Bunyan's Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Florence

Highly recommended by a co worker. Visit #1.walked in the door and asked the lady who would take my order if they had white sauce with their chicken? Sure do I was told, so I told her I wanted 1/2 a chicken plate. Got beans and potato salads for my sides. Next I ordered 2 large pork sandwiches followed by a rack of ribs. Home I drive. My wife ate her sandwhich first as I got my chicken plate surprise. Opened the lid of my chicken plate to find red sauce all over my chicken and 2 containers of red sauce one hot one mild. I was disappointed. How hard was it to understand what I wanted? I wiped off as much of the red sauce and grabbed 2 containers of white sauce out of my fridge.Cant taste any smoke flavor on my chicken because it had too much red sauce. The chicken was a little dry... My wife ate her sandwhich and enjoyed it. When I ate mine later I again could not taste the hickory smoke taste because the meat had too much sauce. The ribs were too dry but the sauce saved that problem. Chicken was a failure. The potato salad was bad. I reccomend getting a different supplier but the beans were tasty.Still cant figure out the white sauce communication problem. Sandwhich was ok at best and the ribs were tasty with all the sauce.The young man running the register I find out is the son and owner of this establishment.Very friendly as was the lady that took my order...........Trip #2. Went back not for Bar B Q but the infamous hot dogs. I ordered 4 hot dogs from the same friendly gal that waited on me on my first trip. Totally different attitude. She sure wasnt friendly to me like she was when the boss was standing there. Hmmm I wonder why? Unwrapoed my hot dog when I got home and immediately wonder how long they had been made. Oh well I put my usual mustard on it and found it to be pretty good. Will never eat their chicken again. If I want good ribs I will go to the only place that has totally impressed me with tasty and juicy ribs....Smokin on the Boulevard Second to none in the Shoals area. Might consider a pulled pork sandwhich again but....... I dont think so. I did not care for how the lady who took my order treated me. I will cross Bunyans off my list too. I read where people say this is the best Bar B Q EVER My advice to them is to get out more often because this...

Don't you dare go here thinking you want something fancy. Come hungry and ready to eat good bbq at a good price and made by good people. My personal favorite is the bbq half-chicken, but I have had it all and it is all great. The sauce is perfect ( I literally put it on pizza). These days there seems to be a million BBQ joints opening up that sure do try to make it a fancy presentation but they all try to get the flavor from the old school places like Bunyan's and can't seem to figure out how to do it. Anyway, just skip the fancy places and go for something that has a little more heart and lot more flavor in the sauce. Also , ask them to add a hotdog in your order. Trust me, you'll get home and finish eating your BBQ then you'll think to yourself that you should have added that hotdog so you could have later, lol.

For folks visiting the area: Instead of going to a place that will cost you almost 20 dollars a plate, go to Bunyan's and get your order to go. Then head down to McFarland Park ( a stones throw away...well if you have a good throwing arm that is) and have lunch on the river at one of the picnic tables. If the weather is nice, it is the makings of a pretty good day...

An interesting local experience and Florence staple. My lunch companion is a lifetime resident of the area and had been coming here for decades. This is a proverbial 'hole in the wall' BBQ joint with minimal inside seating (I counted 4 tables) and picnic tables outside. Walk up service and short menu makes this the obvious choice got spotted and flavor ... if you know about it. I sampled the BBQ pork sandwich and the "world famous" slaw dog. The BBQ was just fine - mild smokey flavor, tender, with a good house sauce. The interesting thing is that a BBQ joint is famous for it's hot dog, but not the dog itself ... the slaw topping. It was quite good. A little spice, a little tang, lots of crunch ... really quite memorable. I could have eaten a half dozen and wanted more. I'll return to try other slow cooked items like the ribs and chicken stew, but I'll be looking forward to another slaw dog .. or...