Thatcher Barbecue Company — Restaurant in Stanton

I feel bad for leaving a poor review because the staff here is amazing, very inviting and super friendly, so please know this isn't against any of them.

The food was terrible. I'm certain it was all Sysco or GFS frozen or canned food. Now that's not problem, IF, IF the prices are right, but this place is charging REAL bbq prices for thawed and warmed up, low quality food.

For $22 plus the price of a drink, I got six thumb nail sized pieces of dry, hard "brisket burnt ends". And yes, I counted because I was immediately suspicious that I didn't smell anything cooking and we didn't see or smell any smoke outside or inside, so when I saw these tiny chunks of meat, I had a bad feeling.

I also got around half a cup of chicken. You would assume this would be nicely seasoned, smoked or bbq chicken, because you're sitting in BBQ restaurant. What I got however was a lump of shredded, unseasoned, not smoked, cold shredded chicken with a bit of some sort of bland white sauce on a few shreds, not even enough to cover the top of the lump of shredded chicken.

I got a side of macaroni and cheese. The cheese was so watery it didn't stick to the noodles, so I doused it in bbq sauce because I was very hungry and I didn't want to eat plain wet noodles, not to mention this tiny meal cost me nearly $30, I wasn't about to waste it.

I got a cup of baked beans as well which were acceptable but clearly dumped out from a can and weren't even attempted to be dressed up with a better sauce or bacon etc. Just cold canned beans.

This "two meat meal" also came with a piece of plain white Texas toast, two slivers of pickled onion and two thin cut dill pickles. Sadly and sort of shockingly, the two tiny pickled onion slivers were the most flavorful part of the meal.

I can't even say anything good about the soda fountain or drinks. My "sweet tea" tasted the same as my wife's unsweet tea. I dumped it out and tried the Ale 8 and Pibb from the soda fountain and neither had enough syrup. The Ale 8 tasted like pure carbonated water and the Pibb had just enough syrup to give it color, but not enough to taste like anything but carbonated water.

In total my family of four spent $68, got low quality food and very small portions on top of that. Again, I can't state this enough, the staff was so, so friendly and helpful, but we will not be returning to Thatchers. I hope to see the staff at other surrounding establishments because they were great...

1st time visit.. might be the last. Mostly because I don't live in the area.

Female Restroom clean 4/5: I myself didnt use it... but I was told it was clean.

Brisket 2/5 - lots of fat. Not alot of flavor. Thin cuts more tough than they should be.

Ribs 1/5 - tough, over cooked, dry, thick skin, little bones, little to no meat.

Pulled pork 4/5 - pull pork put a smile on my face. Paired well with the house BBQ sauce.

Cold slaw 5/5 for me - light, waterey, cold and crunchy. Personally I love this kind of cold slaw.

Mac N cheese 3/5 - noodles over cooked, dry. But its mac n cheese. Unless its burnt it cant go below a 3.

Beer 5/5 - cold and decent selection. Price reasonable

Corn bread - for me 5/5 but for my beautiful girlfriend it was a 1/5. Corn bread is made with jalapeños and wasn't advised as such. She does zero hot in anything.

Sauce: 4/5: 3 to chose from all same flavor with two lvls of hotness. I enjoyed them all. Got a 4 though because really only 1 flavor available.

Staff 4/5: polite; but didn't ask once if we needed anything else or check to see if we were happy with out food

Portion size 4/5: 20$ for 2 meat and 2 sides. Initially I wasn't impressed on portion size but in the end the portions did fill me up. I'd like to see a little more meat though.

Live music on Saturdays 3/5: 10 buck cover and limited space. Music is not in the same building as restaurant. Didn't have a chance to stay and see if the band selections were good.

In saying all that. The added up first impression experience was "trash". The ribs and brisket really just made it a bad experience. They were over all that bad and not worth trying again. I hope they get a new pit boss or the current one takes cooking more seriously. Nice spot and could be a great establishment. Hope to revisit and be happy to spend my...

We were excited to see a bbq pit on the side of the road in front of this bbq joint during our vacation. It was located close by where we were staying so we thought, great how convenient. It is an order at the counter type of operation. They give you a number and bring the food to your table (choice of inside or outside seating) fountain machine was self serve. My daughter ordered a cheese quesadilla which was pretty standard she asked for cornbread as her side. I ordered the burnt ends with corn bread and hash brown casserole and my husband got two meats, runt ends and brisket with hash brown casserole and potato salad. Mine and my husbands food came out first. The quesadilla shortly followed.

The cornbread was jalapeño cheddar cornbread(not noted on the sign) it was dry and really just made me want to fight someone. It seemed like a cheap off brand box mix that was dense over cooked and dry. The hash brown casserole was ok but lacked seasoning. My husband seemed to enjoy the loaded potato salad. The brisket was nice and juicy that he had as well. The burnt ends on the other hand I did not care for. They were dried out to the point that I could not stab them with the plastic fork I was given but rather scoop them up. The bbq sauce lacked any kind of depth and just ate really peppery. I expected that wonderful crispy fat char that I live so much about burnt ends. The kids quesadilla was generic and fine, my daughter seems happy with it but did not finish the whole thing.

If your in slade checking out the natural bridge or doing some hiking I would recommend checking out...