Mr. K’s BBQ

Closed.

Food is mediocre, prices high, portions lousy, not to mention a real jerk for putting locks on the doors instead of warning your employees you were closing.

We had a Groupon. ’nuff said.
I don’t know. I wanted to like it. I’ve heard good things about it. And it wasn’t THAT bad. But it wasn’t THAT good.
The place is set up like a true BBQ style, where you go up and get your food in a cafeteria line style set-​up. I had the turkey breast, the brisket, with sides of mac & cheese, and green beans. The meat wasn’t bad. The mac and cheese was positively nothing special and the green beans were «eh».
The seating is picnic bench style. bus your own table. And yet the total came to $ 38. Yikes. I’ll make my own BBQ that I have to clean up after (and it’ll taste better) at home.
Meh.

We went to Mr. K’s on a Thursday evening. The teenagers and I were all pretty hungry. Walking up to the counter, it reminded me of a BBQ place we used to go to in Texas, which was a good sign. The options looked good and the food smelled awesome. The only suspicious sign was that there were about 30 empty tables and only one group of people sitting down eating at the prime dinner hour.
Then things went downhill. They did not have the sides we requested. They said, we’ll bring them out in a minute, which turned out to be toward the end of our meal. Between us, we tried quite a few different options. The turkey and rope sausage was good, the sliced brisket was ok but dry, the chopped brisket was very dry, and the pulled pork was not really pulled much at all, just big chunks of pork roast. The fries were ordinary, the and although the green beans tasted good at first, I suspect those were what made me sick later in the evening.
We should have realized why there were nobody in the restaurant when we walked in, and kept driving.

We are frequent customers, and continue to enjoy the food and relaxed atmosphere. I always get the 3 meat meal – yes, a lot of food, with its 2 sides and Texas toast, but I’m a hungry person. My husband gets the ½ lb sandwich most frequently, with a side.
I love the chopped brisket, hot links, and pulled pork, as well as the green beans (a little spiced, with ample salt and pepper – yum!), creamed corn (I can’t get enough of it), sweet potato casserole, and side salad (always fresh and good dressing). The spicy sauce is amazing, even on the hot links, and the Texas toast is great for mopping up any drippings. My husband typically gets the pulled pork sandwich and creamed corn, and finds it a great meal (if high calorie, but mine is worse, huh?).
The service is helpful, and they sometimes drop by a free («on the house») cornbread or dessert – including peach cobbler, wow – which makes us feel even more special. The prices are very reasonable for the amount and quality of food you get, and I’m sure that they would be responsive if we ever had a problem (which we haven’t, by the way).

It is not a sit down and order place, it is a real BBQ joint.
Stand in line order you food sit down and eat. The ribs fell off the bones and the pull pork was flavorful and not over sauced, fried okra was fresh and hot.
I must mention that while we were there the music was not country it was blues from Johnny Lee Hooker to ZZ Top. Thank you for not having country on.

Mr K’s you did it right.

They people who work here know us. That is they remember us and what we eat. I watch U of A bball here often. If I havn’t come in for two weeks they ask «where were you, been a long time»?
Since I last reviewed, I have eaten here about once per week (no kidding) with my GF.
I always get the same thing: one meat spare ribs with no sauce, and double salad. It fills me up good. God damn, they are good ribs.
Mr. K’s is good people.

I just finished eating my plate yum! You gotta try this BBQ tasty food. I ran over to get 2 bbq plates to go $ 9.99 each I can make prolly get 4 plates out of all this food. tons of food redonk! 1 meat 2 sides. I ordered chopped brisket, mac n cheese, cole slaw. Also pulled pork, ranch beans, sweet taters omg loved those too deelish. Tried a little chopped brisket w sauce on the side, pulled pork too both meats had a smoky very flavorful taste, a tiny taste of cole slaw good, ranch beans, mac n cheese, texas toast, I tried the bbq hot sauce yikes is it ever spicy but good. I liked everything I tried. Service was very helpful n nice. I told them it was my 1^st time what do they recommend? Very good choices tonite. I will be back.

