Restaurants in Ames.
- Thread starter dafarmer
- Start date
Any list of best Ames restaurants should have Mucky Duck on it.
With experience they should be able to know fairly close how much they will sell on a given day. Not run out 5 hours before close.
I would order something else but they had run out of everything on the menu except for 1 item, before 5pm. I mean if they had run out of 1 item by then, that is no big deal, they but they had run out of the entire menu except for 1 item. That is just poor planning, if they cant estimate better than that they are doing a poor job.
Or they might have smoker space issues, supplier issues, staff issues, or are just content with their method.
All it takes is one large party to **** everything up for restaurants that use that method.
Or something like a catering engagement.
I believe they are just content with this method. They have been selling out of stuff like that as long as I have been going there. It ensures they have no waste at the end of the day. All of their advertising State specifically on it to come early because they run out.
Sorry I dont eat dinner at 3pm.
And from what I have been told, that might not even be early enough. So not even sure what the point of being open for dinner is if they have no food left by then most days anyway.
I'm sure they have food left, just not the smoked meats.
I've had the tenderloin there, it's great.
I guess I go to a BBQ place to eat BBQ. They just probably wont get my business. Unless I decide to go for lunch sometime.
But even then they have pretty much turned me off from their place and style of management, and if their prices are as high as reported here, I will most likely go somewhere else.
Im sure they are doing well, with their business plan, but they could do better if they had a better process.
But they could have issues if they price gouge people right now.
One MAJOR distinction that you're missing is that everything at Whatcha Smokin' is smoked fresh daily. Hickory Park smokes a couple of days a week and refrigerates and reheats. Much easier to cook a ton ahead of time than estimate daily how much you're going to need.
You tried to go one time? Do you write off every restaurant if they’re out of something you want one time?
An hour and a half waiting?
If COVID taught me anything, it's to go out for dinner and drinks more often.
Staffing issues are real problems for many of these restaurants. I try to be more sympathetic to their situation than I would have been 3 years ago. Running out of BBQ at a BBQ restaurant at 5pm does seem to be poor planning, however, unless there was some special cause..
That being said, some places never figure it out.
Chicken Heat in DSM came to mind for that. Enough times getting there during their posted hours to find them already 'sold out' made me give up on them. Understood it right after they opened up their truck as they were still figuring out the business, but they never really got it ironed out. Maybe their new physical location is better.
The special case was they didn't make enough BBQ that day. I'm sure if it was anything more than a rare occurrence it wouldn't be so highly rated and reviewed, especially considering it's in the middle of nowhere.
If your a restaurant and you sell out of all your product, that’s pretty dam good. Lower food waste and able to capture more profit as the food was sold. I think the owners of this bbq place are probably happy with how their selling all their food while loosing no money in food waste.
It’s possible that they may want to get a larger smoker, but the space just doesn’t accommodate for anything bigger than what they already have. And they may not have enough money to expand to a larger place yet.
It’s possible that they may want to get a larger smoker, but the space just doesn’t accommodate for anything bigger than what they already have. And they may not have enough money to expand to a larger place yet.
