Moe's Original BBQ — Restaurant in Lakewood

My hat goes off to the young man who took my order. He did an excellent job trying to get answers for my allergy from the kitchen staff and manager. I was assured that I would be fine and they would take care of me. It went downhill very quickly from there. I placed my order and waited for my food. A blonde lady brought my tray, and immediately, I saw cornbread next to my chicken. I asked if the cornbread was gluten-free? She didn't know even though she worked in the kitchen. She went to find out and came back to say no, it has wheat in it. I told her to please take it back, for I'm allergic to wheat. She just grabbed the cornbread off the plate with her bare hands that were touching the chicken. Fiesr thought was how dirty her hands were and if she washed them. Second, the thought was that the chicken was cross contaminated. I looked at my food, and I was confused because in the South bbq, chicken was pulled, not on the bone. I took a biology class years ago that I learned all the bones and muscles and ever sense can't touch meat on the bone, so that was out. I got baked beans, which were nice and warm, so I ate them first. The Coleslaw was nothing but strips of lettuce and no flavoring and very dry. Maybe a little lemon juice on it. That was very disappointing because again in the south there is maynaise, pickle juice etc and messy but good. I couldn't eat the Coleslaw. The only thing left was the chicken. I grabbed a small piece that wasn't cross-contaminated and bit in. The meat was ice cold. I was already grossed out by chicken on the bone but cold? I was done at this point with this restaurant and meal. I walked out upset , hungry, and pissed out. I had to pay for a second meal.

Would I recommend this restaurant? Absolutely not!

Would I return? Absolutely no!

If you have a gluten allergy or celiac disease stay far away from this restaurant and chain I found out. To the manager/ owner that was there who paid little to no attention to his staff member trying to get info for me on if I could eat there or not should have stepped in and took care of it instead of walking off ignoring me and them. That's bad...

Jennifer ordered $17 worth of their ribs ( 6 ) and had to go get something to eat after we left - there was so little meat on them, they were small, dry and tasteless. She said the mac & cheese seemed like it had bread filler, instead of cheese, and didn't taste good at all. The mac was overcooked and more like paste.

I ordered the smoked chicken, and it tasted dry inside but had liquid over it. The corn bread and coconut cream "pie" ( actually in a small cup - not a piece of pie ) were decent.

The "cole slaw" ( small cup ) had onions in it and tasted weird.

It was annoying that they didn't have actual silverware to cut and eat the chicken with, and the plastic knife and fork wouldn't cut it. I had to wind up eating it with my hands, and don't like to have to do that.

And they didn't have straws, of all things. First restaurant I've ever seen that didn't have straws. It couldn't have been from any environmental concern about plastic, because they had the plastic knife and fork and plenty of other plastic stuff there. And as I pointed out, if they were concerned about plastic straws, I'm old enough to have previously used these things called "paper straws". The woman waiting the tables asked if they impacted the environment, and I said "no", they were paper. You used them and threw them away. Biodegradable.

I asked why no straws - they didn't know, and shrugged. I tried taking the pop drink with me when I left, and had to just put a top on it, and when I tried drinking some in the car, I had to remove the lid, and wound up spilling it all over myself, the car floor and the center console.

We're both disgusted and turned off, and won't be going...

I used to love the one closest to me but after my last experience I don't believe I would visit the establishment again if I was paid. First I called to place a take out order for my wife and I and was left on hold for over 10 minutes and then hung up on. Then when I called back on my way to the store the girl answered the phone... to which I explained that I wanted to speak with her manager. When he got on the phone I told him the situation, and the first thing out of his mouth was NOT I apologize , but instead" well we are busy". So being that I had just pulled in the parking lot and saw that there was a total of 2 customers I hung up. I figured I would speak to someone on the inside, but shortly after getting inside and seeing the level of intelligence working that night I decide it wouldn't do me any good. Not to mention while I was inside waiting for my order I and one of the two customers clearly herd a very tall gentlemen working yell F**k very loudly. Also while I was waiting for one of the wait staff to get me a container for some honey to go I had a bottle in my hand tilted just So that the honey would be ready to pour and another girl on the wait staff comes over takes the bottle out of my hand and says your spilling it .... which clearly I wasn't there was nothing coming out or on the counter. Needless to say I'm not pleased with my experience what So ever! So I've tried looking for a way to contact the owner directly or some way to make him or her aware of the incident, but have been unsuccessful. So I am hoping this will get to them and maybe they will...