The BBQ Shack

Paola, United States

3.5

Closed now

15 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards
Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 913-294-5908
Website:
www.thebbqshack.com
Address:
1613 E Peoria St, Paola, KS, 66071
Categories:
QR code
Download QR Image Download vCard

Map

Streetview

Activate map

Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
No
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Good For
Lunch, Dinner
Parking
Private Lot
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Divey, Casual
Noise Level
Average
Alcohol
Beer & Wine Only
Outdoor Seating
No
Wi-Fi
Free
Has TV
Yes
Dogs Allowed
No
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
Yes

Today

Today 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Paola) 8:39 AM Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Wednesday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Thursday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Friday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday 7:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sunday 7:00 am – 3:00 pm

Description

Specialties

As seen on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-​Ins, and Dives, The BBQ Shack really does go whole hog. While specializing in whole roasted hogs, The BBQ Shack offers succulent hickory smoked pork spare ribs, full-​flavored BBQ brisket and burnt ends, and mouth-​watering pulled pork. Several signature items are also available at The BBQ Shack. Homemade jalapeño poppers, better known as Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs), are stuffed with marinated water chestnuts or smoked chicken and cream cheese, then wrapped with a slice of homemade bacon. Our chicken wings are smoked, then deep-​fried to perfection. Try them slathered with a Jamaican Hot Sauce or our Honey BBQ Sauce, or just plain if you like. The BBQ Shack was also featured in the 2009 book «America’s Best BBQ Joints» by Paul Kirk/​Ardie Davis. The BBQ Skack features a down home atmosphere, good music, and what may be the best Mayberry memorabilia west of North Carolina.

History

Established in 1997.

«Volunteering as „Director of BBQ Operations“ for the Paola Roots Festival in 1996 really got the BBQ blood flowing», Rick explained. Needing a kitchen to operate out of, a catering kitchen was built in a new garage and «The SHACK» came to be. In 2001, Rick quit his job with Garmin on September 6 to concentrate of BBQ catering full-​time. In 2004, members of the local American Legion came calling and The BBQ SHACK operated out the American Legion for one year and then moved to the local VFW post. Five months after working out of the VFW a local family owned Mexican restaurant decided to expand to a larger facility and the first BBQ SHACK restaurant became a reality in May 2006. In August of 2007, the Food Network’s Diner’s, Drive-​ins, and Dives visited The BBQ SHACK and the show aired November 2007. We outgrew that location within a short time and in October 2008 we moved to our present location.

Meet the Business Owner

Rick S.

Business Owner

Born 1961; Paola High School graduate 1980; Missouri Institute of Technology graduate 1982; Electronics industry 1982 — 2001; BBQ Director, Paola Roots Festival 1996 – 2003; The BBQ SHACK catering 1997 — current; Owner of The BBQ SHACK restaurant 2006 — current.

Vicinity

Near this location:
120
ft
McDonald’s
1610 E Peoria St
210
ft
The UPS Store
1601 E Peoria Street
270
ft
McDonald’s
1610 E Peoria St
280
ft
Paola Inn & Suites
1600 Hedge Ln Ct
410
ft
Arby’s
1 S Hedge Ln
670
ft
Burger King
302 Hedge Ln

