Dillon’s On Top of Central

CLOSED, it is now called Spokes.

This location has closed

Make sure you go there when the NICE bartender is working. She is cute, smiles, and seems to love her job and taking care of her customers.
The other one is mouthy, dresses trashy, postures herself inappropriately, is inattentive to the customers’ needs, constantly bitches about her boyfriend yet flirts w/​you for your teasing conversation… just a psycho!
But I hope Dillon’s makes it. All the other staff and management there are very nice, they work hard to keep their customers happy, and they have survived in that location longer than anyone in many years. Go Dillon’s!

I love Sunnyslope. It’s my adopted hood and I really want this place to recognize it’s potential. That means local businesses and great restaurants and bars.
I had never stopped in here before, and recently I was invited to meet up here and I have to say it was just «meh».
I had the chicken mac and cheese but also tried the burnt ends. It was underwhelming. The food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good enough to lure me back here either.
Decent drink specials though!

Wow Unilocal… really should get that «zero star» set out for this place! AWFUL, HORRIBLE, YUCK, and pitiful customer service.
My husband and I are new to Arizona and I had bought a groupon for this place in hopes to find us a new favorite spot to go in our new hometown. I was at first pleasantly surprised by our waitress who seemed nice and knowledgeable. She took our drink order and gave us some time to get a feel for the menu. We also ordered an appetizer of onion rings. Onion rings were ok, drinks had no detectable alcohol in them, which is strange for rum and coke, haven’t ever had that issue before. I asked her to take away and off of my bill. She did. She told us that a great «share» dinner would be one of their combo platters. So we ordered the platter with beef brisket, beef ribs, and a quarter piece of chicken which also came with a side of steak fries and mac n cheese. We waited, and waited, and waited some more. About 30 or so minutes later she arrives. We expected a PLATTER, especially for the $ 22 price tag. What we got was a regular 9 inch dinner plate with a bowl of about ½ cup of mac n cheese on it along with the meats and fries. We both looked for another plate thinking, «This can’t possibly be it». It was. I think that it sat under a heat lamp for 20 of those minutes we had waited, and maybe on the counter for another 10. Everything was dry and the BBQ sauce, OMG, awful. And the food was cold. Our waitress was gone for a long time, long enough for the bus boy to come around, seeing that we were just sitting there, and ask if he could take our plate which still had the food on it. Once our waitress did surface, I told her that everything was dry and not good at all. She said, «Oh sorry». She did ask if she could bring us anything else, but disappointment after disappointment, we declined. The final bill was under what the groupon had allotted, so we left it and went to go to car to leave. She comes running out after saying that she needed more money. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I don’t even think we should have to pay for something so awful and here you come asking for more money? She said that the groupon didn’t cover the few bucks in tax. I was amazed. Save some face Dillon’s…that is ridiculous. I have never been to a restaurant that didn’t comp food that was not to a customer’s liking. Especially when it was this bad. Again, should have checked the reviews here on Unilocal… when will I learn that lesson (lol)? I think it has sunk in now!
Let me add in that I am a little picky when it comes to food, however, my husband is not. He will NOT waste food… but wouldn’t eat this… THAT is a true testament to how bad it was. I have never seen him waste food in the 8 years I have known him.

Consistently Dissappiointing
For some strange reason, a couple of my coworkers keep getting groupons here and we go. The food is really quite terrible. And it’s about 2x the price of what it’s worth.
I’ve had their cheap lunch specials, and they all range between swill and what I would expect at a food truck at a fair.
So I decided, maybe I’m just getting their cheap food. That’s the problem.
So I order a full rack of their $ 23 babyback ribs. They didn’t come with sauce. They tasted like they were grilled 2 days ago and regrilled twice since (dry, stringy, etc.). The sides were mediocre.
Look I expect DAMN GOOD ribs for $ 23. Not the crap I was served.
To top it all off the day manager was one of the rudest guys I’ve encountered when my friend tried to use the groupon, the waitress didn’t record the number right, but then redeemed. Insisted that we call groupon back, wait in cue, then have it unredeemed, so he could do it himself. Like we were thieves… and despite the waitress telling him she saw that it was unredeemed.
Just a downright expensive, terrible experience. The manager deserves to be fired if anyone reads this that gives a damn.
I surely won’t be back. And yeah, I know I probably said that last time.
But I’m never, ever going to be back. Ever.

