Sam's BBQ-1 East — Restaurant in Sandy Springs

Having eaten here before, I know firsthand that it is excellent BBQ - the sauces are incredible and seasoned close to perfection. I ordered the lunch special - BBQ pork sandwich, a cup of stew and a drink.

I chose sweet tea as my drink and that is where all the 'fun' started.

I asked the nice lady behind the register if they had forgotten the sugar that morning as the tea was barely sweet. She asked a young man to check the tea.

He promptly grabbed a cup and headed towards the tea. As he was walking, he looked at me and stated he that puts four cups in every morning. Apparently he is the one responsible for the tea. Okay, fine, I get that. He didn't have to mention that but he took it upon himself to do so.

What he said next is why I STOOD up and, without saying a word and without finishing my lunch, WALKED out of the restaurant. He said something like how sugar causes diabetes.

I had cooled off enough after about 20 minutes, to call them and explain why I had left and why I was upset. I believe the same lady answered the phone. I explained pretty much everything I have already written above. She then asked me to hold as she wanted me to speak with the manager. Again, super nice lady.

The manager took the phone and I explained what had happened. When I told him about the young man's remarks concerning diabetes the manager started laughing. Incredible! He said he was laughing at the situation. The situation? What situation? The tea not being sweet? The young man making rude remarks about a disease/condition? An upset customer calling back to voice his concern over how rudely he was treated? Seriously - what is the situation he was laughing at? I'll never know as I hung up on him.

So please allow me to tell you that the food is outstanding. Again, excellent sauces and excellent pork sandwiches. But not so much on the customer service part - especially these two young men.

I have a call in to the owner. But really, what will...

This place has gone downhill. We went there because we had such a great experience with the service and the food months earlier, but today was a different story. When we arrived at the counter to place our order to eat in, the cashier seemed to be bothered by us. She took our order and after we paid she proceeded to tell us that the dining room was closed because they were shortstaffed and couldn’t handle busing the tables. There was one table of four people in the entire restaurant and this is a self-serve restaurant. The phone was not ringing off the hook. It was virtually dead. (now I know why). When we received our order there were no utensils or anything. And, we told her we would have to eat in the car since we were not allowed to eat inside. When we left we noticed their patio area with chairs and tables. It was a beautiful day, finally, so we walked over with our food only to realize the chairs were all stacked and locked up. So we commenced to eating in our car which was a complete disaster and worst of all the food was not fit to eat. We wasted $29 and ended up throwing it in the trash. Later that evening we went to a restaurant called AJ’s Seafood where there were two servers and 24 people dining. Service was perfect and the food was excellent. Yet, the team of two at Sam’s couldn’t handle wiping down two tables. Will...

I saw a really impressive segment on local TV about this place, so as a q' fan, I decided to take my date there on a Saturday night. Huge mistake.

The cook announced they were out of ribs just as a large group in from of me was ordering at 7 pm. I ordered a pulled pork plate with cole slaw and Brunswick stew. My date really wanted the ribs but ordered brisket as an alternative.

The cole slaw was very nice. Brunswick stew was mediocre at best. The pulled pork was really wet and had some flavor, but it needed the sauce to survive. A bit on the mushy side.

The brisket was just horrible. Blandest meat I've ever tasted. I think it had been hanging around since that morning or maybe the day before. No amount of sauce could save it. I would've been embarrassed to serve it.

There are high marks from Zagat and impressive reviews from local magazines that hang on the walls, but they might be dated. Sam's BBQ1 was a huge disappointment. There are too many other q' joints out there to settle for mediocre. Maybe it was just an...