Small Town BBQ — Restaurant in Friendsville

First off: the good… Clean restaurant and well maintained. Good decor and ambience And then: The bad… When I look to eat at a bbq restaurant I actually would like to “smell” the bbq. The smell alone creates an expectation and is intrinsic to a good bbq house. Small town had zero bbq “smell”…none. I decided I would not go for the bbq and instead wanted to try their burger. It was ok…the best part of the burger was the grilled onions and fresh tomato. The actual burger was flavorless and dry. It actually needed some fat to give it the flavor. Along with that I chose a side to go along with it. On the menu it said “hand cut” fries and also smoked beans. The only way these fries were hand cut were if someone at the frozen potatoes plant had to cut off a bad spot (which would never happen) and the only “smoked” on the beans came from the label off the can when they were opened…no flavor. But since the menu said those things it misled me to believe they were actually going to be fresh cut fries and real smoked beans on a smoker (that must not have been working the day I was there). Smoked beans I am accustomed also could come with bits or leftovers from the previous day of pulled or chopped pork in the beans for additional flavor. Nothing.

All that being said, I really love to frequent independent small restaurants to support them and they seem to have a decent following. But in my case this trip was very disappointing and was a miss. I wish them well and hope they are very successful. Just not for me…which, as I said, is...

Went last night for dinner with my girlfriend and parents. This place is so fantastic I don't know where to start. It's a hidden gem in Friendsville in a old vintage building. The staff is super friendly and helpful. They steered us tword a great meal. I got a sampler bbq plate. It had tender smokey pulled pork with fantastic sweet bbq sauce. Pulled chicken smoked perfectly with that sauce as well. A super thick slice of smoked bologna that was like a religious experience. The smoked bologna was one of the best things I've eaten in a while. Simply awesome! We had fries that were cut like McDonald's but much better. Great with their bbq sauce. We had boudin balls that I never ate before but were incredible. It's like a spicy potato pancake hush puppie deep fried perfectly. We had your standard southern baked beans. Very good. We had coleslaw that was really good as well. We finished the meal with a phenomenal banana pudding. No vanilla waffers it was like a cold banana soup. Not what I'm used to but I loved it. This was a great meal at reasonable prices $14.00 for the sampler. A lot of food on that plate. I really loved this place! I highly recommend a visit to Small Town BBQ. You...

I just tried this place today in the hopes of finding a BBQ place (in the south of all places) that serves good BBQ. I will make a compliment sandwich. The coleslaw was good, it just missed some more vinegar to make it real good. I got the triple sampler. The fried bologna is just not nice at all. It has a bad texture and flavor. The pulled pork is wet, not from being juicy, but like it was frozen and thawed to serve. It had no real flavor other than the smoke-taste pork should have, but the wetness of the meat made it inedible. The pulled chicken was without any flavor and had the same feel of being thawed out for service. Both the pork and chicken had a very small amount of a BBQ sauce, but it had nothing special about it either. I would not order from here again, nor would I recommend anyone to either. I had the fried okra as well. It was a breading with no seasoning at all and was not cornmeal based, which is what one expects here in the south. I am from Alabama, and I know southern food. This place seems to be pretending to be a BBQ joint and I would assume the owners are not...