Growing up in Southern Texas and Kansas City, I have come to know great BBQ, unfortunately, Mr. K’s is not great or even that good. I was excited to have a decent BBQ place opening so close to home and that quickly turned to disappointment.
$ 22 spent in Texas or Missouri will get you some of the best BBQ in the World, and enough to feed 2 – 3 people, at Mr. K’s, you may be able to feed yourself as the portions are tiny, cold, and uninspiring these days. The first time we came was after they opened and I thought it was decent, but overpriced. Now, it’s just overpriced. I thought I was the only person with the cold food complaint, but after reading other reviews it seems to be a common theme.
If you’re in this area, do yourself a huge favor and visit the Taco Tote in the same parking lot, where the food is always hot and made to order and for $ 20 you can get a huge amount of food.

I was in a strange mood. Not much excitement lately so my friend Trex (who was also having a bad day) and I decided to go back to Mr. K’s to see if I’d be insulted again for asking for a plate instead of paper.
There was no paper in sight; only huge metal platters. With little dividers to separate the sides and main dish. But where was my snarky friend?, I asked. ‘He no longer works here.” (Probably found a job that didn’t require working with people.) It looks like insults and sarcasm are no longer part of the service at Mr. K’s. The staff, which had several new hires, was actually friendly and engaging.
There were other surprises as well. This place is really good. Ample portions of smoky meats, even Pulled Ribs (yum!). All our sides (also ample in portion) were bursting with flavor and were the perfect complement to the BBQ. And now three BBQ sauces kept warm and served with the meats. (More sauce too from large pump containers like they use for mustard and catsup.) A BBQ sauce for every taste including my favorite: spicy.
Mr. K’s has finally turned the corner. It is a great place to eat.

I don’t know what all those bad reviews are talking about…
I’ve had nothing but awesome service and the BBQ here is killer! I love all their side choices too.

If you like old cold dried out overpriced BBQ served on an aluminum tray that makes your food taste bad… Then this is your place!
Eating food out of Styrofoam containers (to avoid aluminum taste and scraping sounds) was no fun after I felt like I over paid, even with a Groupon.

We had heard that Mr. K’ BBQ was the best in Tucson. Unfortunately, the people that told us that neglected to tell us that there are two of them — The Original Mr. K and a more recently opened one on Stone Ave.
Apparently, this one is a spin-​off of the original and I did not think it was very good at all. I had a 2-​meat platter ($ 12). I chose pork ribs and hot links. I had a choice of 2 sides and I chose potato salad and mac n cheese.
The ribs were just ok. They had a light smoke flavor and were fairly tender but not truly moist. The hot links were a real disappointment. I had hoped for something that felt like a good, spicy sausage. Instead, it was like mushy ground meat of some mystery origin stuffed into a casing and it wasn’t even spicy! The BBQ sauce is kinda bland — neither spicy nor sweet. I thought of it more as a gravy than a BBQ sauce.
The potato salad was sad. The main flavor was mayo with a little onion, relish or pickle and potato. The Mac n Cheese was kinda dry and reminded me of a dry, packaged mix product.
My wife had their House Salad. The veggies, particularly the various kinds of greens were limp as if it had sat around for a long time. The Jalapeño Corn Bread was soggy. It tasted OK but it felt like someone took hot, fresh corn bread and put them into sealed containers or plastic bags and they ended up ‘steaming’ in the enclosed environment.
To me, it seemed like there was no ‘love’ in the food. It’s more like mass produced, cafeteria fare. No one seems to really care.
I would not recommend this place and I feel badly that we did not go to the Original Mr. K.
Jim

Where to begin… I will start with the fact that I was really surprised when I heard that this place was being built. I was excited that Mr. K’s was expanding!
With this in mind, I brought a friend here when it opened. Having talked this place up so much in the past, my friend was expecting nothing short of heavenly barbecue gold in their mouth…
I left the restaurant that afternoon with much confusion/​unhappiness.
The food was cafeteria style/​assembly line quality (yuck). The restaurant was a huge, dark, far from charming cave, and the staff seemed cold and unorganized.
Had Mr. K’s sold out? The food here was horrible, a mere fraction of the goodness I have eaten many times before, at the ORIGINAL (Park & 29^th) location.
Well that was almost a year ago…
Today, I went to the famous and original location (park&29^th). I am happy to report that Mr. K’s is still alive and kicking, a true hole in the wall.
Like usual, Mr. K’s son was working this afternoon at the Park/​29^th location. He is a VERY friendly and hardworking individual; true southern hospitality!
The food (at park/​29^th) was orgasmic! Smothered in sauce, smoked to perfection, melt-​in-​you-​mouth BBQ. Now THIS is the Mr. K’s BBQ I have told everyone about.
So what the heck happened with the new store @ river&stone?
Long story short, there was a family dispute, and the River+Stone location was opened with ill-​intent. Pretty much, this location is a RIP OFF/​SCAM of the real Mr. K’s BBQ. I do not advise going here, and please do not let it tarnish your idea of the real Mr. K’s!
Please see for yourself, and check out the original location on Park+29^th St.
Thank you.

