[Pappy's Smoke]

I normally drive by Andrew's BBQ on Southern in Mesa when making my monthly trek to go see my Ortho doc. Today I finally stopped in to patronize and with hopes of trying some good Q. I ordered the 1/3 Brisket Sandwhich, fries and pink lemonade. 

Nothing really stood about the inside, it didn't feel much like a BBQ joint inside except for the menu board on the wall, but what the hay. The service wasn't the greatest.

I just didn't feel it,  the fries were seasoned pretty good, the pink lemonade was pink lemonade.  But the sauce and brisket I just didn't care for.  The brisket was sliced & shredded and already came pre-sauced with not alot of flavor, the sauce did not stand out in my mind, it reminded me of the bottled cafeteria suace I used to get when I was kid.  I would not go back, it just my didn't fit my tastes.

To date, I have tried and have not cared too much for Tom's BBQ, Honey Bear's, Famous Dave's, Joe's BBQ, and Now Andrews. The only place I kinda liked was Waldo's BBQ and I think is was the sauce.

I think its hard to find good Q when you have cooked competitively, I know they are two separate beasts (restaurant Q and competition Q). I've competed for a number of years in the Midwest and South before moving to AZ 11 years ago,  and hope to compete here someday, prolly when the finances start lookin right.  But I'm still searchin for great Q.

Pappy

[Mike (AZBarbeque)]

Pappy, get out to Q to U in Anthem when you have a chance or Thee Pitts Again in Glendale or Bryan's Black Mountain BBQ in Care Free. 

Let us know your thoughts on them when you get out there...

[BERNIETHEK]

I ate there right after it opened.  Had the pulled chicken and beans.  The sandwich was good but didn't care for beans.  Found that if I get pulled pork or chicken I'm much safer.

[Mark]

And if you don't get the beans, we're much safer.

[grizmt]

After living in many places across the country and eating bbq from Virginia to Montana we've found commercial (retail) bbq generally is not all that great especially after the place has been open for a while. The more glitz the worse it seems to be. This is not to say that there's not some really good places but they are few and far between. Some of the best we've gotten were in a gas station parking lot run off just a smoker trailer and a table and in some non descript little itty bitty building like a converted gas station with 15 tables and no fluff.
I think it has more to do with appealing to what the masses "think" it should be than what it should be and then you have the other issue of quality suffering when money comes into play and short cuts are used. As an example I know one place who'd smoke his meat for about 2 hours (or 3 or 1) then finish it in the oven then freeze it for a week or more.