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.

Love this place!! Fantastic brisket and excellent sides. Fantastic Smokey flavor throughout all…read moretheir food making a nice cohesive meal. They have beer and live entertainment occasionally including outside in the summer. I'll keep coming and hopefully make and outdoor concert sometime soon!

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.

Outstanding barbecue! Not overpowering but the perfect smoke. Nachos didn't skimp on meat. We…read moretried the multiple meat platter. More food than you can eat at a sitting. The spicy sausage was unbelievably good. The take homes were even better the next day. Great addition to Valpo and highly recommend!

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.

It was just ok in MY opinion. The customer service was good and the place was nice and clean but…read morethe food was just eh

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.

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.

Another five star visit! The server was busy but right on point. Kitchen did good too! Food was…read morefresh and hot. I always pick the fried lake perch dinner and it was on point as always. Bar was clean and so was the bathroom.

We were passing through and this came up as restaurant near by. I was not disappointed it was…read morereally good and even pricing was decent for what was ordered. If near by give it shot.

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.