Rudolph's Bar-B-Que

My wife and I were some of the first patrons when they first opened. Great than, just as great now. Great ambience and staff. Fantastic ribs. Done to perfection with a perfect sauce. Not too mild. Ribs were were cooked properly. Tender and meaty unlike F.D.'s which are always over-cooked and hard. more

I give this place ZERO stars. Never in my life have I been treated like such scum for NO reason. Where do I even begin... I showed up with some girls for a birthday party and since our entire party wasn't there yet, we were refused a seat. We finally decided to just get a smaller table so that we could sit and begin enjoying drinks and food. Our waitress immediately brought the manager over to explain a 20% gratuity on parties of 6 or more. 20 minutes later we received water with no straws. After that long of a wait my friend and I went to the bar ourselves to grab a drink. The manager came up to us, grabbed my friend by the arm and reprimanded her like a small child even though we told him our waitress was insanely slow (and it wasn't even BUSY!). Back at the table upon reviewing the menu we saw that in tiny print it says 18% gratuity for parties of 10 or more.... when we confronted 3 different managers (all claiming to be the superior of the other) on this ""typo"" we were told that it is what it is and to deal with it. LITERALLY. A few more people than expected showed up so we asked for more chairs and were told to figure out the seating issue on our own. LITERALLY. When a few guests were standing, the managers had the POLICE escort them out after HUMILIATING THEM in front of other patrons for trying to find out why they were being denied proper service. I could keep on going but I should stop. Never in my life have I been treated SO poorly and been talked down to so insanely. This place will shut itself down if the management and awful service continues in this manner. The 3 boneheaded old men that pretended that they were the superior managers need to come down off their high horses before they go out of business. NEVER AGAIN will I return to this restaurant. I would rather starve than ever enter these doors again and be talked down to and treated like a farm animal! AWFUL AWFUL EXPERIENCE!!!!! more

The food here is superb and the environment is very welcoming. It makes me feel like I'm in a different era. Like I expect to see Jazz players ripping it up on the stage and famous gangsters walking thriough the door a la John Dillinger and company. I order the ribs everytime because it's my favorite food and because Rudolphs Rib's are delicious. The ribs are smoked and have a tangy kick to it. Plenty of meat on the bones and it fills me up everytime. I usually get a half slab with an order of their creamy cole slaw and leave just enough room for their ninja turtle ice cream desert. Love it! more

I'm a little biased since I've been going to Rudolphs for about 4/5ths of my life. I've recently discovered rib tips are the way to go. It's a great value and they are so meaty. They are nice and smoked and well charred. The sauce never tastes as good at home for some reason. The cole slaw is legendary. The ambiance is always a thrill. It's so well done it takes you back to the 20s. The staff is very professional and always very polite. The management also seems very active and involved in what is going on; seating, table visits; hosting and such. It's a smooth operation. On game days, it can be pretty packed and a lot of heavy drinking, but the main dining room is far away from the noise. It's also kind of dicey area and parking is catty corner, but it's reserved for rudolphs so you pretty much always can find a spot. more

I went to Rudolphs last night, actually by accident, since the original restaurant was planning on trying was closed. I was extremely impressed about EVERYTHING at their establishment!!! We were seated in a very busy restaurant, by the very impressive owner himself, Mr. Jimmy!!!! He made sure to find us a nice, comfortable booth, and the waitress was fantastic!!! The food was mouth-watering and definitely would go back time and time again!! Thanks so much, Mr. Jimmy, I know your restaurant is so fantastic because of you and your style!! Hats off to you!! more

We went on a Tuesday eve. during Happy Hour with our 13 year old son. They wouldn't let us sit at a table in the bar area...said it was a law....I told them that law only pertains to sitting at the bar itself. Then they said it is their poilicy. I told them that they are the only place in town with that policy. They said that thr;ve had it for 35 years and that it is to protect children from overhearing bad conversations from other customers and that it also allows other customers in the bar to feel free to talk however they want to......how lame is that? We agreed to sit in another part of the resturaunt, but then they wouldn't give us Happy Hour prices.....oh brother!...and the place was nearly empty....I can understand why! So we split up at my son's insistance.....the manager eventually came by and told us he'd sit us with our son close by the bar in the other room. The baby back ribs were so, so...the sauce vinegar tasting. Gumbo had barely any seafood...just a few little tiny pieces of shrimp. We will not be going back. Pros: Nice waitress. Cons: Rotten customer service. more

As a pit jockey for most of my college career, I would like to consider myself a BBQ buff, or at least an... more

As a pit jockey for most of my college career, I would like to consider myself a BBQ buff, or at least an above average BBQ...person? I did everyt... more

