Malbon Bros. Corner Mart BBQ and Catering — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

I just moved back to Va Beach after 17 years of being gone. I looked up some good BBQ and decided on giving this a try because I live close and it had good ratings. I don't mind the hole-in-the-wall, those tend to be some of the best places to get food. So that doesn't come into this review at all. Food: Let me start off by saying that the pork sandwich was good. All of my family got those. I got the pulled pork and brisket combo meal. I got fries and green beans. The beans were fine, but the fries (which I also got extra of) were just frozen out of a bag. Nothing special, but fried well and had good taste. My big issue was the beef brisket. It wasn't a slice of brisket, it was basically a home-style shredded beef BBQ sandwich. It wasn't a brisket cut, it was a chuck cut. If it was brisket, they need to rethink their cooking method. The texture and flavor were as if I wanted to make BBQ at home, so I would slow cook a chuck roast in BBQ sauce. It was just not good. The BBQ overpowered the entire thing. We got a side-order of fried pickles. You would think a small shop like this could do them well, but I had a funny feeling when the guy walked past us to the mini-marts freezers and pulled out a bag of frozen battered pickles. This was a "premium" side, which means it was $3.50. When I got my order, there was 10 pickle slices, covered in a terribly thick and previously frozen coating. We didn't eat them. It was VERY average, and I could have easily done this in a crock-pot at home. When we were leaving, we noticed the workers taking foil-covered motel pans full of new product and placing them on the grills outside. Do they ever touch the grill? Or do they simply cook in sauce the entire night? I think I know the answer... This would have been OK if it was like 5-6 bucks for a meal, but the sandwiches were 7 dollars each, and that included NOTHING else. Plain average pulled-BBQ pork sandwich, and everything else was just below average. Also, another guy ordered ribs and his were heated up in the microwave... Service: Service was quick, but I took issue with how the woman behind the counter was treating the other workers. They were seeking a new cook, and I can tell you why. This woman was being so sarcastic with the cooks behind her. Speaking slowly as if they were a child. It was demeaning, and I can tell you she will keep looking for employees if she treats them that way. Another issue is we didn't get our drink we ordered. My wife went up to the front and told the woman, "we didn't get our drink, where do I get it". The woman said as if speaking to a child "you didn't get a drink honey, only he did". My wife said, "yes, "WE" didn't get the drink". She needs to be a little more polite when speaking to customers, and they need to be a little more helpful when people order stuff. "Drinks are over there," would have been very simple after I placed my order. Cleanliness: The woman taking the orders was getting the food ready and wasn't wearing gloves like the other workers. I never leave these reviews, but this one deserves it. If you want overly-priced average food served by a woman with serious control issues, by all means patronize this place. I'm sure there are better places around VB for BBQ at a much more reasonable price. 2-Stars because at least the pulled BBQ pork...

Great place.

So glad I stopped.

I had this place tagged as a #wanttogo on Google Maps. Photos looked great; reviews were good. I never really tried to go because it was a bit south of me. When I checked my location in Pungo, it was north of me.

Nice people, cheerful service--everybody says that. Yet in Malbon, the staff knows that you've never been here, and you are woefully unprepared for the Blessing of the Flavor Goddess that you were about to experience.

Go to "order here" and place the order. Big screen above with the full menu. They hand you a ticket, and you proceed to the cashier (once again, a cheerful, happy person) for payment. You then slide to the pickup window for your order.

The brisket sandwich was in front of me. Three sauce choices on my table--Sweet Baby Rays, another something something, and the House Sauce. Sauce applied, bite taken.

In Korea (south, not north; the north is a prison) I traveled to Wonju every six months to get BBQ. I lived in Daejeon, and that was a two-hour drive. Worth it. Other people have cannon balled into the American BBQ market and not distinguished themselves at all. Only @sweetoakbbq. Granted, Gus is a trained chef and shipped a 1200-pound smoker from Texas after he learned from the best in America.

"That's all going to change; I'm going to be in the States and then back in the south."

Silly naïve boy I am.

Random place in Maryland: FAIL. Black Hog in Maryland: FAIL. Mission BBQ: FAIL and why do people go there? Dem Bros and a Grill in West Virginia: That food was your mama slapped your face good. Redwood: Good effort, terrific sides. I can't remember the name of the place I left review for in the countryside-- I'd go back if I was near, so that's an okay. Great sauce there, too.

I then I had a bite of the brisket sandwich. Choirs of angels, muted trumpets, all of it. Nice brisket, with a decent touch of fat. Smoke flavor comes through with stuffing a briquette up your nose. House Sauce for the WIN. The people who use Sweet Baby Ray's there, KNOW WE ARE JUDGING YOU.

I can't wait to go back when I want more than a snack.

You are doing God's work. Thanks for...

Overall, I can say that I do enjoy the good here and that I do enjoy most of the staff here; nevertheless, there are a few staff members, specifically this one woman, who was just so rude to me this afternoon. I went here to purchase cigarettes for my mother. Mind you, I just turned 18 and I have never purchased cigarettes before. I go in, nervously, and ask for the cartoon of cigarettes my mother requested. The woman, who I had a terrible encounter with, asked for my ID. Obviously, I handed her my ID and she asked me when my birthday was. I stumbled, saying the incorrect birthdate as I was already nervous, and politely recorrected myself. Before I could even finish apologizing for my stumbling and had the chance to correct myself, she proceeded to shove my ID back at me and told me to get out, saying that if I couldn’t tell her my birthdate that she refused to sell me the cigarettes. Mind you, I am not frustrated with the fact that she told me to leave. It was how it was delivered. If she had been polite and handed me my ID back rather than shoving it back at me and telling me to get out, I would not be writing this review. Hopefully tomorrow I can write a formal complaint, because not only was I disrespected, but I was also embarrassed in front of other customers and workers. Although I understand clearly why she had me leave and refused, she could’ve been respectful just like I was to her. Whether or not I was some punk teenager or not, which I feel I am not and was more than polite to her, she had no place in embarrassing me as well as disrespecting me in what I believe was to be a vulgar way. I hope she has a blessed day, but I won’t be buying anything from here again because she made a very nerve wracking experience absolutely terrible for me. I’m concluding that I no longer have respect for her, not this...