Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q has a reputation among people who take barbecue seriously that is out of proportion to its size — 35 restaurants against Dickey's 380 — and the reason is simple: it cooks everything from scratch, in house, every day. No commissary, no shortcuts, and a cheese biscuit that has become the most talked-about free item in American barbecue. Here is the full menu with current prices.
Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q prices at a glance
Every price quoted in this guide, collected up front. Prices vary by location and change without notice.
| Order | Price |
|---|---|
| Full Rack Baby Back Ribs | $33.00 |
| Ribs and Pulled Pork Combo | $23.08 |
| Half Rack Baby Back Ribs | $22.12 |
| Half Rack St. Louis Ribs | $20.12 |
| Plate | Price |
|---|---|
| Brisket Plate | $18.11 |
| Smoked Chicken Plate | $15.04 |
| Smoked Turkey Plate | $15.03 |
| Pulled Pork Plate | $14.12 |
| Smoked Sausage Plate | $14.12 |
| Side | Price |
|---|---|
| Creamed Corn | $4.00 |
| Baked Beans | $4.00 |
| Mac and Cheese | $3.99 |
| Sweet Potato Casserole | $3.99 |
| Coleslaw | $3.50 |
| Green Beans | $3.50 |
| Jim 'N Nick's | Sonny's BBQ | Lucille's | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pulled pork sandwich | $11.07 | $9.29 | $11.99 |
| Brisket sandwich | $14.06 | $10.99 | $12.99 |
| Full rack of ribs | $33.00 | $19.99 | $24.99 |
| Cheapest plate | $14.12 | $14.99 | $18.99 |
| Sides | $3.50–$4.00 | $3.49 | Included |
| Free bread | Cheese biscuits | No | Biscuits |
| Locations | ~35 | ~100 | ~25 |
| Approach | What you order | Cost (6 people) | Per head |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual plates | 6 × Pulled Pork Plate | $84.72 | $14.12 |
| Mixed plates and sandwiches | 3 plates + 3 sandwiches | $75.57 | $12.60 |
| Ribs shared | 2 full racks + 4 sides + biscuits | $83.00 | $13.83 |
The cheese biscuits
Start here, because everyone else does. Jim 'N Nick's serves small cheese biscuits at every table, made from scratch, and they are the item the chain is best known for. They arrive free with table service, and an add-on order is $2.00.
Order the extra. They are the cheapest thing on the menu and the item most likely to be the thing you remember.
Ribs
Two things worth noting. The half rack of St. Louis ribs at $20.12 is the cheapest rib order on the menu and, because St. Louis are meatier than baby backs, the better value of the two. And a full rack at $33.00 against two halves at $44.24 saves $11.24 — if two of you want ribs, order the full rack and split it.
BBQ plates
Plate pricing sits in a tight $4 band, so choose on taste rather than budget. The pulled pork at $14.12 is the entry point and the most reliable thing the kitchen does.
Sandwiches
- Brisket Sandwich ($14.06) — the most expensive
- Smoked Turkey Sandwich ($12.07)
- Pulled Pork Sandwich ($11.07)
- Pork and Slaw Sandwich ($11.03) — Carolina-style, slaw on the bun
- Smoked Bologna Sandwich ($9.05) — the cheapest sandwich and the most Southern thing on the menu
Smoked bologna deserves a paragraph. It is a thick slice of bologna, scored and smoked until the edges caramelise, and it is a genuine Alabama and Oklahoma barbecue tradition that almost no national chain carries. At $9.05 it is the cheapest way to eat something at Jim 'N Nick's you cannot get anywhere else.
Sides
The creamed corn ($4.00) is the one to order. It is made in house, it is closer to a side dish than a vegetable, and it is the second-most-mentioned item after the biscuits.
