Hugh's Q — Restaurant in Hickory

This was my second trip here. I have to say I was very disappointed both times. Mainly, the food had no flavor, nothing I've eaten here has.We had the pulled pork and rack of ribs both times. The pork had alot of fat in it and no pit cooked, smoked BBQ flavor, no flavor at all. The ribs were tender but again, no flavor. As far as the sides, I tried the white slaw the first time, just cabbage & mayo, not really slaw, and it was watered down and no flavor. I tried the red slaw the last time & except for the color, same as the white, no flavor. First trip I got the fried okra, it was most likely frozen initially, but it was honestly the only good side I have had here. The bunkhouse beans were very bland, seems to be the theme here. My friend had the mac'ncheese, I didn't taste it & he didn't complain but being a very good cook myself and having worked in some fine restaurants in my earlier life, I can't say it looked promising. I had the jalapeño cornbread on my first trip, they used the fried jalapeños I usually buy in the store for salad toppers, ect. sprinkled on the top before baking, so it was basically just cornbread. Our waitress gave us the list of the menu items that had been 86'd, one was the potato salad which my friend had the first time and was disappointed it was not available, so he ordered the sweet potato casserole and said it was pretty good. Then as our waitress took the tables order next to us, the potato salad had reappeared. When the check came, our waitress asked if I wanted a to- go box. I had eaten the pork, sans the fat, but having only taken a bite or 2 of the sides, she asked if everything was OK and I told her everything was very bland, had no flavor, so I passed on taking any of it home. The huspuppies were basically fried cornmeal balls, I would definitely suggest adding some fresh minced onion to the batter. I think if this place intends to stand apart in a sea of BBQ joints around the area, they need to rethink their recipes and have someone that knows how to cook come in to give those that are preparing the food lessons on putting flavor into the dishes. Slaw,hushpuppies and beans are critical to a BBQ restaurant guys. And especially for the star of the show, the meats, get some help to add flavor. We want to taste the smoke people, being from the south, there are basic standards to meet! I see the owner (?) has been responding to the reviews, so I would say one more thing to you. Take a hands on approach, don't leave this to a management company to run. Have the manager on board here or whoever is responsible for sending food out the door to take the time and effort to at least see that the meat on the plates are free from fat and gristle and don't be so chinzy with the portions if you are going to charge the prices attached to them. We left our server a very big tip both times. Even though she might have offered a free dessert to compensate for the disappointment expressed in an effort of good will, she is the reason for the 2 stars. This is again an example of poor management and training the staff. Good Luck, I hope you take the well intended suggested...

Had high expectations. Went on early Sunday afternoon specifically for wings. We were seated, ordered drinks then the waitress asked to take our order and told us they had just ran out of wings. So we expressed our disappointment and said we specifically came for the wings. We ordered, all of our food was barely lukewarm and some of it was actually cold. Pulled chicken, creamed corn, Mac and cheese, hush puppies all had decent taste, but was cold. Then another customer came in and sat behind my husband, different waitress came to take her order and the customer said she wanted to place a to go order and inquired about the wings. That waitress responded that they only had 5 left and that the wing special is for dine in only, so the customer said well, I'll take those 5 for here and whatever she didn't eat, she would take them home. So, suddenly they discovered 5 wings and instead of offering to my husband who said he came specifically for the wings, they sold them to the next customer. Bad way to do business!!! While our food tasted good, we were disappointed that we couldn't get wings, then overhear the very next person get them and also, the food needs to be warmer. Upon leaving, we walked up to the waitresses and mentioned the wing situation and that the food was cold. Our waitress admitted that was "her bad", that they had been out of wings but then someone failed to pickup a to go order, so that's how they found 5 wings and that if we would like, we could talk to the kitchen manager. Now, they had also told the customer behind us that the wing special was dine in only, so how did someone else place a to go order for them?? We declined and said this was our first visit and this turned out to be a bad experience. At the very least, when our waitress realized they did have wings, she should have asked if we would like them, and once she realized the error, she should have addressed it with us and some type of courtesy could have been made. Instead, we had to bring it up, there was only us and the lady that sat behind us in the dining room, so it wasn't like we weren't going to hear or see her meal. Seems like the staff needs to be trained to be consistent with what customers are being told. Can honestly say that we probably...

Hugh's Q is excellent. Imo, this place is either on par with if not better than the bbq spots within the area. Everyone has their own preference but this place is pretty good.

They use a traditional wood smoker. Not one of them electric water smokers, where the smoke is light and you don't get a bark on the food.

As a bbq enthusiasts as myself, id happily pay for bbq here and not have any displeasure with the price or food. Like I said before, the smoked meats here actually have a bark on the ribs & brisket. And idk what kind of wood they use but it must be some kind of oak or something because the smoke wasn't super pronounced but I don't mind it.

I was surprised that bbq was actually seasoned too because I've been to tons of bbq spots in the area where there wasn't enough seasoning on the meats. But this place does bbq justice. The spare ribs were a bit on the thinner side in terms of meat but I may have just gotten one of them smaller slabs by chance. The brisket was great. It was juicy and tender.

If you're a chicken wings kinda person, go when they have their wing specials which are Wednesday and Sundays as of now. Best value for wings and great for wing lovers. The smoked wings was exceptional. It was smoked and probably deep fried or something because it had the smoke flavor and was also crispy. Idk however they cooked it but it was great. For such large wings and cooking process, they were still juicy and not dry. They definitely nailed them wings.

Sides were great as well. I preferred the potato salad more than the mac & cheese but they were both good.

Long story short, this place was great. It wasn't a place where I ate and left underwhelmed and regretted spending money and time there. Imo, I think that they're portions vs the prices are very fair because I got more food than I would have expected at other places. Especially...