Chef J BBQ

Excellent BBQ in a historical part of KC! Ordered the 3 meat platter to sample. Brisket was tender. Ribs were lip smacking, fall the bone good. Burnt ends were melt in your mouth delicious. Staff was very friendly. Sides were a big complement to the meal, potato salad not your average picnic side, it had loads of flavor. Mac and Cheese was creamy. Don't forget the banana pudding its homeade!

Everything about Chef Js restaurant is a 10/10. It is the most amazing BBQ I’ve ever tried! And the employees are so friendly, full of great recommendations, and remember their customers. It should be criminal to put BBQ sauce on top of the meat, but dang do they know how to make amazing sauces. We live over 3 hours away and it is always worth the drive! Make sure to order extra and bring a cooler to bring home some extras to enjoy at home!

Finally had a chance to try Chef J. This is a great BBQ experience in KC and I recommend trying it out. Turkey and Ribs were fantastic. The ribs are not sweet, salt and pepper rub and super tender and flavorful. I didn’t even add sauce. The brisket flavor was great, however, the lean flat portion was fall apart tender but oddly firm in the chew. The fatty portion where the point is and the rub was phenomenal in taste and tenderness. Hickory beans and elotes weee perfectly fine, but not the stars of the show. I look forward to going back again.

We like to try all the new bbq places and saw good reviews for Chef J’s so finally we went today around 1130 shortly after they opened. We ordered brisket, ribs, jalapeño sausage, turkey, cheesy corn, potato salad, Mac & cheese and beans. Honestly was a little bummed that they didn’t have beef burnt ends (or sliced bread) but ok. Staff were all friendly, Chef J explained our choices, however the ladies seemed confused about what we had ordered while getting our items ready. I had to watch and remind them. So I would recommend checking your order before you leave. Now to the taste... a little disappointing. Yes the ribs and brisket are super tender. They do taste good but lacked flavor. We did not care for the sausage, it was just different. The turkey was good but not the best I’ve had. The beans were a no for me, just too bland. Actually didn’t care much for any of the sides. Nothing wowed us. Not even the banana pudding, sadly. Glad we tried it, definitely wasn’t horrible but couldn’t say we’d make it a favorite.

Chef Js is the #1 BBQ restaurant in KC and I will 100% die on that hill Originally from the BBQ capital of the world (Austin, TX) I found myself living in Kansas City. Decided to begin my own BBQ tour of the city. Thank god I found Chef J’s! I was blown away by the food, service, and ambience. My run down is as follows. 4 meat plate, 3 sides, and Banana Pudding $44, yes you read that right. I fed a family of 3 for $44. I would have paid double no problem. -Brisket, 9.6 holy smokes! The star of the show. Incredibly tender, Smokey, seasoned to the T -Pulled Pork, 8.6, incredible pieces of bark, super moist -pork ribs, 9.8, probably the best ribs I have ever had. Sticky, tender, great bite but still easy off the bone. Incredible -Pepperoni Sausage special, 9.0, love when a BBQ spot does specials. Amazing pepperoni and cheese flavor, great snap, long lasting flavor -Mac n Cheese, honestly was my least favorite thing on the platter and was still a solid 8 -Cucumber, onion salad, 9.6, this salad was as fresh as the garden. Great seasoning, great vinegar base, super fresh vegetable -potato salad, 10, yea I said 10! This is the absolute best potato salad ever made! Extras: fixins included pickled onions, jalapeños, and pickles. All amazing. Pretty sure all made in house. Tasted home made. Sauces: included a mustard base, house sauce and a sweet and spicy. All killer, all complement the meat because none of the meat needs it. I have had multiple small BBQ spots as well as Joes, Slaps, and CharBar. Chef J’s BLOWS THEM OUT OF THE WATER. This place is absolutely incredible. Chef if you read this please pass along to the entire team. Our meal was incredible.

Chef J is a Q startup I first spotted in Google Maps. And there's a good reason it opens at 11:30 a.m. Thurs. through Sat., noon on Sun., and they close down at 4 p.m., Because They Sell Out. I was looking for new barbeque "blood," if you will, new hands in the game that I could try during my first multi-day stay in my hometown since 2011. Chef J lived up to other Googlers' rave reviews, with underlined emphasis. The array of smoked meats is without a weak option. The brisket shows a perfect smoke ring, it's soft and moist and graced by a delectable rub. The jalapeno-chese sausage is juicy and flavorful, I think there are some embedded herbs involved. The ribs are spares, but selected to assure there's a moderate fat layer on one side, so they don't dry out in the smoker. They serve meat by the pound, and offer sandwiches and some excellent sides. I had chipotle slaw, which was terrific, spicy and tangy, and mac & cheese, which was the only thing that missed the satisfaction mark, it was too mild a white cheese treatment. Next time I'll try the pit beans and the bacon & blue cheese potato salad. They give you all three of their homemade sauce varieties: the K.C. style red, a Carolina vinegar and a mustard-based, which were all awesome. I was due to hit the road in the truck, but I hit ChefJ as it opened up on a Chiefs football Sunday, with 6 hours to drive. They carefully and snugly wrapped everything up, but I had to open up one corner of the foil tray and free a lone rib before resealing it and driving. The smell and the taste made me want to grab a table space in their high-ceilinged dining room and eat half a rack of the two full slabs I bought, and damn my road schedule. (I heard the space used to be a regional hub for John Deere?) This neighborhood in the long-unused West Bottoms district is home to antiques stores and a coffee shop with a cute black lab mix, the store dog. All about five blocks from the state line. You can get there easily by taking I-670 West out of Downtown, but be ready to QUICKLY get off to the right at Exit 1B (Wyoming/Genesee streets), or else you'll roll across the Kaw into KCK. This takes you over the rail beds, then you make a right on Wyoming, go north a block, take another right on 12th St., another block then another right, tracking back east onto Hickory St. (appropriate), then look to park. I know Gmaps shows all this, but the Bottoms is a tad confusing as a road grid, it's easy to overshoot the 13th St. location. The 12th St. Viaduct west out of Downtown also works, and you turn left at Liberty St, then track back east 1 block to Hickory. Chef J (for Justin) also made use, in August 2024 anyway, of the "Local Foods" concession space behind the 3rd base line, lower level at Kauffman Stadium, where I had a brisket sammie that put the hook in me. You gotta check this place out, they know Exactly what they're doing, and that's why there's a line that runs around the corner waiting for them to open up. Some other older K.C. Q institutions have either lost some of their mojo, or for the taste they aren't worth what they're now charging. This place can rub shoulders with Arthur Bryant's, which imo is still doing it right. But get there for open-up. Come hungry, and order extra for later.

It's currently got a 4.8 rating on Google and it's easy to see why. The brisket is some of the best (if not the best??) I've had. Everything on our platter tasted great. The sides would have been perfectly acceptable if their meat wasn't such a standout. I would happily get the large platter (full Monty) again. Pricing is at 90 Parking is street parking. It is located next to/in the building where the beast is.

Food was overall good. I ordered a 1/2 pound of brisket, 1/2bacon burnt ends and 1/2 slab of ribs. My brisket was a little dry. Bbq sauce would have helped however, I asked cashier for bbq sauce before leaving with my to go order and she assured me it was in my bag. I got home and there was no sauce and no bread. The cornbread i ordered was a crumbly mess. The beans were great. Just a little disappointed after waiting outside for 45 minutes.

Definitely one of my favorite BBQ in KC. Highly recommended. I had a combo of ribs and brisket and sides and everything was great.

If you like old KC charm in the west bottoms J BBQ is awesome. Food service and atmosphere are great.