Arthur Bryant's Barbeque, Kansas City, MO

Arthur Bryant's Barbeque, located in Kansas City, MO.

After LC's was the last stop of our BBQ trip: the famous Arthur Bryant's. Bryants is probably Kansas City's most famous bbq joint, and has developed a reputation over many decades. This was the original location from the 1920s.

We were met by a pretty long line, not quite as long as OK Joe's but it took almost as long to navigate it. We passed the time gazing at the classic interior, packed with people with walls adorned with numerous framed articles boasting of the 'best BBQ in Kansas City', and photographs of various celebrities and even presidential candidates dining at the place.

We ordered a beef sandwich with a side of fries. We split the sandwich in half.

Beef sandwich at Arthur Bryant's, with side of french fries.

The sandwich sucked. The brisket was dry, chewy, and lacked flavor. The fries are cooked with lard and were OK but nothing like their reputation would lead you to believe. They had 2 sauces, their original and a hot and spicy. Bryant's famous original sauce sucks. Its bitter and quite grainy (too much garlic powder is the likely culprit), despite being a tomato based sauce.  I tried it on the bread and the meat and it just wasn't good. The 'hot and spicy' was a good tomato based sauce, but it was not hot or spicy at all.

Its been said Bryant's can be off and on. Maybe we caught them on an 'off' day, but it was impossible to not get the sense that Bryant's is living off a reputation it probably no longer deserves. 2 star worthy, very disappointing and not worth the wait.