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I've been to Rendevoux in Memphis. I've been to Micklebob's in Florida. I've been to Phil's in San Diego.
None. I repeat NONE, come close to Dreamland. All they have are ribs and whitebread. That's all they need. The BBQ is amazing, the ribs are perfectly cooked. I honestly don't know how this place only has 4 stars. Went to this place a bunch in college (roll tide), and if it weren't for the fact this is in, well, Alabama, I'd go back in a heartbeat. Long live Dreamland BBQ!
Driving from North Carolina to Mississippi we stopped by for some BBQ. Nearly sampled the whole menu: Ribs, smoked sausage, beans & banana pudding. Did not taste the slaw or potato salad - there was just no room left.
This place was a great change of pace on a long road trip - friendly service, great prices and delicious food.
I'm from MEMPHIS (Best BBQ in the world - yeah - I said it) and Dreamland rocks. The tangy vinegary sauce is soooo good. There's plenty of meat on the bone and plenty of bread to sop up all that yummy goodness. Definitely a "must do" in T-Town. Nothin' like em nowhere.
If you like overpriced baked potatoes, chewy, fatty ribs with a side of slime salad and horrible service, go to Dreamland.
"Sweet tea."
"Well then, I guess I'll just have the ribs."
"Yes, more white bread, please."
"Hell yes, we'll try the fresh-made banana pudding!"
And so went the order for a pair of Tampa-bound native Texans during a lunchtime stopoff in Tuscaloosa.
Yeah, yeah, everyone knows of another place in some backwoods town where they grew up that does 'X' better or makes 'Y' in the "only" way it's supposed to be served. Here's Z deal, this place is good. Even with all the hype, it's still damned good.
We hit up the 15th Ave location because we like to keep it authentic. After following some amazing, if not hilarious "up around the bend, just past the old house" directions from a local, we arrived atop the hill and beheld our mealtime Mecca.
The exterior is exactly what you would expect from a famed BBQ shack, complete with random stray dogs running around the area (which I can only assume know the goodness going on inside this temple and are perhaps privy to some scraps, though I cannot confirm this). The divey interior looks exactly how the exterior might suggest, which is perfect. The walls are lined with various 'Bama paraphernalia, including oh-so-clever personalized license plates, pictures of U of A legends and even a couple of authentic helmets and jerseys from the same. There are plenty of things to occupy your eyes if you'd rather ignore your present company (I wasn't, but I was comforted knowing that I at least had that option).
Anyways, find a seat, sit down, and prepare to feast.
I'm not going to go all "Texas elitist" on the BBQ. BBQ differs geographically so you go with the regional specialties and enjoy it. I dig pork ribs. I dug these pork ribs. I can see how the tangy sauce might be considered slightly acidic, but that's a matter of preference and I found it to be a worthy complement to the tender ribs. I made it my personal goal to not wipe my hands a single time until I had finished eating the entire stack. I succeeded, however at the expense of my friend's laughter while watching me try to pick up a glass of iced tea using only the palms of my hands. Fingers, as it turns out, are quite important and I'm not embarrassed to say, I licked them clean. My mouth is watering again.
Oh yeah, the freaking pudding! We had forgotten about the pudding. This little bowl of heaven featured Nilla Wafers, chunks of banana, whip cream... the whole shebang. I'm not embarrassed to say I might have licked the bowl clean. Actually, I didn't... but I really wanted to.
In closing, I recommend it. I'd definitely eat there again. I probably will eat there again if ever by chance I'm in Alabama. (Which by the way, nice campus you've got there at the U of A.)
An all around great experience, so I'll start my first yelp review dropping the highly-coveted 5-star rating on this house of happy mouths.
Dreamland's ribs are what I imagine you would get if you soaked ribs in vinegar, threw them on a too-hot grill, let them sit there, dehydrating, pulled them when they resembled beef jerky and covered them in an okay barbecue sauce. The banana pudding is good.
That said, you have to go. You must go, eat more ribs than is wise, drink the syrup tea and eat banana pudding until you burst. The Tuscaloosa BBQ gods demand it. Only then can you try the other places and make an accurate, informed decision about the richness of Tuscaloosa BBQ. The quality of bbq from the Northport restaurant is better than that of the Tuscaloosa restaurant, but you lose the "atmosphere".
