Mac's Speed Shop — Restaurant in Greensboro

I leave a lot more positive reviews than I do negative. In regards to my first – and last – experience at Mac’s Speed Shop on Battleground Avenue in Greensboro, this is a negative one!

It’s not so much because of the food but more to do with the negative attitude displayed by the hostess working at 2:15 PM on Sunday, August 25, 2024 (female with long hair and dark make-up).

From the moment we walked up to hostess stand to place a to-go order, we knew instantly she wasn’t happy being there. We told her we were there to pick up an online order (provided her with the name and order number) and that we also needed to place a to-go order ourselves. Since we had never been there before, we had a few questions about the menu and received very “short” answers. She certainly didn’t inconvenience herself to elaborate any more than she needed to do in order to help us.

After waiting for approximately 20 minutes for the two orders, a waitress brought two to-go orders up to the front area and placed them on a shelf near the hostess stand for pick-up. Assuming one of the bags was the initial online order that had been placed for us to pick-up, I walked over to the shelf and before I could even look at the ticket numbers stapled to the bags, the hostess abruptly said, “Those aren’t yours!” I went back over to the bar area to sit and wait for our two orders to come out. Finally, after waiting for close to 30 minutes, the order we placed after we got there (just two side items), was personally delivered to us by a waitress. I advised this waitress that we were still waiting for the online order that was placed prior to our arrival. I gave her the order number and she said it should've been brought up to the front already so we both walked over to where the two to-go orders had been placed approximately 15 minutes prior. Well, you guessed it, the online order we were waiting on was one of the two bags on the shelf that the hostess had originally said neither of them were my order! I made it known to the hostess that I didn’t appreciate her barking at me saying neither one of the orders were mine when in fact one was and it's been sitting here for several minutes! Her lousy excuse was, “Oh, I forgot what the order number was." I asked her how she knew neither one of the bags could be our online order if she forgot what the order number was????? I mentioned the order number a few times while I was there so I’m bewildered at how she “forgot” when they weren’t even bombarded with to-go orders to begin with. And, even if she didn’t remember the order number, I certainly knew what it was! It was clear the waitress that helped me was fed up with the hostess’ attitude too but she kept her cool. The waitress was very apologetic for how we had been treated by the hostess. As we walked out, I made sure the waitress knew how much I appreciated her being so nice and helpful. The hostess on the other hand does NOT need to be in position where she provides the first impression for the restaurant. Also, I was told the french fries were not battered but they were and there were no plastic utensils provided for the side items. There won't be a second chance for a...

Ordered for take out 3 pulled pork plates, a full rack of ribs, and some sides for take out a $91.00+ order. We assumed because of all the positive reviews this would be a great meal and myself and my family were completely disappointed in the entire experience. We received ABSOLUTELY NO barbecue sauce with any of the meals even though when I asked the hostess who I paid and who handed me the order if the barbecue sauce was in there I was assured it was in the bags that were stapled shut so it would make it more difficult and the fact the lobby was packed and I was rushed out by the hostess who once I was handed the order after leaving a $10 tip for take out so total order over $100 she immediately asked me to move aside so she had room on the counter preventing me from checking the order. I was also missing 2 sides of okra, the ribs were probably the worst toughest ribs I’ve ever eaten and I’m a U.S. Marine and I’ve had some horrid “ribs” in chow halls in the middle of Afghanistan that were better and more tender when this is a place that claims to know how to make barbecue I will go to the mat to argue whoever prepared that meal for me and my family shouldn’t ever even be employed to even cut a lime as a bar back. I will never be eating at any of these establishments EVER again. I’m absolutely baffled how an entire restaurant staff could screw up this badly as multiple people, cooks, prep staff, front of house staff, hostess, and most importantly MANAGEMENT could be this incompetent and uncaring about the their customers WHO ARE THE ONLY REASON THEY HAVE JOBS completely astounds me. This message goes directly to OWNERSHIP you have massive failures in the operations of your Greensboro, NC facility. Just because you have high traffic doesn’t mean your a great restaurant. As far as I’m concerned and I will spread the word this restaurant and it’s associated “chains, or other locations” are about as worthy of Americans business and hard earned dollars as the big yellow M with burger meat that turns green in 7up (anyone who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s knows, and probably has gone worse since) quantity over quality might as well be ordering bbq from overseas as your most defiantly not going to receive the quality of food and service you would expect from a Southern BBQ smokehouse (gold standard, which I wouldn’t even rate this as Iron standard). Fix this, and your management team needs to seriously address this, as it most certainly was not a one off. I don’t leave negative reviews unless it is truly warranted. Good luck, and God...

Fourth update: the GM did deliver our food and added some extra things which was a nice gesture. Unfortunately, when the original order had been placed we inquired about food allergies/nut products used for all of the items we ordered. One of the free items she brought had hidden nuts in a blueberry cobbler. Our daughter had an anaphylactic reaction and we spent the rest of Father's Day in the emergency room. While we should have called, given the previous request for food allergens and being told they weren't used by staff (for the items we ordered), I didn't even think to check the label until she took a bite and we called the store. Since we had communicated the allergies in writing before it seemed... Well, I didn't wonder now if it was intentional or not. Either way, Father's Day effectively ruined.

Third update: 3 stars. The GM ordered to replace the missing food, and is willing to personally deliver to our home personally so we can finish Father's Day .

Update: 1 star. We tried again for Father's Day 2021. First, the pre-order system wouldn't allow us to place an order. Through Facebook messenger, and working with them and the developer we finally got it to work. I placed a pre-order in advance for a 3 pm pick up.

I showed up and it wasn't ready. I had a seat at the bar while it took about 45 minutes to put together the family packs I ordered in advance that should have been ready to go. Part of that order was 3 beef sausages, and 2 lbs of brisket at $27/lb. The brisket weighed out only 1.7lbs including the metal partial sheet pan container they packed it in. At $27/lb, I expect a full 2 lbs without a container.

The entire reason we ordered bulk, in advance, was to have it ready to go for our Father's Day celebration. Not this. When I called to speak to someone, I was placed on hold for more than 8 minutes when the Facebook messenger person asked me to hang up, and call back to speak with the General Manager. I am still on hold for the GM, still missing part of my order. Horrible way to do businesses and they flat out lied about the weights.

Previous visit: Great selection of beer. Appetizers on point and sauce/wings were wonderful. Ribs were way underwhelming, could have used a few more hours on the grill, and sidecars needed some seasoning, but none could be provided. I would go back for beer and cracklings, and to try the brisket-...