Uncle Bub's BBQ & Catering — Restaurant in Westmont

I try very hard to be fair in my reviews and not come off as overly critical. This place makes it very hard so I’ll start with what was good.

The service was a 5 because I got carry out and I can’t imagine the staff here are rude to diners, based on their rating.

But, I will say. This is bar none the worst “barbecue” I’ve had in my life. This place charges real barbecue prices and heavily stretches the definition of barbecue. If you want enjoyable barbecue, be prepared to drive a half hour to station 1 smokehouse or green street meats. You’ll spend the same amount for more food there and better food than you’ll get here.

I got brisket and burnt ends with baked mac and beans. So let’s go one by one.

The brisket is dry. The meat itself didn’t retain any of its moisture and the fat had clearly not been rendered as it was still chewy. This is a rookie mistake that shouldn’t happen at a barbecue restaurant. All of the flavor of the meat was gone and replaced by the sweet flavor of a store bought barbecue sauce.

The burnt ends were the best part of the meal but also extremely dry and the fat also not rendered properly. The fat was chewy and tasted like sink water; it was so bad I spit out the first piece that had fat on it and never touched the others. The pieces without fat were tough (burn ends are typically drier than brisket but not bone dry like these) and just like my brisket near flavorless, except the mountain of sauce on them.

The beans are clearly a store bought can of some variety. When there’s 0 effort put into a restaurants sides, it’s a good indication of that restaurants quality as a whole.

The “baked Mac” is suspiciously close in shape and size to Kraft Mac from the store. Yet, somehow their process of cooking it made it worse. It’s like the baking process just dried the fake cheese power to the noodles and to counteract it the sprayed some water on it and threw it in the microwave.

If Uncle Bub is a real person, he’s gotta be a reclusive chain smoker who Jerry rigged a smoker in the 70s and convinced himself he makes the worlds greatest barbecue with his store bought sauce, never needing to and never having learned a thing about barbecue since. The only way I can possibly understand having taste buds that tell me this is restaurant quality barbecue is if I’ve ruined them with Newports and have never travelled in my life.

Edit: Ownership claims the sides are made in house. Zero percent chance the beans are made in house. They have the exact flavor of canned beans, including the flavor instilled by the can itself.

And the Mac, if it is created in house is terrible. You’d think they’d make something humans might enjoy but it’s just not good; and that’s speaking objectively.

There is also no chance the sauce is made in house as they claimed. The only thing they’re making back there is the orders for new bottles to repackage store bought sauce. It tastes way too similar to a store bought product. Funny how their brisket is Texas style. They must have never been to Texas lol.

As for your “style” not being my thing. Sure. Your “style” is low effort food sold for far higher prices than it’s worth on the basis of accolades.

Here’s a bit of reality. “Best barbecue” awards mean nothing anymore. Why? Because of restaurants like yours. Every BBQ restaurant has accolades on the wall. Not every bbq restaurant...

We have never eaten at the restaurant so this review is purely based on Uncle Bub’s Catering, but would highly recommend anyone with catering needs to consider using Uncle Bub’s. We had originally contacted another BBQ place in Naperville and they were much more expensive and their catering department was rude and unhelpful. I immediately called Uncle Bub’s and they had me at “hello.” We threw a Cowgirl party for our daughter’s first birthday and Uncle Bub’s went above and beyond in making the day less stressful for us AND they were considerate of our budget and our party theme. Their BBQ is great – their customer service is phenomenal! They kept in touch with us via phone AND email, which I appreciate and I never felt that I was left hanging.

I would consider my husband a BBQ expert (we just did not want to cook for 50+ people) – he knows his stuff. My husband wanted to get the brisket, but he always says it’s hard to do and since we had never had Uncle Bub’s brisket we did not want to chance it. In retrospect we wish had because they know what they are doing! The pulled pork is some of the best we have had. The chicken was great as well. I personally like a dry rub on my chicken so it was a bit too saucy for me, but the sauce was great so it didn't bother me. Their mac n cheese was gone in seconds. We loved their vinegar slaw – so fresh. The baked beans were great, too! And the watermelon was amazingly sweet. Everyone at the party agreed that it was great BBQ and FRESH.

For the price we got amazing BBQ, amazing service and everything was included. The delivery guys were on time, efficient, helpful and brought everything we would need to serve lunch. We did not need to supply anything for our guests. We ended up ordering an extra bottle of sauce just in case, but did not need it at all.

All in all, if you have catering needs, use Uncle Bub’s. Best customer service I have experienced in a long time and really great food! We hope to get to the restaurant to try out their...

Absolutely wonderful experience. I came on a Saturday evening for dinner around 6 pm. The staff is exceptionally friendly. When you see happy and smiling staff eager to engage with you, it’s a very good indicator that it’s a great place to eat. I liked the dining atmosphere as well. Very comfortable and cozy on a cold winter’s night. There were a lot of people eating so I was worried that when I parked in the full lot that there wouldn’t be enough seating when I went in. The dining area is quite large and there were several tables open despite the parking lot being packed and many tables already full.

Now, on to the food. I ordered the 2 meat plate with 1/4 dark bbq chicken and 3 bbq ribs. My sides were mac and cheese, baked beans, and corn bread. Everything that I ordered was very good. Not one item was just average where you would think to yourself, “it’s just the same as other bbq places.” Each item of food was cooked perfectly and as fresh as can be. No shortcuts. I loved the cornbread especially. There are plenty of choices on the menu. Too many to talk about. I’ll definitely be back to explore more options, although it’ll be hard to try other things and just order the same thing again because it was so good.

Lastly, I just want to thank the staff. Everyone was very friendly. While I was eating there were a few different staff that checked in and asked how everything was and if I needed anything, but they weren’t overbearing. Especially in today’s world, it’s refreshing to see smiling people working at the restaurant. How many times have you gone to a restaurant and the staff is moping around and has a look on their face like they hate their job and they’d rather be anywhere else but there talking to you? That definitely sets a bad tone for the rest of the dining experience. Plus, the food quality usually isn’t good in those places.

Whatever you’re doing at Uncle Bub’s, please keep doing it! Thank you!! I’ll definitely...