Had to drive out to the Raleigh area today, and stopped at Smithfields for lunch. Never been so disgusted in my life. How this place, and all the other Eastern Style BBQ places stay in business is beyond me.

6/4/2019 8:38:26 PM

wow this guy is quite the one-trick pony with his BBQ trolls these days

6/4/2019 8:53:59 PM

I come back by occasionally to see if the site is still up and am happy to see it is

6/4/2019 9:17:36 PM

welcome back. you are definitely among your own kind here

6/4/2019 9:34:38 PM

Your mistake was assuming that they had good BBQ. Eastern BBQ is great... if done well; just like most any style of BBQ. Chain food is usually lack luster.

6/5/2019 10:04:13 AM

I like eastern style BBQ, but I personally cannot stand Smithfields. Never understood how they've been able to develop a chain off that dreck.

[Edited on June 5, 2019 at 10:44 AM. Reason : ]

6/5/2019 10:43:49 AM

it's fine for barbecue that you can get from a drive through

6/5/2019 10:51:10 AM

their fried chicken is better than their bbq

but yeah, pretty good for a drive thru

6/5/2019 11:17:49 AM

^^, ^

yep

6/5/2019 12:14:13 PM

Smithfields is like Cracker Barrel for me. Not great, but it's consistent, so I know if I'm on a road trip or something I can count on it. It's as good as any other BBQ cooked on gas. The chicken and sides are fine. It's not where you take guests for an authentic NC BBQ dinner. It's where you swing in for a sammich with slaw or a two piece chicken plate on your way home when you just want to grab a decent meal and get down the road.

6/5/2019 1:17:35 PM

anyone with a rotary hushpuppy forming machine is OK in my book

6/5/2019 6:47:42 PM

Their hushpuppies are only barely tolerable

6/5/2019 8:35:05 PM

Worst fried chicken ever

6/5/2019 9:59:59 PM

^^ it's not just the taste, it's entertainment

Once they robo-tize it will be a beacon of everything right in the world; much like the pancake bot.

6/5/2019 10:09:55 PM

^^^ pretty hard to fuck hushpuppies up. what's so wrong with them?

^^ go to KFC and get back to me.

6/5/2019 10:23:19 PM

So I was watching some random foodchannel on YouTube based around a butcher shop in NYC. They go to a place claiming to sell eastern NC BBQ. It isn't. Then the guy that owns that place spouts off some clearly made up stat about being one of only 8 places in the us still doing whole hog BBQ. I can think of three within 30 minutes of where I grew up that are still open. I'm not even familiar with places around Raleigh, because I don't eat BBQ, but doesn't the pit do whole hog BBQ? Let's brigade that lying cunt!

[Edited on June 6, 2019 at 5:51 AM. Reason : More of a food channel rather than cooking]

[Edited on June 6, 2019 at 5:53 AM. Reason : Fucking shitty phone]

6/6/2019 5:51:19 AM

Whole hog is cool, but kinda overrated, honestly. It's a waste of the loins and tenderloins. No one would suggest cooking filet and chuck roast or brisket together.

6/6/2019 6:46:52 AM

^^^ the taste

6/6/2019 7:13:54 AM

^^ This. At least insofar as mass-scale restaurant food goes. Shoulders are just fine for a BBQ joint.

Though, for a lawn party you can't beat the presentation of a whole hog that's been slow cooking all day.

6/6/2019 8:48:38 AM

Quote :

" They go to a place claiming to sell eastern NC BBQ"

What place in NYC...Brother Jimmy's? Arrogant Swine?

6/6/2019 8:50:49 AM

Is this the video?

6/6/2019 9:58:02 AM

^^^the presentation is definitely impressive, but at a pig pickin, I'm going for that stringy side meat that sat in the rendered fat the whole time. The loins are ruined past 145 or 150 degrees and should be chopped in with some shoulder, ham, and some of that greasy side I mentioned. That's kinda sad to waste quality pork chops like that.

6/6/2019 5:21:04 PM

They have delicious chicken tenders.
Tater salad is delightful as well.

