| Cuisine : | American, Barbecue (BBQ), Burgers, Ribs |
|---|---|
| Open for : | dinner, lunch |
| Type : | restaurant, takeaway |
| Tags : | child friendly, suitable for large groups |
| Menu types : | a-la-carte, takeaway menu |
| Reservations : | reservations for large groups only |
| Average price : | Main course £12. |
| Website : | http://www.ribshakk.com/ |
| Short URL : | http://iate.at/ribshakk |
Leeds' first American barbecue and rib restaurant, Rib Shakk is located downstairs in the Corn Exchange building in the city centre (next to Piazza by Anthony bistro).
American chef Billy Bob (@old_billybob) heads up the team of chefs manning the restaurant's pit style barbecue.
Slow-cooked pork ribs on offer include St Louis ribs and baby back ribs. Rib Shakk also serves beef short ribs and their own cut, "The Handle Bar" - a meaty beef rib weighing in at around a kilo. There is also pulled pork in the form of Deep South favourite Boston Butts. There are four mopping sauces available to go with the ribs: Kansas City style, San Diego piri piri, Texas red-eye, and a South Carolina style mustard and cider sauce. For those having trouble deciding there are several large sharing platters which include several different styles of ribs and sides.
Burgers are made from un-minced rib meat which has been cooked on the bone. BBQ chicken wings come coated with chilli, muscavado sugar and paprika rub and are served with Rib Shakk's Kansas style BBQ sauce. To accompany, there is a salad bar and a choice of sides including BBQ beans, 'slaw and corn on the cob.
Children ("Ribblets") are welcome and the restaurant offers a children's menu with smaller portions of the adult meals.
All the food is available to eat in, or to takeaway (you can phone ahead with your order first too).
Rib Shakk (spelt with a double 'K', rather than Rib Shack) opened in the Leeds Corn Exchange in November 2011.
You can view the full Rib Shakk menu here:
Review left on 29/03/2013 by Roy (1 review)
I will never return to the Rib Shakk. Four of us ate there on Thursday evening 28/03/13. It wasn't very busy, but still the service was terrible !!
35 mins after we ordered our food the waiter came over to ask if we had ordered, they had forgotten about us, eventually we got our food over an hour after ordering it. Then they still managed to get the order wrong, and the food was not that nice.
If you're out in Leeds and you fancy some ribs, I would recommend that you go to Reds on Call Lane, or the new TGI Fridays in the Trinity shopping center. Better food, Better service and Better value for money !!!!
Review left on 30/12/2012 by Lotty (1 review)
I would never go to the rib shack again. If u want to eat warm food with good service, with clean pinnys when they wear them! Don't go there. I will be ringing head office for a full refund... Not happy with rib shack at all.
Review left on 15/10/2012 by Mark Smith (1 review)
I was planning to have my birthday at the Rib-Shakk but reading the poor reviews I think I'm going to take my friends elsewhere, i cant risk having my guests disappointed. And why is meat boiled and not put on the BBQ? I don't get that.
Review left on 20/09/2012 by leedsriblover (3 reviews)
Really nice ribs, but I was disappointed to find out they are cooked in some fancy water bath rather than in a proper smoker. However, they are really meaty and tender so this does seem to work. Good flavour from the sauce. Friendly staff, and quick service - but it wasn't very busy when I went mid-week.
Review left on 05/09/2012 by ViolinSam (1 review)
Ordered an "ultimate platter" to share and it was more than enough for two of us. The meat on the ribs is so tender it falls off the bone, and there is so much meat on there (nothing like those silly packs of ribs you buy in the supermarket). The flavour from the sauces is delicious too, sweet, smoky and a little heat.
Rib Shakk claim to do the "best ribs in town" - and I reckon they are right. Already a loyal customer, and I will be going back for more.
Review left on 10/08/2012 by Sam Macaulay (1 review)
Had a fantastic meal at Rib Shakk on Wednesday night. It was a little difficult finding the side entrance to the Corn Exchange and at first we thought the building was all locked up. When we found the door and walked into the little indoor plaza it was almost deserted, just two or three tables occupied in the shoe plaza and a couple of waiters looking bored. We immediately thought we were in for a terrible meal! Turns out this is one of the best BBQ restaurants we have ever eaten at in Europe. A good choice of food on the menu, pulled pork shoulder, beef short ribs (only ever found these at Bodeans in London or on my BBQ at home! Highly recommended!), baby back ribs, spare ribs and deliciously crisp and tasty chicken to name but a few. You can choose your own mopping sauce for the meat to be cooked in (we enjoyed Kansas style) and everything comes with a mountain of seasoned French fries and Slaw or BBQ beans (butter beans, yum!). We are really into our American BBQ food and were very pleasantly surprised!
The service was really friendly and attentive, prices were reasonable, meat was perfectly cooked and high quality (beef rib was a little high in fat to meat ratio so would have been ideal to have a larger portion on the sharing platter as this was one of the highlights of our meal, but otherwise portions were enormous!l), great selection of American beers and Jeremiah Weed root mash, great music in the background and beautiful location.
This place deserved to be packed to the rafters, even if it is hidden away. We are already looking forward to our next visit and might even try get our photos on the wall and a free meal by completing the Wall of Flames insanely hot BBQ Man vs Food style challenge :-)
Sam (Buckinghamshire)
Review left on 06/08/2012 by heather (1 review)
LOVED the ribs, delicious sauce and the tenderest, melt in the mouth meat I have ever had. Good chips as well.
The staff were really friendly and quick to bring the food, can't really grumble other the fact that it feels a but tucked away in the corner of the Corn Exchange. Not the cheapest place to eat in Leeds, but pretty good value none the less.
Will be back!
Review left on 29/07/2012 by Matt D (2 reviews)
If you want anything close to tasty BBQ ribs DO NOT bother with this place. The ribs are fatty boiled pieces of meat microwaved on site and served on this occasion cold in the middle. The meat itself had no flavour, the Kansas city sauce was nice enough but all in all very disappointed. I suspect they won't be around for long.
Review left on 29/06/2012 by heather (5 reviews)
Not cheap, but the ribs are SO GOOD - so much meat on them compared to what you get elsewhere. I was very greedy and had a whole rack of Saint Louis ribs and they were just gorgeous, the meat fell off the bone and the kansas sauce was delicious. Nice chips too. Not in the best place as people are walking though the "restaurant" a lot of the time, but that is my only real criticism.
Recommended!
Review left on 31/05/2012 by KatieK (1 review)
Food was okay but not the best. Beef ribs were good, really tender and melt in the mouth and the sauce on them was so tasty, but the chips were cold and the sweetcorn just dry and horrible. Agree with the other comments about the salad bar, I avoided that! Waitress was really friendly and helpful. Bit quite in there when I went and not much atmosphere, but the place seems nice otherwise.