I'd been looking forward to visiting this place for months because it's a bit of a drive and they're only open for lunch. I finally had a chance to visit and was willing to put up with a line but this was extreme. I arrived at 11:43am and this was my view for 10 minutes in the hot sun before I left at 11:53am. In that time I saw 6 people order food and 4 people get their food. It was apparent it'd be a good hour before I would get to the front of the line, which I simply didn't have time for. People in line were talking about how great the food was, so I hope to give them another chance some time and update this review. Maybe it was just an off day? I was incredibly disappointed.
Update 3/24/2025 in Reply to Business's Reply====
Yes, 1 star for not eating, and I watched several folks who arrived after me walk away disappointed with less patience than I. The point of visiting a restaurant is to eat, and the experience of myself and others expressed a failure of the restaurant at this most fundamental level. The line wasn't the problem; it was that it was hopelessly hot and slow.
I wanted to believe this was an unusual occurrence and a followup was deserved, but the business's reply that "That IS barbecue" and not "The line usually isn't that long" and/or "We're usually faster" tells me this experience is par for the course. Apparently I've never had real barbecue before, because I've never before had to suffer for 2 hours to be given the opportunity to buy my favorite type of food from a restaurant.
Even if this type of experience is supposed to be the norm for great barbecue, the business could have said "Sorry you didn't get to eat. Now that you know what to expect, here's what you can do next time to ensure a more satisfying experience. Welcome to the world of great barbecue!" So I'll take a shot at it:
"""
If you want some real genuine delicious barbecue, this is a great place to go. Just make sure you bring your own umbrella, chairs, water, and 2 hours to spare so you don't perish in line waiting to buy it and/or miss your afternoon commitments. We can only serve 1 person every 2.5 minutes, so expect a 1-hour wait for every 24 people in front of you. This restaurant's hours are 11am-3pm, so we will only be able to serve 96 people during our 240-minute day.
"""
Google has 3 review metrics for restaurants: Food, Service, and Atmosphere. Obviously, this restaurant is nailing it on Food, as there were an amazing number of people willing to put up with the slow Service and miserable Atmosphere.
This restaurant could improve Atmosphere by putting up some tents/tarps/overhangs so folks in line aren't baking in the sun. Even better, improve Service so customers aren't cooking for hours like the BBQ they're waiting to enjoy.
This restaurant could improve Service by adding a second register or having someone collect food orders on a pad in line so the register can focus on taking payments. Instead, there appeared to be a single person taking orders, collecting payments, and handing out food. Yes, there is extra cost to hire employees, but with the amount of revenue that walked away in those 10 minutes I was there they could have easily paid for 4 hours of someone's time at a respectable wage.
There were probably 50 people in front of me at 11:43am, which means more than half of the restaurant's daily capacity of customers showed up before noon. At the observed rate of service, I'd be ordering my food 125 minutes later at 1:48pm while getting 2nd-degree sunburn on my face and hands in the process. That was not a sacrifice I was able to make, and it's important that anyone looking for a place to eat for lunch knows that it is a sacrifice they will have to make. Even if I accepted the sunburns, I only had 90 minutes to spare before I had to leave for an afternoon commitment. Again, I "was willing to put up with a line but this was extreme."
I love barbecue. Again, I hope to give this place another chance. I hate that this experience turned so sour for...
Read more
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