6/6/2019 6:12:09 PM

If any of you folks live in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Belmont area you should check out Ray Nathans. It opened a few months ago and is delish. Two guys own it, but neither is named Ray Nathan. They just thought "Ray Nathan" sounded cool.

6/6/2019 11:45:21 PM

I'll try it out next time I'm up that way for work

6/7/2019 5:51:15 AM

Stankonia

6/7/2019 10:20:56 AM

Cookout BBQ is just as good as Smithfields and its not even a BBQ joint.

6/7/2019 11:57:43 AM

and cookout hushpuppies are better than smithfields

[Edited on June 7, 2019 at 12:04 PM. Reason : smithfields has killer potato salad tho]

6/7/2019 12:03:25 PM

^^Yea, if you like melted styrofoam to go with it.

Smiffields has ok bbq, ok stew, ok chickent.

And that's ok when I'm on the road and in a hurry.

[Edited on June 7, 2019 at 12:21 PM. Reason : You people calling it inedible are just snobs.]

6/7/2019 12:20:53 PM

the barbecue sandwich is in foil, it just gets the bun soggy if you wait to long it doesn't melt the styrofoam

6/7/2019 12:29:25 PM

^? I'm talking about their hushpuppies. Cookout cookers dump the puppies straight from the grease onto the styrofoam. They're so hot they melt the foam underneath. If I go to cookout, which I haven't been in a long time, I ask them to put the puppies on foil. Most of the time they don't understand why, and I have to explain it.

[Edited on June 7, 2019 at 12:48 PM. Reason : onto not into]

6/7/2019 12:48:13 PM

your arrows pointed to a comment about barbecue

6/7/2019 1:29:52 PM

Quote :

"If any of you folks live in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Belmont area you should check out Ray Nathans. It opened a few months ago and is delish. Two guys own it, but neither is named Ray Nathan. They just thought "Ray Nathan" sounded cool."

thanks, buddy! I can't wait to try. Maybe I'll take my dad since he lives in Belmont and isn't a picky bbq guy.

6/7/2019 2:22:05 PM

Anyone tried Redneck BBQ Lab in Fuquay? Really good. Their burnt ends (only sell a few times a week) and ribs were great

6/7/2019 2:56:58 PM

i've tried their food truck, it was okay

6/7/2019 3:13:19 PM

Longleaf Swine had great barbecue at an event I went to, they are opening a restaurant in the Transfer Co. food hall
https://www.longleafswine.com/

6/7/2019 3:14:54 PM

The quality of Smithfield's depends on the franchise.

Highly recommend the ones in Havelock and Rocky Mount.

6/7/2019 3:17:25 PM

^^ I'm looking forward to trying them. Pics on Instagram look awesome.

6/7/2019 3:33:44 PM

Quote :

"and cookout hushpuppies are better than smithfields"

ok, now you're just trolling. cook out hushpuppies are horrible. frozen crap.

6/7/2019 3:44:01 PM

they taste good though, and smithfields do not

6/7/2019 3:44:25 PM

smithfields aren't the best around by any stretch, but they're perfectly acceptable to me. i would prefer smithfields hushpuppies over no hushpuppies. if i got a bbq plate served with cook out huspuppies, i would just skip them.

but, hey, to each his own.

6/7/2019 3:47:42 PM

i enjoy all hush puppies, including cookouts. but the best ones are at big daddy's (in lake norman/mooresville, IDK about the one in kure beach. )

6/7/2019 5:02:33 PM

hush puppies are overrated af

6/7/2019 5:44:00 PM

BBQ is overrated

6/7/2019 7:12:43 PM

food is overrated af

6/7/2019 8:06:49 PM

no but fried bread sure as hell is

6/7/2019 8:08:05 PM

Am bout to microwave some of siler city's finest Brookwood farms

6/7/2019 10:18:49 PM

Went to Wilson earlier this week and recommend going to Marty’s. Everyone told me Parker’s has gone down hill which shocked me.

6/9/2019 8:51:34 AM

Bill's was always pretty good and his son runs Marty's.

6/9/2019 9:34:06 AM

Set em up

2/8/2021 5:36:07 PM