Kansas City Barbeque

I found this place with my bestie after needing a place to relax for a while. It's so cute! The inside is charming and warm with an outdoor patio. There are heat lamps outside with a waterfall wall and another enclosed area with couches and tables.

Pretty busy place due to its Top Gun affiliation with the original piano from the scene of Goose playing and singing.The menu is pretty simple and the whole place is nothing fancy or anything like that. It has a plenty of tables to sit outside.Pulled pork sandwich was ok (a bit dry though) and the server was quick and friendly. Priced below average. Worth visiting once for movie kicks but definitely not for food.

Outstanding baby back ribs! Our whole party was very satisfied. Well worth the trip. Thanks for the great service!

Go for the history... not the food. Good service and average food. Cozy atmosphere with lots of Top Gun history!

As other people has mentioned, the beef brisket was dry and had no flavour. The bbq sauce tastes ok. Service is quite slow despite it wasn't too crowded.

What an iconic San Diego hangout! Right on Harbor Dr, great patio, authentic barbeque, and plenty of beer. Martin and Cindy are the best hosts in town.

Actually good barbecue. Don't know why such a lot rating, don't care to read em. The service was fast and courteous. Could be some more parking.

Love this place and it's barbecue. Also nice to be where a scene from a great movie was filmed. Service is wonderful and the prices are decent. I highly recommend anyone visiting San Diego to come eat here at least for one meal.

Get a drink. Love that a Top Gun scene was filmed here. Enjoy the moment, but don't order the straight from a can food.

This is like a little hole in the wall but it is famous only because a scene from Top Gun was filmed there!!! Goose and Maverick playing the piano and singing Great Balls of Fire!!! BUT...... The food was awesome and very reasonably priced!!! Great Balls of Fire!! I'm going back for sure!!!

Be sure to eat here when in San Diego, outstanding barbecue sauce. - Had the potato salad, beef brisket, corn. Budget friendly too! Staff was polite and friendly. This was the place in 1985 top gun bar scene, so fun famous place too. Highly recommend!

Certainly a spot worth trying, the food is awesome and well prepared, the rates are reasonable and it is constantly well organized there. Kudos.

Wonderful memorabilia from Top Gun. Very cool to eat in the same restaurant that Goose and Maverick ate at. 👍 Great brisket too!

I ate at Kansas City BBQ with a friend while at a conference. When we arrived the place was packed so we sat at the bar. I ordered the pulled pork with french fries (sandwich size, but no bun). The meat was very tender and tasty. The barbecue sauce that it was served with was also very good. I thought that the gentleman working at the bar did a great job even though the place was packed. Good experience overall.

My brother and I stumbled in here needing a late night food stop after a few cheeky beverages elsewhere. After stashing our Bird scooters behind some convenient dumpsters we seated ourselves at the bar and ordered wings and rings. Eventually the penny dropped that this was “the Top Gun bar”. And yeah they trade on it a bit, but in a knowing kind of way. But the beer was cold, and they were open late and the wings tasted hot and salty and right. Of course we made complete tools of ourselves trying to play “Great Balls of Fire” on the piano. The barman and clientele were remarkably understanding.

Fun diner / pub setting from movie set. BQ was really good!!! Wait staff was great !! If you are looking for something upscale this may not be the place for you.

The spot is excellent and spacious, the food was delicious and the prices were very economical. quick, effective service and very personal staff. Recommended.

Stumbled upon this place not even realizing it was featured in the original Top Gun movie. Service was great and cheerful. Smoked chicken dinner and fried pickles were awesome.

I always stop getting some food here. I love the swift customer service and well made dishes. Never disappointing.

BBQ is good, not great but good. Service is OK. Prices are good for what you get and I did enjoy the dive bar feel. Defiantly worth going if you are a Top Gun Fan, seeing the memorabilia and the reference photos inside was cool. I’m not local so I wouldn’t go back just for the food, but if I was local I’d be back.

We we're told to sit anywhere, then our waitress took about 10 minutes to come ask our drinks order. $8.95 for a glass of wine?!?!?!?! Sangria at that! I should have gotten a beer. And no offer to give a military discount, despite the military promotion. Food is good, though. I'll order ahead and just take it home next time.

I had an amazing in this spot. We loved the first-rate environment and the menu. The staff members were very affable. I’m happy we finally managed to eat here.

All I can say is....GREAT BABY BACK RIBS OF FIRE!

Thank you so much for hosting the best Superbowl Party in Southern California. Great staff, great food and great patrons. Go Chiefs!

