Have been back to Franks many times, they have a large picnic style room dine in area and outdoor…read moreseating, I get mine to go. Keep arriving late I the day so they run out of rib tips so I have to get a full rack. I don't mind when they run out, let's me know how good it is and that they make it fresh each day. They do sell vacuum packed products too if you really want something including beef talo. Service is fast and friendly, save a few percent and pay cash.

The food was delicious, and the people working there were so nice. I'll be back there someday.read more

We were hoping this was going to be some awesome barbecue finally found. There are some decent…read moreplaces in Valpo, but there is nothing great. Unfortunately, this place wasn't even good. I was shocked they call this barbecue. As a St. Louis native who has lived here for over 20 years, I am sad to say this is not even close to true BBQ. If they want to make true BBQ, they need to be schooled by those who do. We had several meats (all dry). The BBQ sauces were eh at best. Even the cornbread muffins left a lot to be desired. A huge disappointment. I'd rather travel back to STL/KC/Texas to get amazing BBQ than go here again. To each their own, but if you think this is good BBQ, you haven't had good BBQ. Ps. The service was ok. But the staff that stood around near the bar gossiping and carrying on was not professional. Place was nice and the seats by the window are best for people watching.

This place, as of May 10 2026 is permanently closed. It was a terrific restaurant with excellent…read morequality food. I will miss it.

Prime Smoked Meats definitely knows how to smoke a brisket. The meat was flavorful and had a smoke…read moreflavor. The sidewinder fries had good seasoning and a great crunch. Dipping in liquid gold (cheese sauce) was a nice touch. The coleslaw had a good flavor and good crunch. White bread, pickles, and onions are available on the side. Drink options are canned sodas and bottled water. There are lots of interesting sounding sandwiches available too. Service was good. The dining area is small but had a variety of seating options. Overall I liked it. My only dislikes were just personal preference. I prefer a sweeter, less vinegary bbq sauce, and I like a finer cut on my cabbage in coleslaw.

I come to Valpo for work multiple times a month and my waterline probably wouldn't suffer so bad if…read moreI didn't come here every single time I'm in town. The brisket is absolutely delicious as is everything I've had here. The blue velvet is amazing as well. Staff is super nice and always willing to help out. Highly highly recommend checking this place out if you're in town.

Good food and nice ambience. We had the meat sampler. Had to try all of the barbecue sauces they…read morehave.

The well oiled ordering process and the speedy service are great. The brisket and ribs are equally…read moretasty. The brisket gets the slightly better nod from me. Cannot go wrong here. Really love the respect given to our military, veterans, and first responders. The National Anthem at noon is a must attend opportunity to show respect.

This place is located on the West side of Broadway, NW of the I-65 and US-30 junction…read more There is a sitting area inside to wait for your food but it is takeout. No dine in. The workers there are very understanding and patient with tourists. We had a lot of questions and wanted some substitutions and they were very accommodating. They had a burnt ends special (see photo) for $7.99 which was ridiculously good. The chicken and brisket were very good and tender as well. The sauce is very tasty. Okra, potato salad, and cole slaw were all excellent sides. Great meal overall.

The best rib tips this side of heaven! All center cut no bones! Friendly staff great customer…read moreservice!

Food was delicious! It is a laid back, chilled spot! And I enjoyed the self service beer on tap!…read morePerfect for a quick relaxing bite to eat!

Workers seemed ok. But food tasted like dog shit…read more We will not be returning for this garbage. Don't waste your time, probably the worst BBQ in the region.

Stopped in for lunch on a Sunday to check out this place while in town. The place is clean, the…read morestaff friendly, and the location convenient. Ordered the meat sampler, baked beans, Mac n cheese, cole slaw, green beans, smoked wings, and hot link. The smoked wings arrived first with a side of ranch sauce. We ordered plain rub style. Our initial take on them was that they were overcooked. The skin was hard and heavily seasoned. Yet, with all that, we kept coming back to them again and again. They seemed to grow on us as we ate more and more. Don't know if they are normally cooked so crispy, so may need to come back and try again. The meats we got in the sampler were all decent. Ribs were well seasoned, nicely cooked and we loved the rub! They came un-sauced, which is the preferred way. The pulled pork, brisket, and pulled chicken were all tender and decent. The real star of the meat show was the hot link. Deliciously smokey, tender and just wonderful. They offer two sauces, one regular and one spicy. The sauces were thin and tasty, a good complement to the meats. The Mac-n-cheese was good, but the real treat was the crumbled homemade tortilla chips on top. Could have used a lot more of those! The green beans were kind of a disappointment, but the other sides shined well enough to where it didn't bother us. Wouldn't get the green beans again. The cole slaw was wonderfully tangy and perfectly balanced. Really appreciated the effort put in that recipe. The baked beans were fantastically sweet and chock full of meat chunks. Outstanding. Bottom line: we'll be back whenever we're in town. It's worth a stop!

