Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q — Restaurant in Decatur

You order at a counter and wait there for your food to be prepared. I chose the pork and white chicken meat combo plate, with potato salad and baked beans. No slaw this time, because I still remembered vividly the train wreck that was the slaw at the other Big Bob Gibson place in Decatur.. My wife took the rib plate, with baked beans and slaw – a decision she regretted as soon as she spotted the alien-green heap of mushy cabbage on her plate. We both took a small bite of the slaw and almost spit it out – disgusting. The texture was that of mushy grits and the taste was that of raw cabbage with some artificial sweetener in it. The baked beans were edible, although we both almost got into an argument out of what can they had come. The potato salad on the other hand was very creamy and had a refreshingly neutral taste. I can live with neutrality in potato salad, as long as it is not totally bland, which it wasn’t. It was creamy.

But now to the most important aspect - the meat! The pulled pork was very tender and lean, and a bit on the dry side, which I don’t mind. That way, it soaks up the sauce better. And here, they had not only the famous supermarket-tested, award winning, endless ingredients list sporting red and white sauces on the table, but also a somewhat beaten plastic bottle with a simple spicy vinegar and pepper sauce. That stuff had a good kick to it, and was the perfect companion to the real nice smoky taste of the pork. And, it did not contain any of the chemical compounds of the other stuff. The chicken, all white meat, was also a bit dry, but nevertheless very tender and receptive to the pepper-vinegar sauce. And the skin was just sublime – a heavy smoke taste with some crunch to it. Also, the ribs my wife had tasted extremely well, with just the right amount of smoke aroma. They were not of the fall-off-the-bone variety, but firm and yet tender and succulent. My wife ranks them within the Top 5 of ribs she had in the last two years. So, except for the just so-so or even disgusting side items, everything peachy in Big Bob’s Land? Not quite. Please do yourself a favor and do not chose either the sweet or the unsweet tea for a drink – stick with the stuff that comes out of the soda machine. The tea has a very nasty aftertaste, especially the sweet variety. It kind of tastes as if they brewed it with water from the kitchen...

Went through drive thru today at 11:30 a.m and was the only vehicle in drive thru. Ordered my food and then proceeded to get my food. I get up to the window and my wife asks for a pork sandwich last minute so I ask the lady to add it to my order please. She said “We don’t do that” so I just paid for my order which was a big bobs sampler plate and a loaded pork potato. I then remind her for sauces and utensils and got my food and told her “Thank You” and she closed the window on me rudely. I get home to find out my pork potato has no sauces other than a tiny tiny red sauce, my pork is very skimpy and the big bob sampler the sides were great but the chicken and turkey was over cooked a bit. Overall I paid $35 to eat here and was it worth it? No definitely not because there was no greetings or your welcome sir have a great day. The food was not done right and who eats a potato with no sauce… sadly they are going to lose many of customers like me and this used to be a great place to eat but it’s only getting worse. Also if a customer just wants to add something like a tea or something as simple as throwing a pork sandwich together let them! Money is money and if you don’t want it...

This store jams at getting people through quickly. They were so polite when I had a question about these portion of meat and realized I had forgotten my card at home so I didn't order. When I came back, the line continued to pile up but they were getting people through that line almost as quickly as cars were lining up. I came back to place our order and I asked about how many servings would the cheapest amount of pulled pork would be. So polite and as quickly as possible the smallest portion might make 2 sandwiches and that price was $8+ (after taxes.) After ordering the family pack we fed a family of 3 for 2 meals with leftovers. It was about $33 for the lb of meat and 3 sides which also came with a bag of original potato chips, a pack of fresh buns, and 2 sauces. The sauce is spicy, to me, but the meat is tender enough that just a teaspoon of slaw was enough to not have a completely dry sandwich. This particular store is always busy but it comes highly recommended. Plus, all drives into the restaurant parking lot have a small enough incline that my car doesn't scrape the front end going into or out of it. That's a good plus for detail of a business to have thought of...