Fat Pete’s Barbeque

Was good in the beginning but everything tastes like it was cooked days ago and they are just reheating it, which I’m pretty sure is happening. Meats, with one or two exceptions, are all dry along with most sides. Have gone back multiple times in hopes of improvement, but it’s not happening. Rocklands, on Wisconsin, is much better.

Awesome service great portions and Food is amazing. I came all the way from VA and it was worth it

Our party of 9 ventured into this place after a trip to the zoo and were able to be seated right away. The menu was varied enough to please both the 8 year old and the 70 year old in our party. The food arrived fast and was perfectly served as we requested, family style. It was really tasty and for those that like a variety of sauces to spice up their brisket, Fat Pete’s can’t be beat. I would have given this place 5 stars but as someone from Texas (who loves her new home in DC) I still only hand out 5 stars to barbecue restaurants in the Lone Star State.

It was an unusual warm sunday so my family and I decided to go the zoo. We weren’t sure what to eat but since the weather was nice I figured lets do bbq!
We didn’t order much in the beginning but my 3 year loved the ribs so much we ended ordering an extra half a rack. Hubby and I shared a 3 meat platter and I ordered two extra sides. Brisket was ok, I liked the ribs (hubby wanted it to fall of the bones soft but it wasn’t.) I guess it really is about preferences. We were disappointed about the shredded pork bc it was overly season for our taste. I did love the choices of delicious sauce!
Overall the meat was ok, sides were delicious! Service was great! I would definitely go back and give them another go round!

Ate there last night with a groupon. The service was excellent and our waitress was wonderful, the food not so much. The brisket was dry and when we requested a moister cut, they poured some au jus on it and brought it back to the table. The baby back ribs were decent, but nothing spectacular, the belly buster was a total bust (pretty gross) and the salmon sandwich (forgot the name) was very good. Don’t even bother with the ribtips (all bone, very little meat) or the mac n cheese (something very off with the taste). In my humble opinion, with bbq its all about the meat and the meat we received was definitely sub par. Even with the groupon, the meal was not worth the money we spent and we will definitely not return when there are so many more reasonable options in the area. Too bad as they seemed to have so much potential, and we were very excited to dine there.

Ok so let me say the St. Louis ribs are perfect and are the only reason I give 3 stars. The service is terrible, truly. One guy (esteban) was hustling EVERY table while four others were talking behind the bar. He did everything to take care of us and 40 other people, kudos to you! Shame on you other 4!
I will also say the BBQ sauces are really not good, the only thing I even liked was the mustard and it really is gooood but this is a BBQ join and that was a big miss.
Finally I will say the music was spot on, not one song wasn’t on point.

You know when you are starved and you wanted your dinner an hour ago? That’s where I was the night I ordered delivery from this place. Here I think I schedule delivery just right where the food would arrive hot shortly after I got home from work. I wait and I wait and I wait and I wait.. . Get the idea? Yes, I waited until what seemed like it was breakfast. Now it was not the delivery service’s fault. Their driver waited and waited too. It probably was akin to paint drying for her. She kept me abreast of the order status. Finally at about the hour mark, a person at the counter tried to pass off food that had been sitting on their counter for approximately 15 minutes. She gave that person a word or two (go girl!) and ordered them to fire up the grill and start from scratch. All in all it took about 1 hour and 24 minutes for the kitchen staff to prepare a simple family meal. Totally absurd! If I had not invested so much time waiting I would have told her to cancel the order.
If you want food prepared in a reasonable amount of time, this is not the place for you. If you prefer sweet bbq sauce, you better bring your own. And if you order take out or delivery from them and request extra sauce, don’t hold your breath. You won’t get it. You simply will get a sandwich bag of their standard mixture of sauces (one bag containing a minuscule amount of sauce regardless of how many meals your ordered). While the meat is juicy and tender and the sweet potatoes are delicious, the disappointment from the lengthy wait and lack of sauce will make me think twice the next time I crave bbq.

Just meh. We were seated quickly and the host brought waters very fast. While it was easy to decide on the food, btw get the hush puppies, amazing with goat cheese, we couldn’t decide on the adult drinks and asked the server to come back, she never did. In fact she walked past our table numerous times without checking in. I hope our tip goes just to the host. The server we had, not the pregnant one who did a great job, was awful. Give her an early Christmas present and fire her.

