Your Behind BBQ Birds And Bones — Restaurant in Florence

Visited my friend in Arizona this past week and she recommended we try out this new BBQ place due to a few Instagram videos she had seen. I'll start off by saying it was an hour and 10 minute drive there, and a two hour drive back, but was absolutely worth it.

This restaurant has only been open a few weeks, but you can tell it's a well-oiled machine. When we arrived, which was about 12:30PM on a Friday, all the tables were taken. There are 8 tables, all of which are 4 tops, but the wait wasn't long at all, not even 10 minutes. Its a lively little spot, but not loud, which is very much appreciated. There are pictures and accolades all over the walls, which makes the spot feel cozy and home-y. Every table comes with a bottle of house BBQ and spicy BBQ, both of which were delicious.

They do have specials, and once they're gone, they're gone! So keep that in mind. They had brisket stuffed jalapeño poppers that I wanted to try so badly, but unfortunately were sold out, so get there early!

When we sat down, we had Jess as our waitress who was PHENOMENAL. She was so patient, kind, joked around with us, and truly made an already great experience even better. We ended up ordering 6 garlic parm wings, 6 hot honey garlic (dry rub) wings, a brisket burger with bacon and fries, a mac and cheese side, and lastly their special strawberry cheesecake/cake dessert which was called the 'Jolene.'

Straight out the gate they bring you free seasoned fresh pork rinds...yes, you read that right! Gone are the days of boring chips and salsa or bread! They were crunchy and so delicious that I physically had to stop myself from eating them so that I didn't get full before my meal.

The smoked wings were perfection. They're definitely not your average wing when it comes to size, these are big! They're flash fried so they're nice and crispy, but still have the tender juciness from the smoking. The garlic parm weren't overwhelming, it was the perfect amount of sauce. And the hot honey garlic had a nice little zing, not overly spicy at all. The blue cheese was so good, if I wasn't already so full, I probably would've ordered another side of it to dip my fries in.

I had never had a brisket burger so that was a first for me! Had a nice smoked flavor. I definitely recommend adding the bacon as the crispiness of the bacon complimented the tenderness of the brisket so well. I poured the house BBQ sauce on my burger which elevated the whole dish. The mac and cheese side was super creamy (even added a little of the spicy BBQ sauce to this, because it's so tasty!)

Now, onto the dessert. I don't know what genius came up with this concept...but they deserve an award of some kind. The dish we had was a layer of cake on the bottom, with a layer of strawberry cheesecake above it, and then topped with whipped cream and strawberries. We loved this so much, we got another one to go! Unfortunately I believe this is a special, so I dont think it'll always be around. I'd recommend following their IG to see what specials they have going on.

I think another element of this experience that made it so special, is that the owner was walking around, checking in on everyone, running food, cooking and even wiping down tables. I think it's incredibly admirable to see an owner take such pride in his business. It's so evident that he has a passion for both food and the community he serves.

With everything we ordered, plus two soft drinks, and not including the second dessert we ordered, our total came out to around $65, which honestly felt like we were robbing the place! I would not have expected that low of a bill with the amount of food we got, the quality of the meat, and the excellent taste.

It pains me to say I probably won't be back given the fact that I live in Florida, but I'm so glad I got to have this experience. Unlike me, if you ARE in the area and you're looking for your newest BBQ spot, I can assure you...

We were going to try the wings, but somehow they were already sold out. As a result, We both got a 15 dollar burger which includes fries and had water to drink.

We both thought the burgers seemed pre cooked. I do have pretty high standards and but when he told me he didn't want to finish his, I realized it wasn't just me. Coworker said he couldn't finish it and was just going to take the remaining half home and asked for a box. A different person came to clear the table and tossed it. The waitress was pretty busy and this person was just trying to help. Since he didn't like the burger, it wasn't a big deal, just a compounding factor

Anyways, I didn't get an itemized paper bill. You pay on a portable electronic small device. I definitely take some fault for not looking closer, but somehow my bill was 49 without tip. When I got the device, I just remember seeing the tip percentages in big font and I was shocked, and they started off with much higher % s then I'm used to seeing. I believe 25 all the way to 30%. I manually entered my tip to something more reasonable for 2 $15 burgers.

I'm now wondering why my bill was so high without the tip. I sorta wonder if either we were charged for a different table or this place has some crazy additional service fees. I wasn't given a paper receipt so I couldn't review it all. Again, def partly my fault for not examining it closer, but the math...

Okay, so we live in Queen Creek and my wife found this bbq place in Florence to checkout. So today, we decided we'd take our 1969 Pontiac Firebird on a Sunday drive to Florence to check it out. Long story short, after we parked the car, I soon realized that I'd locked ourselves out of the Firebird and so I asked the waitress if the restaurant had an old wire coat hanger laying around (I had a Chevelle in high school and I, unfortunately, can unlock one easily with a coat hanger). She couldn't find one but got the owner's dad, Jerry, to look for one. Jerry looked all over the restaurant, then looked downstairs for one. Disappointed that he couldn't help us, he told us he'd be right back. He actually left the restaurant and went a few blocks away at a construction site and found some wire laying around in the garbage, brought it back to us, and I was able to use it to get back in our beloved old Firebird. What a relief! Thank you, Jerry!

Now to the food. My wife is from Texas and does all of the barbequeing in our family and she's very picky when it comes to bbq. I'd classify us both as bbq snobs. Boy were we impressed! The slab of ribs we ordered were out of this world. So tender! And the cole slaw tasted exactly like high quality slaw should, with just the right amount of sweetness and tang.

This is how you perform legendary customer service and create customers for life! We can't...