Sims Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Little Rock

Sims is a venerable Black-owned barbecue establishment that was my family's go-to place when we wanted barbecue as I was growing up. My mother's brother worked at 3M on the southeast side of Little Rock where Sims' original outlet was, some blocks south and east of its current location. On his way home from work, he'd stop at Sims and pick up ribs and all the trimmings, and we'd have a feast at the table in my grandmother's breakfast room when he spread the table with his offerings.

We thought, and said, that no one can make barbecue like Black-owned barbecue restaurants. Their barbecue traditionally featured pork ribs and other cuts of pork smoked long and lovingly in an enclosed container over coals, with the meat basted periodically during the cooking process. The results are unctuous. And light years better than the Texas-style beef barbecue that is increasingly pushed on us Arkansans by local food writers who, as it happens, have Texas and not Arkansas roots.

Our experience at Sims was, unfortunately, a bit off today. They've instituted a new no-table service regimen. You can still eat at tables inside, but you have to place your order at a station in the restaurant, and the people handling that side of things are nowhere near as friendly and nice as the wait staff at Sims — especially our wonderful longtime wait person whom we sorely missed today.

This is a disappointment, since that interaction with the friendly, solicitous wait staff was a key component of the Sims experience in the past. And it's just not...

The front counter people are very rude and disrespectful! They have these young people with bad customer service and try to act like they want to fight when they yelling and disrespecting the“PAYING CUSTOMER “! Sad, and it’s always us “ BLACK” individuals! And so sadly it is the so call managers that doesn’t make the situation any better! The manager didn’t even ask me about the situation just walked by “hollering Bri do you have her receipt?? “ Have not addressed me at all till she ring up $3.00 saying I owe when they got my order wrong ! I get this order frequently so for this manager no matter if this is her family member or just plan needs to keep a body in the spot so she doesn’t have to do it is very concerning to me! I deal with young people with the city of Little Rock and I inform them if you have a bad attitude then you can not work for me if I have to run my business myself! Respect is what keeps your business a float !! I’m very disappointed every time I come in here the short light skinned lady always rude ! I guess I need to keep driving all the way to Johnbarrow to get good quality service instead right by...

Typically I like Sims BBQ, so the one star rating is for the catering experience only. My mother was having her Thanksgiving Turkey smoked and was told to have the turkey there by 8am; on the day before Thanksgiving. The turkeys were to be ready for pick up that evening. She got there at 7:30 am and long story short, didn't get to pick her turkey up until 9:45 that night! First, they lost the turkey... I'm not sure HOW that happened or if we even ended up with our turjey, but they only noticed the mishap because I went inside to inquire about it. This was at nearly 5pm. Then, he told us he was putting it on and we could expect a call in an hour, which we KNEW would be a lie since it clearly takes longer than an hour to smoke a 20lb turkey. And to top it all off he called and left an ugly message on her phone about how her turkey "was done and she needed to come pick it up". Uhm, excuse me, but we NEEDED our turkey before 9:45 pm! But no one gave him attitude. No sort of compensation or apology was given and the turkey tasted like chemicals. So, 1 star from me, and even that's being generous. Will never do...