I wanted to get some response or support for what I experienced at this establishment during there ""Happy Hour."" We were there early in the week having drinks and apps at the bar. When we were finished, we asked for the check and a ""to go"" box for the remainder of the apps we didn't finish. The bartender refused and informed we don't do ""to go"" boxes for H.H. apps. At first we thought she was joking, she wasn't... ! This is my concern, we ""paid"" for these, if we as patrons decide to take our food/apps home due to the fact we didnt finish, we should be able to, they cannot deny us that, again we are ""paying"" customers! I can understand if someone orders H.H. apps ""to go"" originally, for the intention of ordering and taking home, not intending to stay at restaurant to eat there or if it was a ""buffet"" H.H. where they have an assortment of apps for customers to eat during H.H. usually for free or there's a cost (I don't think anyone does this anymore)... but you get my point. I was going to ask for my money back for the apps they wouldn't let us take home after being there for over an hour, didn't go there, we left, and even ""tipped"" Let me know what you think, or if experienced this, plz voice your opinion to mgr at this establishment. Thx for your time. Cons: Happy Hour and service more

I have been going to Rudolph's for a while now, and always am happy with my experience there. The chicken and ribs are my favorite, but the sides do a wonderful job at completing the meal. A well-stocked bar also makes Rudolph's a quality place to get some drinks. Pros: Many Quality Dishes Cons: Sometimes Packed more

just does not match up the food used to be good now the last two times i have gone the ribs and chicken have seemed to be cooked in a microwave. Pros: nice place Cons: poor food more

The first strike was that they didn't have baked beans. Pros: Nice property and location, friendly service Cons: Bad ribs, I've had better grilled than their smoked more

I found the cole slaw Mecca and it's located on Lyndale ave! I had a craving for BBQ, and all my co-workers suggested Rudolph's. Well frankly I don't even remember my pulled pork sandwich, I was so enthralled with the 'slaw. It's not easy to create, the perfect 'slaw. The dear departed second oldest diner in NJ, the Burlington Diner in Burlington, NJ- came close, but Rudolph's leads the pack with their chopped cabbage treat. Pros: smoking outside, did I mention the cole slaw? more

The spare ribs are great and so is the beef brisket. The spare ribs are meaty and well seasoned. Rudolph's serves the sauce on the side, which I prefer over a wet mass on the ribs. Rudolph's spare ribs are great with little to no sauce. The beef brisket is the best in the Twin Cities. Again, the beef brisket has little sauce on it when served, and it does not need much sauce. My wife and I have been going to Rudolph's for years. Pros: Good bar-b-que and food more

This was a great experience with the quality of food for the price. With plates costing no more then an average places like Outback Steak House the food was amazing. My father ordered the full slab of ribs with garlic potatoes and loved every bit of it. I ordered the rib tips and have never had any that were of this quality before. Our servers name was Liz and she was OUTSTANDING!!! She made several trips to our table to assure that everything was alright. Even the mamager stopped too. The details in our service even went down to the wet naps we received after our meal-indiviually sealed, large sized and heated! The to go boxs were cardboard instead of styrafoam as well. The only down side to this luch was there was no diet caffine beverages avaibile execpt water for those that may need one. Pros: Serivce, value Cons: parking, no diet caffine beverages but water more

Forget the ambiance... You go for the best Rib's in town. The Coleslaw is great too. Pros: Great Ribs Cons: Bad parking more

I recently went to Rudolph's with my wife and my 5-year-old son. Ambiance was comfortable, however, as the patrons began to accumulate, the restaurant became noisy and cramped. This was a very busy restaurant on the Friday evening that we went. Reservations are highly recommended. We had the spinach-artichoke dip and we delighted. I had the halph slab spare ribs w/ loaded baked potato. Wife had spare rib and 1/4 chicken combo w/ garlic mashed potato and coleslaw. Son had the 2 spare rib kids meal. Ribs were very meaty. Coleslaw was very unique and good. The potato's however were almost stale tasting. Service was great. It will be hard to find portions so filling for the price of each meal. You really get good bang for the buck at Rudolph's. Pros: hearty portions, bold taste, professional service Cons: crowded, no direct parking more

I haven't been to Rudolph's for years. I used to go there for the barbeque shrimp, which is not available any longer. I ordered the Beef Tenderloin Medallions with peppercorn sauce. It was so over seasoned, I could barely eat them. The potatoes were dry. The person I ate with ordered the Rib tips and was very disappointed with them as welll. The ambiance is nice and the server was okay. Neither of us would return to Rudolph's. Pros: ambiance Cons: food, parking more

The place is really cool inside with the booths, wood, and big bar. Cajun chicken sandwich was good; the mashed potatoes are excellent. I'd go back just for them! My friend had the Little Ricky (4 ribs) and said it was ok but pretty dry. We also had the cornbread, which was also dry. It was still tasty though, and had delicious honey-maple-butter. The manager stopped by a couple times to check on us and got us whatever we asked for. Were there at a slow time, so we got a booth right away and had good service. Biggest problem: location, and therefore, parking. Pros: food, ambiance, service Cons: parking, location more

Food is pretty good, but not outstanding. It wasn't too busy, so we got seated right away, and the service was better than I usually seem to have. Chicken and ribs were both tasty. They also have ice cream from Sebastian Joe's! the worst part was parking far away and walking there. Pros: food, decor Cons: parking more