I went to Dillons planning to have a serious conversation with friends last night, so the food was not top on the list of my priorities. In spite of that I was impressed by the food and the service. I appreciated the fact the server was very knowledgable about was being served. She also gave some real thought to questions concerning the sauces and recommendations we asked her to make. She also kept our drinks flowing moderately including keeping my water glass topped off. As i don’t drink, often times, I end up with a half empty glass which I invariably have to ask to get refilled. Not so here; udos to the server.
I had the pulled chicken sandwich which certainly tender enough with a very fresh bun. The mild sauce was about what our server said it would be. Next time I will go for something stronger though. Concerning the goal of the evening, I was going very mild in everything I ate. The potato salad had a nice flavor but was just a scoop in a little bowl. One of my pet peeves, it just looked boring.
What really surprised me as it would have been the last thing I’d have ever ordered was my friends stew. The stew was a luscious combination of meat and vegetables. It almost looked almost like a thick soup. I like it when something just looks like it would be something I’d really like to have just seeing it.. My friend said it was as appetizing as it looked. This is what I will have the next time I go there.
No problems parking but this was during the middle of the week so don’t know about weekends.

My wife and I gave this place a chance. We had a hankering for BBQ. The host seemed nice enough, just kind of brash. (he served as our waiter too)
The place is a sports bar w/​booths. Straight-​forward/​nice atmosphere.
We arrived at 1:30 pm. Not many people inside, so don’t know why it took our host so long to get us our menus.
We ordered a 3-​meat combo with two sides to share. Got the KC short ribs, pulled pork, and turkey.
When we got our food, we were surprised at the skimpy portions. Skimpy for a single serving, especially for the price.
The ribs were dry, not fall off the bone (tasted microwaved) The pulled pork was flavorless, like it was boiled. The turkey might as well have come from the grocery store deli department (again heated with a microwave). The BBQ baked beans ok (really sugary though) The coleslaw was boring.
Although the host did well filling up my ice tea, I don’t think he understood how to cultivate our interest. With the lull in customers, he could have ensured a better experience.
Long/​short …I would NOT recommend eating here.

Gonna keep this simple… I was excited to try what I heard was a local dining institution on a blistering summer day. A nice, big, cold beer, award winning food, and cheery, delightful service. Ya, right.
Naked chicken wings with the extra hot sauce as I had requested were as tepid as the sauce, on the side and not dressed, was insipid. Frank’s red hot with some butter and probably a sprinkle of cayenne, and a heavy handed addition of «grossness» were the worst I’ve had in recent memory.
My favorite BBQ item is Burnt Ends. Lovingly smoked twice and over seasoned and carcinogenic in the best way possible. Dillons’ interpretation is rather unique: boil some pork, cut in cubes, dump on dirty plate and smother in brown gravy infested with cornnstarch and liquid smoke. Worst I’ve had in recent memory.
Oh, and that big ol’ cold beer I was anxiously desiring… a 12 oz glass with two times more fingerprints on it than beer in ounces. I counted twelve separate greasy paw prints. Do the math and you’ll figure out the ratio. Worse ratio of prints to ounces I’ve had in recent memory.
Service isn’t worth mentioning. But worst in recent memory. Seems to be a trend here.

