Kim's Barbecue House — Restaurant in Dunn

My extended family on both my parents' sides all live in the Dunn/Erwin/Coats area so I have vague memories of going to Kim's as a child--though my family would almost always go to either Holt's Lake BBQ, Meadow Village Restaurant, or (later) White Swan BBQ.

However, during the pandemic I became for a few months a full-time caregiver for my grandmother who was in her late 90s and lived in Dunn. Kim's was a godsend at the time! I would call it in, run over 20 minutes later, pick it up, and repeat several times a week.

Though it calls itself a barbecue restaurant, it also has a ton of other dishes featured on each weekday ranging from salisbury steak to chicken pastry (a Southern version of chicken and dumplings with thick flat noodles) to seafood. They also have a ton of sides with some available everyday (fried okra, mashed potatoes, green beans, beets) and some only available certain days (blackeyed peas---like a good southern restaurant they always ask you if you want chopped onion on top and the answer should always be "yes", field peas, turnips, and my favorite, stewed cabbage).

The food is all decent with only the fried shrimp and BBQ chicken being a little bit subpar. The fried pork chop is the best thing on the menu and incredible. I also really like their chicken salad and meat loaf. The chicken is fresh and good. My grandma loved it because they had a bunch of dishes that she grew up eating and cooked for her children and grand children--dishes like the chicken pastry, stewed beef with rice (her favorite), tenderloin with rice and gravy, etc. along with sides that she grew up eating/cooking for us like pickled beets, stewed cabbage, field peas, turnips, blackeyed peas, etc. She was also a big fan of their fried fish.

The service is also great---partly because many of the servers knew my grandmother--Dunn is a small town after all.

Anyway, looking back now a few years later (she passed in 2023 at age 100) I can say that she might not have been able to make it through the pandemic if it wasn't for Kim's... a truly...

I pulled up in front of Kim’s after the gym, looking to get a to go plate of vegetables but I had never been there before and the place I had just went to was closed. Other places I passed said they didn’t open until 11am so I was trying to see if this place was open. As I was driving around to where all of the parked car were by the side of the store a Caucasian lady what standing outside walking towards the entrance. Which was fine with me but what puzzled me was when she saw me and turned around to check her car to make sure that the doors were locked and then stared at me and while standing beside her car. She was standing beside a white sedan Chevy Cruze. I assume she worked at the place. I stopped my vehicle and looked back at her and she just keep staring and standing near her car. I assume she was waiting for me to leave. I drove slowly around the parking lot looking for a park so that I could look up the menu on my phone to see if they offered what I wanted to eat and she walked slowly, looking at me and kind of following me around the building and staring at me. So I stopped and rolled my window down and she said can I help you. I replied, do you need something and she said I was wondering what you were doing. I said, I’m driving my truck and she said, well I was wondering if you were looking for somebody or needed something and I said no. As I continue to drive around the building towards to road to exit she hesitantly walked inside. I definitely will not be eating here. As a black woman it’s suspicious to this lady just because I’m in the...

We were driving through NC and I wanted something that wasn't a truck stop, a chain, or a buffet. So this looked like a decent place. We sat down and we were helped by the sweetest grand-motherly type waitress. We ordered the fried chicken and pulled BBQ pork along with sides. She warned us the fried chicken would take a half hour, because it wasn't a special today (I think that's what she said, I'm not good with accents). While we waited, she brought or beverages and hush puppies. I thought the hush puppies were wonderful, not like what they try to pass as hush puppies up in the northeast. The fried chicken was worth the wait. It was so crispy and moist, I didn't even need a napkin because there wasn't a drop of grease on my fingers or on the chicken itself. Its like magic, I didn't even know that was possible. My BBQ pulled pork was surprisingly dry, I'm used to it drowning in some kind sauce. It was moist and had plenty of flavour, not in your face sickly sweet BBQ sauce flavour, but a balanced smokey, seasoned vinegary flavour that didn't overpower the meat. As a bonus, our platters came with little dishes, so we could help ourselves to the soft serve ice cream machine. But we were too full to indulge in dessert. I definitely would stop by again if we happen to...