A terrific spot to watch Monday Night Football in DC. While other places are shutting down at kick-​off time (coz most restaurants have extremely slow business on Monday nights and tend to give their staff a break by closing early or don’t open at all on Monday), Fat Pete’s is doing the opposite and welcoming pigskin lovers with open arms.
The vibe in here at game time is fun. The fans of the opposing teams are sportsmanlike, and that’s a true blessing.
The barbecue offerings are numerous and certainly above average. Of the meats; the St. Louis spareribs are my favorite; the barbecue chicken (made with Alabama white sauce) is next; and the smoked turkey runs a close third. The brisket is not prepared as I would prefer, but it’s respectable. Referred to as «Texas-​style», the brisket is listed as being smoked for a considerable number of hours, but I can’t taste the smoke very well. There’s a barbecue salad on the menu – what a riot! It’s a mountain of lettuce and raw veggies topped with 3 barbecue meats plus bacon. Now that’s my kind of meal. I dare you to finish it in one sitting.
The sides that I find pretty yummy: cole slaw, potato salad, collard greens, and mashed potatoes. The hush puppies are unusual in that they come with goat cheese and poblano chili in the center. To me, this changes the hush puppy completely but worth a try to see if you like it.
The lynchburg lemonade and stellar cider (made with some alcohol, mind you) are tart and tantalizing.
They don’t take reservations which I think is wise. Servers are competent and accommodating.
Washington meets Dallas in their most important contest of the regular NFL season this coming Monday. These two teams are longtime rivals and the stakes are high. I’ll be at Fat Pete’s for sure.

BYOB– Bring Your Own BBQsauce: Fat Pete’s does not have good sauce. End of story.
BYOB-​Bring Your Own Bun: The guy taking your order is so high when you say sandwich they will just give you meat (not even meat though, it’s just straight fat).
Mac N Cheese– Dull. If you’re thinking it’ll be similar to Mission BBQ’s Mac, it’s not. It’s more like a Stouffers’ Mac and Cheese gone wrong.
Let me give you examples of my favorite places to eat so that you have some ground to judge me on: Chick-​Fil-​A, Dominos, Cava, Chipotle, Potbelly’s, Jersey Mike’s, Starbucks.
Rating Level: poop
Good luck.

Had the hush puppies, Mashed potatoes and pulled pork all were good. Different sauces to choose from. I liked the tangy one they had with a little vinegar in it

First of all, I’ve only had delivery from this place, but it’s pretty darn good. I was surprised that they delivered all the way over by Howard U, but it was through Grub hub.
Anyway, the BBQ is great, it’s one of the better places I’ve had in DC. The brisket was good, not amazing, but way better than most. The pulled pork was good, and the ribs were good. Everything was tender and well done.
The corn bread was AMAZING! It’s the dense, pudding-​like bread, if that makes sense?
Coleslaw sucked, but whatever.
Overall everything was «good»

As a native Texan, I’m definitely pickier than the average customer when it comes to bbq. While Pete’s wasn’t quite «Texas good», it was the tastiest I’ve had thus far in D.C. for sure.
First, I enjoyed the cornbread; it was delicious with whole corn baked inside. The honey butter? It had an odd taste. I suggest skipping that particular condiment. The sweet potatoes were a hit though, but a little overcooked (hopefully that was a fluke!). My wife enjoyed her baked beans and we both liked the macaroni and cheese. With a béchamel sauce, the cheesy flavor proved there were no shortcuts taken. As for the coleslaw, it was hit and miss. I did not like it at all; my wife ate half of it. Even the «creamy» version tasted like straight vinegar to me.
As for the meat, although both the chicken and the beef were cooked well and tasty, all of Pete’s bbq sauces definitely need tweaking. Only the sweet sauce was even edible. We threw the others away. One tasted almost like plain mustard. Unfortunately, the missing tang of a good sauce took away from my overall bbq experience.
I’m pleased to say however, I’ll be visiting Pete’s again. I might bring it home and add my own sauce, but nonetheless, I’ve found edible bbq within metro D.C.

I will update this review later after I’ve returned to Fat Pete’s and had their dessert. It was decent for DC Barbeque. I ordered the burnt ends which were suggested to be eaten with the Texas Moo Sauce (horrible mistake)! But the burnt ends alone wore good. The Pulled pork with nothing special. The St Louis ribs were pretty decent as well as the baked beans. The goat cheese hush puppies were outstanding with the apple butter! I’m still on the fence with their food. It wasn’t horrible but it didn’t blow me away either. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive!
I can’t wait to return and try the desserts! They looked amazing but I was too full this go round!

