South Street Smokehouse — Restaurant in Lafayette

Our whole experience was, in a word, disappointing. Given the many glowing reviews, we decided to check the place out, but we must've caught them on a bad night or something. Or, as another reviewer noted, Lafayette natives might not really know what good barbecue is if they haven't traveled elsewhere. The service was at its best cold, and more accurately rude. I tried to order the 1/4lb Turkey and Brisket Plate, and was curtly told I couldn't order that, despite it being clearly listed on their menu (on the wall right next to the register). Ended up with the 1/2lb version, with southern greens and Cole slaw as sides, and my wife ordered the Carolina pulled pork sandwich. I tried to pay with a Discover card, and the man taking our order nearly rolled his eyes as he handed the card back and said they didn't take Discover, like I was supposed to somehow know that already. The food was underwhelming as well. My brisket was dried out and tough, and I tasted no smoke, and there was no flavor from any kind of dry rub (bark and smoke ring were absent), so it just tasted like steamed beef. The turkey was more tender and juicier, but also didn't appear seasoned and didn't taste smoked. The coleslaw and greens were unremarkable, and served in very small portions in tiny plastic cups I've only ever gotten at fast food places. My wife's sandwich was also bland, as was her small-portioned side of mac and cheese. Both of us slathered our food in their house BBQ sauces for some flavor, but the sauces themselves were underwhelming; my wife got the Carolina vinegar sauce, and it just tasted like straight vinegar (she lived in Raleigh for two years, and serving that sauce down there would've started a fight). All told, we spent $30 for food and drinks, which was too much for the quality of food and the total experience. We frequent a brewery (Teay's River) that also does barbecue, and would pay comparable prices for much better food, be able to have a beer, and be at a full-service restaurant. If you're looking for truly good barbecue, I'd highly recommend going...

For Midwest BBQ it wasn’t bad but could have been a lot better for the price $18~$19. I got a two meat platter of brisket and smoked sausage with the beans and potato salad. These are my favorite items at any bbq restaurant and what I judge the quality of the restaurant by. The bbq sauces were pretty good, I used the two spicy sauces and didn’t try the others, I imagine that the other sauces weee a subset of the spicy sauces. The brisket wasn’t very smoky (no smoke ring) but had a decent flavor. The smoked sausage was just like the Eckrich Farm smoked sausage that you can buy at Walmart, definitely don’t recommend the smoked sausage. The beans were okay but I made them a lot better by adding bbq sauce to them. The potato salad wasn’t anything special and seemed fairly store bought (don’t recommend). Finally, the sweet tea and regular tea tasted watered down. Overall it wasn’t bad for Midwest bbq but they could try a little bit harder and have much better quality food...

I've been here a number of times over the years and I just can't wrap my head around it. They obviously pride themselves in their meat production, because it's delicious. What I don't understand is why everything else is so haphazard and given little thought. We came in for "dinner" at about 6pm on Saturday. No one in the place. They were out of a couple items so we ordered 8 oz Brisket, 2 sides and a drink. Tiny plastic sides dishes, hand written notes on the drink machine that a flavor was out, Sauce bottles dirty and unorganized, many dirty tables, floor filthy, and the guy taking the order was pretty unconcerned with whether we were there or not. Clearly it was an hour before close and they had just checked out way before that. The thing is the prices are not low. This is not a discount BBQ place. It's good food at a high price in a rundown environment. I just don't get it. Probably won't be back after this visit. There are just too many better choices for a meal...