Visiting Phoenix, it’s my turn to take the family out for dinner. I found good reviews on this place, and I’m a BBQ addict so we set off.
I should’ve known by the tables covered in small sponsor advertisements. A1 Septic Systems, Buggy’s Chimney Sweep. Joes Oil Change? Weird. The menus all say « Unilocal about our ribs!» «Facebook this appetizer!» «Twitter these whatevers». Okay. I can do that.
This place is just a money grab.
The food was inexcusible. The ribs still had the membrane on them, they were flavorless, and mushy. I think they were boiled? Microwaved?
People ate their food to be polite. Except for one guy, who told ‘em how bad it sucked. (we all have that relative, don’t we?)
They coughed up a $ 20 gift-​card, which he left on the counter.
Avoid this place. :(

My boyfriend and I came here on Sunday after church. When we arrived we were one of 2 tables in the restaurant which leaves me wondering why the service was SO SLOW…
We had never been here before, and are not going back. In addition to the service being extremely slow (friendly, but otherwise in no way stellar) the food was over priced and completely unremarkable.
We each tried a 3 item BBQ plate with 2 sides; pork ribs, beef ribs, sausages, pulled chicken, pulled pork and brisket
Not one of the 6 had any outstanding qualities, poor flavor, cheap ingredients, dry and chewy…
I had the coleslaw and mixed veggies as sides and while they both seemed fresh they both were also very BLAND.
My boyfriend had the mac & cheese and loaded potatoes, again NOTHING to rave about.
In sum, after about 30 seconds of sampling our wasted $ 21.99 per plate each we agreed that we will never return to this establishment.

Below average food. Below average service. Above average prices. Bad combo. Spent over a hundred for 4 people before tip and everything was just… blah. That only included 3 bottles of beer too. Tough ribs, kfc coleslaw, steak fries out of the bag, dry brisket… Catch my drift.
It says on the menu… Unilocal about this, facebook that, twitter this… cheesy. I want to say good stuff but the whole place is weird and there is NOTHING bbq about it. Before you encourage your patrons to Unilocal about this, maybe make sure it is worth Unilocaling about.

Wow. Before I wrote this, I simply wanted to take note of all of the reviews that have described this food as passable or better… Invasion of the Body Snatchers!!! Aiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee!!!
The absolute worst BarBQ I have EVER had. Grew up in South Central Texas, so I’m spoiled. San Antonio, Austin, Lockhart, etc… But I have also sampled the best in Kansas City and Memphis, Atlanta and Mobile, even Minneapolis and Chicago. This was straight-​up abysmal.
First: Not even going to the food, the décor is right out of a Central Minnesota Brainerd-​area supper club; I was waiting for Joel and Ethan Coen to walk in as they set scenes for Fargo II. Yah, y’know. And it wasn’t just the décor — the couple in their mid-​fifties who were tongue fighting in their booth was just disturbing. Waitress stops by (we had reserved a table for the UFC fights they’d soon be showing) and asks us what we’d like to drink or eat (a stipulation of the reservation: reserve table for UFC, must be eating) and my buddy mentions he had already eaten, but he’d like a glass of water. She literally rolled her eyes… Man, that should have been enough to just go. Instead, we let it slide and I ordered an app for us and the three-​meat combo. One can get a pretty good feel from that type of plate how the rest of the menu should/​could play out.
Brisket, Burnt Ends and Sausage. All inedible. Dry to the point of being arid. Thought for a moment the food may have been created for long-​range space travel and would need re-​hydration but then realized that it had been cooked for sooo long that the meat had hermetically sealed itself against any penetration by moisture. I have had dried jerky that was more moist. As well, it is a physical impossibility to slice beef brisket to the thinness that Dillon’s achieved: Five slices of wafer-​thin brisket should NOT constitute one of the three constituent meats of the dreaded three-​meat plate. Burnt ends that were entirely devoid of taste. Sausage that was squishy… and also possessed of no taste whatsover.
At no time, ever, should one consider this to remotely resemble BBQ.

Went here for a co-​workers birthday today. I don’t eat meat and don’t care for BBQ so I ordered the portobello mushroom sandwhich with southwest veggies on the side. The sandwhich wasn’t bad, just didn’t wow me. Not really seasoned at all, I feel like it should have had some type of marinade on it or something. The veggies were steamed and healthy, which I liked.
Some of my coworkers ordered the salmon salad which looked amazing, and I tried a piece of the jalapeño corn bread which was delicious.

