On a menu where a Big Slab is $36.69 and a brisket sandwich is $18.89, the difference between ordering direct and ordering through a third-party app is not small change — it is often twenty or thirty dollars on a single dinner. Ordering online from Famous Dave's directly is the cheapest way to take this food home, and it takes about the same number of taps.
The three routes, ranked
- The Famous Dave's app or famousdaves.com. First-party pricing, rewards accrue, no platform markup. Always the correct first choice.
- Phoning the restaurant. Slower, but the only route that lets you ask whether rib tips are still on and negotiate anything unusual.
- DoorDash, Uber Eats or Grubhub. Convenient and expensive. The delivery cost breakdown shows what the markup does to a $48 order.
App or website?
Functionally they run the same ordering engine, and both will hold a saved location, a saved card and a reorder history. The app is worth installing for two reasons only: rewards tracking sits inside it, and offers are pushed there first. If you eat at Famous Dave's twice a year, the website is fine.
Both let you set the restaurant before you build the cart. Do that first — menu availability and pricing are location-level, and rebuilding a cart after switching restaurants is tedious.
Pickup: curbside and To-Go
Online orders are collected either inside at the To-Go counter or brought to your car. Curbside availability is a restaurant-level decision rather than a chain-wide guarantee, and where it exists you are usually asked to check in through the app or call a posted number on arrival. Parking bays are marked at most locations. If curbside is not offered where you are, the To-Go counter is generally near the front door and separate from the host stand.
How far ahead to order
| Order | Realistic lead time |
|---|---|
| Sandwich, single platter | 15–20 minutes |
| Ribs, 'Que Combos | 20–30 minutes |
| Feast For 2 or Founder's Feast | 30–40 minutes |
| All-American BBQ Feast | 45 minutes, and phone it in |
| Anything at 6:30 PM Friday | Add 15 minutes to all of the above |
The app's quoted time is honest at lunch and optimistic at Friday dinner. If you have a fixed time you need the food, schedule the order rather than placing it live — scheduled orders get slotted into the kitchen queue rather than joining the back of it.
Rewards
Famous Dave's runs a loyalty program through the app and website, with a signup offer, a birthday reward and points that accumulate against spend. The specifics have changed more than once over the years, so treat the exact earn rate as something to verify in the app rather than a fixed number. Two things are consistently true: rewards only accrue on orders placed directly, never on third-party platforms, and the signup offer is worth claiming before a large order rather than after. If you are ordering a $99.89 All-American BBQ Feast, join first.
What to check before you pay
- Sauce. Online orders do not have a table with five bottles on it. Add sauce cups explicitly and pick deliberately — the sauce guide covers which goes on what.
- Sides. Standard sides are $3.29, but pint sides at $6.69 are the better buy for anything shared, and single à la carte sides are $4.49.
- Corn bread. Muffins are $1.99 each or $7.79 for an order. They do not appear automatically on every configuration.
- Utensils and napkins. Barbecue without napkins is a genuine problem. Check the box.
Catering is a separate door
Large-format orders — party packs, trays, anything feeding twenty — do not go through the standard online cart at most locations. They are handled by a catering request form or a phone call to the restaurant, usually with a lead time measured in days rather than minutes. The catering guide covers packages and per-head costs; the main menu page has every price the online cart will quote you.