Gates BBQ

I understand the cultural and historical value of Gates, Kansas City’s original family restaurant started in 1946. Gates Bar-B-Q has grown from a single store front at 19th & Vine (The same neighborhood that saw the rise of the famous Henry Perry restaurant) to six up-to-date restaurants throughout the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. Gates was founded by George and Arzelia Gates, their three children (Winnifred, Gwendolyn and Ollie), and the cook, Arthur Pinkard. Pinkard had been a cook for Henry Perry.

One of the major reasons for the success of Gates Bar-B-Q has been the barbecue sauce, manufactured and used by the barbecue restaurants since 1946. Demand for the sauce continued to grow and a decision was made in 1975 to introduce Gates Bar-B-Q sauce to the retail grocery stores. With over 60 years of experience, history and Legends it’s kind of an intimidating place to wright about. But then I reminded myself that this is a review and as scary as it might be to say…………… I have experienced better. I'm not going to lie.  I waffled on my rating between 2 and 3 stars (and ended up with 3 stars).

So what happened! Why not five stars? Well I guess I’ll start with the burnt end. I’m not sure if it was due to the fact that they chop them or not, but they had way too much fat and gristle. Nothing wrong with chopping brisket in fact I love chopped brisket. I just think the burnt ends should have been trimmed a bit more before being chopped. I should however mention that Brett liked the burnt ends. For sides we had baked beans or bb’s as they call them and fries. By now you’ve herd us call fries nothing but sauce testers and this test was great. This I will say, Gates has the sauce! Not just any sauce but the sauce and many sauces to boot. All of which are good. Some of which are awesome! Brett liked the original, Both Dennis and I liked the extra hot and Robert liked em all. As for the beans I personal think there some of the best as well. So far were two out of three so again why only three stars? Ok let’s talk ribs and chicken. Both were a bit dry. Not horrible but still a bit dry and with all that history and stuff I just think they should be just right. I should mention I did however love the rub that was on the chicken. A bit salty but really well balanced. The sliced brisket might have been a bit dry as well but as thin as they slice it couldn’t have been too dry. Also the brisket had a ton of flavor to it. A no sauce needed meat, however with that gates extra hot sitting there who could resist.  So there you have it, burnt ends not my favorite, sauce and beans great, ribs and chicken dry, brisket a bit dry but still great and full of flavor and that’s why 3 stars. Let me end on this note, we’ve had good service and not so good service on this adventure but they folks and family at Gates defiantly treated us as good if not better as anyone has. So long for now.

Cary