Went here for Lunch/​Dinner with my roomate today because I had a Groupon for it. I have to say it was good… it was no Famous Dave’s…although it was the same price so I think that without a groupon I wouldent choose it over Dave’s but honestly it was good. If I was in the area, I’d go here rather then driving way out to Chandler for sure.
Ok lets start at the beginning… upon walking in… you get the immediate feeling that this place is owned by a guy. There is eye candy everywhere… from the hostess to the servers to the bartenders… all hot. I think there was only 1 guy server… dont ask me how we happened to get put in his section.lol.
We were there during happy hour (runs 7 days a week, thats awesome) and since I knew a 35 $ groupon was gonna be harder to spend with 2 people we got some apps. The «famous» onions rings… were amazing… the portion was really small but we found out when we got the bill that the 6.99 onion rings were only $ 1 for happy hour. thats why the portion was smaller… when we tried to order a second batch they told us that we could only order 1 time for 1 $…after that it was full price… that kinda sucks… I rather them be 3 $ or whatever and I can order more. but whatever. We also got potato skins… which unlike the ones you think of when you go to applesbees or any other place like that… these are actually skins of the potatoes they peeled that they fry and then dust with seasoning… not bad for a buck.
I ordered a lemon drop for my drink which was ok, could have been strong but whatever.
We shared a rack of ribs with 2 sides (I’m used to Dave’s BBQ being ridiculous portions that you cant even finish with 2 people) and it was just the right amount of food I think due to having the appetizers. The ribs had a choice of sauce being Mild, Sweet-​Spicy, or Cajun. We ordered the ribs dry and sauce on the side but they came with Sweet-​Spicy on them instead… a little disappointed in that but it was ok as the sauce was great. We got Mashed potatoes and gravey and asparagus as the side and the mash was amazing… I think my favorite of the trip actually. The asparagus was… well…asparagus.
I didn’t have enough room for dessert but I really want to try them sometime as they looked really good.
All in all it was good but not amazing… Famous Dave still sits on the throne for me. I will be back if Groupon/​Living Social run another special or if I’m in the area. They also have comedy night on Saturday at like 8pm… I might check that out.

um… not much to really say about the place. ribs are lower end of the decent ranks. (decent is middle for me). Definitely wont order the babybacks again. thats what i had. I don’t know this place was just ehhhhhhh. nothing fantastic, i’d come back if i had a giftcertificate and i wouldn’t complain.
Don’t think i would choose on my own accord to go here though. I’d rather go to one of those fastfood bbq places which make equally as good, sometimes better food.

Ain’t nevah seen a rack o’ ribs dat big, ‘cept on a may-​un I used ta date!
I performed here. The crowd was really supportive while they gnawed on them thar ribs. Seriously. I left that night, thinking of those ribs.
There are a lot of regulars, which means a lot to me when I go to a new place. I’ve known a couple of other restaurants in that location and they never last, but I hope Dillon’s does.
The service was super friendly and quick. The menu is pretty big and I was quite surprised at that.
I’m sooooooo glad they’ve kept the décor from Central Grille. I love the booths and brat-​pack feel, as well as the dark walls. There’s a lot of wood, too. That’s not a pun, because most of the men were really old and, well, probably lacking in the wood department.

I came here for a Unilocal event at the beginning of the year and was surprised that the place had changed names when I was hear last month. The atmosphere was dated and uninteresting. The main restaurant are was so crowded too. Not with people, but with tables. I almost felt claustrophobic.
I was so disappointed in the food here. Mike and I split a 3 meat combo platter with smoked sausage, beef brisket, and slow-​smoked pulled pork. Everything just tasted so bland and dry. Their BBQ sauces were also boring. The mac and cheese I ordered also came with corn. Eew… It was not good. Our waitress was forgetful and really so was the whole experience here.

