Worst brisket I ever ate. Not as described in menu. Brisket is supposed to be stringy and moist. This was shoe leather. Couldn't finish it. Server didn't even inquire why I left 90% of it uneaten. Better places to spend my hard e arned $$ Famous Dave's makes it the right way. read more

Lots of food! Had the pulled pork over sliced fried potatoes and had to nap afterwards. BBQ was good, but had to open with "lots of food"(ha!). Next time I am having the ribs over a baked potato. That is my hint for eating here. Enjoy. read more

In 1975 I was a student at Mayo High School and ate there for the first time at their original location on 3rd Ave. John Hardy was manning the barbecue, which was located in such a spot that everybody could watch him work. I didn't mean to be rude, but I was staring at him because he was one of the very first Black people I ever saw up close. He was a master cook. Everything he cut off from the barbecue was slightly rare and perfectly cooked. The smells surrounding the place seemed to be from heaven. There were physicians in three-piece suits everywhere that came down from the Mayo Clinic for lunch. It became my favorite spot to eat. I would go down there just to enjoy the sights and smells and watch watch Mr. Hardy cook. In later years after Mr. Hardy passed, they moved the barbecue to the back so nobody could see anybody working on it. They often over cooked which was never up to John Hardy's standards. But if you ask them to be sure to serve it slightly rare, they'll do it it and it is almost as good as when John Hardy was running the show. read more

John Hardy, originally from Buffalo, N.Y. my home town, was a master of the barbecue. I went there about 15 years ago and choked on a piece of rib, though they were moist and tasty. I returned this week to try it again. Big mistake. Arrived at 11:30 am, ordered a rack of ribs, and they were put before me in less than 10 minutes. The ribs were so dry, and so overcooked, and the little bits of bone that were now appearing as I chewed, kept me thinking that I was going to choke again. I came to the conclusion that the ribs were from the day before, that they were microwaved and that they figured I was too stupid to know the difference. By 11:55 am it was "standing room only" and since I did not want to cause a scene, I paid the bill and headed out into the very frigid air. Rest in Peace John Hardy. But your ribs and restaurant should have been buried as well. read more

the chicken was super moist, but that is the only thing John Hardy's had going for him. The sides were unimpressive and bland, and the sauces were all vinegar based with lots of unnecessary heat without flavor. I tried the hottest sauces, and they all lacked the multi-dimensional, deep flavor of a truly well made hot bbq sauce. The staff was nice. The people inside all looked like people whose mugs hots I had seen on America's Most Wanted before the show got cancelled. read more

This was our first visit. A friend of mine lived in Rochester over 10 years ago and she highly recommended. Things may have changed in 10 years. The pulled pork and ribs were good. I also had the sweet potato tots which were good. I had the black eyed beans and my date had the baked beans which we both liked better. The food came out quickly. Just surprised when they stared mopping the floor at 7:30ish when they were open until 9:00 pm. Not much to look at but a local place to try. read more

John Hardy's is a Rochester staple. I have been going here since the early '90's. The food is good, fast and the bbq selection is great. Pork, beef, chicken & turkey you really cannot go wrong. There are 2 locations, but the South Broadway location is the easiest to find. read more

John Hardy's Bar-B-Q - Pulled pork, JoJo potatoes & fried okra! - Barbeque Near Me - Rochester, Minnesota

I finally decided to try this place, after all it has a totally new sign outside. They served up some solid pulled pork and aren't afraid to serve the sauce on the side. My wife got a rib plate. The ribs were very meaty and tasted good. They weren't falling off the bone good, but I liked them. They serve a spicy barbecue sauce with 6 levels of spiciness. The hot was plenty for me and went well with the pork. I had jojos and beans for sides. The jojos were flat disks of fried potatoes lightly seasoned. The beans were a good baked bean if not very spicy. I thought it was good barbecue for Minnesota, but it is my first peek at the Rochester BBQ scene. read more

We just ate here. The salad was good and cold. The cheese curds were really good. The brisket was wonderful, ribs were great and the turkey was fantastic. You get enough Jojos for three people. The staff was very friendly, knowledgeable, fun and attentive. read more

Great flavor and moist smoked brisket and turkey. The sauce I ordered (medium) wasn't to my liking, but will definitely go back and try another. The turtle brownie was to-die-for! read more

