5 Star BBQ — Restaurant in Orem

First off, the food is amazing! The three stars reflect an average review of the three times I've been to 5 Star BBQ. I will definitely go back due to the awesome food (not during lunch). I lived in the south and believe this joint is comparable to great BBQ establishments I visited in the south. The restaurant's name accurately reflects the BBQ, The overall experience is another matter. The first two times were okay. The food does take a while but that is most likely due to the popularity of the establishment. Great restaurants are busy, but it seems to be under staffed. Usually only one staff member at the counter and another serving customers. The lunch rush needs a few more team members to run efficiently.

During my third visit we had a very strange experience. I ordered the two meat plate, chicken and brisket with sides and my colleague ordered only chicken, no sides. The waitress brought my plate first. After waiting 20 minutes and still no food for my colleague we tracked the waitress down and let her know. She checked with the kitchen and informed us that his portion of chicken was included in my plate. This didn't seem accurate as the chicken portion on my plate seemed like one serving. I asked if they typically place multiple orders on one plate and she said it seemed like we wanted to share a plate. What??? Super awkward! I got the feeling the restaurant was really busy and she was trying to handle a lot of customers and did not want to rectify the obvious error. Every other table had separate trays with individual portions for each customer. To expect two men to share a plate (plates are metal trays), while very progressive and European of 5 Star, is ridiculous. The price was high and I feel we were taking advantage of. We paid for both orders and only received one order. Staff would not expend any effort to get the other order. So, (lol!) we shared my plate. It made for an awkward work lunch. At least we each had our own fork! Due to the lack of staff members, and the large line going out the door, we had to get back to work and were not able to talk to the manager. Also, when a restaurant is slammed, having a manager present or at least accessible would help. Great food!!! Below average customer service. Disappointed but I'll give them another try and will make it clear that I want my...

Poor quality, service, and toxic environment.

After walking through the door on a Saturday evening, I was asked if I was there for dine in, pick-up, or take out. After confirming that I was there for take out, I received a loud audible exhale followed by a long awkward silent pause from the middle aged woman at the counter. With no real response, she began fiddling with the receipt printer. After a couple of minutes she said “I guess I can take your order, but your food won’t be ready for ten minutes… maybe fifteen”. I told her that I didn’t mind the wait and placed my order. After 25 minutes of waiting and not hearing my name called out, I asked one of the young men behind the counter if he had my order. He turned and walked to the same woman who took my order and before he could get much of a question out, she barked at him “his order isn’t ready yet”. The young man turned back towards me and froze like a deer in the headlights with a look of fear. There was a brief moment of silence as he nervously looked back and forth between me and this woman, until she finally looked up from what she was doing to tell me directly that my order wasn’t ready. I asked how much longer she thought it might be to which she responded 10-15 minutes. Surprised, I informed her that I had already been waiting over twenty minutes under the assumption that my food would have been ready in that same time frame from the time I had ordered my food. She responded “I had a lot of orders come in at the same time, what do you want me to do?” Not wanting to escalate the situation, I simply replied “OK, so ten more minutes?” She nodded and then started an attempt to justify why her initial estimate was off, I told her it was fine and that I could wait ten more minutes. When the young man who I had spoken to earlier finally called my name to pick up my order, he was so embarrassed he couldn’t look up as he handed me the order and began apologizing. I told him that he had nothing to be sorry for, took my food and left. When I got home, one of the meats I had ordered was missing, and two of the three sides were cold. I used to love 5-star but there has been a noticeable drop in quality over the past few years and I couldn’t believe how this lady treated the other employees....

Edit: Last week came back here with friends for dinner remembering my last visit. There was some improvement! The baked beans recipe has been changed since they didn't taste like I mention below. It's actually better. The chicken was very good! The brisket was better too and is now $2 extra. The cornbread was still a bit heavy but wasn't as dense and I said before. I got the "funeral potatoes". Didn't know they'd come as deep fried balls but this was delicious! Was disappointed we were more than halfway through our meal before getting them. If they are cooked after ordered, this is understandable but we had to ask a few times for them and given a blank stare each time. The pulled pork was flavorless and needed the BBQ sauce. Found the sweet one was better. There is a "for sale" sign in front for the property so not sure it's for the building too or just surrounding area, but hope they stay. I would actually go back.

Two years ago: Came for a team lunch of nine for work. Only a couple in the group had been before. Usual meats to choose from. Brisket, chicken, pulled pork, turkey, couple others. You can get one, two, or three meat plates with some other choices of plates or sandwiches. There are daily specials too. I got the two meat plate with brisket ($1 extra for brisket) and turkey. My sides were baked beans and potato salad. My bread choice was cornbread. The beans had a flavor I couldn't pick out. A coworker got beans too and he suggested an apple cider vinegar flavor. I can see that. I actually thought they were rather good. The potato salad was bland. Just added some salt and pepper and it was much better. Would be better if the restaurant added it. The cornbread was heavy and dense. Tasted fine but needs more air. My brisket was on the dry side. Hardly any smoke ring at all. It was tender but could be more flavorful. The turkey was near perfection. Would I come back? Probably. Not going to run back but...