Review of Evansville’s Newest Restaurant – Bandana’s Bar-B-Q

Today was one of those days when it was pretty cool to be a guy that talks on the radio for a living (who am I kidding, most days are pretty cool). Ya' see, today I got an early sampling of Evansville's newest BBQ joint, a place called Bandana's Bar-B-Q. If you can, take a minute to read my review.

First of all, the location...Bandana's Bar-B-Q is on the far east side, in the building that used to be Firefly Southern Grill, and some short-lived seafood restaurant before that. The actual address is 6636 Logan Drive...just slightly east of Burkhardt. And if I'm not mistaken, they open up to the public tomorrow (Tuesday, September 18th) at 11am.

I started my visit with a big 'ol glass of sweet tea. To me, sweet tea and BBQ go hand and hand...and this sweet tea was pretty doggone good. After eyeballing the menu for several minutes, I decided on one of their lunch specials. I went with the pork and sausage platter (it was actually pork and beef, but I substituted for the sausage). Along with the two meats I got two sides (big baked potato and corn) and two pieces of yummy garlic bread.

A. Big fat baked potato with cheese, butter and sour cream (and extra sour cream).
B. Buttered and salted corn (with a little crunch, not overcooked).
C. What's left of my garlic bread (I could have eaten a whole loaf of that stuff).
D. Smoked sausage (the star of the plate)
E. My pork (despite being labeled as "dry" this was not dry in the slightest).
F. Three of their five sauces (from L to R, spicy, sweet & smokey, and Chicago sweet).

My meal today came "dry", which simply means I had to add my own BBQ sauce. There are some menu items come pre-sauced or "wet". But Bandana's offers five different sauces, so it's nice to be able to mix the sauces at my own discretion.

The meal concluded with a teaser. They gave us one of their signature donut holes. It's pretty simple, it's a little cake donut type treat covered with powdered sugar. They compare it to a funnel cake...and they are right on the money. Them thangs are really, really tasty. My only complaint is that they only gave me ONE. I guess when you're eating for free you can't really complain too much right?

My verdict is that Bandan's Bar-B-Q is definitely worth your time and money. I know I will visit them again. There were plenty of other menu items I want to try.