This is the best BBQ my wife and I have ever had. Last night was the only time in my life I ever called a restaurant after picking up take out to tell them how great the food was. The wings are lightly seasoned, lightly smoked and then deep fried without breading. Incredible! Add a little sauce and somehow they're even better! The smoked ham is not very salty and is the most moist I've ever had. The pulled pork is amazing. Want something different, try the Bar B Cuban. Never had a better Cuban. Portions are big. The prved are very reasonable. The sides are great. You just can go wrong. read more

It's been 6 years since I've lived in Rochester, and I've since become a vegetarian, but whenever I visit, I always go to John Hardy's with my dad. It has become a tradition, and one I look forward to. I know what you're thinking. A vegetarian? Reviewing a barbecue joint? But hear me out. Despite eating a meal of nothing but sides, I am always perfectly satisfied at John Hardy's. We started off with the cheese curds, which were okay, but not as good as I'd remembered. I made a meal of the Jo-Jos, fried okra, and cole slaw. The Jo-Jos are always great, and the reason I look forward to going to John Hardy's with my dad. The cole slaw is nothing special, swimming in mayo, and like the cheese curds, the fried okra wasn't as good as I'd remembered either. But the Jo-Jos never disappoint, and neither does the bread (is the garlic butter laced with crack? I couldn't stop eating it!). My dad, by the way, ate the sliced beef sandwich. I think he enjoyed, but I think he enjoyed the Jo-Jos more, since that's what he brought home in the to-go box. And if it's any consolation, in my meat eating days, I was a big fan of the shredded pork. Hopefully it's still as good as I remember. read more

You'll either love or hate John Hardy's based on whether or not you like the sauce. It's not a sweet Kansas City style sauce that most Mid-westerners are used to, it's more of a vinegar based sauce. Personally I absolutely LOVE it, and I buy jars of it to use when I grill at home. It's got a really unique flavor, and they have six different levels of heat. The top two levels, Big Boy and Bad Boy, will make you sweat. With that said, to me the food they serve is just a delivery mechanism for the sauce. My co-workers and I typically get the lunch plates, either pork, beef, or chicken with a side of Jo-Jos and a seconds side of fried okra. The meat is hit or miss, sometimes its smokey, juicy, and delicious, sometimes its dried out. The Jo Jo potatoes are intentionally greasy, and also come slathered in the sauce, because that's what we're all here for right? The garlic bread that they bring to the table is a guilty pleasure; it'd be more accurately described as a butter sponge than bread. Each piece is completely saturated with garlic butter and drips down your arm as you pick it up. You should absolutely stop in and at least try the sauce. If you don't like it, there won't be much for you here. If you're a BBQ aficionado, you may want buy a couple pints of sauce for your pit at home. read more

Thin, vinagery, sauce that's all heat and no flavour ruins the taste of awesomely smoked meats. Wildly inconsistent results on the Jo-Jos, sometmes greasy, somestimes burnt, sometimes raw, sometimes perfect. Roscoe's is better. read more

This place is very small, but it had been remodeled lately. First time here we were a little Leary, but people were mainly ordering take out. We only had 1/2 rack but it was plenty of food for the 2 of us. The pork ribs were spiced rub and very lightly smoked. The flavor was not overselling like some smoke places. Choices of many sauces, made the rubs outstanding!! When we visit Rochester again, we will definitely be back, as all the food that came out of the kitchen looked wonderful. read more

I am always on the lookout for a good barbecue restaurant. This, unfortunately, is not one of them. I ordered a barbecue platter and instead got a mountainous plateful of soggy, stuck together fried chips with a sprinkling of barbecue on top. The barbecue itself seemed dried out. The potato chips they call "jojos", and you should avoid them as they're a greasy, unrefined mess. My platter came with a huge pile of them stuck together, and very little barbecue. When one orders a barbecue platter they expect it to contain barbecue, not chips. I wouldn't return here and would not recommend it to anyone else. read more

Waiter sat at my table and walked me through the whole menu and how each meat is cooked, honestly amazing!

Mammoth portions, very tasty with the choice of bbq sauces on the tables. I found the value here, is to just eat 1/2 and take the rest home (2 for 1 meal ). Wish they had spongy chairs. read more

This is a Rochester original. Must eat. Processes are great food is better and the service is always friendly. read more

John Hardy's Bar-B-Q - Barbeque Near Me - Rochester, Minnesota

The food was a joke. The sauce was so so. The service was good. Our waitress was very attentive but we were totally discussed with the food. With out sauce it was tasteless. The sandwiches lacked meat but was long on bread. The garlic toast was more like heated garlic butter bread. Not really sure how this place calls itself a Bar B Q joint. Not sure how it fooled olks long enough to open a second location. read more