Starters, soups and salads
- BBQ Nachos ($13.13) — pork or brisket over chips
- Pork Rinds ($5.03) — made in house, and the most Southern starter on any chain menu
- Brunswick Stew ($7.03) — a Georgia and Alabama tradition; tomato, corn, lima beans and smoked meat
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup, bowl ($8.09)
- BBQ Chicken Salad ($14.05) / Smoked Turkey Salad ($12.96)
Brunswick stew is worth ordering if you have not had it. It is a genuinely regional dish, it is not on any other national barbecue menu covered on this site, and at $7.03 it is a cheap way to try something specific to the South-East.
Desserts and drinks
Chocolate Cake ($7.06) and Banana Pudding ($7.07). Sweet tea is $3.00 and a fountain drink $2.99.
The banana pudding is made in house like everything else and is the better of the two.
How Jim 'N Nick's compares
Jim 'N Nick's is not the cheapest on any single line, and its ribs are notably expensive at $33.00 a full rack against Sonny's $19.99. What you are buying is a from-scratch kitchen at a scale where almost every competitor has moved to a central commissary — and on the plates, sides and sandwiches, the difference shows.
What "from scratch" actually means here
Most chains at this size prepare sauces, sides and desserts in a central facility and ship them out. Jim 'N Nick's does not. Each restaurant hickory-smokes its own meat, makes its own sides, bakes its own biscuits and desserts, and makes its own sausage.
Two practical consequences for you as a customer. First, consistency varies slightly by location in a way it does not at Dickey's or City BBQ — a scratch kitchen has more variables. Second, the sides are noticeably better than the category norm, which is why the creamed corn has the following it does.
Ordering for a group
Jim 'N Nick's does not publish a simple by-the-pound sheet the way Mission BBQ or City BBQ do, so group ordering runs through the catering desk at individual restaurants. Two pieces of advice:
- Call rather than order online. Catering here is handled locally.
- Order the biscuits in bulk. They are the thing people remember, they cost almost nothing, and no other chain has an equivalent.
Portion planning for any barbecue caterer is in the BBQ catering guide — the rule is one third of a pound of meat per adult with two or more meats.
What to order
First visit: Pulled Pork Plate ($14.12) with creamed corn, plus an extra order of cheese biscuits ($2.00). That is the chain in one meal. Cheapest interesting order: Smoked Bologna Sandwich ($9.05). For two people who want ribs: one full rack ($33.00), split. And order the Brunswick stew ($7.03) if you have never had it — you will not find it on another national menu.
The house-made sausage
Worth its own section because almost no chain does it. Jim 'N Nick's makes its own sausage in house, and the Smoked Sausage Plate at $14.12 is the cheapest way onto it. Most national chains buy sausage in; the ones that make it — Jim 'N Nick's and a handful of Texas operations — are telling you something about the kitchen.
Order it as a side item alongside pulled pork rather than as a plate on its own, and you get the best of both for around $16.
Hickory, not oak
Jim 'N Nick's smokes over hickory, which is the Southern standard and a different choice from the post oak used in Central Texas. Hickory is stronger and sweeter, it suits pork far better than beef, and it explains why the pulled pork here is better than the brisket.
Practical consequence: order pork. The brisket plate at $18.11 is the most expensive thing on the menu and the least representative of what the kitchen does well.
Ordering for a group
Jim 'N Nick's does not publish a by-the-pound sheet, so there is no dramatic saving available the way there is at Dickey's or City BBQ. Group ordering here is genuinely just ordering more food, which is unusual and worth knowing before you plan an event around it.
Calories, from Jim 'N Nick's own published figures
Every number in this section is Jim 'N Nick's own published calorie count for that item, not an estimate. The Cal column in the full menu further down this page carries the rest of them. One structural point first, because it explains most of the blanks: the chain publishes its sandwich meats separately from the bun, so there is no single whole-sandwich figure to quote — the plates are the fair comparison, and those are what the table uses.
