Kansas City Barbeque — Restaurant in San Diego

10 years later update, 5 stars to barely 2 stars. TL;DR - boring tasteless place, go elsewhere.

We were totally charmed by that place's atmosphere and the food was great too back in 2014.

Now, 10 years later, we came back to San Diego and decided to re-live the experience. Oh boy, we were so mistaken!

First, we arrived when there was no one outside, neither customers nor staff. We waited next to "please wait to be seated" sign. In like 5 min a somewhat surprised girl emerged from inside, offered us a table and instantly disappeared. Few minutes later a waiter going by Tyler (that was in our receipt anyway) brought us 2 menus and asked what we were going to drink. I ordered an Orange Ave With Coronado because I wanted something local. Tyler commented along the lines "meh, it's basically (something we haven't heard of)". My wife just asked for water because it was a hot day and we've just had a long walk. Then she asked for a glass of wine too. Tyler took our order and was gone. Some other person brought our drinks (no water), the wine was in a glass like kids drink their milk from. We told her we're ready to order. It took a while for Tyler to come back to take our order. When he asked if we're first time here and we replied that no, we'd been to Kansas City BBQ the very same day 10 years ago he told us well, I suppose there are some changes in the menu. Remembering our previous experience we've ordered the same meal we had back then - pulled pork plate. The food that was given to us was nothing like both of us remembered - the pork was somewhat dry, lacked salt and was very generic and flavourless, almost tasteless. I guess plastic single-use cutlery was a perfect match. Now about the atmosphere and general vibes - we've come to an American bar proudly reminding us that a bar scene from the original Top Gun movie was shot here back in 1984. Well, to our displeasure all music that was heard from inside the bar was European, I mean those were good songs from Beatles, U2 or Genesis but that isn't something you generally expect at Top Gun themed American place. Our visit ended with Tyler asking if we wanted something more because he seemed to hurry elsewhere. We said no and asked for a bill. He brought us a printout and a pen and disappeared. I had to chase him asking for a payment terminal. For some reason he wanted to take my card. I’m not sure why - I’ve seen a regular wireless credit card machine inside, and I’m not sure if I wanted to use my Google or Apple Pay - would he want my phone or my watch? Anyway, I got my card back and left. I will check if the amount charged on my card matches the check I have because my card was taken out of my sight and I have no idea what happened behind the scene. Hopefully there will be no need for chargeback.

So to summarize our re-visit - the food was meh, the atmosphere was none and the service was underwhelming. And we never got the water we asked for...

Never written a bad review like this before but this place simply asked for it. Flew in from the UK a day early for a Vegas stag trip to have a look around the aircraft carrier USS Midway and of course go for a drink here, big Topgun fan.

We didn’t eat, so can’t comment on food but upon glancing in the kitchen, I can relate to other reviews on here that it looked pretty grim and would expect to be sitting on the toilet for a while after a feed.

The two female waiters were pleasant enough, in fact one was rather charming but sadly no amount of charm from them could make up for the pure rudeness from the older male behind the bar. What a total embarrassment of a bloke. We very politely asked for a couple of tap beers and his attitude instantly ruined any excitement we had about being there. I commented on how amazing the memorabilia was to make a bit of conversation and he just barked at me how much the total had come to while waving a card machine. My Brother then got out some cash while asking if it was an ok payment method and this really really upset him. While we looked at each other in total disbelief, he walked off cursing. After some messing about be eventually did come back asked a who was paying. We gave him $20 ($16.40 for two beers), he walked over to the till, got the change, came half way back over and said ‘we’ll keep the change? Ok thanks’, before we could say anything about it he’d turned and stuffed the change into the till, closing it hard. Again we looked at each other in total disbelief. We’d been awake for about 25 hours at this point so neither had any energy to protest and so finished out beers and left. In the meantime I will say that we noticed him completely ignoring a very polite gentlemen who was trying to remind him he had forgotten a drink and we also witnessed him be almost as rude to another man looking to pay cash just before we left.

By all means go in for a photo as the stuff they have in there is really cool if you love Topgun. Just hope that you don’t have the total displeasure of being served by the grey haired man in his 60’s. He’s clearly got a serious attitude problem and it’s such a...

As a native Kansas Citian, I always go into new barbecue places outside of my hometown expecting to be disappointed. However, this place lives up to the name of being authentic Kansas City BBQ. You could definitely find this quality of barbecue in Kansas City itself. As far as the individual dishes go, I give the ribs an 8/10, meat was moist and soft but not quite fall off bone. The flavor was smokey and good. I give the burnt ends a 9.5/10. They were fatty and juicy with a lot of good deep flavor. Honestly, some of the best I remember having inside of Kansas City or out. The fact that this place even has burn ends makes it legit Kansas City BBQ. The brisket was somewhat disappointing. It had good flavor, however the connective tissue wasn't super stretchy leading to a slightly dry and stiff texture, but flavor was still good. I give the brisket a 6/10. I've definitely had much worse. The only thing I was really disappointed with was the selection and quality of sauce. The singular sauce that they have on offer was pretty sweet. It had an overwhelming, what I thought to be, molasses content that I would compare it to something like KC Masterpiece which you can find at the supermarket but with slightly more depth. Overall very sweet, no heat, no real acid content. Sauce 4.5/10 . As for the sides, I give the beans an 8/10. If they were to add some meat into them, these could be very high quality. Mac and cheese was disappointingly dry in with not much cheese 3/10. Something I was really impressed by was the decor. Everything inside was legit Kansas City memorabilia. They had authentic license plates from the Kansas City area and tons of Chiefs, Royals and Jayhawks memorabilia. Service was just okay. We never got our waters refilled but it was nice that the check came to us without having to ask. Obviously if you love top Gun you should come visit this place just for the iconic atmosphere. All in all, if you're a native Kansas Citian and looking for a taste of home, this place more than likely will not...