One of the worst Q joints I have ever been to. I was at this place several weeks ago with another person and ordered the 2 meat combo and got the ham and brisket, with jojos and pasta salad as my sides. The ham was chopped up into a fine diced mince, and over cooked and hard, the brisket was dry and flavorless, while the jojo, sliced potatoes were a greasy mass of way over proportioned grossness, the only good thing was the pasta salad, which I presume came out of a premixed carton, reminded me of Reser's brand. The person I was with got the 6 bone ribs, fries and cole slaw, the fries looked undercooked and greasy, and her ribs looked at dry as the Sahara, even though she said they were fine, I think she was just trying to be nice to the server, who in my opinion was a bit too chipper, I think she was stoned. I should also add that when the person and I first walked in, over half the tables needed to be bussed, which was strange because it was during off peak hours, at 4:30 in the afternoon. The next morning, while waiting for the hotel shuttle to Mayo, I was talking to a Lady that ate there with her husband who told me that her chicken was way undercooked. They need to learn how to cook real Q, learn what a thermometer is, keep the ham whole,not chop it up, clean the fryer at least once a week, or more, not fry so many potatoes at once, and keep the jojo portions smaller. read more

After seeing the reviews that it was good bbq, I took an Uber to this location (at an additional $14.00 round trip, just because I had a craving for BBQ). I ordered the pulled pork sandwich. The pork on the sandwich was cold (not lukewarm, I mean COLD -as in, it was clearly refrigerated and not fresh). It was also very dry meant (another clear sign it was not fresh or made that day). It was obvious to me that the pork had been refrigerated and definitely not made that day. It was 2:30pm in the afternoon on a wednesday. When people go for BBQ, the expect the meat to be fresh and made that day, not refrigerated and dry from the day before (or even older). Just because someone is going to pour bbq sauce on it does not mean you can fool the customer into serving them dry old meat from the day before (or even older). You are not fooling anyone. read more

Food was good. Not a great fan of chopped pork, I prefer shredded. I am not a fan of tomato based BBQ sauce, but it was ok. Beef slices were a little chewy, probably could of stayed in the smoker another hour or so to tender them up a bit more. Over all it was a decent place- Good service good price for the amount of food and the food wasn't bad, just not great. read more

When I first moved to Minnesota I felt like barbecue was a good thing but the food is too greasy, it makes you have acid reflux, and it's too much food but it has okay food so if you want good food try something else. read more

They were under staffed, so service was not great, although the ONE waitress was trying very hard so I cannot blame her. She was very friendly and working very hard. As far as the bbq, the brisket was a little tough. I had the mild and medium sauce's which are not like ordinary dark brown bbq sauces. These had more of a Louisiana or Frank's Red Hot base to them. It just wasn't what I was looking forward to. The garlic bread was basically soggy buttered bread with garlic salt. There were quite a few customers in there so It does have a following. read more

I heard the barbecue competition was between Hardy and Roscow, however I would suggest a third choice and that's neither. I tried the brisket , ham, pulled pork, sweet potato tots, jojos, and baked beans. All the sides tasted like frozen cooked food, nothing fresh. The sweet potatoes were good, but just as good as something you'd get from the store and heat up your self. The jojos were disgustingly soggy and oily. The beans were just beans with some pork in them. So it's a barbecue joint, the meat is the focus; well the meat sucked. The pulled pork was bland and chewy, and the ham tasted like plain oven cooked ham. The only thing decent was the brisket, only because it had a nice smoke to it, but the meat was cheap and fatty. Having previously lived in Texas and Tennessee I planned on holding off on Rochester bbq because I knew it wouldn't hold up. With visitors wanting to get some I finally caved and had mediocre expectations. But damn if I know how you can screw up bbq this much, stay clear my friends and find another city to satiate your cravings. read more

John Hardy's is the place to go when you want to get your hands on some really good, smokey meat and smother it in delicious sauce. The main menu consists of "meals" (choice of meat + veggie side + potato side) or "combos" (which are basically meals except you get two choices of meat). Meats are things like ribs (so good!), turkey (thinly sliced and perfectly smoky), or chicken. Veggie sides are things like coleslaw (yummy, but a bit too creamy) or baked beans, whereas potato sides are things like baked potatoes, fries, and jo-jos (like thick slices of fried potato that have the potential to be good but were way too greasy and heavy when we visited). When the food gets to the table, you just pick up a bottle of the mild, medium, or hot sauce and have at it. When you're done eating, just pick up the check and pay at the register. This isn't going to be an elegant meal but you're going to be able to get 2 meals out of just $8-9. Plus, all their waittresses were very friendly and helped my parents through the ordering process since they'd never been to a BBQ joint before: +1 for being nice to my parents! They also have ample outdoor seating that would be great for a cool evening. read more

