Excell Market Bar-B-Q — Restaurant in Tennessee

This place is literally a tiny gas station and convenience store, with a small restaurant tucked away in the back, left of the store. It is quite run-down and looks like it's never been remodeled or updated since the day they opened.

Facing the registers, on the left hand side, is a counter where you can order their bbq by the pound (chicken is served only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays). They also have a refrigerated case to purchase their coleslaw, potato salad, pies, etc.. I assume you're able to order anything off of their restaurant menu at the to go counter as well.

If you prefer to have your meal there, head towards the back left side of the store where they have a small restaurant seating area. I opted to purchase the pulled pork by the pound, grab a couple of coleslaw containers, and a bag of buns to make the pulled pork sandwiches at home (don't forget the bbq sauce!)

I ordered 1.5 pounds of pulled pork, 1 large bbq sauce, 2 large containers of coleslaw, and a package of 12 buns which came out to $25. My only complaint is the packaging they put the meat in. The juices basically disintegrated the paper bowl it was placed in (wrapped with plastic wrap) and had I not gone home to place it in a bowl, it would've gotten all over the place.

Now the taste? Absolutely fantastic! The coleslaw was a bit too runny and vinegary for the teenagers liking, but I enjoyed it. The coleslaw provided a nice sweet and sour balance with the bbq pork.

Parking is limited but I'm sure with the quick turnarounds, you won't have to wait long for a space. And the establishment is...

Stopped on the way from Georgia to North Dakota, very glad we did. We each had the barbecue plate with 2 sides. Their selection of sides was more extensive than we usually see, a pleasant surprise. That we could order corn nuggets as one of those sides and not have to pay as an appetizer was also great. The barbecue had the perfect amount of smoke and paired well with both sauces, a vinegar-based and a traditional thick and sweet bbq sauce. I mixed a bit of each. Their sweet tea was FANTASTIC. I usually don't order sweet tea at a bbq joint because it is so sweet you cannot taste any tea. This had the perfect amount of sweet in it. It still tasted like delicious iced tea. My husband and daughter also thought it was great even though they like things more sweet than I. Service was very friendly, informative and attentive without hovering. They have a large selection of pies, whole or by the slice. We ordered 2 slices to go, chocolate meringue and fudge. I would comment on them but we are so stuffed we have not been able to do more than look and make plans for later tonight. The only thing close to a criticism I can come up with is the barbecue was not hot. That is not enough to take a well-deserved star...

If you ❤️ open pit BBQ and happen to be in the Clarksville TN area, stop at Excell Market. So it doesn't look all fancy, having gas pumps put front and an older building, but it's the best pulled pork BBQ anywhere. It's meat and open pit smoke flavored. No foolishness, just meat and smoke. It's not long strand pulled pork, its short strand pulled, which is so much better for a sandwich. The bbq pit is right outside, so no fakery is going on. The meat isn't greasy or dry. it's "just right." We visited early Sunday afternoon, a very busy time (should have gone earlier). Sadly, they had already sold out of BBQ beans. They still had plenty of other delicious sides. I got 5 lbs of meat, which was too much for 6 adults and 6 kids, but I NEEDED leftovers:). We actually drove up from the Mississippi Gulf Coast just to go there, well, and to visit family in the middle...