Kojak's House of Ribs

Josh Foley

I had a pulled pork sandwich with the garlic potatoes. I liked the garlic potatoes, they were nicely seasoned and buttery. The pulled pork was really good too. I'll be back to check out other things. The service was very fast

J R

TERRIBLE - FIRST and LAST visit. Obviously I didn’t like this restaurant and here’s why. First off you order your dinner at the counter, then find a table and they bring your order. You also have to break away from your friends or family if you want a drink refill (self serve drinks, plastic ware, napkins and salt & pepper packets). The food was subpar, possibly some of the worst BBQ I personally have ever had and I eat a lot of BBQ. They serve your food on a cheap plastic compartment style plates. I ordered the three meat combo as you can see in the attached picture, chicken, brisket and ribs with half corn on the cob and beans for my side items. Sorry, they don’t offer Mac & Cheese or French Fries here! My chicken tasted like a Publix rotisserie lemon pepper chicken and lacked any flavor beyond the skin. The brisket couldn’t be tasted because they smothered it in bbq sauce and what little meat you could find in the sauce was very dry and lacked bbq/smoke flavor. The ribs were even worse! They tasted like grease or two day old ribs that were reheated. My baked beans tasted like plain old Campbell’s Baked Beans and the corn on the cob was not sweet corn. For bread you get cheap dry dinner rolls straight out of the bag and the worlds nastiest butter I’ve ever had. I then tasted my wife’s pulled pork which was “okay” but nothing I would order. It too was dry and lacked smoke flavor and in my opinion shouldn’t be called bbq pulled pork, a better name which describes it would be dried out pork. I also tried her coleslaw, and macaroni salad, yuck! Even my wife and our friends said their dinners were not good. None of us finished our meals and were very disappointed. We all agreed we would never come back. Trying this place based on other peoples Google reviews was a big mistake, especially knowing Hungry Harry’s BBQ was across the street. I have eaten at Hungry Harry’s many times over the years and I have never had a complaint and would recommend them over this place. I should have known this place was going to be terrible after seeing the plates of food coming out of the kitchen and seeing that you had to order from counter and serve your self drinks. For the price this place charges I don’t think you should have to fetch your own drinks and tableware. This restaurant seems to care more about making a profit then making good food or giving their guests a good dining experience. 👎 👎 👎 👎 👎

Thomas Whitelock

A very long time ago, 32 or so years, I worked in south Tampa and every Friday about 6-8 of us would go to Kojaks for lunch. They just started reserving a table for us every week we went so much. Great BBQ, loved going there. We even had them cater our wedding rehearsal dinner, it must have been love. :-) Anyway, I went to the new location in Brandon, and I am happy to say that they are just as good as they were back when they were on Gandy. I had the rib dinner, the ribs were pull off the bone and very flavorful. The sides were awesome as always. Baked beans were delicious and the macaroni salad was very good. It has a lot of pepper, I do not remember that when I used to get it. I have to say, it was a nice surprise. The one thing I did not try, the pecan pie. I will do it next time. It is a trek to get out there, however, I will make it again soon.

Angie Lewis

This was my first time ever dining here.Had the barbeque brisket burger, parsley potatoes and potato salad. The brisket was perfect and the parsley potatoes are to die for....I could honestly eat a whole pan of them myself! The staff runs like a well oiled machine. They all seem to be happy to help each other and their guests. The only reason I am not leaving 5 stars is the potato salad is probably the worst I have ever eaten and I particularly don't enjoy restaurants that you order at the counter and may not have a place to sit when you get your food. I do recommend giving them a try. I would give them another go.