribs and warm them up.... sliders are fast and super easy too. Ribs and sliders should not have taken longer than 25 minutes tops to get to the customer once ordered. Not 80 minutes.

ALSO, if service is going to be far far far slower than usual then that is something you should let your customers know before they sit down.

The outdoor seating was NOT warm enough when you have to sit there for an hour without warm food. My legs were freezing and I had Under Armor & Snow Pants on.

None of this is the fault of the waitress even though we feel there was also a serious lack of attention on her part, We still tipped her. But if this kitchen don't get things figured out they are going to lose money for the business as well as their wait staff.

Instead of spending money at Dr.Rolfs, I ended up spending twice as much eating concession stand food across the street at the...

My daughter and I were visiting the city for church on Sunday. While staying in a nearby hotel we decided to give this place a try. We received several stares as we proceeded to the table and then several as we sat down to order. Waitstaff were somewhat pleasant in the beginning. After we received our food we noticed everything was sweet to taste! Collard greens should never have brown sugar !! All the BBQ sauces were sweet and watery. The brisket was fatty, the macaroni and cheese was good, but what really ruined the meal was biting into my rib and tasting a lighter fluid like taste, as if it was put in the fire too soon. I called the manager over to explain the taste he got very offensive by the name of Jeffrey. He became very irate and told me that this was not what I was tasting and to make a long story short after being very argumentative that we were just trying to get FREE food!!! My daughter and I were both very insulted as Jeffrey told us he had a business to run and he had taken off $5.00 wow!!! I proceeded to tell him at this rate you will not be in business very long. First of all you should treat ALL people the same, did I mention we are Afro American professional females and we work for a living , so we are not out seeking free food! Further more we know of all people how to cook soule food, so don't be offended when a customer gives you a comment. You are across from a very large hotel that referred us to your restaurant and we shared our experience and asked them not to send anyone else over to your establishment. Jeffrey you need to learn how to serve ALL PEOPLE, no matter what color they are all money spends the same! I wish you had parents like mine who taught us to treat ALL people the same and as you would want to be treated!! God is not pleased and He will take care of your prejudice spirit. I'm writing this because I don't want anyone else to have this same experience in your establishment. This is 2019, we shouldn't even have to have this...