q fanatic bbq and grill

great food, terrible service. i have never eaten something at q fanatic that wasn't amazing, but the service leaves a lot to be desired. many times when i've called to place a to go order, i've been left on hold for 5-10 minutes. also, they seem to run out of the key items (ribs in particular) fairy often; they've been out ofribsthe last two times i've placed an order. it seems that they are understaffed most of the time, and if the food wasn't so good, i wouldn't come back. i think they need to put as much focus into providing good service to their customers as they do in serving great food.

simply fantastic. the "wet"ribsaren't really wet per say more a dry run with sauce poured over them but still really good. truthfully the meat alone without sauce deserves the highest ratings and then you add the sauce and it is truly fantastic. i am now hooked.

q is for quality & quite delicious!. we ordered a picnic platter to share. everything was awesome. everything had great flavor. theribsmelted in your mouth. the bread was excellent. both my husband and i agree that this is our new, favorite restaurant. oh... and the monster cookie sundae was yummo! i've requested to eat here on mother's day.

i reviewed q-fanatic immediately after it opened years ago--back when bbq was really still just arriving to the metro. i have always been a fanatic for bbq and when a new place was available i jumped at the chance. that review was not very favorable however, and since then the place continued to garner press and "rave reviews" not to mention a second location now opening, so even though i never drop $90 to give bbq joints a second chance, i did here.

sadly, my opinions from years ago still stand. and to make it worse, there are now many more bbq restaurants in the metro where i feel you will have a better eating experience.

first the good:
all the meats here are smoked to a high quality. in my opinion, the pulled pork here is the best of their offerings with the spicy sausage being a close second (if you like the taste of fennel.)

sides of note were the mac & cheese (best option) along with coleslaw, potato salad and ok baked beans.

then the rest:
theribsi felt were unfortunately just past where they should be, and my pulled chicken was dry. the brisket was right on the verge of going dry. i admit i am nit-picking the meats here but they literally get held up so high by the critic media everywhere that i expected better..

for sides the red beans & rice were gluey. i guess maybe i don't know what to expect with corn fritters but if "rubber balls" are the way they are supposed to be then i don't like them. the inside i would expect to have a nice crumb but ours were so chewy all the way thru that one bite was enough!

all that said, the biggest drawback to their bbq is that there seems to be extremely little (or no) dry rub at all on any of the meats. i really expected the smoked chicken wing parts especially to have something to them but tgey were just smoked chicken parts...

the meats cry out for sauces to flavor them and i don't like a single one they offer. to broaden that experience somewhat the other 5 people there with me didn't like them either (not to mention we surprisingly all agreed on the rest of this review as well.)

clearly everyone has an opinion--there are many here that disagree with me since the parking lot is full. this my second attempt affirmed what i originally found years ago so i will continue to frequent the other small shops around the metro instead. i recommend you try some of them too ao you can see what else is available now that the bbq culture is thriving in the twin cities and options are plentiful.

as soon as you entered the parking area, you could smell the great aroma of burning woods. it was definitely a legit barbecue place from the get go. no wonder they have been featured on tv. yes! this tiny place that's practically in my backyard has been on tv.

my first time there, it was a tad confusing inside as you need to order at one side, and the food will came from the side closer to the line. it's those order first and sit type places, half fast food half sit down. good thing i was just usually getting take out. it took about 10 to 15 minutes to get the food. callingfirst and place the order ahead of time would be recommended. there's free popcorn while you wait

i had the special rib tip dinner for my first try. it was so cheap! my dinner was just a little over $6. i got a roll, cole slaw, a side of your choice, and the rib tip. i thought it was very good value. the meat was flavorful but being tip, it was a bit dry. i also am not sure if i was in love with the sauce. i chose the original. it was a tad watery for me. however, on next try, i did love theribsa lot.

not bad! it's pretty cool to be able to get real barbecue anytime i want.

though theribsweren’t ideal, they were better than i’ve had in the twin cities. and i really liked the buttery, garlicky rolls that came on the side, though i could have done without the watery, boring cole slaw. so, while i enjoyed my meal, i’m not yet a q fanatic.

the spareribswere inedible. they were supposed to be "fall off the bone"...not even close. spareribsare supposed to be fatty to a certain point but theseribswere a 3/4 fat! the manager was very apologetic and offered differentribsbut i was too disgusted looking at the ones i had to even try more. she also offered a gift certificate which also served no purpose because i dont live in the area. no refund offered.

