http://www.honeybearsbbq.com/
This is a small down home chain in the Phoenix area, I think they have 3 outlets. This location had the best rating of reviewers on google and yahoo so I thought I would try here. The menu here is far more restricted than Hap's. They have more desserts than they have plate combos but you can also order meat by the half pound and up, or get a sandwich. I went for a half rack of ribs and a brisket sandwich with sides of beans and tater salad.
The brisket sandwich was massive, but was missing all the smoky crispy bits that Hap's had. It would have been a good meal, all by itself, with some decent sauce slathered on it. As it was, I just sampled the brisket and moved onto the ribs. To me it was just tender, moist roast beef. The ribs were slathered in a sweet sauce but I found one underneath that was partly dry. The ribs were tender and moist, but they had a nice interesting flavor I really couldn't recognize at first. Then it dawned on me that the flavor I was tasting was charcoal, as if the ribs had been cooked on a charcoal grill rather than smoked. They actually tasted pretty durned good! I don't know if it was a grilled finish or if that's how they were made but I did like it. The video on their website suggests they are grilled. I got the same taste through their sweet sticky sauce and I ate up every one of those ribs and wanted more! I opted for their Cowbro Beans and tater salad as sides and both were well above average. The beans were sweet baked beans in a thick sauce and very nice. The tater salad was chunky with a mayo base and a generous sprinkling of sweet pickle bits throughout, another winner.
I wish this place had some better combo plate options so I could have tried more of their meats in one go. Maybe next trip, if I can leave those ribs alone!
Their motto reminded me a lot of House Park in Austin, but I think House Park's is better. "Need no Teef to Eat our Beef"
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