Smithfield's Chicken 'N Bar-B-Q — Restaurant in Mebane

BEWARE OF POOR FOOD HANDLING PROCEDURES AT THIS LOCATION!!!! update - Corporate representative CONFIRMED it was most likely a cleaning chemical, apologized and sent me a $50 gift card for their mistake. So the price for serving chemicals is apparently $50. I was fine with that and ready to move on until I got a letter 2 weeks later saying I fabricated the entire story and even accused me of putting chemicals in the tea myself for personal gain, even though I never once asked for a single dollar from them. My only ask was for someone to test the tea so we could know what we were served. Also the president of the company called me because he claimed to be so concerned but when I returned his call several times, he never answered or called me back. They appear to be very 2 faced and will tell you what you want to hear to try to avoid a lawsuit. I am very disappointed with their lack of compassion for an admitted mistake and will no longer give them my business at any location.

I recently visited this store on 3/3/2021 and was served a sweet tea with CLEANING CHEMICALS in it. I tried to contact the store as soon as I realized it but their phones were literally busy for 4 hours straight, so I could not even warn them in case it was a wide spread incident.

I finally was able to get someone at the Franchisee office level on the phone and they appeared concerned. That was until they started trying to blame the issue on their food distributor (US Foods) and said they had been selling them off brand tea and that they had even been sold Bison instead of Pork and that they (Smithfield's) didn't realize the difference until customers complained. Bison meat is like beef, not pork, so that was a bit of a shock.

I thought that was far fetched, so I called US Foods and they said that it was not possible for either of those 2 things to happen at any Smithfield's as they were on a closed ordering system so substitutions like that are not possible.

I contacted the Franchisee office again to tell them of what I was told by US Foods and they offered little additional help. They did file an insurance claim but since no one had fallen critically ill from the chemicals, the insurance company didn't care. It was interesting that the insurance company wasn't even told the truth about how their client handles food, as the agent was largely inaccurate about the actual operations of the store. He was genuinely surprised at what I told him about how things were actually handled.

Now the Franchisee office is unresponsive and I pretty much have gotten the message that they don't care that they served my family cleaning chemicals in their sweet tea.

It is nice to see how valued by business truly is after all the years of supporting this location.

I did learn during all of this that the Burlington store is Corporate run and not Franchisee so I will be taking my business there from now. I would suggest you do the same, it is only a few miles further down I-40!!!! UPDATE- Corporate apparently cares but only a fraction more than the franchisee, anyone who admits they screwed up and then 2 weeks later sends an official letter saying you are a liar and a fraud even after they admitted to their own wrong doing can not be trusted.

Also, Mr. Starling, the company president is not a genuine person and only cares when he is in fear of a lawsuit. He is not willing to discuss anything with a customer without that risk. Very disappointed in how this ended up. They seemed like a decent company who cared but it is just an act. Bottom line, if you want their attention, just sue them for as...

Stopped into the Mebane restaurant for the 1st time today on my way back home from UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill. My initial impression was that it was very clean. Health Grade Rating of 99.5% (always encouraging to see). Restroom was nearly spotless. Only two tables had patrons dining inside. No waiting at counter to order. Started wondering why nobody was eating there. Did I make a bad choice? On the contrary! It was pouring rain so everybody was burning up the drive thru window. Ordered the chicken and barbecue plate with beans and fries. Being from the Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western N.C., I must say that I'm okay with Eastern N.C. Barbecue, but I'm a die hard Western Q lover, often smoking my own Q over Oak Wood for 16 hours. I was the foreigner today and had to do as the Romans do, when in Rome. I ate it. Just not a fan of Eastern style. The fried chicken though, was freaking unbelievably good! No, it was phenomenal in it's simplicity. The breading was crispy and crunchy, not at all greasy and the only thing I tasted, as far as seasoning goes, was salt and pepper. Perfectly balanced, too. Every bite I took was consistent. Lightly salty up front and a mild black pepper finish on the back end of the chew. Excellent! Better fried chicken than any that Granny ever made. All in all, it was a fantastic 1st time experience and will be stopping regularly on my successive trips to Chapel Hill. I just won't be getting the combination plate from now on. 4 out of 5 Stars ONLY because I'm not an Eastern N.C. Barbecue kind of guy. No offense to the fine folks of Eastern North Carolina or Smithfield's Chicken...

The prices here are too high for what it is. Ordinary Fast food plates for fancier Restaurant prices. There is nothing extraordinary or special about their food at all that a 1 piece chicken breast meal should cost as much as it does. The price of 2 dinners is what I'd expect to pay for enough to feed a family of 4, not 2. I cant completely score the individual chain restaurant based on the prices that corporate sets. I go here for stew very often. I love their stew. I can get my meat & veggies all together and with the convenience of a drive thru. Im not big on burgers and typical drive thru types of food, so I go here and get stew. But I'm not scoring them solely off of one menu item. After years of ordering 1 pint of stew, all it took was one kind employee to tell me that I can get a second for free. (That special is now the second for $1). She said that has always been the way stew is priced. I was very pleased with the deal, but disappointed that this pricing/special or deal isn't posted anywhere on the menu. And disappointed that no one Ever bothered to tell me about it for literally years prior. It's just something that either you know or you don't know. Maybe there are other deals that would make me order more items from their menu, but all I can go by is what is posted on the menu in front of me, and what is posted are prices too high for what it is. You know what would be great? I wish that they'd make Chicken BBQ. Not bbq chicken, but chopped chicken with all of the bbq seasoning for the ones who shouldn't eat pork. I'd order that if they'd put it...