Bodean’s BBQ

I think they’re going for the American BBQ /​steak dinner atmosphere. Great food and huge portions. Tons of American fizzy drinks like Root beer and they have floats which I haven’t seen anywhere else in London.
I got a burrito with pull pork which was amazing but I barely got through half of it. Really enjoyed the restaurant.

Well I was hesitant about going here thanks to a couple of nit picky reviews but took the plunge and really glad I did. The place was packed (don’t come for the quiet, there’s a lively, laughing, chatty crowd), and «Stephanie» (I believe she was called) stopped what she was doing and met me at the door immediately with a big happy smile and found me a table.
I went for the house special («game day») which is ribs wings and pulled pork with side of slaw and fries with mayo and BBQ sauce. £15 including a half pint of Budweiser or a soft drink. Fantastic value. A HUGE plate of food arrived and there are several different sauces on the table, along with a full new roll of kitchen roll. I badly needed this I found out later lol. They don’t skimp on sauce on the wings and ribs.
Couldn’t fault the place. Staff very attentive and Stephanie is a credit to the place.
I couldn’t handle a desert with the size of the food but I’ll be back :)
KFC type wipes at the end really helped me not having to have a shower with the usual mess of ribs and wings + beard lol.
Very, very happy. And I’m a fussy ol’ fart. I eat all over the place several times a week on business. This is my new favourite food place in Fulham. Been here 3 weeks.

Went again last weekend, the wings could not have been saltier unless they were solid salt formed to look like chicken wings. Should’ve sent back, but didn’t wanna harsh the vibe.
Beef ribs had a slightly overcooked, no smoke, overly salty vibe too, and as always, the fries were undercooked.
This location is so up and down it might as well be your moms head.

Food’s not bad, if they have what your ordered in stock. They were out of corn muffins, which is a required part of any proper BBQ feast, as well as several of the beers.
The wait staff was very confused. Our waitress didn’t know the menu, then brought out the wrong orders, and completely forgot one person’s food.

This is one of the Best BBQ houses i have ever vist. This is not the place if you are up to a veggi meal. They have Meat, Meat and Meat on the card It is not the biggest restaurant, but if the party is not too big will it be ok.

Delicious and great value for money!
Pulled pork sandwich = amazing and generous portions. Game day special it pretty much a little of everything on a plate — £15 incl a beer, can’t go wrong

Great food! Platter for 2 comes with 2 portions of chips and a selection of types of meat and chicken.
Better of you have it with cholula sauce :)

Incredible food! The beef burger and baby back ribs were particularly tasty-​of and the ‘burnt ends’ too!

He says: This place is really not very good. I ordered the baby back ribs and was disappointed with everything on my plate. The ribs were covered in too sweet BBQ sauce (think Kraft brand BBQ sauce), the french fries were soggy and stale, and the coleslaw was profoundly bland. The other elements of the place were not much better. The place is cramped, the service is not very nice, and the layout doesn’t really lend itself to watching the ol’ football game (if that’s your thing). I remember having a much better experience at the soho branch years ago, but this place is definitely a pass…
She says: Very disappointing food and ambiance. I was very excited to eat some American style BBQ and watch the football game on a Sunday night. My burger was about the quality of a diner burger in the states, with the worst fries I’ve had in recent memory. Some of the servers were nice but some seemed like they could care less. And the floor set up was terrible, way too many tables squeezed into a way too small space. The TV we were sat next to had the quality of an internet feed (ie: grainy and choppy). My beer was also room temperature. I will not be back.

Without a doubt the thing I miss most about the states is whipping up some BBQ on my trusty Weber. While it will never replace the smokey goodness of wood chips in the air or the satisfaction of having friends help me tackle racks of ribs or heaps of shredded pork, Bodeans has been where I go to get my fix.
I like what they are doing here. Start out with an order of the outstanding Diablo wings. These are fiery devils. Big, sloppy wings that definitely bring the noise. I’d prefer these broken up at the joints and have that bunk tip tossed. It makes them a bit tricky to eat, but please this is no excuse to use utensils on them. Sack up and get your hands dirty.
Another thing that Bodeans excels at are the burnt ends, and I always get them. This is a Kansas City smokehouse staple where the tip of a beef brisket is sliced off, cubed up, sauced and returned to the smoker for a few more hours. As I can never seem to pass on shredded pork, make mine a combo platter, slaw, sub beans for fries. Beans are far better anyway. A side of the Diablo sauce or the Carolina vinegar sauce on the table makes for a happy piggy.
There are a bunch of good American brews to choose from on tap and in bottles: Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn and Sam Adams (brewer/​patriot) being best of show. Nothing pairs better with some quality que than a nice cold one.

I’m not coming back here ever! the food was so below average! it puts BBQ to shame. my other half liked it but he likes anything. Overpriced low quality fake american BBQ not doing this place again.

