Circle S BBQ — Restaurant in Florida

If you are an American Patriot or a US Soldier/Veteran, please read my review!!!

My Son, is a Soldier, in the US Army and was home for Christmas. He left on January 4th, to return to Fort Moore (Benning). He wanted some great BBQ before he had to go back so, his last night my boyfriend took my son to Circle S BBQ restaurant and placed a togo order. He was really looking forward to enjoying his ribs!!! Unfortunately, the ribs were mostly fat and VERY grisly, and the chicken was raw inside and incredibly greasy on the outside skin. It was so bad that he couldn't eat it. It really broke my heart. I just wanted his last meal at home to be perfect! I called the restaurant and asked to speak to the MOD. The young lady that answered said she was the MOD. I shared with her exactly what I have shared in this review. Her response was not at all what I expected. First, she said that their ribs are pretty grisly and that you have to really bite hard because they are not fall off the bone ribs, they are smoked. I was completely shocked! She just told me that she is aware that the cooks serve substandard BBQ. She then said that I could bring them back and swap it for something else. I explained again that he didn't want something different! He wanted good ribs. She told me that if she gave him new ribs, they would be exactly the same. I couldn't believe that this was a manager saying these things!

But what REALLY upset me was what she said and did next. When I told her my son is a Soldier and he was leaving the next day, she actually said, "Oh my God, he is a US Soldier. You're going to use that!" And then she hung up on me. I was shocked and VERY angry!!! I just could NOT believe what had just happened. She mocked my Son's service to our country! A couple minutes later, she called back, suddenly trying to be nice. I told her that I had given her an opportunity to male it right, but she chose to be completely unprofessional. He still did not want something else, especially after my conversation with her!

I believe in supporting small businesses, over chain places so I looked up the owner. I sent him a private Facebook message, hoping he would reply. It's been four days and I have not received a response from him either.

I've been in retail management for 15 years. If a customer had a bad experience, I would want to know! I would want to fix it! All I wanted was for her to apologize and make it right. Give my son great ribs or refund the $32.99 we paid for the meal he could not eat. That's it!!! Our bill was $54 for 2 meals! That's a lot of money, but I didn't care. I just wanted my Son to have an awesome last meal at home. We will not be dining at Circle S BBQ ever again. Not just because we had bad food. We will NOT go back because they employ a manager that does not respect United States...

I am MORE than mad. I'm angry. I probably didn't handle the situation right, but I've been indirectly called a liar.

I called this establishment prior to ordering my doordash order and asked 2 questions:

1: Does BBQ sauce come with it? I don't eat BBQ meat without sauce. Just a personal preference. The employee stated it doesn't come on it, but it's automatically supplied on the side. Perfect, great I will place my order.

2: Do I have to order doordash or do you do delivery? The lady ensured me they don't have a delivery service and that I would have to order through doordash.

Which was totally fine until.....

My order arrived sealed from the knot they made in the bag. I proceeded to open my order and to my surprise there's NO BBQ. As I stated, I don't eat BBQ meat with no sauce. I opened they meat to check maybe they decided to put it on it, nope! The meat was dry and flavorless. I immediately called Circle S BBQ and was transferred to the manager. After telling Joanna the whole story, she said, let me ask the employee that bagged your order if she put it in? Ma'am I am telling you MY sealed bag had no BBQ sauce. After a brief hold she came to tell me her employee told her she put it in. What?? So your employee is calling me a liar. Joanna said that maybe that the disconnect was the BBQ fell out of the bag. It was sealed from YOUR knot. I proceeded to tell her this is unacceptable and asked what are you going to do for me? She said she's not calling me a liar. Your not, but your employee most certainly is and indirectly. She was not helpful and didn't want to fix the issue at all. Miss Joanna feels like her employees are right and not the customers. I spent $58 dollars on food. All I wanted was BBQ, not a free meal. Joanna had zero to none customer service experience. This will be my first and last time at this restaurant. Since I'm in the same line of work, I will be letting all my customers, coworkers, friends, and family to avoid this place. Losing customers for a small business owner is vital. All because I'm a liar and your management team didn't want to make it right! I had to order another doordash order from Dollar General just to get some BBQ sauce. I had to pay $7.50 to correct Joanna and her...

Great for me. Visiting from Boston area. Nice people that work there, didn't know if the owner was on premises. That's always a nice touch if that was the case. I've visited 100's of "BBQ" places, big and small, as well as roadside stands across the country. I'll drive an hour vs. a place around the corner for better BBQ. The atmosphere is great, decorated rustically, dine indoors as well as out.

The ribs were really good. I didn't go with great because a couple of the ribs in the combo plate seemed dry at the ends, possibly indicating they had been sitting for a while. I loved the dry rub sauces on the side. They have 6 or 7 in-house flavors to choose from. Range from "Carolina" (vinegar based) to sweet, mild, hot, and really hot. The beans were fantastic. The beans had some brisket meat along with a mild hint of onion and a terrific flavored sauce/juice ? I had the deep fried ribs, I was worried but pleasantly surprised. Great assortment of soda, old-fashioned type, as well as typical sodas. The cornbread was ok, a little too moist for me. I was, however, disappointed with the brisket. The young lady at the register who took orders didn't seem to know much about different styles of BBQ/ smoked meats. She knew everything was smoked, but I was asking if it was Texas style or Carolina, etc... she didn't know. I also asked whether the brisket was sliced from the flat or point. She didn't know. I know that that is not important to a lot of folks, but there is a big difference. I prefer the point which is more flavorful cut, which is not as lean as the flat. The young woman got some assistance, and we straightened out the order. Or so I thought. 90% of my order of brisket was lean, which tends to be drier as well as lean. Also, the point is the costlier of the two if you're buying at the supermarket. I would recommend it, but make sure you get what you...