Barbeque Exchange — Restaurant in Gordonsville

Unfortunately, I find myself wanting to give this local spot another try, only to be let down every time. Growing up nearby, this place quickly became the talk of the town about 20 years ago. Sadly, today, most people would be better off not stopping. If I was starving and it was the only business open for 100 miles, I'd keep driving. Upon entering the establishment through the front door, you are blasted with about 50 mph winds from the air curtain above, only to be further startled by the slamming door behind you, which lacks any sort of soft close or spring mechanism. The interior follows up with the pig theme from outside, with every surface covered in random pig ornament. The light bulbs are a fluorescent color (6000k or so), and creates a cold uninviting ambiance. Not to mention, there are no less than 8 ceiling fans on full speed throughout the inside. Patrons are led through a queue for the ordering station, which wraps onto itself through a tight corridor in the rear by the beverage refrigerators. Towards the ordering station there is a shelf taking up valuable space that could be used by the line of patrons seeking to order, but instead it's empty of what may have once been an apparel section. The menu is crowded, and hard to understand. Despite waiting in line for over 35 minutes to order, I still felt like I didn't have a good grasp of my options. The staff seemed inefficient and slow to process orders, despite most of the food being preprepared behind the display glass. Also oddly, unlike most bbq restaurants, there is no obvious aroma of a bbq restaurant inside. We ordered the family platter, and the pulled chicken was essentially just chunks of chicken, and had a sweet tomato flavor; no where close to actual bbq. My wife and I believe it is very likely it was cooked in a crock pot. This would explain why the restaurant had no obvious smells that would lead you to believe meat was being smoked or cooked on any flame. This was further confirmed by the lack of a fire or smoke outback from the view of the parking lot. Our daughter is a huge mac and cheese fan, but she wouldn't even touch it. I can't say I blame her, as it was the most bland cheese sauce, perhaps instant, with textureless noodles, and absolutely overcooked. I have never had worse mac and cheese, especially from a bbq restaurant. The spicy cold slaw was spicy and nothing else to rave about, and over watery with vinegar. Which led to a point that many others have made regarding the flimsy paper plates, which is compounded by the water slaw and pureed mac and cheese. The pumpkin rolls were the best thing we had, whereas the other rolls were cold, dry, and nothing to brag about, as others have stated. The baked beans were decent, at least they were warm, but again nothing to rave about. Honestly, I will likely never be back.

Bottom line, I question whether any of the food is actually made on fire, on a grill, or in a smoker. If you told me there was an assembly line of crock pots in the back, with nothing but bottles of ketchup and salt for flavoring, I'd believe you.

Save your money.

Someone should open a real barbecue restaurant in town, this place would be shuttered in weeks.

I wish I had something nice to say. The promise of a nice small town barbecue joint has kept me coming back over the years, hoping to support a local business, but this place doesn't deserve our...

Leaving a review to give honest feedback for the restaurant and to guide customers. Not saying don’t come here but there are some deal breakers to stay away from. I wanted to love this place. We pass by on our travels into this part of VA often. Glad we supported local but…All I wanted to do was almost restaurant impossible analyze the restaurant (dramatic it’s not that bad but it ain’t good). The brisket was a terrible tragedy. We had thin sliced meats that were completely cooked it was like it was off a bad buffet line and had been sitting for hours. It was dripping in fat and 0 flavor. Thats really sad you need to take that off the menu if you’re claiming to be a BBQ joint. The “grilled” chicken was so dry and sad as well. Again, take this off the menu and why do you not have smoked chicken? Take the wings off too. Don’t bother eve having wings if they’re fried wings at BBQ joint. Huge misses. Last point, the assembly line ordering situation is a massive cluster and needs to be reworked. You could get so many more customers in if you cleaned that up. Staff was really friendly but the whole operation of ordering was alll over the place.

Now for the good…the pork sausage was cooked well and had a nice crisp with a juicy inside and dry rub. Sides were generally solid. In particular the beans were cooked well and the unexpected tomato base was actually welcomed. The ribs were cooked well and were quite meaty. The best part was the sauces outside on the tables. Well done. It was nice to try them all waiting for our meats. The sauces almost mask the bad meats. If only you work out the kinks. Lot of people ordered the pulled meats and they seemed to enjoy them.

All in all - Dont try to be good at all these things if you know you can’t master them and consistently serve them well. Slim down the menu and fix the ordering line and you’d have an even...

Here's the thing. I REALLY want to like this place. As someone who loves meat and spent a lot of time in Texas, a good barbeque place is exactly what I enjoy, and this one is just down the road from me, but I've been several times now, and am continually disappointed. First, let's talk price. $20 for a 2 piece platter, which would be fine if they were decent quantity, but I had the pork belly and brisket, and there were 2 or slices of pork belly and 3 or 4 small slices of brisket. Sides were reasonable(ish) portions. The only thing large was the "roll". Add on a drink and a dessert and it was over $30 for one person. Then, let's talk meat. Both the pork belly and brisket were tender, but DRY. I should not have to add sauce to have moist meat. And not to mention that if you get food to go, a 2 meat platter only includes one SMALL thing of one type of barbecue sauce. If you ask for 2 different kinds, they will charge you extra, even though if you eat there, there are 4 different sauces in large bottles at the table. The mac and cheese was grainy. I wanted green beans, but they make them with tomatoes??, so did not try. The roll was not actually a roll, but just one of their buns, and, like the meat, dry (though soft, I'm seeing a theme here). The star of the show was the peanut butter pie for dessert. I am a baker, so usually disappointed by desserts, but this definitely did not disappoint. Unfortunately, I had also ordered and paid for a cupcake, and somehow that did not make it into the to go bag, and I did not check before I left, so some of that is on me. And I'm sure they would have been happy to provide it if I went back but a) I'm not planning on returning and b) the whole point of getting food to go is to eat at home, not have to go...