| Order | Calories (published) |
|---|---|
| Smoked Turkey Plate | 340 |
| Pulled Pork Plate | 490 |
| Brisket Plate | 980 |
| Half Rack Baby Back Ribs | 760 |
| Full Rack Baby Back Ribs | 1,700 |
| Coleslaw | 120 |
| Green Beans | 130 |
| Baked Beans | 180 |
| Sweet Potato Casserole | 260 |
| Mac and Cheese | 330 |
| Banana Pudding | 720 |
| Sweet Tea | 120 |
The plate figures line up almost perfectly with the ordering advice further up this page. The Pulled Pork Plate is 490 calories — the entry-priced plate, the thing the kitchen does best, and the lightest of the published smoked-meat plates bar the turkey. The Brisket Plate is 980: exactly double the pulled pork, four dollars more expensive, and the least representative thing the smokers do. Ordering pork rather than beef here saves you money and 490 calories in the same decision. If you want lighter still, the Smoked Turkey Plate at 340 is the lowest published plate on the menu.
The rib arithmetic is worth the same second look as the pricing. A half rack of baby backs is 760 and a full rack 1,700 — more than double, not double, because a full rack is more meat than two halves before anyone counts sauce. The advice to buy the full rack and split it between two therefore works on both counts: it is $11.24 cheaper than two half racks, and split two ways it lands each person at 850, close to a half rack anyway.
Sides are where this menu is genuinely well behaved. Coleslaw at 120 and green beans at 130 are the light picks, baked beans 180 and sweet potato casserole 260 sit in the middle, and mac and cheese at 330 is the heaviest published side — a spread of only about 200 calories across the whole list, so you can choose sides on taste without much consequence. Dessert is the opposite: banana pudding at 720 is more than the pulled pork plate it follows, which is worth knowing before you order both.
The one thing we cannot give you a number for is the item the chain is famous for. Jim 'N Nick's publishes no calorie figure for the cheese biscuits, so none appears here or in the menu below, and we are not going to estimate one. The practical advice is unchanged and does not need a figure: they arrive free, they keep arriving, and four of them is a real amount of bread eaten before your food has reached the table.
Where the value sits
- Smoked Bologna Sandwich ($9.05) — cheapest item, and something no competitor sells.
- Half Rack St. Louis Ribs ($20.12) — cheapest rib order and the meatier cut.
- Pulled Pork Plate ($14.12) — the most reliable thing the kitchen does.
- Extra cheese biscuits ($2.00) — the best two dollars on the menu.
- Brunswick Stew ($7.03) — regional, cheap, on no other national menu.
Where it does not
- Ribs are expensive. $33.00 a full rack against $19.99 at Sonny's and $16.99 at Full Moon.
- Brisket is not the strength. Hickory and beef are an awkward pairing, and at $18.11 it is the priciest plate.
- No by-the-pound pricing means no cheap route for a crowd.
- Only ~35 locations, nearly all in the South-East.
What "scratch kitchen" costs the customer
Jim 'N Nick's is a slightly more expensive chain than its peers, and the reason is structural rather than a margin decision. A restaurant that makes its own sausage, sides, biscuits and desserts needs more skilled kitchen labour and more prep space than one reheating commissary product. That cost lands on the menu.
Whether it is worth paying depends on what you order. On sides, biscuits and pulled pork, the difference is obvious. On ribs, where you are paying $13 more than Sonny's for a comparable rack, it is much harder to justify.
Practical notes before you go
- Call for catering. There is no published by-the-pound sheet, so anything above about six people goes through the restaurant directly.
- Ask about the sausage. It is made in house and availability varies by day.
- Go at lunch. Weekday lunch is the quietest window and the pork has just come off the smoker.
- Do not fill up on biscuits. They keep arriving, and four of them is a side dish's worth of bread.
- Check the location. With only around 35 restaurants, nearly all in the South-East, a Jim 'N Nick's is not always nearby — the full menu directory covers chains with wider coverage.
One last recommendation. If you are ordering for someone who has never been, get them the pulled pork plate with creamed corn and an extra order of biscuits. It is $16.12, it is the chain's whole argument in one tray, and it is the order most likely to bring them back.