15 reviews of The BBQ Shack

No registration required
Place rating: 1
Overland Park, KS
We were excited to try the BBQ Shack especially since they were featured on Diners, Drive-​ins and Dives. Our experience was not a good one. We arrived on a Saturday night and placed a to-​go order. The ticket time was over 40 minutes! We ordered two combination plates with ribs, brisket, onion straws and French fries. The fried foods tasted as if the fryer oil had not be changed out in months which caused the onion straws and fries to taste rancid. The meats did not have the typical smoky flavor nor could you taste any rub seasoning. After a few bites we tossed everything out! $ 42.00 wasted.
Place rating: 5
Parker, KS
I have been eating at the BBQ Shack for years. I became a regular when it was located at the VFW. This time I met some friends who just discovered the place and wanted to eat out. Now I have eaten just about every item on the menu and it is all good. I lean towards the wings and Ribs. Sauces are excellent too. My wife and I took advantage of the ½ price burgers and our friends ordered Ribs. My wife’s burger came with pork rinds that were fresh and still popping when they brought our food to the table. Burgers were great as if I was eating from a fine Las Vegas burger joint. Generous portions, low prices and a different variety of food… not just BBQ. Most everything is fresh home made right there. Do not pass an opportunity to try this place out.
Place rating: 5
Sturgis, SD
We had the burnt end dinner, onion straws and salt –n-​vinegar fries. No disappointments !!! Looking forward to trying the wings on our next trip !
Pricing was right and the meal feed two.
Place rating: 2
Olathe, KS
We’ve eaten here a few times and the food is good but seems like the prices keep going up. Service isn’t that great and not sure we will be back. We can have great BBQ in the city for less money and not have the drive.
Place rating: 2
De Soto, KS
Used to love stopping by this place a couple of years ago. Now I have found the food not up to par. A little irritating that when you order a sandwich not one side is included. So in my books way over priced.
Place rating: 4
Shorewood, IL
We stopped here after seeing it show up on our TV Food Maps phone app. Their food is pretty good for the price. It isn’t the best I’ve had, but it’s in the top 10.
Place rating: 3
Kansas City, MO
Food was pretty good.
Place rating: 5
Overland Park, KS
To say The BBQ Shack is amazing would be an understatement. This Paola eatery is a top place for me. I have never been disappointed. The food is out of this world. There is nothing they don’t do right. Meat is so flavorful and moist. I love their ribs, brisket, sausage. I usually can’t decide on what to get because I want a little bit of everything. The sampler platter is the only choice. Last time I was there I completed the «Shack Attack Challenge». Giant sandwich with three meats, onion strings and a ton of fresh cut fries!
If you live in northeast Kansas or northwest Missouri The BBQ Shack in Paola is a perfect day trip.
Service is also awesome. Very friendly and the owner Rick comes out and talks to nearly everyone to make sure they are enjoying everything. This is what locally owned business is all about; great food, great care, and amazing employees!
Place rating: 3
Kansas City, KS
Meghan was our server. She was bubbly and cheerful, refilled our drinks and checked to see that everything was alright. I had a 1⁄3 lb turkey sandwich and used the «Whimpy» BBQ sauce because both the Hot and the Sweet Fire were too hot for my taste. The sauce was vinegar based which isn’t our favorite but once on the sandwiches it wasn’t too bad. My sandwich was okay; the turkey was good.
Hubby had Leon’s ½ lb 2-​meat combo sandwich with pork and brisket. He thought the brisket was a little chewy. We both paid extra for a side of potato salad. Didn’t realize until we got home that we had intended to order the Baked Tater Salad that got such a rave review from one Unilocaler but we actually ordered the homemade potato salad which was alright, but nothing special. We mixed artificial sweetener in it and liked it even better.
We ordered two 1⁄3 lb ham sandwiches to go for our neighbors. Like us, they didn’t care so much for the vinegar based BBQ sauce but thought the meat was good. We all prefer thicker, tomato based BBQ sauce rather than the vinegar based.
For a community of 5,300 I have no doubt that the BBQ Shack is a great asset. I came from a small rural area where quality restaurants are sometimes hard to find. However, we would not drive from Kansas City again to eat here because there are so many fine BBQ restaurants in KC.
We wanted to try BBQ Shack because it was featured on Diners, Drive-​Ins and Dives (Food Network). The décor was fun and interesting, including signed posters of Guy Fietti. Most interesting was the taxidermy deer head, painted green with yellow nose and yellow antlers, with the name «John» underneath LOL
Place rating: 5
Louisburg, KS
We took a short drive down and enjoyed ribs, brisket and pulled pork. The great thing about this place is you can enjoy the meat without sauce. Don’t get me wrong, the sauces are good but it’s nice to have meat that can stand on its own. We will be back.
Place rating: 5
Haskell, OK
We enjoyed the food and the surroundings very much. We had the appetizer sampler-​very good– and the baby back ribs, and the pulled pork sandwich. It was overwhelming, the smoke and the flavors! The coleslaw and sauces were top notch. Can’t say enough about the great service and friendly staff. Try them and be a fan too!
Place rating: 3
Chicago, IL
The Atomic Buffalo Turds (jalapeño poppers wrapped bacon) are great and were featured on Diners, Drive-​Ins, and Dives. The BBQ isn’t bad, just not the best you’ll find in Kansas.
Place rating: 5
Wichita, KS
Having visited a larger quantity of restaurants that have been featured on TV than I am willing to admit, I’ve been let down by plenty of ordinary eats at the expensive of an inconvenient drive, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why The BBQ Shack seems to get so much hate online.
The name is a misnomer at this point, as they’ve moved from their humble shacky beginnings to a larger strip mall space, but it didn’t affect the taste of the brisket and pulled pork, both of which were wonderfully flavorful and sufficiently tender (though with how thin the brisket was sliced, I don’t know how it could be anything but). The things that put it over the top are how much they’re willing to experiment, from their wide variety of traditional and nontraditional sides, to the addition of other meats like whole pigs, turkeys, and chicken fried steak. The pitmaster is clearly having fun manning his rig.
How many times have I looked at the sauce bottle marked «spicy,» only to be woefully let down by the mild (if any) heat within? Not so at The BBQ Shack, where there was a great deal of heat in the sauce, the chili I had as one of my sides and the kerosene pickles. I scoffed at the waitress when she warned me about picking up one of those spears and subsequently touching my face, but by the time I was done with my meal, the nose was running and I had some tears going. That’s the heat I’m looking for. It’s probably due to those jalapeños they grow in their garden, but when they claim it’s hot, they mean it.
Sure, it would have been nice to have a slightly less greasy chili, and I wasn’t blown away by the corn casserole, and the beer selection sucks, but it’s easy to see The BBQ Shack loves what they do, and they put that love into the food. Consider mine a dissenting opinion.
Place rating: 2
Independence, MO
Let me start out by saying that my husband really enjoyed his meal at the BBQ Shack. My food was good but I just wasnt bowled over.
We started with stuffed jalepeno’s wrapped in bacon and deep fried. Very hot and very tasty.
I ordered burnt ends but much preferred my husbands ribs. The sauce was uneventful for me.
Service was good but the restaurant was very quiet on a Sunday afternoon. I cant see volunteering to drive that far out to go there again.
Place rating: 3
Independence, MO
We saw this place on Diners, Drive-​Ins & Dives. It is located in Paola, KS so we drove about an hour. It was worth it. We started with ABT’s (Atomic Buffalo Turds). They are stuffed jalapeño’s wrapped in bacon and deep fried. Awesome! My wife ordered the Burnt Ends and they were tasty. Not over sauced and they were meaty. I ordered the Foley Meat Plate which is three ribs a choice of another meat (I chose brisket) and two sides. The ribs also had a dry rub and were meaty and moist but not mushy. The brisket was tender and smokey and firm. The side I picked were the spicy beans and the baked potato salad. The beans weren’t anything special but the baked potato salad is with the trip by itself. They use a dry rub and let you sauce your meat to your liking. The have a Whimpy, Hot & Sweet Hot. All three lacked a little in depth of flavor but the hot sauces brought good controlled heat. We would make the trek back here again.