Bandana's Bar-B-Q St. Joseph — Restaurant in Saint Joseph

3/26/25

Update: Went back in because we knew the pulled pork was decent not compared to my own, and figured we would give the service another try. Kid had the kids turkey sandwich, wife had the pulled pork sandwich, and I had the pulled pork platter. Tried a small price of the turkey in the turkey sandwich, and it was nice tender turkey. Kid really enjoyed it. He ate the whole thing and skipped the fries. Always a good thing when your kid decides he likes the main course better than the sides. The pork was the same, and of course the BBQ sauce was the same. Mine came with 2 slices of garlic bread, although, there was no garlic flavor to them. The bread itself was good, nice and crispy, just no garlic flavor. Service was much better this time. Had someone completely different, and she actually seemed to care about her customers even though we hit them at a little busier time.

All in all, I would recommend stopping by for a bite. It's decent BBQ. Now to wait for a little warmer weather so I can go fire up my smoker.

12/28/24

Both of us had the pork sandwiches. Pork didn't have much smoke flavor, or any flavor at all(when I'm not lazy, I smoke my own pork) . It was very tender, and the home made BBQ sauces were pretty decent. Coleslaw was good.

Service was.... Lackluster. Very fast to seat us, the restaurant looked clean and we'll maintained, and was quick with getting us our drinks. Server came back and took our order. Everything seemed decent so far. Someone else brought out our order, which is fine. Server may have been on break, or that may just be how they operate. About 1 minute after our food arrived, our server stopped by and asked if everything came out alright. We said it looked good and thanked her. After we were about half way done with our meal, my drink was empty, and my wife's was over half empty. She dropped off the bill and said she will be our cashier when we were ready. We finished our meal with empty cups. Sat for another 5 to 10 minutes after we finished our meal, and nobody came to ask if we wanted desert, to clear our plates, check our drinks, or to ask how our meal was. Very disappointed with our service. Might give it another try in the future. Prices were very reasonable. Will just have to try something else next time, and hopefully will have better...

Frankly it's to bad the stars , don't go in the reverse . But we ate there in the middle of the day. The first thing I found odd was the fact that their motto was Smell That Smoke , but we couldn't smell any smoke when we walked up to the front door or sat down. Service was great , and I don't blame the waitress . But my first question was . " Is the food smoked daily and is it fresh . ? " " Oh Yes ! " was her reply. Not the case at all . food wasn't fresh nor was it prepared that day . And in fact lacked any real smoke flavor at all . We spoke the manager and he did offer to comp the meal, which we declined , and as well offered to get us fresh food. My question was why didn't that happen when we ordered and how can it be fresh if your smokers aren't even going ? Wish I could've up loaded my pics..but we did drive around back and the smoker weren't going and they barely had any wood . If you smoke fresh daily and this was in the middle of the week why wouldn't you have a stack of wood , not to mention your words and claim..And that is " everything is smoked daily and cut to order right off the smokers ". So my recommendations are , like most chain places is the quality goes out the window , so don't waste your time or money , look for a different BBQ...

Erly was our server. We are a rowdy group and he didn't miss a thing!! Food was just amazing. First time I think I've cleared my plate.

Update I went back to this place for dine in. Last time was a birthday party. We had two different servers. Not a big deal. But due to that we didn't get food we had order and always had to ask for drink refils. The pulled chicken sandwhich looked like it was pulled from a can. Although the bones that I got within the first two bites! I didn't eat no more of it. Even the Manger didn't have a clue. He said they are terribly busy but there was maybe 4 tables with two people at them. My table that had 8 people and another party table (not sure how many) plus 3/4 tables with 3 people at them. I use to be a waitress, I know what busy looks like and having about 10/15 tables empty is not being busy. Also the second waitress that we got we heard her tell the other stuff "did you all show up to watch me work?"

Not a place I would ever go back to!! I hate going out to eat!! Fast food or dine in. Nobody working there seems to care about the customer's. They are simply there for the pay check!

Gave 2 stars because second waitress cared. Wish I would of got her name. Those stars are for...