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| - Very good BBQ, without a doubt. The food was more than plentiful and was absolutely delicious. Top Notch solidly earned the 4-star rating that I'm giving them, but there are some things that I'd prefer to see to get that extra star.
We decided to try Top Notch because I wanted to treat the wife to a good barbeque meal (she's a Kansas City girl who loves her barbeque!) and we had a Groupon voucher that gave us some incentive to try something new. We were not disappointed.
First, we had some difficulty locating the restaurant. I'd mapped it to the Eastern / Serene intersection, but forgotten to write down the _exact_ address - after all, how hard could it be to find a barbeque place on one of the corners of the intersection? Well, it was harder than we expected, because the only sign for it was a printed banner that sat well below the "Doc Holliday's" sign on the building - we kept seeing the "Doc Holliday's" sign and missing the "Top Notch Barbeque" sign!
So, having found the restaurant, we got in to the restaurant and chose our seats - it's a seat-yourself place. We looked over the menu for a while, decided on what we wanted, and started to place our order. That's when the server, Ashley, let us know a few things. First, the dinners are "better" than a la carte, because you get 2 sides for the price of 1 and you get Texas toast (don't order separate Texas toast unless you're _really_ hankering for it). Next, the burgers are so large that they take "about 20 minutes" to cook, which may explain some other reviews' complaints about waiting or their meals to be served. Finally, alcohol is served from "next door", so it's billed separately - Grouponers should note that alcohol will _NOT_ be covered with the voucher.
So, after deciding and then waiting for a very short 5 minutes to be served, I had the brisket dinner, which turned out to be a full pound of meat and actually lasted for 2 entire meals. The brisket was fork tender and chock full of authentic BBQ flavor, and I even forgot to use any BBQ sauce until I was nearly done. I got the green beans and the baked mac and cheese as dinner sides, and both were far better than I expected them to be. The Texas Toast was pretty alright, as well.
The wife got herself a half rack of ribs dinner plate. Yup, at another pound of meat, that was WAAAAY more than she could handle. She loved the ribs, and ate until she couldn't get any more of that savory goodness down - she ended up eating 2 of the 6 very large ribs at the table, and then brought the rest home - our dog just LOVED the rib bones, too! The wife did manage to finish most of her side of green beans, but couldn't eat the side of potato salad because it was "sweetened" potato salad (not to be confused with potato salad made using sweet potatoes). Note, we strongly prefer the mustard-y, non-sweet traditional way to make potato salad, and this failed our "principle of least surprise" test - there should be a warning on potato salad that's sweet...
The dining experience itself was really nothing to write home about, so don't go for the ambiance. The place was not really busy, with only about 1/4th of the tables occupied - this was a Friday 7pm time slot. The decor was very lower-end average, maybe just a bit too rustic, particularly considering the prices - I would have expected for a $50 ticket for 2 people that the decor would be on par with the other restaurants in the same price range. The service throughout the meal was decent, but not 5-star. Our server, Ashley, was very, very pleasant - she even loaned us her smart phone to be able to claim our Groupon voucher when my own phone didn't work!
So, the upsides are:
1. Great, great, great barbeque meats that are cooked to perfection
2. Amazingly large portions
3. Good sides, with the exception of the potato salad
4. Warm and friendly staff, particularly Ashley who was just great!
5. Decent location
6. Groupon voucher can incent you to try it - but make sure to tip appropriately!
The downsides (what keeps it from a 5-star rating for me) are:
1. Poor signage kept us searching for the restaurant for far too long
2. "Sweetened" potato salad, with no option for the traditional style
3. Meager decor, especially considering the area and prices
4. Separate alcohol bill - we didn't imbibe, but were warned about it beforehand
5. The website is pretty mediocre and the online menu just isn't complete, so we were left guessing until we had the actual menu in hand
6. Apparently, there's supposed to be wifi, but someone forgot to pay the bill or something, which meant that it wasn't working when we visited
In total, I'd definitely eat there again. Next time either of us is feeling the need for a barbeque fix, we'll be definitely head back to Top Notch. Considering the price, it'll probably be a once a month regular stop for us, and one that we'll be looking forward to the rest of the month.
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