Jimmy Jack’s Rib Shack

The BBQ was decent. I had the pulled pork sandwich and the pork was just okay. Being from the south I have high expectations for BBQ food and so far i have not found a place here in Iowa city that is remotely as savory as southern BBQ. Also BBQ should be reasonably priced. But they charge way too much for a sandwich. I make better BBQ and will just make my own from now on.

Ordered half slab meal and a pulled pork sandwich. This was a Friday at 4pm. Pulled pork sandwich was very dry and it was evident that the meat has been sitting. Ribs were good but also old and dry. We ordered beans with our meal and got coleslaw instead. I expected much more out of a place that has won awards for BBQ. First and last time here. $ 16 for half rack of old ribs? Just very disappointed. Just as a side note. very rarely do I complain about food in restaurants and cook ribs myself. I’m just having a hard time believing these reviews are the same place I ate. Also the people next to us returned their pork sandwich to the kitchen. I just ate mine because I was hungry.

If meat was currency, this place would be Fort Knox… and I would be in heaven! It’s amazing that it took 6 years for us to finally come to the physical restaurant, as Jimmy Jack’s is a staple for communal BBQs.
Everything they have here is so good! The Brisket is tender, smokey and incredibly flavorful, the pork and chicken are always a hit and the Ribs are good enough that I may start to barter with them!
A rack of ribs will run you about $ 20, but it feed three adults pretty easily and our family of 4 just fine. The meat is fall off the bone good and the sauce runs thick. It’s worth just getting a rack and a few sides!
The sauces are delicious here. They’ve got standard rib sauce, the cowboy — a delicious smoky sauce, a Carolina mustard, a hot sauce and usually a special sauce — the one available to us was basically a fancy teriyaki.
The side really bring things together here as well. The Cookies are huge, the cornbread angelic and the slaw a delight! All worth checking.
Our favorite thing to do recently is grab some to go and head over to a park for a BBQ picnic — nothing better than BBQ when someone else makes the meat! Jimmy Jack’s does BBQ wonderfully and is well worth your time.

Best I have found outside of Lockhart, TX.
Sauce on the side a big plus, let the meat speak for itself.
Liked the different beans in the baked beans.
The fatty brisket seared on the grill was really good.
Friendly staff.

Easily my favorite restaurant in Iowa City, friendly staff, excellent sauces and wonderful food.
The fatty beef brisket sandwich with fries and bakes beans is heavenly.
If I was on death row a meal from Jimmy Jacks would be my last request.

Best BBQ in Iowa City. Granted that’s not an incredibly hard title to win, but the food here is still pretty great.
Fun, funky atmosphere. Smoked meat is great. Give them a try!

Ribs fall off the bone good. Really liked the Cowboy sauce. Fun, family friendly atmosphere. Patio dining available too.

I was DEEPLY disappointed in the brisket we received from Jimmy Jack’s! If there were any smoke rings or delicious bark, it was completely ruined by throwing it on a grill to reheat it. It came with char-​lines. To be fair, though, I’ve yet to find a brisket that I’ve enjoyed from a restaurant because I’m accustomed to fresh off the smoker competition style brisket. However. The pulled pork was phenomenal & there wasn’t a bad bbq sauce to be had! I loved the atmosphere & seating (family style benches with some tables & chairs mixed in) and the staff was very friendly & helpful in the selection process. Next time maybe we’ll try to be a little earlier & see if we can get some fresh brisket?

I can’t believe I’m saying this. but prob one of the best BBQ joints I’ve been to and I’ve been to a lot. I had the meat sampler and loved the ribs and pork. The brisket was ok. The baked beans are amazing and that cornbread! The best part is the sauce station and all the fixin’s they offer. Unlimited sauces, pickles and jalapeños?!? My kinda place.

Beats out Qdogs in CR. Worth the trip.
Love the ribs, sausage, and large array of self serve sauces. Fries are worth getting and we love the cole slaw. The baked beans have lots of onion, but taste great.
Counter service and take out options make this place super casual and easy going. Outdoor seating in the summer is great.
Why only ⁴⁄₅ stars? They need to offer better beer choices.
Come hungry and ready to lick your fingers. Don’t wear white.

This place is awesome. Get the wings.
I love BBQ and try to hit up the best BBQ joint wherever I go. I’ve been here a few times since moving to IC and I really, really like this place. I’ve had the ribs and they have a great flavor and texture. I’d order them again. The brisket is alright, not the best I’ve had, but not the worst either. But I don’t order ribs or brisket any more because now, I always order the wings.
You should, too. I’m not even kidding. I don’t know what they do to them. I guess I could ask, but it seems like they smoke them to give them an awesome flavor and then finish them off in the fryer to crisp them up and render the rest of that fat. Maybe they just smoke them, or maybe they just stick them in the fryer, I don’t know. And I don’t care because they are delicious and I want them right now.
All of the sauces at this place are yummy, too.

