A&R BARBEQUE— Hickory Hill — Restaurant in Memphis

Today is Friday 2/17/2017 and I decided to treat my family to A&R( the Hickory Hill location). I am sad to report as much as I have patronize and burn excessive gas to commute to this location this was my last time. I called while driving a little close to arriving not minding for my food to be prepared. The younglady answered the the phone and immediately placed me on hold. This is seemingly a normal practice at this location whether busy or not I have noticed numerous of times. However, I was holding on the phone at this point 5 minutes and 24 seconds. I actually pulled into the lot of this establishment and continued to wait to see if the younglady would return to me holding on the phone but, that did not happen. Sorry, to say I walked into this establishment feeling perplexed. The younglady had me on hold and no customers were present at the time I walked in but, she told me she would be with me in just a minute. I explained nicely, I was still on hold on the telephone ☎️ and I have to wait again for you to inform me that you were the only one working and a whole story about the internal business. My point is I'm a customer and who cares I'm thinking.Each time I've made a effort to patronize this location it's the same sorry unprofessional service. So, the younglady never stopped to take my order and it appeared a middle age gentleman with a red apron told me he would take my order.At this point I'm thinking okay 👌 maybe he will step up to make matters better but, instead I placed my order stating I would like a jumbo hot with potato salad & baked beans. I thought I almost made it but, that was impossible. The gentleman began to ask if I wanted coleslaw on the sandwich over 4 times and he appeared a little upset and informed me he was just trying to get the order right. I mind you I was very patient and calm but this was absolutely ridiculous to the point ☝️ I told the gentleman never mind. Yes, this was going to be a large order but, I couldn't make it with placing one order. The experience is always POOR. I certainly hope they IMPROVE because I don't see this business continuing to last or PROSPER. I don't wish anyone bad but, the SERVICE, EXPERIENCE, and FOOD should be consistent. Everyone should have a smile and a pleasantness at all times. It wouldn't hurt for some customer service training to be implemented. Everyone that owns something may not be able to manage what they own. Everyone is not cut out to Own a business. THIS MAY BE WORTH CORRECTING BECAUSE HONESTLY YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS PATRONIZING YOUR...

I love the turkey burger combo but the Customer Service is horrible! Never take a Customer for granted.

2/21/17: The straw that broke the camel back was tonight. I called @ 7:47 pm and the young lady said that they were no longer taking orders. When I questioned what time they stopped taking orders, having been told so many times in the past 8:30 pm, the young lady replied @ 8 pm. She must did not realize that it wasn't 8 pm yet. She hung up on me. I called her back & she said that I hung up on her, which was a lie. Ppl always talking about the need to patronize with black owned businesses but it can be hell just trying. After requesting to speak with the Manager, the young lady put the phone down & came back @ 7:53 pm and said that her Manager instructed her to take the order. I placed the order, for the turkey burger, against my better judgment, still trying to patronize with a black owned businesses, plus, I don't eat other meats. My daughter picked the food up and I discovered that the cook apparently just browned the outer portion of the burger and it hadn't been cooked at all. I just don't know what's wrong with these folks and how the so called owner continues to employ ppl of this caliber.. I just discovered that this location cook turkey burgers this summer and I can truly say that the customer service is always awful. Customers should not have to experience this and plus, out of malice, they failed to cook my burger, after I paid my hard earned money for it. This was the straw that broke the camel back. I will never return to this place. You got your last 8.19 out of me. I hope your desire to get back at me was worth the lost of a family doing business with you. I would not recommend this Hickory Hill...

DO NOT GO HERE TO EAT AND AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Negative 5⭐'s

Nothing about my experience here was good. We were traveling through Memphis and picked up food here to take to our hotel. We choose A&R based on it showing up in several web searches as in the top places in Memphis to experience, one being Southern Living. This location wasn't far out of our way, so we stopped.

When I entered the restaurant to order there was an obscene gentleman that was cursing and dropping the N-bomb every other word. He continued to harass customers as they entered and didn't stop even when he sat down to eat. He tried to talk to me about how his man slaughter charges were bogus and that he was just a "straight shooter". The staff just acted as if this was normal and said or did nothing.

I ordered Ribs and a Rib Tip sandwich, with sides of slaw, beans and BBQ spaghetti. The sides were OK. I've had better ribs in military chow halls and high school cafeterias. The impression that I got was seasoned baked ribs with store brand BBQ sauce squirted on top. Honestly, the McRib is a measured improvement compared to this. The "Rip Tip sandwich" was the most uneatable thing I've ever encountered. The rib was the same baked monstrosity as mentioned before, except that every bite was loaded with gristle. Maybe I'm not hip to the Memphis BBQ culture and maybe the natives enjoy crunching on a mouth full of gristle. Needless to say it landed in the trash along with the ribs and we had some chips from the hotel vending machine.

If this is what Memphis BBQ is like, it's no wonder that Elvis died on the toilet here. Southern Living is getting cancelled next. I'm very thankful that I live in Kansas City and have access to some of the best BBQ in...