As a native Arizonan, I can honestly say that I don’t think I would know what really good, authentic BBQ is. So, I go with what I know I like to eat… and I just don’t think BBQ is my thing. That is likely for the lack of exposure.
It’s not that I disliked Mr. K’s… nor did I walk away wowed. While the portions were plenty, I (again not a BBQ expert) felt that the ribs and brisket I had could have been more tender., This could have been due to the fact that they were not completely hot. They were topped with their spicy sauce which, for me, was just a little too acidic. I tasted my wife’s turkey and, while moist and tender enough, the flavor just didn’t blow me away. I took a pulled pork sandwich home for my daughter, which I sampled later, and it was OK, nothing special. The more I think about it, I either ate or sampled almost all their meats and none of it changed my attitude toward BBQ.
The side orders: green chili cornbread and mac and cheese for me and fries and candied yams for my wife. The top of the cornbread was hard, but the middle was fairly moist. The mac and cheese was not bad, but not great either. The fries were good and, IMO, the best side item once you dipped them in some of the ranch from the condiment bar; which seemed slightly out of place with things like salsa, cheese, pickles, jalapeños, blue cheese and ranch dressing and other assorted goodies. Maybe it’s part of the authentic experience. Again, I just don’t know.
Notes: other reviewers mention that your food is served wrapped in paper. I can see how that would be really messy. They must have changed their format, because our food came on a compartmented metal tray. Others have also mentioned surly service. That was not the case with us. The people serving were actually quite nice. The place is clean and the picnic tables inside are covered with bright checked tablecloths. If you are there between 4 – 6 during the week, you can get a buck off drinks. They have beer, wine and little airline bottles of liquor if that’s your thing.
If I ever get the opportunity get some real BBQ in an area of the country where BBQ is religion I may re-​evaluate Mr. K’s. But, for now, I think I will limit my BBQ forays to the backyard.

Mr K’s has been one of our biggest let downs, restaurant-​wise, so far this year. It seemed pretty hyped up and well liked, so walking in with high (ish) expectations made it even worse. Let’s start from the beginning.
We walk in, and see the menu board. Ok, cool, so, we walk up to the guy serving. Instead of telling us that we’ll need a tray, and where they are because we missed them and didn’t know about them due to this was our first visit, he stared at us. He didn’t ask us how we were, what we’d like, or tell us to get a tray. Nothing. Awkward. He did have a scowl on, though. So, now I’m kinda frazzled, and I realize we need a tray after looking around some. So we each pick one up. Now, Mr. Personality asks what we want. Curt. Unfriendly. Miserable. My husband gets the pulled pork sandwich, and I get the pulled chicken plate. As this guy is putting the chicken on my plate, I suppose he thought he put too much on it, and pulled off the teeniest effin’ strand of chicken possible. Less than ¼ of a bite’s worth. Why bother? You just made me roll my eyes at you. So finally we’re done with this guy, we pay (and it is VERY PRICEY for food served on a metal tray), and we find a seat.
Finding a seat isn’t hard because the place was DEAD on a Saturday for lunch. The picnic tables are a little bit dumb, but no big deal. We go to get our soda. What’s that? The fountain doesn’t work? Ok, we walk all the way across the restaurant to the other one, get our drinks, and head back to our table.
By then, the food had cooled a bit. My chicken wasn’t particularly hot to begin with. The flavors of the food, overall, were good. The chicken wasn’t dry, nor was the pork. It had decent seasoning, and the hot BBQ sauce was a good addition. The mac and cheese was a bit ho hum, but edible. We didn’t get any bread on the side, which seems odd, because most of these places give some with a meal. Oh well. We also tried the pecan pie. It was good, but I’m not sure that they make them in house. Either way, tasty.
Overall, this place lacks personality and energy. The staff seemed pissed to be there. The food was ok, the décor was lame, and the prices are high. I’d probably choose Famous Dave’s when we’re in the mood for BBQ again.

