Jack Stack Barbecue - Overland Park — Restaurant in Overland Park

This is one of the most common and popular local restaurants. Maybe that's what Kansas City locals love to eat. However, traveling to many parts of the country tasting the best barbecue each state has to offer, I have a different opinion. You decide for yourself.

The price is much $$$ than other local barbecue restaurants. The ambient of the restaurant is very much high-end, not like your normal family-style, comfortable restaurant joint. Almost equivalent to your fine dining restaurant when guests receive cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. Maybe that is why the prices are much higher than other local Kansas City barbecue restaurants.

We arrived at 20:45 a.m. We wanted to try their favorites in order to provide a good review for those viewers seeking best barbecue in Kansas. So, we decided to order the combo meat plate. Brisket, barbecue ribs, and burnt ends. Regardless of whether they're pork or beef, I would assume the way they cook their meat, the style of cooking, the temperature and seasoning, are probably the same.

Let's start with the time of service. We were seated without any wait. Our waiter was friendly but lack knowledge about the types of barbecue meat; not much of a talker. So, we have to use our judgment in based on our favorite choices of meat.

From the time we ordered, followed by myself taking pictures around the restaurant and back to my table, barely 5 minutes, our lunch plate arrived!!!.

That let me to believe that all the meat were done before 10:55 a.m. and the chefs plated our order as soon as the ticket went in to the kitchen! I wonder when did they cook the meat. My concern was that the plated items were cold!!

Let's start with the beef brisket. It is sliced extremely thin. The temperature was cold. It is so thin that you literally could not tell that you're eating beef brisket. Lack seasoning. Lack seared or seasoning crust on outer rim of meat. Definitely no smoke ring present. Maybe small tint in few corners of the wafer-size briskets!

Next, the ribs were tender, however, there was no flavor! It was nicely charred, seared, on the outside, but, I wonder why the meat lacks flavor. Next, the Kansas City favorite, cheesy corn, served in a bowl, was extremely cold! Makes me wonder whether the plate was placed under a warmer after plated. Or, maybe the meat items were left cold before serving to their customers.

Before I write this review, I wanted to give the manager a chance to explain. I told my waiter to call on the manager. When I asked a manager about the cooking techniques and the temperature of the food, he acknowledged that the food-brisket, barbecue ribs, and cheesy corn, should be all warm to hot. I told him that the brisket was cold. The cheesy corn was even colder. He further explained that the ribs were dry up with seasoning prior to placing them directly in to the smoker. No brining or hours of marinating. Just seasoned and cooked directly in the smoker for at least 3 hours. Therefore, the meat basically get its flavor from the dry rub seasoning and slow cooked in the smoker for 3 hours. That might be the Kansas City style in terms of barbecueing their meat. That explains why the barbecue ribs lack flavor. I have to give them the credit for being so tender though.

They have 2 sauce flavors, spicy and original. Thick consistency, sweeter and more vinagry and mustard taste than other sauces when compared to other states.

The manager offered to bring out some briskets and cheesy corn. We rejected. We explained that we wanted to know their cooking techniques and flavor in it's natural form, without announcement or coercion.

The fact that I just tasted only one Kansas City barbecue restaurant, I will not discredit Kansas City barbecue in general. I will definitely come back and try some of the popular places such as Gates, Arthur Bryant, and many more that you can find on Google.

Will I return to Jack Stack? Absolutely...

You know you are about to enter the doors to heaven when you can smell ridiculously good smoked meat outside its doors. That's what happened to me when I went to pick up my online order. That parking lot was filled with the aroma of smoked meat. Yeah, all bbq places have a similar smell but there was something just a little different about it here. I had a good feeling about this (or I had not eaten bbq in a year so was super excited?)

I ordered a half baby back and four beef ribs. I did not mention on the order anywhere that I'll be driving 9 hours NE and then eating these over 2 days.

Yet, when the young lad who helped me found out I'm driving to Chicago, he asked for permission to repackage the entire order since repacking it will keep the food intact as opposed to how they package the food for local consumption. Why this matters? To me? Initiative and care of providing the best food with care. I appreciate that. They removed the bbq sauces and instead gave me a couple new bottles of bbq sauce. Different than what I ordered (but I am glad it was different as you'll see why)

So yeah, I arrived back home at about midnight but yeah, my taste buds weren't going to let me sleep without trying these out. So I followed the instructions and waited, waited, waited for the suggested 30 min at 350 and removed the baby back ribs. It was EXQUISITE. This was one of those ribs that you could eat as is as the seasoning on the meat was right on or you could enjoy with the bbq sauce.

Now the sauce; I typically don't care for bbq sauce (not that I have tried even 20 in my life). The ones I have tried have just either been too sweet, sour or venegary. I'd much rather have a juicy and well seasoned meat. The sauce however (original) has got me to switch. The sauce is EXCELLENT. It has the right amount of sweetness, tartness without making you feel like you just dipped the meat into chocolate or having your mouth screech cause of the sourness. It had this ever so light spice. The smoothness of it is so good. I can't wait to get my hands on more of this sauce.

Today, I tried the beef ribs. These required an additional 5 minutes of heating based on the instructions and they did not disappoint. Absolutely exquisite. The meat was cooked perfectly and was still juicy with all that beef flavor.

I know there are thousands of bbq joints across this great country but I think I have found one that I want to go back to again and again. Jack...

Oh, my goodness! I'm in love! I've eaten BBQ from one end of this country to the other, and I've had my favorites along the way. But they're all rubbish compared to the absolutely delightful meal I just finished at Jack Stack in Overland Park.

I had ham, sausage, cheesy corn, and hickory smoked beans. My husband had the KC Combo plate with beef ribs, lamb ribs, and burnt ends, plus the corn and beans. It was all the sort of meal where you completely lose track of the time or where you are. The flavors all meshed perfectly, and the seasoning, while hearty and robust, sat down and made friends with us instead of slapping us across the palate.

The decor and atmosphere here in the Overland Park location are nothing remarkable. Casual and comfortable, it had the feel of a more masculine version of something like Cheddars. We are only here for the weekend (this time), and our intention was to go to the Freight House location. We're train buffs (we even got married earlier this year in a railroad museum in Iowa), so the Freight House more closely matches our interests. But we couldn't get reservations and there were 23 people ahead of us on the wait list. So, while the OP location isn't as stunning as I imagine the Freight House is, we could get in and "only" had to wait until 9:00 pm. It was worth the wait! And we juggled our travel plans so we can do lunch at the Freight House tomorrow. Oh yeah, more Jack Stack!

And it is worth mentioning our waiter, Ameed. This was our first time here, and he was very helpful with great suggestions and information. He made sure we had a meal that completely wowed us. He was friendly and attentive, but he never hovered or interrupted.

We live in Omaha and plan on coming to KC about 3 or 4 times a year. We've been twice so far since getting married and have plans to come one more time around Christmas. And I'm certain that Jack Stack is a must-do for each trip, and we'll be telling everyone we can about this KC gem. Wow! As I said,...