Chef J BBQ

I am a BBQ dork, and love KC and Texas que. Have been to the name places here, and a few others, but this was our first time at Chef J's. My buddy who lives here swears by it. I'm glad he took is here. First off, the staff is amazing, very friendly and helpful. We ordered 3 double meat plates and the sausage plate for 5 of us. So much food. The brisket and pork belly ends were my favorite, closely followed by the turkey, sausage (lemon-pepper and jalapeno cheddar), and ribs were close behind. I loved the Mac and cheese and beans. I will hit this up again next trip.

This has to be my favorite BBQ in KC no doubt! Ever since my first visit, I have continued coming back. It definitely is not the cheapest BBQ however the customer service is top notch, I love saying hi to all the staff each time I go. The food is killer, I always go for the 3 meat plate and they usually rotate some different types of sausage each day.

UNFREAKINGREAL. Former Texan here to tell you that this is THE BEST BBQ IN KC, hands down. Finally someone knows how to do a brisket that isn't a burnt tire. The butnt ends also rival all others. The elote is woah, the potatoes are woah, after you go your face will go woahh. Super cool not so hidden spot to me, love it.

Wow!! This place is amazing. Great food great atmosphere and service. The brisket, sausage, beans and cheesy corn are incredible. Will definitely be going back. Do not be scared off by the line, it’s worth the wait!

Awesome little spot in the same building as The Beast down in the West Bottoms! They cook up some excellent barbeque full of flavor! I went with their turkey and jalapeno cheddar sausage with a side of Mac and cheese and cucumber salad. The turkey was juicy, tender and had a great peppered crust. The sausage had a great smoke taste and nice mix of cheese inside. Their cucumber salad was a perfect compliment to the two meats. Mac and cheese was cheesy goodness too! The lady went with brisket, pulled pork, potato salad, and cheesy corn (elote). All of which was excellent too! They dole out some thick slices of brisket too! We will definitely return (early) to try some bacon burnt ends! They sell out fast!

Got the brisket, cheddar jalapeno sausage, ribs, and bacon burnt ends, with mac & cheese, chipotle cole slaw, bacon and blue potato salad, and the beef tallow rolls. Everything was great, but the real standouts were the ribs, brisket, bacon burnt ends, and the beef tallow rolls. Those were all amazing. The smoker is outside, so you if you want you can go look at them cooking stuff. It's in a 100+ year old building shared with The Beast haunted house, so lots of character. Outdoor seating available. I think the only thing missing was beer, that wasn't an option.

Been to Chef J many times now, and Justin is doing a fantastic job down there. Such a great vibe too in that old rustic building. Looking forward to our next visit already! I always get the platters, but I gotta try that MVP 15 sandwich or the BBQ Frito Pie. Enjoy the pics!

Best q in KC. Brisket is TX style. No sauce needed. Other spots should take beef off their menu or outsource from J. Ribs were great. Turkey was the showstopper, just as good as franklin’s. The carolina sauce was great with the pulled pork. Beans have a lot of meat and great flavor, albeit a little sweeter than i prefer. Mac was perfect. Meat sweats included.

Phenomenal BBQ! This place is off-the-charts good! And there are lines daily to prove it! I've been wanting to try Chef J's since it opened, but I could never seem to get myself down there. Some obstacle always came up: I was traveling, I forgot about them, they weren't open (they only serve Thursday-Sunday), they were sold out (happens every day they are open), or some other madness. Well, today was the day. Very rainy, low-key Saturday, so I figured I'd head over and see if I could grab some Q! On a typical day, the lines form outside and around the block so I thought maybe the lines would be short with the rain coming down. I was pleasantly surprised to see the line was tolerable (not short, but not around the block either.) I arrived at 11:38 a.m., they open at 11:30 a.m. there was a line already. By the time I reached the order counter the smoked turkey was already sold out. I ordered brisket, burnt ends, and a slab. They only had a half slab remaining. I took it. Sorry to everyone behind me in line. (Pro Tip: GET THERE EARLY!!!) The food was outrageously good! Chef J's just took over the number 1 spot in my MO/KS BBQ list (just barely edging out Slap's, it's almost too close to call). The Great: • Ribs fall off the bone! Perfect amount of smoke and char. Prepared so well I could literally eat the tips of every bone, and I did. (Fiber 😅) • pulled pork with wonderful juicy and very tasty • The sauces are awesome! I could drink that Carolina gold! • staff is awesome, everybody's friendly and hard-working. The Good: • portion sizes are very good • The ambiance fits well. Not a ton of seating but enough to get the first wave of customers in. • brisket was delicious. Not quite as moist as I typically like it but definitely something I would eat again. • Needs Improvement: • it's a good problem for an owner to have, but this place is just too busy for the size of the operation in the amount of staff that they have. The operational process definitely could be better. There's a bottleneck right from the get-go in that the person you order from is the same person who starts a meal prep. This means only one party can order at a time and then you stand there and wait for a few minutes while they start loading your plates. I don't know if there's a facility or operational reason that it's set up this way if there seems like it could be improved just by splitting up that first part of the process. • sticking with the theme of being "too popular", Everything seems to sell out way too soon. On this particular day I was maybe the 50th customer through the door and they had already sold out of smoked turkey and I grabbed the last of the ribs. They hadn't even been opened an hour at that point. Again I don't know what sort of facility or operational obstacles there are to increasing the amount of food they have prepared, but I sure feel bad for anybody who came in after that point. This stuff is too good to be that limited 😁 Bottom line, I am absolutely thrilled that the two best barbecue places in my opinion are equidistant of my house. I could walk to either one if I needed to. I'm glad to have found my new favorite barbecue place in KC.

Chef J bbq in the west bottoms is arguably the best barbecue in KC. I know what you’re thinking. That’s a tall order. Chef J is only open two days a week until sell out. So get there early. The brisket is moist and tender and cut thick. It’s the hero of the show. The pulled pork is barky and butter tender with good smoke.