King Ribs

Hubby got in the mood for barbecue again (this happens every so often at our house).  It is one of the rare categories of restaurants that he seems to have an overwhelming desire to try all of, so I am always willing to indulge. I am not sure why he was so geared up for King Ribs other than I think he likes the fact that it is in an old car wash. Hubby is a car guy.

Anyway, they just do a carry out thing at King Ribs, so we got online and picked out what we wanted. We got the rib dinner (on Sundays it is on special for $7.78 with two sides), some barbecue chicken (half chicken is $4.50) and pulled chicken (1 pound is around $10, but not sure because it isn’t really on the menu).  (We wanted the pulled pork, but apparently they were out).  We had sides of mac and cheese,  potato salad and baked beans.

Here’s the thing. It wasn’t very good. I feel like I say this a lot about barbecue, but honestly I have had some good stuff, and this wasn’t it.  The best thing was the half chicken, the meat was not completely dried out and the skin tasted pretty good. But the thing about all of it (and you can tell from the pictures), is that it was completely drenched in the sauce, and the sauce was thin and runny and not the way I like barbecue sauce.  It almost seemed like a thin tomato sauce or something.  It didn’t have any smoky flavor or and depth at all. We did get the mild, and if I were getting it again, I would certainly get the hot (we got mild because the kids were eating it). 

The pulled chicken was dry, and again, just soaked in the sauce.  There was a lot of it though.  The ribs were actually the worst thing I think—they were the big spare rib type ribs, which don’t tend to be our favorite anyway, but these were exceptionally dry.  Literally, I think we each ate one, and then gave up completely.  It was sort of a bummer you couldn’t taste more smoke in the meat too—when you drive by you always see those big smokers going outside which has always intrigued me.

The sides were actually not bad.  Not amazing or anything, but better than a lot I have had around town.  The mac and cheese was probably my favorite.  It was made with real cheese, and it had some of those crisp edge bits in it which are my favorite part.  My next favorite was probably the potato salad—it had mustard in it and some peppers and pickles maybe?  It was at least something to balance the meat, which is what I like in my barbecue sides.  The baked beans were pretty standard, although they had some hunks of pork in them.

All in all I would give this place a pass, I have certainly had better barbecued meat elsewhere.  I am still on a quest for a place that can do it all well, although maybe that is just a pipe dream.

King Ribs BBQ

4130 N. Keystone Ave

Indy 46205

317/543-0841