Oh Fat Pete’s.
My friend and I started coming here because another friends who is also a Pats fan said this was THE place to watch our boys. Since that time everyone else has followed suit.
We always sit upstairs in the loft area for Sunday games. Even though it’s packed now, our 2 regular servers still provide awesome service. They keep a good selection of local beers on draft and in cans along w/​Shiner (it is a TX bar after all) and a couple Sammys.
The food here is killer. My friend and I usually order a bunch of stuff to share because their portions are large. The hush puppies are a must. They’re doughy and filled w/​goat cheese, served w/​a side of apple butter. They’re addictive, you’ve been warned. Their loaded mashed potatoes are one of my faves, while my friend likes their waffle fries. And don’t even get me started on their ABT’s. I was never really one for jalapeño poppers, but these I could eat every day. The actual BBQ is stellar as well. We usually opt for the turkey, which is smoky and delicious, the brisket and the pulled pork which are both melt in your mouth moist. As for sauces, they have 6: KC, Memphis, TX (though not like any TX I’ve ever tasted), NC, SC, & Bama. Definitely have them bring you all 6 the 1^st time you’re here. It may be sacrilege to some, but I mix my sauces. I like a mix of their Texas Mop, KC Spicy, and Memphis Sweet. It’s the best of all my BBQ worlds: spicy, sweet, with some meatiness (literally, the mop is made w/​their beef stock). I’ve read that some people think it’s presumptuous of FP’s to try to be great at all these different kinds of sauces, but they all really are great representations of their originals.
Check these guys out and if you root for the Pats, we’ll see you on game day!

Omg the review I wrote did not get saved. So here I go again to recapture the delicious experiences I had. My first visit was by chance, walking in the neighborhood and thought we would give it a chance. The space was intriguing. A two level, loft style place with ambiance and HD TV to watch sports.
In deciding what to order, we couldn’t decide. So we ordered a platter, three types of meat and several sides. Wow what a good idea to sample a little bit of everything! Delicious! Tasty and filling. We have returned several times and each visit is as good as the first.
The staff is friendly and fun too. Making it a great experience!

The 500^th review goes to Fat Pete’s!
After our last BBQ outing that was not good, it was a pleasure to go to Fat Pete’s. I subscribe to Zagat’s newsletter for DC and recently they had «10 BBQ Hot Spots in the DC Area». We looked through them all and decided that Fat Pete’s would be worth a visit.
We were here on a Saturday around 5:30 p.m. At that time of day, there were still plenty of empty tables. Once seated, we looked over the menu but having looked at it online already, we had a good idea as to what we would order.
To drink, I ordered a sweet iced tea while my husband had a Yuengling. He was surprised that it came in a can because every time he has ordered it elsewhere, it was in a bottle. I liked the sweet iced tea and thought it was sweetened just right.
We started with an appetizer of smoked wings. This appetizer consists of 4 whole wings and you can get it with dry rub, buffalo sauce or voodoo sauce. We passed on the voodoo sauce and asked our server which was more mild — the dry rub or the buffalo sauce. She said the dry rub so we went with that. The wings were huge and meaty. We were impressed that they were moist on the inside while the skin had a smoky flavoring which was complimented by the dry rub.
For my main course, I got the «burnt ends and grilled cheese sandwich». This sandwich consists of: «burnt ends with soaked vidalia onion and bacon jam along with American and Swiss cheese between 2 pieces of Texas toast grilled to a golden brown». Sandwiches come with a choice of one small side. I chose onion strings which are «house battered vidalia onions sliced thin and fried crispy». I must say that this sandwich was very tasty! The burnt ends provided a nice charred and smoky flavoring. The bacon jam was awesome and added and sweet and bacony (is that even a word?) element to the sandwich. In other words, it was a pleasant surprise to bite into the sandwich and get that taste of bacon jam. They only complaint I had was that one half of the sandwich had some pieces of the burnt ends that were just too big and should have been chopped more finely. If you order this sandwich, be aware that it is very filling! The onion strings were great — very well prepared with a nice crunch to them.
My husband ordered the sliced brisket. With entrees, you get 2 side dishes of your choosing. He chose mac & cheese plus BBQ beans. He really liked the brisket as it was moist and flavorful with a nice smoke ring. His only complaint was that he thought that they should have trimmed off a little more fat. He tried it with a sweet BBQ sauce at first, then our server brought a bottle of Texas BBQ sauce that had, among the many ingredients, some beef broth and some beer. He tried some of it and while he liked it, the sweet sauce was his favorite. I tasted some of the Texas sauce and right away noticed the beer flavoring coming through.
The mac & cheese is described this way: «cavatappi pasta combined with our house cheese sauce». The sauce appeared to be cheddar cheese based and was thin. I found it to be on the tart side but my husband really liked it.
The BBQ beans are described this way: «a combo of pinto, kidney and cannellini beans baked overnight with vidalia onions, poblano peppers, house made beef and pork in custom sauce». The poblano peppers add a little touch of heat to the beans but overall, they are very flavorful. My husband is picky about baked beans and really liked them!
We were too full to even consider dessert! Before the tip, dinner cost $ 45 + change.
Service was somewhat erratic as the waitstaff seemed to be overloaded and could have used more help. Often, it wasn’t easy to get our server’s attention. For example, each table has a roll of paper towels on it. Our table ran out but our server wasn’t around so I just took a roll off an empty table. When it was time to pay the check, it took a while to get her attention. All that said, she was very friendly and knew the menu quite well.
We most certainly would consider returning should we crave good BBQ!