Meh… not to impressed I must say. I must precursor this by saying I’m not a huge BBQ fan and I came with the understanding that there may not be much to eat for me given I was trying to stick to a somewhat healthy meal. BBQ is not the place to go for healthy… duh!
The family very much enjoyed their pulled pork and ribs with all their sides. I ordered a salad with pulled chicken. It was good but it’s one of those dishes you know you can do better at home. The lettuce was pulled from a large metal pan behind the counter and didn’t look fresh at all. We ended up ordering a beer (hops are healthy!) and my PBR was the same price as the husband’s Fat Tire. I think the only thing I truly enjoyed was the blues music being played overhead. Nice addition.
As for the atmosphere, we came at an off hour so the place was empty. But honestly I felt like I was up in the mountains at Girl Scout camp again. It’s huge open seating with picnic tables everywhere. I would have to try it out when it was packed to see what it was really like.
If for whatever reason if I’m in the mood for BBQ I may come back, but for now there’s no love loss.

I didn’t like this place at all. The cafeteria style serving line was an unpleasant surprise. The people working there all seemed miserable. The bbq was bland, and completely different from the original Mr. K’s on the South Side (which rocks!).
Not good for families — the cafeteria line thing is a pain in the ass
Not good for dates — pushing a plastic tray up a steel rail while the person behind me breaths on my neck impatiently is not quite romantic
Not good for a meal by yourself — just a bunch of big tables
One positive, to be fair, they did honor my Groupon without griping.

I am so glad that I decided to ignore the bad reviews and give this place a try and judge for myself. On a whim we decided to stop in this evening as we drove by heading home. Off the bat, the folks behind the counter were friendly and patient, giving us the time we needed to figure out what we wanted and the best way to feed our family of 6 without spending $ 100. :-) That’s pretty much our criteria when stopping for an unplanned meal out. Just in case anyone is interested, we came in at $ 77. Not bad!
Anyway, we all enjoyed the food! We tried the ribs, brisket, chicken, mac and cheese and green beans. All were really delicious. Great smoke flavor, good seasoning and melt-​in-​my-​mouth tender. That pretty much satisfies my criteria for good BBQ. The staff was attentive, came by an offered to clear used butcher paper & napkins, and a gentleman, not sure who he was, welcomed us, asked if everything was OK, and said he hoped we come see him again. We will!
Only complaint, and it first came from my 7 year old, was «they really need some toothpicks». The girl clearing our paper said they typically have toothpick but have been out for the past 5 days. LOL I’m not sure she should have shared that info, but hey, cool points for honesty. :-) The sauce was fine and everyone liked the atmosphere, didn’t mind eating off butcher paper and liked the picnic tables and benches.
The place was packed, there was even a birthday party going on for a little girl, and we all joined in to sing happy birthday! All-​in-​all a good dining experience.

I was excited to try this place as it is near my office and I love BBQ. What a disappointment and will not be going back.
This is a order/​pickup at the counter place and you fill your drinks up yourself. You get plastic utensils, styrofoam cup and no plate!
We were there for lunch today and thought we would have the 2 meat/​2 side plate so we could try more items — 4 meats/​4 different sides and it comes with bread. We also got two large drinks. The cost was $ 35.00 for lunch! Now if this was the best BBQ I ever had, I probably wouldn’t have mentioned the cost; but it wasn’t, far from it in fact.
Don’t expect to actually receive a «plate» when you order a plate meal — the meat comes wrapped in butcher paper and when you unwrap it, the grease/​juice (I use juice loosely, more to that later) goes all over the place. The brisket and pulled pork were moist but they had absolutely no flavor! When you drive past this place, you can smell the wood burning but for some reason, it doesn’t get into the meat. The turkey and chicken were so dry that when we put BBQ sauce on the meat, it soaked up instantly. Yuck! The turkey and chicken also had no smokey flavor.
The sides we ordered were collard greens, baked beans, fried okra and candied yams. The yams and okra were awesome but the collard greens and baked beans were a disappointment. The macaroni and cheese looked dry and not very appetizing or cheesy and the green beans looked as though they had been boiled for several hours.
We didn’t get our bread with our order and thought that maybe the bread would be awesome as we thought surely the bread would be a biscuit or corn bread considering the theme of the restaurant is southern. So I went up to the counter to get our missing bread and was handed two slices of white Wonder bread!
Don’t waste your money going to this place. Go to Famous Dave’s for a meal that is not only less expensive but you get waited on, food served on real plates with real utensils and way better tasting food! Or Brush Fire BBQ which is a self serve place but the food is awesome and a lot less money.