I have had mixed results here. Sometimes the potatoes are soggy or the meat is dry, but it is fast and good mostly. Not a place for dine in if your looking for atmosphere. I always get the chicken but I've heard good things about the pork. read more

After having a all - nighter my body craves this place. Loaded JoJos with cheese sauce and ribs with hot sauce, can't beat it and nobody else even comes close to the taste . Not much for ambience but I'm usually in and out too quick to care. read more

We went, we ate, it was disappointing. Nothing was really good about this place. The cheese sauce was ok. I love me some Q but this is not the place to get it. Weird taste to the sauce. Kinda vinegary sweet but odd. Not going back and I do not recommend... read more

Great BBQ, especially for MN! I got the pork and ribs and the pork is amazing! Get the sauces on the side to try a few of them, also jojo's potatoes are great! I highly recommend this place! read more

Boyfriend and I showed up 10 min to closing (we traveled 250 miles to make Hardys one of our roadside stops ) staff was cleaning up but welcomed us right in. We ordered two meat dinner with pork ribs and brisket, jojo potatoes and baked beans as sides and I ordered 1/4 pound of ham to go. Even though our dinner had to wait for us to get to our hotel, we didn't reheat and the fact Hardys last customer was an hour before us, our dinner was still moist and delicious. Med BBQ sauce was pretty spicy and the spicy sauce made my eyes water. We are used to sweeter thicker BBQ sauce where this sauce hand more vinegar twang to it, we liked it. read more

Best BBQ around...fast service...very very friendly...would come back every time we come to Rochester and will tell everyone we know...thank you soon much read more

The BBQ here is awesome! Perfect for lunch but I'm so full I won't need to eat for weeks. The place is pretty small so it's best for carry out. Get the medium sauce is the best. Ribs or chicken, I tried them both they are both excellent. read more

This used to be my BBQ place. I have gone to it for about 30 years off and on. It was the one place I had to go when I came back home to visit. Although remodeled now, it seems some things have changed, and not in a good way. The bread is a soggy hunk of butter and the jojos are no longer edible. I have gone there 2 more times just to see if it was a bad day, but unfortunately it remains meh... Very sorry to say, but I will look elsewhere now. read more

Ordered the pork and turkey plate, with JoJo fries. The fries were half raw, stuck together, no salt, no taste. Neither of the meats were good, both were dry. Both the mild and medium BBQ sauces left a weird aftertaste. In short, would never go back. read more

I've been coming here for as long as I can remember. My dad loved his ribs. I love the Jo - Jo potatoes and the chicken. Our course the sauce is one of a kind. I've gone there just to buy it alone. read more

Yum! I had roast turkey. They have a killer BBQ sauce that'll knock your socks off if you dare to try it. A friend had the ribs and another had a pork sandwich. My husband had a BBQ pork plate with "Jo-jos" (fried potato slices).. Everyone enjoyed their meals. The garlic bread was good and there was a nice variety of sauces. Also, the waiter did a great job. read more

Wait, wait! read reviews before we went here to eat. Sounded good. Ready for tastyQ. Drove up to very unappealing entrance. Odd door, broken, uneven sidewalk, old fence. Oh well... We read the review BEFORE. Food was very disappointing. I ordered ribs and chicken and my husband had pulled pork and ribs. Very dark and greasy on outside - - yeh I know it is barbecue - but I am not talking about that. The skin was burned too. Ribs had little to no flavor and the chicken appeared to be a bit long in the tooth. Not the meal we were expecting and the cost of the meal was well over twenty- five dollars. Shabby interior - prices way too high for quality of food and not very clean interior of restaurant. ALmost all of the meal was NOT good. Here is what WAS good: the slaw and the jojos. We won't be going back there again. read more

We had the opportunity to stop again after 20+ years. Being from a small, near by town this was an rare taste of smoked BBQ. Now here is what troubles me, is the BBQ not as good as it once was or after traveling through out the US over the years given me a better sampling of good BBQ? I remember it being one of the best meals in Roch, had to stop when in town. This time the pulled pork was dried out, bun looked great but was only so so. Coleslaw was as good as I remember. Beans were like pork and beans from the can. French fries were good. BBQ sauce was ok. Great service. read more