Brobeck's BBQ — Restaurant in Overland Park

First, this review is from a Tuesday night visit after 7PM, and I'll share memories of previous visits since 2007. Kansas City is the barbecue capitol of the entire universe. A 3 star BBQ joint in KC is still in the top one percent worldwide. You will not be disappointed any time you eat at Brobeck's.

Don't come for the atmosphere. I used to ride my moped to this address in the early 80's when it was a Dairy Queen. Doug Brobeck didn't change it much. It's about the quality food and service, and you will receive both. There won't be a line outside the door - you can usually sit on down and your server will take your order shortly. This place is all about value. You will get your money's worth, for sure.

Burnt ends and ribs are my top choices here - both are precisely correct examples of how it should be done in Kansas City. For sandwiches, pulled pork and turkey are my faves. The brisket is exactly average for KC. Your meats are served unsauced, which means they are proud of the rub and smoke, because Kansas City. Their two house sauces are: classic KC sweet and Carolina mustard-based, both with a slightly peppery accent. They also have a sauce bar with varying choices. Let's be honest: sauce is for fries. And the fries are absolutely top notch - thick, crispy and hot to the touch. Slaw is just right, although I prefer a finer chop to the cabbage - it is, however, perfect to throw on your sandwich. Beans and cheesy corn are just ok. I recommend just getting fries and ordering the ham salad as an appetizer - this menu item is not to be missed - trust me and thank me later!

Lastly, there is a kid's menu, and although the chicken tenders are fine, the only thing to order is the slider sandwich with your choice of meats. You brought your kid to a KC BBQ joint, how else is (s)he gonna learn to eat right?

3 stars overall, 4 star service, 5 star value. Gates Bar-B-Q is the next exit east on I-435, and I choose...

Let me just get this out of the way at the get-go. Brobeck's has the best ham salad, bar none. If if you don't like ham salad, try it. The app is served with crackers and their home-made potato chips, but so long as it is served with a spoon, I'd be happy.

Now that I've talked about that, I love Brobecks meat. The ribs are great and available as an add on to any other meal, Burnt ends are excellent, and I especially like their red-beans and rice made with the burnt ends one day a week. The smoked ham is as good as I've ever had, and is the base of that fantastic ham salad. They have sausage ground especially for them and it is also quite good.

The ribs, brisket and other meats are smoked with a flavorful dry rub, and BBQ connoisseurs assure me that it is best eaten without adding sauce... I'm a heathen and like sauce. Brobeck's does offer TWO house sauces, a traditional sweet bbq sauce and a Carolina style mustard based sauce, which is the one I tend to use most. If neither of those suit your fancy, they also have a self-service sauce bar featuring many local favorites, and all the white bread you could want.

I have a few favorites amongst the side dishes. Cheesey Corn and Corn Nuggets are tasty. The Mac-n-Cheese is literally Kaft blue-box dressed up, and they don't try to hide that, and it is good anyway. And ham salad, of course. - you know you can buy it by the pound to take home too.

The atmosphere is friendly and quaint and clean, but not impressive. What is impressive is on any given day you're likely to have Owner, and Pitmaster Doug Brobeck come by and thank you for dining with him and ask how you are. I would like there to be more seating sometimes during the lunch rush.

The service staff is what I expect at a decent restaurant. They typically keep my glass full (and I go through a lot of tea or water in one meal, so that's nice) and they've never got my...

We were at the nursery across the street and could smell that great BBQ smoke, looked for where it was coming from, and saw it was Brobecks! I had heard great things about their ham salad in the Kansas City Eats group on Facebook, so we decided to give it a try.

We were greeted almost as soon as we entered. We were under the impression that it was an order-at-the-counter kind of place, but were happy to be told to find a table we liked and have a seat. Service was friendly, especially from the lady who brought the food to the table.

We weren’t that hungry and didn’t want leftovers because we had more errands to run, so the two of us ordered the ham salad appetizer, of course, and shared the BBQ dinner that came with 3 meats and 2 sides. We got brisket because that’s our benchmark for any barbecue joint, and also the spicy jalapeño cheese sausage and pulled pork. Our sides were green beans, because I wanted a lower carb option, and fries.

The ham salad didn’t disappoint, but what really made the appetizer great was the house-made chips, with the best spice on them. All of the meats on the dinner platter were excellent, but we liked the sausage the best. The brisket was moist, and so was the pork without being greasy. And the steak fries were really excellent too. No grease there! The worst thing on the plate was the green beans. They had a funky flavor, almost like spicy poultry seasoning, that we didn’t really care for, but that’s ok.

Two kinds of sauce on the table, one mustard-based, the other regular KC-style sauce. Neither were to our taste, but it didn’t matter because the meat didn’t need anything else to make its flavor shine.

Next time we’re in the neighborhood we’ll stop in again and try some other dishes, but we’ll definitely have more of that sausage if it’s available, fries, and we’ll try the...