Moe's Original BBQ — Restaurant in Rome

21 May 2024 Shortly after Moe's opened in Rome, my wife & I ate there.Their food is marginal. It has become a "hang-out" for excessive alcoholics. It's a great place for drunks, young local socially connected "rednecks". Yesterday, after 2 years,  my wife and I thought we would enjoy lunch and a Braves game. Half way through our lunch, a 30-ish drunk male from the bar, who we have never seen, came around the partition & to our table, made gagging sounds and asked, "Is anybody choking over here?" I replied, "Apparently you are, go away", to which he bent over, said "Dog food," spit up vile stomach fluid, then ate it. We got up, trashed the remaining half of our food, returned to the front, told management. My wife pointed him out, the young woman said, "Oh, I know him, he does that a lot." (A regular - Really ?) As we started leaving, he accosted us at the door trying to pick a fight. He stood there, a bully and a coward, we exited, walked the 50 yards to our car in the lot, I assisted  her with her door & her seat belt, walked around the car, opened my door and there he stood, 2 ft. away. He cursed & threatened me again. I squared & faced him and he scurried away, cursing me.All this witnessed by those inside and some who came onto the porch, including a local beer-gut (in uniform) police detective who walked away. They let him back in, even opening the door for him. This place is bad news.

Mr. Owner, You emailed me stating that, begin quote, "Today was my first time seeing this person in our restaurant and I can assure you he will not be allowed back.", close quote. It may be the first time you have seen him there, but apparently your employees have numerous times - enough to say that he does that a lot. I did not touch him in your establishment because I did not want to be arrested for an altercation nor to get sued by you. I'm not stupid. And now you want me to contact you so you can give me coupons for free food? ...and that will make everything all "Hunky Dorie" ? Give me a break  I don't...

Like the drippings-drizzled wonderland of all of the earth's surfaced ends... This place is momentously the very epitome and profundity of all that is GRAND, JOLLY, & Delectably TOOTHSOME! It's like this: You're either walking or driving nearby, and suddenly, without any cogent warning, it just HITS YOU like a corn-fed merry go round of succulent smells and luscious senses dancing wildly across your wanton recognizance of EXACTLY what GOOD, TASTE-BUD-TEMPTING, DOWN HOME, SOUTHERN CUISINE IS... WITH A DALLOP OF MAMA'S SWEET TEA (!) to top it all off y'all! WoooOOT! I have frequented many a restaurant here in Northwest Georgia since moving up from the middle state farmed Ga. plains over five years ago, but NO ONE'S Mac n cheese, taters, veggie sides, & CATFISH POBOY drops the LAW OF FLAVOR the way that Moe's here in Rome, GA DOES! HOT DIDDLY DANG 'OL DERBY BOY WOOD SCOOTER RADLY RACERS: YA'LL(!!!): Get DOOOOOWN to the Broad St and 2nd Avenue intersection and bring a HEAP'O'EATIN' HOMEMADE BIB that Gramsmammie made fer ya like it's Thanksgiving EVERYDAY of the week and Enjoy the MAD SKILLS OF SUCCULENT EATS & SOUTHERNER SWEETHEART SERVICE... and even dine in for a happy hour's relaxation festivity after a hard day's work with a tasty brewed beer beverage at the bar before you meet wit' yo good 'ol folks for a tasty BARBECUE Baptism of FABULOUSLY FLAMED FLAVORS!!! It's like Cheers met their Makers AND their MeeMaw's at Moe's for an afternoon of barstool banner waving humor and fun... All the while gettin' fed like Momma n' them fed ya way back when yo scrawny bones was talking about making the junior high football squad (!) I'm talkin' southern cooked with the CHARM of Heaven SQUARED plus a Southern Twang! Moe's is 2 LEGIT 2 QUIT like the Dang ol Dippity Darned Owl Cries of Northwest Georgia Summer night skies...! You WILL NOT be disappointed! I'm an unpaid, unbiased shopper who's just speaking the good n truth! Thanks a bundle y'all! ...

The place was nice and the serving was copious which is usually an overcompensation when the food is not that good. No different here. More poor-tasting food is just more poor-tasting food!

The "BBQ", as is the case more and more often these days, was cooked in a smoker oven; no BBQ character at all. No crust, red color and dry! Worse, it tasted left over, it had that stale taste that happens when meat that wasn't seasoned well, and certainly not BBQ'd, is refrigerated.

The marinated slaw, while an interesting idea, was more like kimchi in texture and had a flavor that affectionados of southern style slaw will not recognize.

The brunswick stew, one of my metrics when it comes to finding an overall great BBQ experience, was less than inspired. It had Lima beans in it, which in itself I have never found objectional, that overwhelmed the taste. The pot juice from cooking them must have been added to the stew. No no!

Moe's does a decent job with its burrito restaurants and maybe should stick with their success in that segment. If they hope to stay in the BBQ restaurant business, they need to have a more traditional approach.

I'd advise them to find some really great mom and pop shop that has been in business over a couple of generations with recipes that are unchanged over the decades and have iconic status in their small town venue. Pay the owners for their methods and recipes and work on them so the can be formatted into a saleable franchise. Tough but not impossible.

Further, get rid of that damned oven! For heaven's sake, if you are going to do BBQ, build a PIT, slow-cook over oak and hickory thus making it have that red color and delicious crust and giving a flavor that, being slowly cooked through, will even stand up to a stint through the fridge!

If you love BBQ, don't bother with Moe's Original BBQ, in Rome, Georgia, because you won't...