Backwoods BBQ — Restaurant in Paducah

Would give ZERO stars if I could.

TL;DR medicore food, HORRIBLE customer service, poor catering service, charge extra for plates, cups, sauce, and utensils (even with purchase), and combative with customers. EAT ANYWHERE ELSE.

Full Review:

In from out of town and called in for a to go order for 8 people a couple days ago. Purchased $83 in food, 2 lbs meat, 2 sides, and 3 gallons of drinks, just your usual catering to go order.

Arrived today to pick up meals and as we we're paying, I realized they didn't have any plates or cups in the box. So I asked the lady if they were going to give us cups and plates. Well, you might as well thought I murdered her first born. I have never seen someone in the service industry act SO put out about something so trivial.

Now I should mention it was only 11:10 am, they had just opened, and there were only two other people inside, so it wasn't like they were busy...

So she says "oh..., Well, I'm going to have to charge you for all that..." And I asked, charge us for the utensils for the meals we just purchased?!? She said "yeah, we can't just give that stuff away for free". And I said, it's not free, we just purchased food and drinks for 8, how do you expect people to eat or drink? She said "well I still have to charge you", so I said whatever, but asked, are there at least utensils in there?!? She responded no and that it was our fault for not telling them on the phone when we ordered that we would need utensils to eat the meals we purchased. So I asked how else do people eat and drink your food and drinks?!?

So the total was $82 and had left a $8 tip for a to go order, which I thought was pretty generous (and before I started asking about utinsiles). When she literally broke out the calculator to determine the plates were $1, cups were $1.50, and utensils were another $1, totalling $3.50, I told her to just take that out of the tip I left. She said "we can't do that, we don't split up the tips until the end of the night". I said I paid $90, and therefore paid enough to cover the $3.50, she looked very confused and said she couldn't change it but that I could.

She said something about how she "gave" us free sauce and that I should somehow be thankful for getting "free" sauce, even though, as we've discussed, we paid for our catering.

So she modified the receipt to take off the $3.50 and I told her we wouldn't be back.

I have never experienced such poor customer service and someone that didn't understand mathematics, basic economics, or how the service industry works.

What she should have done was said "oh ok, we can get all that for you, but for future reference, our policy is "X" in regards to utinsiles and we would need to charge you going forward". Or something like that.

If this gets back to a manager and they would like more information, please feel free...

Stopped here on the road home for some BBQ. Got in about an hour before close, but everything looked okay and all cleaned up. We were greeted and invited to sit wherever. Sat down and noticed the carpet was very dirty (not sure why you'd have carpet in a restaurant?). The temperature inside was also extremely cold, and I'm from the north and enjoy the cold. Waitress came and took our drink order and brought back drinks. Took our food order and came back very quickly with the food. Wife & son ordered pulled pork plate with 2 sides, I got pulled pork sandwich with a side, daughter got a grilled cheese. After the waitress brought our food, we never saw her again, no refills, no check back, nothing. Wife and son both noted that their pulled pork was lukewarm, like it was pulled out of a fridge and thrown in a microwave. The 2 hashbrown casserole sides were also lukewarm. My sandwich was semi warm, but only because the bun was grilled. Daughter's grilled cheese was literally 2 slices of bread with a slice of processed cheese in the middle (yeah, I know, its still a grilled cheese), but it was more like the bread was just toasted and cheese melted in a microwave. Wife and son didn't finish, wife was disgusted to the point of being sick (said the temperature of the meat was like it was cooked then left out all day). Son said the same, but ate a bit more. And the bill was almost $40. Not what I would expect from a place that has 4.5 stars overall. I would give it half a star if I could. It needs a...

July 3, 2021 I intended to dine in. As I entered the worker behind the counter training a new employee was yelling at an elderly man who was there to pick up an order. He quietly and respectfully told her that he was quoted over the phone a price of $58.00 for one item on his order but they were charging him $68 for that item. It ended up being a mistake by the new girl that informed him the price over the phone according to the menu listed price. The prices had gone up but the new girl was not informed that the menu was outdated . The woman yelling at the customer was really rude and obnoxious. It upset me so badly ( I am a disabled senior woman ) that I had to pack my meal and leave when it was brought out to me. As I was trying to pay the girl asked me how everything was and I said not good I just want to pay and leave. The woman that had been yelling at the previous customer said what's wrong does she want a discount? I told her no I am just upset and want to pay and leave. Then she yelled at me while referring to the gentleman she was rude to that she wasn't going to take that from anyone especially "A Man". I paid and left a quick as my crippled legs would get me out of there. I will never stop in there when I travel to Paducah...