Famous Dave's - Times Square, NYC

My good friend Chai Yuet came to visit NYC over the Memorial Day weekend. After so many years in the States, it's hard to believe that it was her first trip to NYC. Her friend Kheng Leng was also in town, on his way home to Malaysia, after spending about a week in Houston working. So, we picked them up at the airport and spent the whole day taking them to various tourist spots around town. I will blog about that later on. Anyways, it was dinner time and we were in Times Square. Now, apart from it being a long holiday weekend, it was also Fleet Week and Times Square was just packed with people! We tried getting a table at Planet Hollywood but we were told that the wait was about an hour. No way were we gonna wait that long. We knew that it will be almost impossible to get a table on the main strip, so we tried one of the smaller streets off Times Square and found Famous Dave's!

Now, I've always wanted to try Famous Dave's (heard a lot of good things about that place) and it looked like it was a good day to do so. Many people have raved that they have the best Southern BBQ ever, with award winning sauces and slow cooked pit meat. Since it wasn't located on the main Times Square strip, it wasn't full at all and we managed to get a table the moment we walked in.

The restaurant itself was pretty big, with a huge bar as well as some tables on the ground floor and more booths and tables on the second floor. Our server brought us to one of the booths on the second floor. Just right next to us was a big display of all the awards and trophies that Famous Dave's won over the years for their BBQ. Wow, with so many awards and trophies, I bet we were going to to have an awesome dinner that night.

Both Kevin and I started off the night with some icy cold Sweet Tea. This, after all was a Southern BBQ place, so of course we had to order some Sweet Tea. I believe Kheng Leng had some Lemonade and CY was fine with just water.

Apart from their mouth watering BBQ, Famous Dave's is famous for their sauces! Check out the whole line up. We got CY to try the Devil's Spit and initially she said it wasn't all that hot. After a while, the heat started to build up and Woowee! It was hot!! She said it was hot but goood. You could also buy their famous sauces from the gift shop downstairs.

CY ordered the Barbeque Chicken Sandwich ($13.99). Moist hand pulled chicken tossed in BBQ sauce and topped with melted Jack cheese on a bun. Doesn't it look yummy? It comes with a pickle spear. She added on a side of creamy coleslaw for $1.50. I asked her if the sandwich was any good and she said that seriously, it was the best BBQ Chicken Sandwich she has ever eaten. Wow! You know what? I believe her, since she finished everything on her plate. It must be realllly good!

Kheng Leng ordered the Georgia Chopped Pork ($19.99). The BBQ slathered pork is smoked over sweet hickory fire for up to 8 hours and then chopped to order. It comes with corn bread muffin, corn on cob and two sides. He chose some mashed sweet potatoes and wedges for his side. He said that it tasted good overall but certain parts of the meat is a tad bit dry.

Since we knew that the portions will be huge, Kevin and I decided to share an appetizer and one main meal. We ordered one dozen of their award winning chicken wings ($12.99), tossed in their Rich and Sassy BBQ sauce. Now I know why they won so many awards for this wings. They were soo mmmm mmm good! Not only were they large, they were really juicy too. The sauce? Oh, don't get me started on the sauce. It was very very very good!

Apart from the wings, I read somewhere that their ribs won many awards too. Sooo, we just had to try them! We shared the Halvin' My Baby, Half Slab ($22.99). It was half a slab of baby back ribs served with corn bread muffin, corn on a cob and two sides. We tried the potato salad and cream spinach. We had an option of how we wanted our slow cooked baby back ribs. We can either have the Original, which is baby backs seasoned with their four alarm rib rub and then sauced with their honeyed Sweet & Zesty or Memphis style - baby backs rubbed with their secret recipe of herbs and spices, and then served naked (with no sauce). We went with the Original. Were they good? Hmm, don't get me wrong, they were good ribs. However, I feel that it didn't really live up to all the hype that comes along with Famous Dave's award winning ribs. They were good but not spectacular. Overall, it was a good meal. We had a great time just hanging out and catching up with CY as well as getting to know Kheng Leng better. The total bill come up to around $85, not too bad for a meal for four people, in Times Square. Nice ambiance, good food and great friends...what more could a person ask for? :D

Famous Dave's Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que
171 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10036-1503
Tel: (212) 764-1899
Fax: (212) 764-1888
Web: http://www.famousdaves.com/