Dad has been a great sport about letting down his defenses and allowing me to take him to restaurants that serve – in his eyes – strange and exotic foods. So far, Dad has tried Thai, Vietnamese, and a host of others, often leading to sensory overload for a man who was a meat-and-potatoes farm boy growing up. About as adventurous as he used to get was the Lobster in Oyster Sauce at the old China Doll on 7th Avenue and Osborn.

Since Dad had been putting up with my choices, I decided to give him a choice of any cuisine and he selected BBQ. Now, Dad is not a BBQ purist on any level. He likes it all: Texas, Western North Carolina, Eastern North Carolina, Southern, dry, wet, etc. If it has “BBQ” in the name, it works for him.

Dad was very pleased with our trek up to Eat at Joe’s in beautiful, downtown Wikieup, but that would be quite a drive every time Dad got a craving for BBQ, which is about four times a day, so we had to go to Plan B for his latest craving fit. That led us to Joe’s Real BBQ in Gilbert. Joe’s had been mentioned to me a few times as having some solid BBQ and good side dishes, so I simply asked Dad if that would be okay and he all but dragged me to the car and ordered me to drive to Joe’s. So, how could I refuse?

Arriving at Joe’s we parked on the side street, across from the entrance of a small church. We walked back down the street and entered the place. It was about three-quarters full of patrons and it took me a second to get my bearings because I was waiting for someone to seat us only to figure out that the food was more cafeteria style in ordering. As we made our way to the back, I noticed the interior was very open with tall ceilings and a large open area in the center of the dining room filled with tables. Booths lined the sides of the restaurant.

Having made our way to the back, we notice an island centered in the middle of the back end of the restaurant where we grabbed our serving tray and flatware. We stepped in line and filled our glasses with the beverage of choice ($1.79 each) and then placed our trays on the serving line and waited.

We slowly moved to the steam table, while looking at the menu on the wall and determining our choices. Unfortunately, we had to deal with a couple of surly servers who were clearly bothered they had to come to work that day. But we continued on. Dad decided to go with the BBQ Sampler Plate with Two Sides ($10.99) and I had the Meat Plate with Two Sides ($9.99) consisting of Chopped Brisket of Beef and the Pulled Pork. Dad’s BBQ Sampler had sliced Brisket of Beef, Pork Ribs, a quarter BBQ Chicken, and the Pulled Pork. For our sides, I got the Macaroni & Cheese and the Cole Slaw while Dad couldn’t resist the Sweet Corn and also got the Cole Slaw. I also got a serving of the Lemon Cake ($1.99) for dessert.

We took our filled plates from the people behind the counter and waited to check out at the register at the end of the line. And we waited and waited and waited. The cashier was perplexed as to how to run the register and was clearly not properly trained. After struggling for more than five minutes, one of the other people in line asked for a manager who arrived and helped speed things along. I was a little taken aback by the fact that they would put a trainee alone on the register during a busy weekend lunch hour during the summer.

After finally paying our bill ($28.62 including tax), Dad led me to a booth against the south wall where we emptied our trays and began to eat. The booth had high backs and was very comfortable, but the table itself was excessively high. Even with my 6-foot-tall frame, the table reached nearly to the middle of my chest. Dad looked like he needed a high chair. But despite that, we ventured on with meal.

Dad’s BBQ Sampler was a solid portion of food. The four meats that made up the platter looked good. Dad started with the Chicken which he found to be perfect. “Very good and really moist,” he said. He said the seasoning was just right and it was exceptionally tender, almost falling off the bone. Next up was the Sliced Brisket which Dad said was slightly overcooked, but still “decent.” He loved the pork ribs because they were slightly sweet, very savory and completely satisfying. He felt it was the best thing on the platter. He didn’t, however, have much to say about the Pulled Pork except that is was “edible.”

The Meat Plate I got had decent-sized servings of chopped brisket and pulled pork. The brisket was very good with an appealing tenderness and a great flavor. I liked the moistness of the meat and thought this one of the better bits of brisket I have had, especially because the sauce it was cooked in has thoroughly infused the meat. The pulled pork, on the other hand, was simply awful. The meat was tough, dry and lacking. Even the BBQ sauce I dribbled on top of the pork couldn’t have saved this product. I sort of scratched my head wondering how you get a pulled pork to be this terrible because by design pulled pork is almost full proof.

My side dishes were very good. The Macaroni & Cheese was creamy and had plenty of cheesy taste. The pasta hadn’t been overcooked, but held up well with the cheese sauce. Dad took a taste and said he thought it was quite nice and liked how smooth the sauce was.

The Cole Slaw was also a solid choice for us. Thankfully, they hadn’t drowned it in a lake of mayonnaise-based dressing that would kill any of the cabbage taste. I was impressed with both sides. I was also impressed with the piece of toast that accompanied the meal. The bread was fresh, hot and soft with a bit of butter and seasoning. It was excellent. Dad was also a fan.

The home run side for Dad, though, was the Sweet Corn. He loved the big, juicy kernels that were piled in the small bowl and mentioned how sweet the corn was. “Reminds me a lot of life on the farm,” he said with a big grin on his face. Dad even said that if he returned to Joe’s, he would get a double order of the corn.

After finishing our meals, I headed for my piece of Lemon Cake. I could tell they had moistened the cake by pricking the top with a toothpick and then flooding the top with a lemon sauce. That was fine by me. What wasn’t pleasurable, however, was that the cool cake was sitting atop a hot plate, probably one that just had come from the dishwasher. It marred the bottom of the cake and wasn’t what I was looking for in a slice of cool, refreshing lemon cake. This was tantamount to serving a garden salad on a hot plate. All it does is detract from the final product. We enjoyed the taste well enough, but even Dad (who will eat just about anything and not complain) thought the temperature issue was a problem.

As we finished the rest of cake and the last of our drinks, I spent a bit of time talking with Dad about his impressions. Overall, we enjoyed the food at Joe’s. We both were disappointed by the fact that each of our dishes had something that wasn’t up to par with the rest of the meal. That means there was a consistency problem in the kitchen but, hopefully, it was just a fluke.

One aspect of the restaurant that Dad and I did not like was the set up around and leading to the serving line. The large island in the center of the area containing trays, flatware, condiments, etc. seemed out of place. Instead of being at the beginning or the end of the serving line, it was right in the center of things. This was a perfectly feasible concept in theory except it didn’t account for what would happen if the line to the serving area was exceptionally long, as it got when Dad and I were there. We were cut off from the condiment station and pinned into our booth as the line snaked right passed our table and into the main dining room. I couldn’t understand why the tried and true concept of running the waiting line along the wall was a bad idea. This would have kept the line out of the middle of the dining room and much better for the seated patrons.

We finally made our way back outside and headed for the car. Dad stated he enjoyed his meal. I did too, save the pulled pork, and would return because there were enough things on the menu to interest me. Still, I did think there needed to be some tightening up in the kitchen both in food preparation and in staff training.

As we headed back to Phoenix, I mentioned to Dad that I would find another BBQ place to try in the near future. “Don’t forget,” Dad said. “I like some of those other foods you are introducing me to, so we don’t have to have BBQ again.”

Okay. Who is this man and what has he done with my father?

Joe’s Real BBQ
301 North Gilbert Road
Gilbert, AZ 85234
Dress: Casual
Hours: Sunday through Saturday – 11 AM to 9 PM
Notes: Parking available along Page Avenue.
Alcohol: None served.
Website: www.joesrealbbq.com