Gardner's Barbecue Buffet 301 Flagship Store — Restaurant in Rocky Mount

I placed a take-out order of chicken and pastry with two sides. There was absolutely no chicken in the pastry whatsoever. I should have been charged for a vegetable plate if this was the case; it would have been about half the price. On top of that there was so much salt in the pastry it tasted like brine. I called the store and of course no one answers the phone. The lady taking my order was so "unconcerned" I was there it should have been my first clue I suppose. So here I am, $13.oo out and now wondering what I'm going to have for dinner. Never again. They've lost a customer.

Response from the owner5 days ago We apologize that we didn't met your standards. You can always bring the food back for an exchange. We call it simply pastry instead of chicken pastry because we can't guarantee that every portion will have chicken in it.

2nd Response from Customer: How insulting a reply. There were two items on your menu board regarding pastry. One was in the vegetable listings which I would not expect to have chicken in it. The other item was an entree listing which specifically said "Chicken & Pastry" which came with two side vegetables. Never in the south have I ever had chicken and pastry without even a hint of chicken in it. And as a food service you should GUARANTEE some chicken in the chicken and pastry. This isn't that difficult. Perhaps if you never enter the restaurant and stay in an office environment you aren't familiar with what your restaurant offers.

Throughout the reviews here there are many complaints about the take out area of your restaurant. Your standard reply seems to be "Next time." However, judging by my recent experience in your take out area with friendliness, cleanliness, and efficiency I wager to say no training has ever taken place.

It's worth the drive to Nashville, NC to Doug Saul's for me from now on. At least I know I'll get...

I used to love the food from this location. When I moved up north and came to visit family I would make sure to always grab some bbq to take back because u wanted them to know how good the food was. Since then I moved back down in the area with anticipation of having the food more often. I have changed my mind to say the least and would not recommend the food to my worst enemy. This was the LAST time stopping there and let me tell you was the worst. I went inside to order to start and it just looks dirty in the kitchen because the door was open so I could see inside. Who are you hiring because from the order taker to the cook could have been better quality. I ordered something simple like Turkey bbq sandwiches with slaw and a side potato salad with 2 lemonades. The Turkey bbq sandwiches had no seasoning and tasteless, ended up giving to the dog. The sandwiches was thrown together buns mashed and so soggy they fell thru the brown paper bag they were in. The potato salad was the MOST disgusting potato salad I have ever had. It was so sweet with sugar it should have been a desert and still was disgusting.The lemonades were also overly sweetened. Seems to me the only thing they are giving people is a road to diabetes because it’s definitely not good food anymore. I wouldn’t get a platter if it was given to me for free. I actually was appalled to be served such garbage. Maybe 50 years was the mark to call it quits!!!! So sad such a good traditional eating spot went downhill instead of getting better. Oh not to mention how the prices have increased and for what. Also a disrespect to the past elders who introduced their kids and grandkids such as myself. Smh so sad but just another sign of the times and the loss of good quality caring...

Disappointing yesterday, must be under new management or cooks. In the past Gardners has been my first stop when coming home to NC from DC. Food was always respectably good for buffet fare. I'll start with the good points, fried chicken was normal, Brunswick stew was good with my normal spicing up ritual and the deviled crab was on. The rest of the seafood was sketchy, founder void have been used for drywall repair, shrimp was apparently remnants of two batches, one was completely overcooked and the other was odd one side was WAS hard as rock and the other was pasty and seemed undercooked. The biggest disappointment was the bbg it was cooked to the point of being dry and was in huge dry rocks, in the past minced nicely and quite most. Was disappointed, however I figured maybe it was just the buffet so I ordered a couple of sandwiches to go, same issues and they failed to put any sauce in the bag (never happened before). As I've never had this experience before, so I will try again, however if this repeats I'll go a bit further south to Bill's in Wilson or Martel Scott's in Goldsboro. One last thing while venting, nothing makes a less than wonderful gastronomic experience even better than a tone deaf waitresses hollering along (wasn't singing) with the background music, not I only couldn't she sing, she didn't know the lyrics so she made up lyrics, and then she hollers the hook even louder. Apparently the Yankees next to me, took offence to her yelling out across the room, " have a blessed day" to departing guests. Not a sermon, just...