I’m pretty inexperienced with BBQ so not much to compare with. I enjoyed the ribs and the sauces. Liked the Supreme sandwich and the fries where amazing. IfI come again I’d try drinking sweet tea with the meal and getting coleslaw instead of beans as one of my sides.
The only thing that I didn’t like was the décor which while maybe authentic for all I know, reminded me of a set of props from a horror movie. Gave a little too much reality to the hunks of red meat I was eating ;-)

Amazingly tender, smokey and delicious. Sauce not even needed but for that extra bite the cowboy BBQ sauce is my favorite. Friendly staff and quick service. Corn bread is to die for.

For a treat for two, try a slab of ribs with two sides make a great take out dinner. The cornbread is sweet and baked beans tasty. We don’t eat in because of the bad speakers with tinny music.

Jimmy Jacks is the place to go for BBQ in Iowa City.
I have been here before and decided to stop by for lunch on the way home.
I ordered the three meat sampler with beans and fries.
I choose two lean brisket for two of the meats. The lean brisket is as it states, very lean, but excellent. They do a great job with the brisket, tender, great smoke ring that brings the flavor. The brisket has an excellent smoke flavor and doesn’t need any sauce. Great smoke flavor.
I also wanted to try the pulled pork again. Much better than the last time, has a mild smoky flavor, and was excellent with the mustard sauce. This makes an excellent sandwich.
The beans are excellent. The fries were just basic, but very good and fresh. The cornbread was very dry and not very good.
The staff are excellent and friendly. They do a great job. The dining room was clean and they keep it that way. They had a steady rush for lunch.
I will be back the next time I am in the area.

Great BBQ for Iowa City, with friendly, welcoming staff and a family atmosphere!
Worth stopping in for their corn bread alone. It comes slathered and dripping with sweet honey, dense and slighty moist. No corn inside, though, if you like it that way. And, it’s not made cast-​iron style, but it’s damn delicious nevertheless.
I had the lean brisket dinner, which includes a sandwich, two sides of your choice, and that damned tasty corn bread. The sandwich is plenty big for me — I couldn’t even finish it all — but if you want, you can make it supreme size, which is a King Kong portion of beef. You order, grab your number, and choose your own BBQ sauce — regular, cowboy, mustard-​based — and they bring it to your table.
For sides, I had french fries — okay but not particularly inspiring — and, baked beans. The beans were an unfortunate miss for me. I don’t like large chunks for onions in my beans, and I don’t understand the use of kidney beans in my baked beans, but maybe this is just a regional thing that I’m just not gonna love (like mashed potatoes in my burritos — which fortunately they don’t even have here). Honestly, the flavor of the beans — the saucy part — was just great. And, it did have meat — pork, I think — in it, of which I am a fan. So even with the kidney beans, and the onion chunks, I would still recommend it and even eat it again. Though, I will be the weirdo picking out the large onion pieces carefully before I dig in.
Truth — I like the place and will be back.

Not bad but not good either.
Neither the ribs or the pulled pork tasted much like anything. They needed some serious seasoning. I’m more of a dry rub girl and they are more of a saucy joint.
The corn bread was so sweet and syrupy I was not able to have more than one bite. My husband thought it was okay but a little too sweet as well.
The mustard and the fries were outstanding.
The staff was friendly and the décor was nice so they get points for that.

Went here for the first time and it was great, I wasn’t expecting an order in kind of place but it wasn’t bad at all. My boyfriend and I ordered pulled pork dinner, which comes with 2 sides and a honey cornbread. Mine came with baked beans and kettle chips, his was baked beans and fries. It was A LOT of food for a reasonable price! The sauces were great, I’m not a huge fan of sauces in general, but out of the 5 available I was a fan of 3. The original, the cowboy and the Carolina Mustard were my favorite but that’s because I have a sweet tooth my boyfriend like all of them but the cowboy was his favorite. The honey cornbread slice was ginormous but it was absolutely delicious! I would recommend this place to anyone in the area that wants BBQ, by far the best BBQ I’ve had in Iowa City to date!

Good, but not great.
Still on the hunt for great brisket that isn’t sliced so thin that all the juice and bark are gone. Jimmy Jack’s was better than some of the places I’ve tried, but still not what I crave.
Sauces were decent, nothing was outstanding, but nothing to avoid either.
Beans were too heavy on the onions as they overpowered anything else.
Pulled pork was pretty good.
Nice touch having jalapenos available and the condiment bar.

I make it a point to try new restaurants in cities that I frequent, especially if I’m likely to not be back. I searched and found this place on Unilocal to get pretty good ratings and reviews. Overall, it has a nice outside appeal and seems like a fun place to eat. I took my dinner to go and got a variety of meats to sample. The ribs, brisket, pulled pork, and sausage were all pretty good.