City Barbeque — Restaurant in Charlotte

First visit to this restaurant. Looked over past reviews and food sounded delicious. Just craved having ribs. Ordered pork plate for my wife and slab of ribs with multiple sides as well as dessert. When I was called to the pick up area the girl was packing up the order. No ribs. She questioned the people cooking and they had to go back and look over the order. They went to their storage areas. No ribs. Went to other storage area. No ribs. Went into back. No ribs. Hey...we're sorry. Ran out of ribs. Choose something else I'm told. Looking over I see orders coming out for people coming in AFTER me. Couple of racks of ribs going out on their trays.

I looked back over the other reviews. Looks more like the rule rather than the exception running out of ribs. It was explained to me as well as in the other review they don't want to have left over food. Then again at 6:00 PM and the dinner crowd is coming in you want to have a substantial amount of food ready to serve. I can understand if it's close to closing time running out or supplier runs out. Not having it ready and serving later arriving customers very poor form and customer service.

Was so angry by the service I took the food for my wife but lost my appetite for dinner. Told I needed to come back sometime and try the ribs. Lol...are you going to have any to serve? Other review even called in and told come and get them only to find out there were none. Very disappointing all around.

To all I would be careful going in with a desire for any particular food. You may be surprised that it won't be available when you get there.

Addendum: Fool me twice...I tried them in the past and had the experience of poor service and bad food. Had an apology from the manager and appeal to try them again. Sorry to say I stepped in the same trap twice.

Ordered my food and came in to pick it up. 2 combination meat plates, puppies, Collards, beans and slaw. When I got home and opened the tied up bag 2 dry meat plates. NO SAUCE, NO COLLARDS, END PIECES OF CHARRED RIBS, NO TEXAS TOAST. Called store to complain and got the standard "sorry we were busy, come on back". I live a distance from the store so come on back gets me cold dry food waiting on my return. Asked to speak with the owner/general manager. Not available but will call you tonight. No call back then or all day today".

Now that's the customer service and food they will provide. I'm sure to get a comment after I post this that says sorry let us get in touch to make it right. Funny that a simple call couldn't have been made to this point to make it right. Also, if you had done it right in the beginning providing edible food and the entire order this would have been a rave review. Unfortunately, I wasted my money and what was served made a speedy trip to the trash. Don't waste your...

Horrible Horrible experience with school fundraiser. First off, when me and my family went to pick up dinner around 615, they were out of burnt ends, smoked turkey and ribs, which is basically what we wanted. Secondly, the manager seemed pretty upset that we were there for a fundraiser making our experience even less favorable since they already didn't have the food that we wanted to order. Lastly when we asked for extra brisket instead of ribs for one of the family meals we received nothing but pieces that were mostly fat and inedible.

I understand that there was a certain monetary amount that we needed to reach on order to receive and money for our school, but when they were out of most of the meats, and the high end meats which would havd helped us reach that monetary goal, I made it almost close to impossible. I talked to a few other families as well and some of them just walked away since they were out of the ribs. It is not like we showed up just before closing and expecting them to have everything. Even the manager made a comment that he could have made more earlier in the day but it would have taken too long. I feel that we should have been warned or there should have been enough to make it at least through the dinner hours so that both the restaurant and our school could have made a profit. I have set up fundraisers at multiple restaurants and had nothing but glowing success, raising 10% of $2000 in sales, but I fear with the situation as it was we barely made $10 for our organization. There are a lot of other bbq places in the area that I could have set up a fundraiser with that would have had at least ribs available up almost until close. I am sure that you can't do anything about this situation but I just wanted to make you aware of what happened. It is unfortunate but being out of ribs and smoked turkey is almost like going to texas Roadhouse and being...

UPDATE: After posting the review below back in May, the manager reached out and offered a gift card if we would give the Gallaria location another try. We went last night, and the food was light years better than our first experience. My pulled pork was much leaner and I was able to eat all of it...none of the fatty waste that I had to deal with the last time. My wife and son also enjoyed really good pork and brisket respectively. In addition, the staff treated us wonderfully, even before I ever presented the gift card to pay for my meal. We experienced very friendly service on our first visit (as noted in the original review), and this time the staff was even better. So, I am changing my review to 4 stars and definitely encouraging others to check out the Matthews City Barbeque location. The fact that the management was willing to listen to criticism and to offer a second chance meal is something that you don't see too often anymore. Nice job, Jordan and staff, and thank you!

PREVIOUS REVIEW: Went to the Matthews location (Galleria) for the first time yesterday evening. The staff was very nice, but unfortunately the BBQ was a big disappointment. I ordered the pulled pork, and it was so fatty that I threw half of it away. I appreciate que places that take the time to trim the meat and serve it as lean as possible (Thank you Stallings Rock Store!). The meat that I was served was pretty bad. My wife ordered the same thing and hers was not nearly as fatty, so obviously the staff is not paying attention to how they are serving their product. The sides were good, but my mac & cheese was not even hot...makes me worry about their food handling practices. Maybe it's because this location is new, but they have a very long way to go to be considered a top notch BBQ restaurant. I will not likely return since there are so many other superior choices...