The food here is good, but the service can lack sometime. The staff can seem down in the dumps at times or seem to busy to give complete attention to you. I like everything for the most part. I love the brisket and the pork and I love that they give you bread too! Not always at BBQ places do you get bread. It is something small but makes a huge difference.Kansas City Barbeque

Wow! Chris at the Bar has amazing customer service. He is Friendly and Kind. I had never eaten at Kansas City BBQ even though I'm a Native San Diegan. So I got a little of everything, Brisket, smoked chicken, ribs, mac, corn and beans!!! The food was absolutely Delicious!!!! I do recommend Kansas City BBQ.

Great food, great prices. Very relaxing atmosphere!

This is truly the location where the sleazy bar seems in Top Gun were shot! It is a quaint little barbecue joint almost on the waterfront. The food is amazing! Service friendly, fast and very excellent! Prices are fair, you get a lot of great food for the price. Some of the meatiest, and fall off the bone tender baby backs I have ever had, and that includes having them in Kansas City itself! You don't need to dress up, just come as you are and enjoys some of the best barbecue ever!

Love this place good food and i love top gun . Never had a bad experience

This place exceeded my expectations. Being from Texas I thought it would be alright, but nothing spectacular. The brisket was a little dry, but the ribs were great. What I liked most was that the sides were different than what I'm used to. The beans were almost like baked beans, and the coleslaw was vinegar based. Potato salad was tasty, but needed a bit of salt. Mac and cheese was pretty disappointing and seemed old, but was edible. We couldn't get the waitress to come over so we couldn't get pickles and onions for the brisket. Eating the coleslaw with brisket was a close approximation. Service wasn't great, but got the job done.

I’m more of a central Texas style bbq guy, but this is probably the best bbq I’ve had in California. Makes it even cooler knowing Top gun was filmed here.

Beef brisket was amazing. The server was also very nice and got the orders right. If we visit SD again - we will stop by again. Thanks guys

Top gun filmed here. The scene where Maverick is playing piano!

Where to begin....Soda fountain wasn't working, out of Mac and Cheese. Chili cheese fries didn't even have the cheese melted. Food and service just okay. Took over 20 minutes to get bill and checkout. Definitely a tourist trap. Save yourself some money, get your pics and leave don't waste your money on the food.

I eat in this spot a lot since I work in the area. I must say the service is always awesome and they keep the spot well kept at all times. Prices are convenient and they serve big portions.

Part of San Diego history. Great food and location. Plenty of noise from street and train tracks just behind building. All part of the ambiance.

What a fun, unplanned stop this was! We had been exploring the neighborhood for a bit and then decided to stop for a break and a cool beer. The food smelled so good, we had to share a plate of brisket. Wow, terrific and a super sauce! Chris the bartender was a hoot and made it fun for everyone there. And the top gun connection is cool too.

This food was delicious, I inhaled it. And the fact that top gun was shot here is icing on the cake.

Great presentation of food. Services was good. Staff were nice. Eating experience was good. A fresh and flavorful food.

I have been to KC BBQ almost every time I've been to SD the last couple years. So many great things! The staff is awesome, especially Jen M and Michelle. Outdoor patio is such a great place to relax and enjoy good food and a drink. The burnt ends were amazing. Hopefully I'll get to watch a Chiefs game there this season. Five stars for everything!

It's a bar, it has nostalgia. It's fine. Nobody is writing home about this place but the beer is cold so what else do you really want?

I can’t attest to the food as I was recovering from food poisoning from another restaurant but I came here to watch the super bowl and it was a lot of fun! If you’re looking for a place in San Diego to watch a Chiefs game, this is your place!

I tried the brisket sandwich with Mac-n-cheese as a side. Brisket was dry but had some flavor. Mac was below so-so. The server was friendly and the food came out really fast. I enjoyed sitting in the sunshine while dining. Some navy pilots came in while I was there and sat right in front of me. They dropped "F" bombs loudly the entire time and told stories over beer... I didn't so much bother me as I was wearing my headphones and I get the vibe of the place. I suppose it just kind of proves the point that it's more of an iconic place to grab a beer and a quick sandwich and take in an experience than it is to make it a barbecue destination.

Average BBQ, very friendly staff, great local culture, fairly slow service. This place is cool to visit and the BBQ wasn't terrible, quite dry, but come for the culture. I ate outside but from the looks of it all of the top gun schwag, which is heavily marketed, is inside so I'd recommend eating in there if you do try this place out.

Hoping it was going to be good, it wasn't of course. Macaroni was awful, gritty and odd tasting. Brisket sandwich was fine, sausage was good, but plain. The outdoor view was cool at sunset.