Wichita’s newest barbecue restaurant opened its doors less than two weeks ago. My friends and I made it a point to check it out to get a first look at The Angry Elephant.
====================
2959 S Hillside St
Wichita, KS 67216
316-719-3969
Monday – Friday: 10:30am – 8:30pm
Saturday: 2pm – 8:30pm
Closed on Sunday
Cash/Card Accepted
====================
The Angry Elephant is in the same building as 316 Meal Prep is housed. When you’re making your way there, pay attention. The restaurant is tucked away in a strip center off of Hillside. One thing they may want to do is get some better signage or visuals off of Hillside to point customers there…. or a statue of a huge angry elephant.
One thing to keep in mind is there are still in their soft opening phase. While their menu board shows plenty of items, many dishes were not available. They told limited options would help them start to build out their full menu and know what was popular. At the moment, it’s just a soft opening menu.
They had some jalapeño deviled eggs on the menu but those currently weren’t available. As a big fan of deviled eggs, I’ll need to go back strictly for that.
We started off with the burgers for my friends children, wings, then some 2 and 3-meat plates with brisket, ribs, and pork.
The meals were brought out once at a time. By the time I received my meal, my friends had already finished theirs. One thing we would highly recommend is timing. It’s a little awkward when you’re sitting there eating while people are watching you. Getting everyones dish out at the same time or even close to the same time frame would have been better. Also, the time to get our meal was more on the slow end for a BBQ restaurant and something Angry Elephant will hopefully improve on as they get their processes down.
Now regarding the food, there wasn’t a person who disliked the meats. One friend liked the smokey flavor of the brisket and ribs. The meat on the ribs had a fantastic flavor and came off the bone easily. The wings however were exceptional; plenty of meat on the bone-in wings and a good about of zing with a minor amount of heat.
The beans were the best sides they had available that day. One friend mentioned while mushy, he liked the meat that was added to the beans to give them a similar smokey flavor to the meats. The fries were the least liked item. They didn’t keep the crispy feel and were a little soggy when they came to our table; they were also pretty salty.
The sauces available were fairly basic and adequate. They lacked a true spicy BBQ sauce which is all of our preferences.
All in all, they have some growing pains to work through. The food was on the colder side when it came out and as mentioned the timing of the arrival is point of criticism I’m sure they are working on. Pricing is about on par with what you would find at the locally owned competitors. We all did say we would go there again and give them a second shot.
Since they also own 316 Meal Prep, that is something we would be curious to try to with their prepared meals.
With not many BBQ options available in that area of town, we certainly do wish them the best and hope they can succeed. The Angry Elephant has two additional things going for them. Number One: Their name is catchy and unique. We loved it. Number Two: They are close by Spirit so that’s a great draw of business for them if they can get those processes down. With many Spirit employees only getting 30 minutes for lunch, speed and efficiency will be of great importance if they want to draw that lunch crowd.
Last thing Angry Elephant will need to do, get their menu online. If it’s there, then it’s not easy to find. I usually take pictures of the menu and post them here but forgot to.
Happy Dining,
Eddy
To nominate your restaurant or event to be considered for a review, please email us with your restaurant information. We are always open to suggestions.
Check out more from Wichita By E.B. by visiting our social media sites:
