The Experience
Made a 300 mile trip to eat at this heavily reviewed and praised bbq joint. Arrived on a rainy Saturday at lunch. As others have noted, the inside of the place smells very strange. Not sure if it is the food or just the place. Only 20 or so people in line but took 1 hour and 15 minutes to make it to the window to order food. I had to use the restroom during this process and it is outside, around back, up some stairs, and into some seriously sketchy part of the building that I got out of quickly. Not advised.
Person taking orders listened to what we wanted, but did not write it down or tell anyone. Finally the nice lady fixing the plates asked what we wanted, the other lady told her about half our order, and I interjected with the rest. This went back and forth. I tried asking for pork skins several times, but it was like I wasn’t even being heard by those looking right at me. They are building one plate at a time and nothing is well staged, so still took a while. They handed over the food, and then I had to ask to pay, and was again asked what I ordered by the same person. Then they could not make change right. Needless to say it was a chaotic and inefficient process. There are three small tables inside, but no one was sitting there. There are picnic tables outside, but again it was raining. Took food to car to eat only to find the order wrong. Ordered a chicken plate, pork plate, and bbq sandwich. Got two pork plates and no chicken. Had to go back inside and wait again for some more time to get the plates swapped.
The pork is very good. Better than I expected whole hog to be. The sauce is vinegar-based, good and hot. The beans and slaw are straight out of cans/containers from a big box store. The bbq sandwich is just a container full of pork and a baggie with two pieces of white bread (served with the plates as well). So the only difference from the plate is the canned sides. Chicken was OK but dry, did not eat much of it. Portions are very large and prices are cheap.
Rodney Scott was on site and was very kind in letting us tour the pits after we ate. That was probably the best part of the trip. Here’s the thing. Few people are doing this type of bbq anymore, so go for the experience. To see it and say you where there. Rodney is not getting rich doing what he is doing where he is doing it at. He is keeping alive a tradition that you may not get to see/experience again. So it is worth the trip. Not sure I would go back unless it was very convenient, and it is not going to be the best bbq you have ate if you frequent bbq joints like I do. With some minor changes the experience could be highly improved. But that may not be what it is really all about.