Our friend Chris Lick lives in Jackson and insisted on telling us how to get to Dreamland even though we have a GPS in our rental car. I think he did this because technology should not be relied upon in important times. This dates back to many times in the past when someone did something wrong because of this.
I bit a rib at Dreamland. I haven't bitten a rib in years and years and years. I eat meat once or twice every 365. After I bit the rib I put some of the bread in the sauce and then I bit ANOTHER RIB.
I usually travel to BBQ places when I am traveling for work. This one was on the list while I was down in 'Bama. I went with a pulled pork sandwich and it could not have been better. The hickory flavor was so awesome. Their sauce was a bit different for me, as I am used to thinner, Eastern NC sauce on pulled pork, but Dreamland's sauce was a hit. Had a bit of tomato in it. I purchased a jar of sauce to take home with me and use on my own smoked pulled pork. All of my friends loved the sauce.
When we drive from Atlanta to Texas we always stop at the ORIGINAL DreamLand Barbecue in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Those who know us know us know we sample barbecue in all our travels. We eat at Dreamland in Atlanta and Birmingham but the ribs are not exactly the same as in this little spot in Alabama. This is worth a drive from anywhere.
To get to this restaurant you drive through a very low income residential neighborhood. There are small homes with torn porch screens across the street and a camper that appears to be someone's home. The restaurant only has 9 tables. We arrived just before 11AM and when we left at 11:30 there were people at 7 of the 9 tables. This is a black owned, black run restaurant and all the clientele were white. You could tell from the cars in the parking lot, many were travelers like us.
The ribs are perfection. In the past the only items on the menu was ribs and assorted potato chips, sweet tea and soda. They had just added coleslaw and potato salad but it had not yet made it to the menu on the wall. There are no table menus. Everyone orders ribs. And what ribs they are! A crisp outer surface with juicy but not fatty meat that does not fall off the bone like babybacks, but requires a little chew without a hint of toughness. These are large ribs. Flintstones size ribs. Real ribs. And the sauce. Well it's so good they they serve Sunbeam bread slices with a bowl of their sauce for dipping as an appetizer at all the tables.
How do they make such wonderful ribs? I asked our waiter. Only 3 employees were in the restaurant. "I am the newest cook here and I've been cooking ribs since I was 12. That's 20 years. The man over there has been cooking these ribs for 30 years. All we cook is ribs. No other barbecue. No chicken or roasts or anything like that. When you make nothin but ribs for that long, you get good at it."
All I can say, they were perfection.
Oooh, sorry y'all, but I didn't like it here at all.
I had big expectations of getting down on some serious que, but I'm just going to tell you truthfully that I got a bunch of bones with nasty, acidic ketchup on top. Yuck! What a total disappointment. I was so disappointed it makes me mad, like they've gotten so many people to co-sign on their grand marketing scheme about being the best that it is all just deluding nice folks. And it was a bit pricey - especially if you count the backwoods drive to the mosquito haven that is their outdoor seating.
Just really not what it's supposed to be.
Go to Archibald's instead for less hype, better food and cheaper prices.
Dreamland is over-hyped. That's not to say the ribs aren't good. They are well cooked with a yummy sauce. And reviewers are right. At the original in T-town, well...up on a hill outside of town...your choices are slab of ribs or half-slab of ribs.
The place is very kitschy and generally filthy. Do not go if you are expecting anything more than a dive. It is an institution, but still just a dive. And don't expect cheap eats. A slab is $18.50.
Love their BBQ! The simplicity of their menu is perfect. Grab some beef ribs, some extra sauce, white bread, and some beans. Youre set. Not much more to offer on the menu. Oh try the banana pudding. I saw the son of Bear Bryant eating there the first time I tried. Cant tell me that's not an omen. This place is a staple of Tuscaloosa for a reason. You dont need to search the web on this one. Just walk the first 3 people you see in Tuscaloosa and theyll tell you where to go for BBQ. Hell theyll even give you directions.
I, like most, was urged to make the trip to Dreamland's original location when I first moved to town. Makes for a great memory, but on repeat trips, I find myself wondering why I came. The ribs are fine: fawning over them or eviscerating them are both extreme reactions. Meaty, yes. Chewy, sometimes. Sloppy, definitely. The sauce is rather thin, but so is the menu--this sort of tacitly says to diners, "No complaining!" The banana pudding is tops, which is the only other thing you can consider eating there. Kind of a drive, dirty but excusable (that's the charm, right?) and certainly a shock to the wallet. Go once, and chew on the memories after.
