| rev:text
| - I question ANY review for any barbeque restaurant that proclaims it the best barbecue on Earth or even the best barbecue they've ever tasted. All that tells me is the person writing the review has never gotten around much to experience a lot of barbecue places or that the review was written by the owner's mother.
Danky's isn't the best I've ever had, not even close to it, but it's a nice effort for a little mom and pop place located in a Walmart strip mall.
A good review should touch on a few basics like ambience, good service, value and most of all the quality of the food. Let's check those out.
1. I shouldn't have put ambience first because I could give a flying hoot what a barbecue place looks like. I've been in some with cockroaches running around the brisket and some as small as my bathroom. There are a lot more important things when it comes to barbecue places than looks.
2. As far as service, Danky's is top shelf. Everyone is friendly and helpful with no trace of attitude at all. This place must get a lot of regulars because in the short time I was there on a weekday afternoon (past the lunch mob) it seems they greeted everyone who walked in by name and asked how the kids and the dogs were. That's a good sign.
3. And value? That's a tough one because I think all barbecue places should be like the little roadhouses I've been at in Texas or Oklahoma where you can eat like a pig for a few bucks. Danky's isn't cheap and that's a shame, lunch for two of us was as much as I'd normally pay for a nice sit-down dinner at a decent restaurant. It's not so much that I thought the prices were high it's that I expected more food for the price, in other words I felt they were being a little stingy.
And finally, how's the food? That's what I'm struggling with. I read about their heritage online and I expected "more". The best word to describe it that keeps on nagging at me is bland. I've trained myself to stop drowning my meat with so-called barbecue sauce which means I've trained myself to learn what great smoked barbecue meats should taste like all by themselves without being hidden under an blanket of spicy sauces. For several reasons I don't think the owners of Danky's agree with me. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, it just could be so much better. The sides (which sound so good on the menu) were also okay but not great. All-in-all between two of use sharing everything on two platters we had brisket, pulled pork, Andouille sausage, hot links, cole slaw, mac & cheese, fried okra and potato salad and not one of them screamed GIVE ME MORE! The potato salad was especially a let-down, I swear it was Reesers from Safeway.
This is a place I'll go back to because it's really close and convenient for me but it's not a place I'll remember and tell everyone I know about and drool over when I remember it. For food and value I would give it 3-stars but they earned more for being so nice and for making the effort. I wish them well and hope they keep working at it.
[EDIT] I know it sounds weird but I just clicked through every user photo on this page and what stands out is how "different" the food looks like in so many of them. One that stands out is how good the pics of the coleslaw and potato salad look from Donna M compared to what I was served. Wondering if they buy their stuff from whoever they can get it cheapest from that day? My credo for a BBQ place is if it's not homemade on the premises, DON'T SERVE IT!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)