Funny you bring up those two places. I was at Q39 on Friday night & Joe's on Saturday night. Seems like we have opposing opinions.
The burnt ends I had at Joe's were definitely returned back to the smoker as they had actual charring, whereas Q39's burnt ends were not smoked again. Q39 had the best brisket, by far & their sauces were absolutely phenomenal. Their sauces really made the meat as good as it was. Joe's spare ribs were amazing & I could probably die a happy man eating those on my deathbed. Finally, I completely agree with you on the Mac & Cheese. Joe's was so good. I'd eat that every day if I could.
I came to the opposite conclusion as you in that I preferred Joe's much more. I'm from the Memphis region & it felt way more at home to me. Nice BBQ places are always slightly jarring as I'm used to them being, at best, mild hole-in-the-walls. Q39 also cost quite a lot of money, so it wouldn't be somewhere I visited too often anyways.
Nothing wrong with differing opinions hahahaha :D
We all have different backgrounds and tastes so things will surely be experienced differently by folks :D
If I get a chance to go back to both Joes and Q39 I'll get brisket at Joes and burnt ends at Q39 so I can do apples to apples comparisons. I only had 1 sauce at Q39 that came with my plate and it was a thick very sweet sauce which is not my preference. The less sweet and less thick leaning to some savory and some spice is always going to be best to my liking.
Other things at Joes I failed to mention but were great!
The Texas toast was surprisingly good when everywhere else it's not even a memorable thing. I know that may sound funny, but they did it right. I only had a few nibbles but I can't remember tasting a better Texas toast (I've been keto for a while now). Also Joe's seasonal veggies was a cup of slightly creamy corn with a tiny bit of jalapeno mixed in and some kind of grated cheese on top. It was excellent for the few tiny nibbles I had! It wasn't quite the same as elote but was like 3/4 of the way there minus the mayo, extra cheese, and lime juice.
Here's more detail on my Joes atmosphere experience and why it scores low for
me.
I never mind a line if I know I'm going to a BBQ place or a restaurant where it's expected.
However I am very put off by people, staff, children, walking in front, behind, left/right, and all over me while I'm in line. The Joe's I went to on 47th was that x10 and is all a product of how the place is laid out inside.
We had people walking around us early in the line to just get into the store part of the building.
Then people walking back through/against us in the line so they could go buy beer.
We then had people walk through and against us in line so they could get fountain drinks, untensils, sauce, and napkins.
We had people walk crossways through us in line to go find seating, or to come from seating areas to get more drinks, utensils, etc.
We had people then walking crossways through us in line once they get their meals or to come get their meals and then again to return to their seating that they had run to save for themselves (not a lot of seating in the place compared to people who want to eat).
This was constantly going on due to how the place is laid out. It was nonstop except in a couple of spots in line where people don't have to cross your spot to get to what/where they need to go.
Then we become those people. We had to walk against the line and then crossways through the line to get our drinks and then to get seating, so it's something that is going to happen to everyone in line and then something everyone in line is going to have to do to others in line when the time comes.
Finally after finishing the meal, we have to cross through the line and against people in line to leave the seating area where we ate. If the line extended into the entrance walk way or entrance doors we would have had to walk against them on the way out of the building but the line was not extending into the doorway area at this point.
This is much more chaos and walking over people than I want to do, or have done to me in any circumstance hahahaha :D
At Q39 we didn't have a line. If there was one, we would have been in line until seating opened up. Then been seated or taken open seating at the bar area and the waitress/bar tender would have handled the rest. No getting walked over or walking over people. Worst case it would have been like a busy night at a Chili's restaurant kind of experience.
There is a price difference for sure where I paid more at Q39. I just don't recall how much more but I do know why in my case.
The girlfriend got an alcoholic drink at Q39 and I added 2 meats onto my plate, where at Joe's she got the the much less expensive $15 chicken dinner plate, I only added 1 meat to the plate, and no alcoholic drinks. Alcohol costs so much it's like ordering a meal for an extra person in drink costs alone hahahha.
This is a bit more context to my 2 visits so far.