My mother-​in-​law treated us to lunch after a fun day at the National Zoo. Fat Pete’s was perfect. We came in starving and left happy and full.
Fat Pete’s menu is expansive and filled with all the BBQ favorites served as both sandwiches and platters.
I ordered the grilled cheese burnt ends sandwich and it was amazing. The bread was buttered and nicely toasted. The beef was chunky, tender, well-​seasoned and did not get lost in the bread or cheese. I tried the different sauces with each bite and loved the combination of the original as well as the spicy with the sandwich. My side order of Mac and Cheese was out of this world! The noodles were enveloped with buttery, smooth, cheese and the portion was a very satisfying size for this rich side.
BP very much enjoyed his chipped beef sandwich. Again, the meat was cooked well and remained juicy. I could have eaten a million of those goat cheese hush puppies he had as his side. They are a must-​have at Fat Pete’s. Each one had such a nice crust from the fryer, but the cheese inside remained whipped and creamy. The apple butter which accompanied the pups was also fantastic. The sweetness of the butter paired well against the shell of the pups and the soft, cheesy center.
My mother-​in-​law liked that she was able to make each one of her three sliders a different type of meat and my brother-​in-​law enjoyed the vinegar based sauce the best with his sandwich.
We also got to enjoy a decedent chocolate chip cookie. It was sweet, chewy, and had huge chunks of chocolate. I didn’t even take a picture because it was devoured in seconds!

I went to Fat Pete’s again last night to get another Pulled Pork platter to go.
This time I ordered the BBQ baked Bean, which are amazing and of course, the Hush Puppies again since they did not disappoint last time. To complete my order, I asked them to add a bun (.50 cents) and I was on my way.
So the meat isn’t completely «pulled» I had to finish doing some of the pulling myself, so that’s something I would say needs a little work.
One last thing and the beans is the main reason I gave them a 4 and not a 3, but I think they need to put cornbread with the platters. I mean who has BBQ without cornbread?
Anyway, the sweet bbq sauce was also pretty good, but not better than my sweet baby ray’s chipotle honey bbq. :-)

This place has lots of potential but didn’t quite live up to expectations. They have a laid back no frills atmosphere which is a plus but the food and service didn’t quite live up to authentic BBQ standards. It’s fine for DC BBQ but this place wouldn’t quite cut it down south.
I had the chopped brisket platter with two sides. The brisket was tender but also was quite fatty to the extent that some pieces were primarily fat. I know that happens sometimes but this was too fatty for my first time here. The sides were a mixed bag, the BBQ beans were quite good with pieces of onion/​pepper and some meat as well. The grits were much less impressive as they were tasty but not fresh and had the consistency of spackling paste from being left out too long. Portions are large and I definitely left full.
Also, I tried a bite of my wife’s BBQ salad and the BBQ turkey seems to be best meat in the building. They do have four sauces but none of them were amazing. The spicy was pretty good, the vinegar was what you’d expect, and the mustard sauce was more of straight mustard than usual (I didn’t try the white sauce.) I tried the hushpuppies after all the hype and was underwhelmed. They aren’t bad but the goat cheese center causes a weird taste and makes them «Yuppie Hushpuppies» as opposed to the type you’d normally find in a BBQ place.
The service was friendly but uneven, waitress was MIA once we ordered and I eventually had to just grab the BBQ sauces off the stand myself. This place was worth a try and I’ll be back but it wasn’t anything amazing and I wouldn’t go out of my way just to come back.