Rick's Barbecue — Restaurant in Florence

On 11/13/2023 at 7:30PM, I ordered a loaded baked potato & a water. There were no lids for the water cups so they provided a styrofoam soft drink cup for me to pour my water into so that I could have a lid. There were no orange slices at the drink station; both bins had lemons instead. When the food was brought out to our table, I noticed no green onions on the potato even though that is part of the menu item. When I questioned it, they took several minutes to check with the back kitchen area only to inform me they were out. I asked if I would get a small portion off what I paid since that item was listed as part of my order. I was told "No, they don't cost anything". I would not have ordered that item if I had been informed of the ingredient shortage when I placed my order. It also had someone else's hair on it which the three employees standing at the register saw me remove. They never offered to have a new one fixed for me or ask if I wanted to replace my current order with another item from the menu. When I went back to my seat with the food and tried to eat it, parts of the potato were cold and other areas were barely warm. It ruined our entire meal so we put all of our food in to-go boxes and took them home. I will cut away the "hair area" and throw that away, then microwave the remainder. I wil l also go to the grocery store and purchase green onions (which, NEWS ALERT, are not free) to add to a dish which should have included it to begin with. This was the worst experience at a Rick's Barbecue location that we have ever had. No wonder there was only ONE other customer in the entire restaurant. These employees (who were young...just children...and are NOT to blame) should have been trained on handling this differently from the moment an item was ordered from the menu in which ingredients were out-of-stock. They also should have been trained on how to "make the issue right" when an order goes wrong so that the customer does not feel that their only recourse is to leave a bad review in an effort to get an issue corrected for future patrons of the restaurant. If training cannot be provided, then at least have a designated manager onsite at all times so they can escalate the situation to them for better...

Decided to swing by and grab my usual rib plate at the Cox Creek location and noticed they've changed the menu board and slightly increased pricing. Aside from the menu board changing, the quality has changed too. The ribs were not that great. Also the loaded potato salad was very watery and quite unenjoyable. My lunch was further ruined when some family brought in a screaming child that just wouldn't stop yelling at the top of his lungs, which triggered my anxiety and I just couldn't take it any longer. I just asked for a to go box, topped off my fruit tea, and bolted out the door.

As far as the ribs, they were not very flavorful and the only way I could actually eat them was drowning them in BBQ sauce. Typically I just eat them as it was because I enjoyed the smokiness. What the hell happened?

I asked a friend who eats there regularly and he too noticed a reduction in quality in taste and he's debating on whether to go back or not.

I also remember that the rib plate came with a hash brown wedge a few years ago and I guess when they stopped serving them that was a sign. I don't know if I'll go back to that particular location. I hope the other locations haven't gotten as bad in quality.

Edit

Their green beans are just absolute trash. Obviously just cheap canned green beans with no effort to add any additional seasoning. I understand that fast food style food use canned food like these, but at least some effort in seasoning before serving is used. This was just straight out of can flavor. I'm downgrading my previous 3 star to 2 star.

It's like they just aren't putting any effort anymore in providing seasoning in any of their foods and just merely raising prices and reducing quality. I'm done eating here.

Just generally...

Absolutely the worst BBQ meal that I have ever eaten in a restaurant. I travel for a living, so I eat out a lot. I usually like to try local que, and this place was recommended by the girl at the hotel's desk. The first time in over a year that I have actually thrown away most of the food that I had ordered.

Let me start with the sides. The "vinegar slaw" tasted just like the description. You would have sworn that someone had just chopped up some cabbage and dumped a bottle of vinegar in it. No spice, no subtlety, just like drinking vinegar straight from the bottle.

And speaking of straight from the container, did they just poor the cold baked beans straight out of the generic can and onto my plate? Cold, watery and absolutely devoid of any BBQ flavor at all.

And the Ribs. If you can call them that. They were so overcooked that they actually tasted powdery. The meat fell of the bones, but that was because the bones were actually mushy and soft. What did they do, boil them? I would say that they were the worst ribs I have ever eaten, but I didn't eat them. They just went in the trash with most of the sides.

The only good thing on the plate was the pickle spear, and I am surprised they didn't find some way to...