Gates Bar-B-Q

Gates Exterior - He looks charming

On the Road...the Kansas City BBQ Disappointment, Volume 2
On the subject of burnt ends, I got to sample some of this KCMO staple at Gates BBQ. Gates is BBQ meets chain meets the Varsity (of Atlanta fame). My Gates experience was a trip into a time warp with a dining room that looked fresh out of 1968 (not that it's a bad thing, just saying) combined with a dash of the Varsity.

For those of you who have been to the ATL and visited the Varsity, you've been greeted by the staff that continually beckons, "whattya have, whattya have?" No time to waste, no time to wait. You gotta order or get out the way for someone else to order, especially during the lunch or dinner rush. At Gates, the experience is somewhat similar, however less endearing. The staff member started with a, "hi, may I help you?" To which we replied, "one minute please." To which they replied, "hi, may I help you?" Then another one chimed in, "hi, may I help you?" I looked around and realized there was nobody else there and then they said it again, "hi, may I help you?" I started laughing and had a hard time keeping a straight face. When I was ready to order, I approached the counter and the girl in front of me asked, "hi, may I help you?" I think I got at least one more before my order was complete and I just was mystified. I'm convinced they're from Skynet.

Gates Pork Sandwich

On to the food, well, I have only photo proof of the pork sandwich which is rather small and packs a hefty $6 price tag. Sure it's fresh, or whatever, but it aint so cheap and it really aint so good either. I mean, I have a mental food calculator that tells me if I am getting both good food and a good value and this didn't meet either criteria. I must say that their hot bbq sauce is also really good (notice that I said the same about the lackluster A. Bryant experience. Why? Because I needed to find something nice to say).

Now for those Burnt Ends. Burnt, to me, implies a degree of crunch or at least some hardness that you should experience when biting into said end. That's just me, I guess. The burnt ends here were a heaping pile of mush that had a char to it but it was such a mush ball that you had little crunch as you munched.

I spent nearly 2 full days in KC and haven't been able to hit you up with much in terms of solid reviews, fear not KCMO fans, I've got one comin'.

Rating - 1.5/5 - there's some charm here. They offer something called the "Struttin Bucket" and that guy has a top hat on. I enjoy that. I also enjoy the signs at the entrance (see my tumblr). The food left a lot to be desired and got a decent bump by the top hat.

Their site - http://www.gatesbbq.com/Default.aspx

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