Scott Ja-Mama’s BBQ – Minneapolis, MN

Our next adventure for the Bar-B-Quest 2012 took us to Scott Ja-Mama’s. If you recall, in a few previous posts, our little group had trouble even acquiring ribs here. But they were on the list and we were determined to make it happen this time.


When we got there, we were informed someone had reserved the one table they have in the place. Totally not a big deal to us, since HotGirlsBrother lives close. We told the super nice lady we’d just get them to go and head home to eat them (even though this means watching American Idol while eating ribs… uggggghhhh). We ordered up our usual items (half slabs for all of us and coleslaw). Instead of fries, this thing comes with a twice baked potato and a dinner roll. Awesome.

While we were waiting, the lady told us to grab a soda out of the fridge and relax. They had Super Chill soda, made by the company that laid me off a while back, which I actually love. Super Chill? Supper Sweet. Done. Cream Soda… in my mouth. The inside of the restaurant is covered wall-to-wall with memorabilia and just… well… stuff. There’s not really a theme, but if there were, it might be golf, wrestling, and hoarders. Just saying. You could stare at the walls for the entire time you’re waiting for food and never see the same thing twice. Crazy and disconcerting, but a little bit awesome.


We kept ourselves amused by playing various games they have laying around. There’s a snow globe with a golf ball inside. The object is to get the golf ball to sit back up on the tee that’s inside. Not an easy feat, however HotGirlsBrother got all Tiger Woods on it and managed to get the ball back on the tee. Then, the lady broke out this swinging hook game where you try to loop the hook. It’s easier to explain when you see it. Swing the hoop on the string and try to catch it on the hook. The lady nailed it – first try. She’s apparently done this a few times. HotGirlsBrother steps up and nails it on the second try. Then, LowVee killed the better part of 10-minutes making it look terribly difficult. When she finally hooked it, there was much celebrating.

As we were getting our food, the whole family showed up (they were the ones who had reserved the table) for one of the family’s birthday party. Seriously, this family is super nice and just good folks. Reminds me of my Alabama relatives.

We took our food and headed back to HotGirlsBrother’s place to dine. I snapped a quick photo before digging in.
The twice baked potato was actually really awesome. If you’re going to replace French fries with something, go with this. It was awesome. The coleslaw was also pretty good. Better than a lot of places. HotGirlsBrother complained that it was too black peppery for his taste, but both Low-Vee and I liked it for that very reason. We thought it was delicious. The roll was ust a plain dinner roll – nothing fancy. We moved on to the ribs.

The ribs had a decent flavor to them, but they were a little tough. You really had to work to get them off the bones. There wasn’t a lot of gristle or anything like that, so that worked out well, but they weren’t tender at all. Again, the flavor of them was really quite good, but we all got a little frustrated when the ribs turned into higher labor foods than we care to eat (that being said, we ate every single bit of them). There wasn’t any spice to mine, like the other two mentioned, so I’m not sure if I got a mild batch or if I’m just more intolerant to spice than the other two.

All in all, a decent rib experience, but nothing groundbreaking. We love the people there. They’re super nice and there’s all kinds of things to keep you busy while you wait for your ribs. In the grand scheme of the brackets system, unfortunately, there can only be one winner and one loser. Scott Ja-Mama’s was going up against C&G Smoking BBQ. I think it was pretty unanimous that C&G’s gave a better rib experience. Which means C&G went up against Baldy’s BBQ. Baldy’s blows C&G out of the water in this case. Baldy’s, despite their location closing in Minneapolis has really upped the game for ribs for us. Both ribs and sides. They’re going to be a contender.

Here’s the updated bracket for your viewing pleasure. I think next on the slate is Rooster’s!!! We’ll keep you posted.

Top 5 things about Scott Ja-Mama’s
1. The super amazing people that work there
2. Twice Baked Potato
3. Rib meat flavor
4. Coleslaw was peppery and delicious
5. Super Chill soda

Bottom 5 things
1. The ribs were tough to chew
2. Disappointed with the heat level. I remember it being much spicier
3. The place is REALLY small inside, so if there’s more than three or four people inside, you won’t be able to move
4. You could search all day on the walls and not find an inch more to put something else up
5. Again, I was forced to watch American Idol (though I did get to see the girl pass out and fall face first off the stage – bonus)

www.scottjamamas.com