Maybe this place will stick? Over the years the building just south of Dunlap on Central has been many things, including its last incarnation a grill and steakhouse. But now things seem top be looking up for the location with west valley BBQ mainstay Dillons.
Dillons opened its first location at the corner of Thunderbird and the 101 in 1999 and was at the time, pretty much the only thing out there. Since then they’ve become so popular that opening several more locations were inevitable. I’ve managed to visit each store and I have to say it’s definitely the same experience across the board with a mix of BBQ, Southern cooking and some Tex-​Mex thrown in to round the menu out.
Fried Pickles ($ 6.99) are a favorite southern treat and are exactly what the name implies, dill pickles that are battered and fried. Be very careful eating these though because the juice from the pickles super heats inside and can potentially cause severe burns. I’m still pretty indifferent to these having never been blown away by them.
You’ve probably already noticed that anytime there are wings to be ordered, I order them. These are one of the easiest snacks to make and also one of the easiest to mess up. Dillons version of Crispy Chicken Wings ($ 7.99) are served up juicy and meaty under a light crunchy coating. They also hold back on bathing the wings serving the sauce on the side for your dipping pleasure.
The name may sound typical but the flavors of smoked the Chicken Quesadilla ($ 9.99) were far from it. Tender shredded smoked chicken tucked inside a grilled flour tortilla along with Monterrey jack and cheddar cheeses. Also served with sour cream and house made salsa, it’s large enough to order as an entrée.
Piled high with thick cut bacon, smoked ham, melted cheddar cheese all resting on top of a crunch fried chicken breast, the Chicken Club Sandwich ($ 9.99) might give you palpitations but is worth every succulent flavor packed bite. The Turkey Club Sandwich ($ 9.99) is made much like its crispy fried cousin but instead uses sliced smoked turkey meat. After one bite though the meat tasted more like your typical grocery store cold cuts and not from the deli counter but the stuff that comes in bags, overly salty with little to no turkey flavor.
Making matters even worse was the salt content on the Red Devil Pork Sandwich ($ 9.29). The pulled pork and smoked sausage was slopped up with a vinegar based red pepper sauce and then topped with coleslaw. It really should have been a hit but instead left me reaching for my water glass, a few sips and the salty pain was gone.
Finishing off the meal was the surprisingly decadent Cinnamon Apple Dumpling ($ 5.99). A baked pastry wrapped apple surrounded by cinnamon and sugar tortilla chips then adorned with scoops of vanilla ice cream and gooey apple pieces.
The dining room is covered with framed posters of old Hollywood. Who knew that Id some day dine with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. Breakfast at Dillons anyone?

Joined @lafinguy and @littlebitofmoni for lunch today.
I was excited to try Dillon’s as it is close to my house, and I love good BBQ.
I’m sad to say I was less than thrilled.
We ordered hot wings. What we got were 12 fried drumettes, and a small bowl of sauce, that looked and tasted like dressed up Tabasco, rather than a quality hot wing sauce. We also got the obligatory carrot and celery sticks, and something that approximated, but fell far short of, bleu cheese dressing.
Pic:
We decided to split the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ Ribs, and we got Cajun for the non-​St. Louis style.
The ribs were good, but not great. The actual ribs were nice, having plenty of meat, rather than being mostly bone. But the cajun sauce wasn’t noteworthy, and the St. Louis ribs were again, an approximation of true St. Louis ribs.
Also, most BBQ places provide, or at least ask if it is desired, extra sauce. We got none. Further, the meal, which we specifically informed the waitress would be shared amongst three people, came with a single roll. Which looked more like a burger bun. Rolls are very cheap, and one should always be provided for each diner.
We had a dessert, as well, the Cinnamon Apple Dumplin’, which was crispy cinnamon tortilla chips, baked apple dumpling, and several small scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Pic:
It was really good, and we finished it off!
Hell, I’d almost go back just for that dish!
I was disappointed in the wings, but I accept that not all places do wings the same. I was disappointed by the lack of extra sauce, and additional rolls.
I was happy with the dessert, and the $ 3.50 beers.
I think they can do more.
I’m a pulled pork kind of guy, so I definitely intend on going back, and trying that item. I’m hoping it fares better than the wings.
All that being said, I will go back, because I know they’re just opened, and may need some time to work out some kinks.
And it’s close to home. :)