the meat was where q fanatic shines. our spareribswere served dry and had a fairly strong smoke flavor. the meat was that perfect mix of tender yet kept it’s form when eating. don’t buy into that whole notion that because it falls off of the bone it must be good. good bbqribskeep their form! they served our sauces on the side. the honey bbq sauce was the best of the bunch.

good food and service. 9/15/2012 my wife and i were traveling with friends to attend a birthday party for our friend in elk river and stop here for lunch. had the " q pinnic combo for four and it was great.ribswere very good, pork was a bit smoky tasting but the chicken, brisket were perfect. garlic buns were great as were all the sides we had. we had so much food we couldn't finish it all. the asian ginger teriyaki was great just wish they would bottle it to take home

not good. when we complained to the owner theirribswere not fall off the bones as their cashier described them, we were told this is the way we serve them in the south. really, i have been in the south and if you order fall of the bones, you get fall off the bones. not the ones you have to chew to get the meat from the rib.
the owner should of apologized and gave us something else, but he chose to stay with "hisribswere right and we were wrong."
they are not right if the customer doesn't like them if you have to chew the meat off the bone.
customer service was insulting and he has lost our business.

not going back.... the service was incredibly slow. we waited nearly 1.5 hours for our food. at the 1 hour 15 minute mark, i politely asked the waitress when our order would be up. she rudely informed us that "you have only been here an hour... it will take at least another 15-20 minutes."

once the food arrived, we were underwhelmed. the sausages and brisket were dry and tough, and theribsand pulled chicken and pork were over smoked and salty. it seemed as though there was no seasoning- only smoke.

the sauces were quite good, but were served in such a small quantity that you were nearly afraid you would use it all on one bite.

the sides were of a quality you would expect in a high school cafeteria.

i am shocked this place is getting such good press. not worth the drive, not worth the wait. very disappointing.

worth the gamble. a little disorganized- the carryout order and dine in line is the same- and cramped for space. but the food is delicious. i've eaten at virtually every "rib joint" in the metro area and the food here is in my top two. i would recommend the hickoryribsover the applewood smoked. the home made sauces are good, and the sides are unique- i really enjoyed the parmesan potatoes.
guess i would prefer a few small-scale idiosyncracies here to a corporate bland atmosphere where the atmosphere and service are perfect and the food uniformly boring. i'll be back.

still don't like it.... i tried q fanatic when they first opened and walked out because of poor service and the nasty attitude of the owner.

but one of my friends begged me to try it again. so this time, i actually tried theirribsand was very disappointed. they don't know what bbq is. i think it should be described as "slow roasted" and not bbq.

their sauces are very odd as well - tasted like coffee. and i hate coffee!

my friend was also disappointed for 2 reasons. first, they got her order wrong and then gave her an attitude when she asked that they correct their mistake. then when she did finally get her food, she said it tasted bad. i tried a little of her pulled pork sandwich and it tasted very bitter to me.

save your money, save your time, and go somewhere else!


-----26 feb, 2011-----

attitude problem!!!. i wantedribsfor lunch, so sue me!!! all they had was a big rib dinner for $14.95 and i didn't want that much food for lunch. when i asked why they didn't have a smaller sized rib plate for lunch, i thought the guy was going to go balistic! he really got an attitude told me to either orer the $14.95 rib dinner plate or i should go down the street to famous dave's. so i left!

i should also add that it's hot in the restaurant and a little dumpy (old coolers and catering items just kinda laying around) but not dirty or anything.


-----30 jun, 2011-----

delicious meats, tried the dry spareribswith honey bbq sauce and chipotle bb sauce on the side, honey is my fave as i'm not big on the kick of the chipotle. i'm not a fan of the sides though. my cole slaw was warm, the potato salad was bland and the potatoes were hard, the fries were decent, but also a little hard. the buns were just so so, everyday buns with garlic butter. i'll definitely go back for the meat, my bf had the pulled pork and it was amazing. i'll maybe try different sides next time.

got there 10 mins before they opened. already a few cars in the parking lot waiting to get in. i order the dryribswith beans and vinager sauce. my wife had the pulled pork sandwich with side of vinager sauce. theribswere overly tender. to much time in foil or maybe they put them in a steamer. had a nice rub on them though. the beans were fantastic!!! great flavor and lots of chunks of bbq meat. pork sandwich. it is a must to put the slaw on tip of the sandwich. and the vinager sauce on top. the sandwich was killer!!! so moist and tender and great smoke. best bbq i have had so far in mn.