This is the Dreamland BBQ of Barbecue Legend.
There's no menu because they only serve 3 things. Ribs, white bread, and banana creme pie. No beans, no cole slaw, no corn bread, no greens. You eat meat, meat, meat and sop up the BBQ sauce with Sunbeam bread. Then, PIE!
Four of us ate the equivalent of a 3rd grader. The vegetarian had a tough day.
For your safety??!!, Dreamland BBQ has a uniformed city police officer stationed inside the restaurant after sundown.
In true Alabama BBQ style- Scortching high heat, sauce after.
Sauce is thin, not thick. Acidy and spicy, not sugary sweet.
You can order ribs n sauce or entire meal for 50 people from their website to be FedEx'd overnight.
Anyone who talks down on this place does not know what good old fashioned BBQ is all about!!! Dreamland is a true BBQ dive shack!!! To get here can be a little tricky because it's in a residential area. The place is your typical wood trailer style restaurant with very minimal seating. They have other locations now but, this is one of the OG ones!!! I still order a box of their sauce from family members that live right down the street from there!!! Dreamland takes the cake for the term "finger licking good"!!!
A Barbecue Desination! Living in the south with travels throughout the country - this is among the top 3 Barbecue stops in the country (Randevous and others included). I would drive out of my way to eat in this dive. Great Barbecue and a truly unique experience. (Get your map program ready). This was the original that now has branched out to chain locations throughout AL. It is located down a residential street in a rickety trailer (really!). You enter through a screen door and are in the middle of a small restaurant with rolls of paper towels on the tables. What to eat? Three choices slab, half slab or sandwich. The sandwich is a quarter slab with a bag of wonderbread to sop up the sauce. This place may be off the map - but everyone knows about it, so avoid the joint on game day.
Ahhhhh, BBQ. If you're serious about it, this is the place to go. You have the option of ordering ribs, or ribs, that sums it up. You'll also get white bread with your ribs and that pretty much covers it. The only time you have a choice of items is when you order your beverage.
Pulling off the road for a bite to eat has become a sad state of affairs in this great country of ours. Beautiful countryside is littered with bland, trans fat, homogenized, TGI-Crapplebees type establishments rendering every town a blueprint of the next. It is enough to make you just pack a picnic basket and forget about dining out. But alas...an oasis in Tuscaloosa...pinch me because I think I'm in Dreamland. We were greeted by a waitress who gasp...employed her actual personality while taking our order instead of aping some phone rep for the home shopping network. She explained the three fabulous choices which were ribs, a rib sandwich, both slathered in a delicious thin sauce, and banana pie for dessert. The white bread on the table can serve as both a napkin to soak up the sauce you will certainly be covered in or you can make an impromptu sandwich if you want to break things up a bit. Rib, rib, rib, bite of bread, rib, rib, you get the point. The service was so down to earth and real and the ribs were the stuff that will kick a sugarplum's ass to take over the visions dancing in your head. Oh America...please take the hint from Dreamland and support the local fare that puts a town on the map- and stop with the Chili's already. Thank you Dreamland for reminding a weary traveler that not all hope is lost.
Dreamland is a national destination for BBQ. The only "true" Dreamland experience can be had at the original location in Tuscaloosa, AL. Dreamland is located up a winding road in the middle of nowhere (generally a good sign for BBQ). If you are having troubles finding the place, ANY resident of Tuscaloosa will be happy to help you find your way. When you find it, you will walk into Alabama memorabilia, license plates all over the wall, and most importantly, succulent BBQ ribs drenched in a spicy, stick-to-the-bone, sauce that makes Dreamland's quite possibly the best BBQ in the South for pork ribs. The original location only gives you ribs, sauce, and bread. There are no sides. It's absolutely beautiful. I do not give Dreamland's five stars because, although one is a given a healthy slab (or half slab) of ribs, they could stand to be a bit meatier. All the same, it is certainly worth the drive if one is within an hour radius of the restaurant...
Northport, AL
Category: Restaurants
Tuscaloosa, AL
Category: Restaurants
Tuscaloosa, AL
Category: Restaurants
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