Rudy's is the best barbecue in Valpo. We normally get the fried chicken (if it's in the menu) or…read morewings, but we tried the brunch this time and it was fantastic! Highly recommend going on a Sunday morning, grabbing a mimosa and trying all of their brunch items.

Made the trip out to Munster for a concert and found this spot just down the street. Easily the…read morebest BBQ I've had in a long time. I tried the burnt ends and the turkey, and both were incredible. Perfectly cooked and full of flavor. It's about an hour away for me, so not somewhere I'd go out of my way for, but definitely worth stopping if you're in the area.

It had been years since my last visit to Bombers, but they absolutely came through for us with a…read moreMother's Day pickup order. We ordered the Black Bullet party pack which comes with two pounds of brisket and two large sides. We went with fries and beans, and also added ribs, mac and cheese, and buns to the order. The brisket is still the star of the show. The spice rub on it is perfect, and it's so tender that it's unreal. The fries are exactly the kind of battered fries I like which was a pleasant surprise because I feel like not many places do them that way. The beans were okay... a little sweeter than I personally prefer, but they had huge chunks of pork in them that I definitely appreciated. We also added two slabs of ribs, and they fell right off the bone. I'm usually not a huge ribs person, but these were well cooked and flavorful. Mom loved them, and that's what really matters. We did have a few small issues with the order. We realized that our mac and cheese was unfortunately missing when we got home. They also ran out of pretzel buns midway through packing things up, so we ended up with a mix of pretzel and brioche buns instead. Honestly, we didn't mind that one too much because it gave us a chance to try both (I'd pick pretzel if I were you). When we picked up the order the place was absolutely packed, so it was hard to be upset over an honest mistake. They were clearly incredibly busy. I still don't really care for the sweeter sauce that tastes heavily like peppers to me, but their vinegar-based sauce (which I think is their original?) was much better than I remember. I'm glad to see this place is still around and still holds up after all this time. More importantly, the brisket is every bit as good as I remembered.

This has to the finest BBQ anywhere within 30 miles, fall off the bone ribs, great sides and…read morewonderful service if going with a large group try family platter

It is Sunday, after church we headed south towards Lowell to have lunch at our regular spot with…read moreour regular waitress. Unfortunately for us she wasn't there today. No matter, we dove into Yelp and Google and capitalized on supporting another small business. Our travels today brought us to this location. By the looks of the parking lot, it was busy. Good signal? You would have to think so.... Walking in we liked the decor. It is a small place with about 9 tables and a tucked away bar separate from the dining area. Our server greeted us well and took our drink orders. I saw the sign for sweet tea and got excited. We ordered the pretzel bites and the sweet teas. The pretzel bites is where the good essentially stopped. Upon washing down the pretzel bite with the anticipated Sweet Tea I was greeted with the off putting flavor of the tea. You have to ask yourself, "did the person who made this taste it before serving it?" I made it through the first glass just to quench the thirst then noticed the puddle developing under my brides glass. A quick inspection revealed the tea was so bad the cup cracked and began spewing out. Seriously though, the tea was bad. I asked for another one and received a glass of unsweetened tea in its place. Listen, you can hide bad tea with sweetener but good night Irene, awful tea unsweetened will just pucker you up. Upon asking for waters to replace the tea, I couldn't help but take note to the attitude from our server, Dawn C. ... We took it with a grain of salt and moved on to our main dishes. If you like Stag chili in a can, you will love this stuff, the salt content was crazy. A couple of bites was about all I could stand. Remember that attitude from Dawn C. Well it was on display when I expressed my concerns about the chili. I sent it back and asked for the tortilla soup. It was a nice attempt, but it also needed help. I'm still holding out hope that we can salvage this visit with our main course. I ordered the Dixie Chicken Sandwich. On paper, this sounded amazing. My bride ordered the Pork Chops. I can only hope the BBQ is better than what we have, this was straight up rough. Pork Chops and my chicken died twice. Once during prep and the other was when the cooked the remaining life out of them. Does everything here come out of a can ? Those Green beans were absolutely vile. Remember Dawn? Well she stopped in and asked if everything was ok, right in the middle of us having discussions. First I was trying to finish my thoughts with my bride and second, I just didn't have the heart to tell her the truth, it was awful. At this point we boxed up the remains to take back to the dogs. When the bill was presented, I guess Dawn failed to remember the tea and chili we sent back, we were still charged for them. Attention to detail most certainly wasn't a strong suit. Before you condemn my input as just complaining, I get it, some people just have bad days, hence the reason why I didn't make a bad situation worse. Arguing over a couple of dollars just wasn't worth it.. There isn't any motivation for a return trip.