In my experience, most bbq joints have a hard time churning out consistently good food. Rarely will it ever equal the quality of what you will pull off of your own smoker.
I think this primarily due to them having to feed masses of people. When you cook at home (or a competition), you are most often eating your food at the ideal time, after a good rest and proper cook.
Trying to time a precise amount of bbq for your customers, not knowing exactly how many you have or what they will order makes it very difficult to get those ribs to the customer after the ideal cook and resting time. Hence, places come up with alternative methods (Pre-cooking, grilling, baking, braising, etc..)
My wife loves my ribs, but often when we go out for dinner, she will order ribs. And invariably, she is always disappointed with the outcome.
All that being said, I did have two pleasant bbq experiences at Rendevous and Neelys Interstate when I visited Memphis last year. Either of these two places were probably the best "bought" bbq I've had.