Disclaimer: I was here for Thanksgiving dinner, which means I had a set 3 course meal, separate from the normal menu.
That being said, as an American studying abroad I just wanted to go somewhere to eat a classic Thanksgiving dinner and watch (American) football. They advertise themselves as a place to watch NFL games, but all they have are low quality illegal streams on relatively small TV’s. They couldn’t even shell out the ~$ 200 for NFL Gamepass as many other American-​styled sports bars do here. The stream was lagging for most of the second half, and nothing better than what I can do on my laptop. In fact, before dinner we had a couple pints at the pub across the street that had the games in HD on big screens. Better beer selection too.
We were booked for a two hour slot, 7−9PM but weren’t seated until 7:15, and then rushed out before 9. The food was mostly sub-​par. They gave the three of us a single large platter to share which included one extremely over cooked turkey leg, a great deal of ham (on Thanksgiving??), not enough turkey breast, dry and tasteless corn bread stuffing, decent mashed potatoes and not nearly enough gravy for 3 people. They served mostly overpriced American beer. The appetizer and desert were alright, but did not make up for the poor quality of the main course. And not really their fault, but my friend who paid the bill believes he was overcharged for the meal as well.

I have been to this Bodeans several time now and I have to say that it is a average BBQ place. Not Bodeans in general but the Fulham branch (if you can go to the Clapham one — the food just tastes better)
The menu is great though and the platters are superb. Mix up the platters — ribs, chicken, pulled pork
I am sure it is not as good as many places across the US (and everybody has their home favourites) but it is more than adequate and plenty of locations across London!

So I’m in town for business and happened by Bodean’s and being a barbecue nut I just had to stop and try it. We came in for lunch and I ordered the burnt ends and ribs. Now I love a good brisket and can turn out a pretty good one myself on my own smoker whenever I have a spare 15 hours or so. This que was disappointing for a true barbecue nut — if you like barbecue but aren’t a fanatic about it like I am then you’ll probably like this place.
First off the meat was obviously cooked in a gas smoker with only a little wood added. You could taste it in the meat. They aren’t the only one’s doing this as it is an increasing trend in the US as well. I prefer more smoke as long as it isn’t overpowering. They are cooking in the middle of the city so I suppose you could cut them some slack for that though.
The ribs were also a bit on the thin side. They were baby backs — I prefer spares but will take baby backs if they have a good flavor — these didn’t taste much like anything and had very little meat on them. I was in a butcher shop earlier in my trip and saw ribs trimmed right to the bone so that may have something to do with how they trim them on this side of the pond. Still I wished I had gotten the pulled pork instead of the ribs.
The only thing I liked was the barbecue sauce. That was good and balanced well. If it had been paired with a decent set of ribs then it would have really been something.
My friend opted for the burger (8oz) and he really liked it. Said it was quite tasty and the fries were good.
The staff was warm and friendly so that is a saving grace. Everyone made an effort to ensure that we enjoyed our meal.
I suppose I should upgrade my stars since they are here in the UK and not back home. I did consider it but felt I should rate them as if they were right down the street from me instead of practically halfway around the world.
Would I return? Perhaps but probably not. Would I if I lived here — probably. Would I if this were right down the street from where I lived — most certainly not. Still its probably the best your going to get in the UK so there is that going for them…
If your hankering for a taste from home — give it a shot otherwise there are plenty of other places around that have much better food here in London.

I’m annoyed that Bodeans was so good. Barbecue is supposed to be the domain of Amurrrrica! While Bodeans wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, it was pretty good stuff — and for Europe?! Wow. I got a kick out of the American theme and American sports on TV — I’m just visiting so didn’t miss home, but if I was to live in the UK I know I’d come to Bodeans when I was feeling homesick.
It’s busy, so we made a reservation on a Wednesday night and snagged a booth. I got a couple of Blue Moons which made me happy, and our table got enough food to feed an army. Namely — the Boss Hog platter which consists of, well, everything! Ribs, burnt ends, pulled pork, chicken thighs, sausages. We also got half a dozen crispy chicken wings, sweet potato fries, mac ‘n’ cheese, and I think there was a pulled pork sandwich on the table too. Crazy town. The only thing that got boxed for home (we’re American, we can do that if we want to) was half the sandwich. Everything else got polished off by 2 American girls and 2 hungry British boys.
Everything was pretty darn good — the meat was tender and well-​seasoned across the board. Sweet potato fries were okay, though I wasn’t 100% sold on the seasoning. But the chicken wings — wow! I would come back here just for these. So juicy and such a delicious crispy skin. This was also my first time trying burnt ends, and they were as good as advertised. Mac and cheese was above average — I so rarely have restaurant mac ‘n’ cheese that I enjoy but Bodeans managed it.
It’s a little pricey, but I guess not for central London. It’s a fun stop for Americans abroad, or anybody who loves big pieces of meat for dinner! Way better than I thought a barbecue joint in England would be. And I’m only a little bitter about it.

Curious about barbeque in the UK, Nava and I decided to hit up Bodean’s after a Unilocal event across the street. They were quite busy for a Thursday night, and took our number for a half hour wait. (Which ended up being like 10 or 15 minutes.)
Anyway, I was kind of overloaded on booze already, so we opted to go straight for the main course! Nava was interested in the burnt ends and pulled pork, and I wanted to try the burnt ends and ribs. Some of the other sides looked interesting, so we opted to do some swapping and trying out things. I ended up with coleslaw and barbeque beans. Nava got chili cheese fries (because what isn’t better with meat than a side of meat?) and corn muffins (because we both love cornbread and wanted to try them).
The food came out quite quickly actually. Which I guess for a barbeque place isn’t that surprising as most of it is already prepared.
Almost everything I had was alright. Not great, not terrible. Just alright. The burnt ends were really just braised chunks of brisket. I was expecting charred ends like you would get in the states, but given that there seemed to be no actual brisket on the menu, it wasn’t really all that surprising. The ribs were tender and soft, but lacked something. The coleslaw was crispy, but not amazing. The pulled pork was also nice, but a bit chewy. The barbeque sauce was fine. Nothing great. Bodean’s would benefit a lot from having a range of flavors and spice levels. Spicy sauce and vinegar sauce options would really improve things quite a bit here.
The beans however, they were pretty fantastic. Spicy, sweet and smoky as beans should be. The chili was also pretty great! (Although the fries under it were a bit so-​so). I liked the flavor, and even though Nava swears chili shouldn’t have beans, I really enjoyed it.
Avoid the corn muffins. Seriously. They were boring, flavorless and chewy. Cornbread should be soft, slightly sweet and have a bit of a course texture. These were not cornbread. Not at all.
I had a good time. The atmosphere is cool. You can watch American sports (if you’re into that sort of thing). For the most part the food was fine. A few stand out bits, and one terrible bit, but mostly just kind of an average barbeque situation. If friends wanted to go, I’d probably go with them, but I don’t think I’d go back of my own volition.
(And on a completely random note, I haven’t been able to get «Is That You Mo-​Dean?» out of my head since going here. Just substitute Bodean for Mo-​Dean and that’s the song running through my head right now.)

We have been there over the weekend, the food was ok but nothing spectacular.
We had the large platter and shared it. Portion was huge, but the meat dry. Our order arrived just after 5 min waiting, so it seems they have all prepared and the plates are sitting in the kitchen. That would explain why our meat was dry. The ribs where completely dried out and the pulled pork was only good with a lot of sauce on the side.
Our waitress wasn’t very welcoming neither.
Overall it more feels a bit like mass market for American food. I wouldn’t go back there. At least the prices are good for Central London.

This place gets 5 stars because, for LONDON, it is the best BBQ you’re going to get. Plus, it’s the only non-​touristy place (re: not Sports Bar in Piccadilly) where you can watch some good olé SEC football in the fall.
Bodean’s has a few locations, but this one is my preferred joint, mainly because I love Fulham and it’s in close proximity to many bars, grocery stores, parks, transport, and, of course, my London yoga studio. I have dragged many people with me to Bodeans, but they always leave with a smile. Good BBQ when you get a craving just does that to a person.
Strangely enough, I always seem to be one of the few, if any, Americans eating here (unless there is a big game going on, but with the time difference the games don’t play til late night anyway). Listening to varying English accents chatter on about pulled pork or BBQ ribs cracks me up.
If you are an American in London, or a Londoner wistfully dreaming of the South, head over to Bodeans and savor the meat.

Whenever I crave for a big fat piece of meat in my mouth, I think of Bodeans (What else would I be thinking of?).
It’s American themed, from it’s staff to the TV channel on in the background, and of course it’s food, everything remains loyal to this theme. The atmosphere is always buzzing but it’s often too busy. It’s difficult to get an available table without reservation, otherwise you’d have to wait a good while.
So it really depends on how much you want it. Is it worth the wait? Indeed it is!

Decent place if you’re craving for meat, or want to watch some American sports, which is usually on (unless there’s a Chelsea game). Typical American-​style BBQ/​steak place. I’ve been there a couple of times, and each time the service is friendly and fast.
Foodwise, its quite standard, and I would consider a bit pricey for the quality you are getting. Don’t get me wrong; its definitely tasty, but I wonder if it might be a bit too much to pay for what is meant to be hearty, sloppy meal. Portionwise, the mains are huge though.
The only gripe is that there’s not much space inside, so the tables are a bit crammed together and if you’re watching a game there while having a leisurely drink and meal, you might feel a bit jammed.
Reviewed by The London Insider