Sooo tired of Mexican. So my car drove me to Countryside today. Special on the board - Grilled marinated spicy chicken with Ghost cheese. Okay. What is Ghost cheese? Is it a Halloween joke? Did someone misspell Goat cheese? Did someone use a ghost shaped cookie cutter on some cheese? The waitress went and asked. "The chicken is already spicy but the Ghost cheese is like pepper jack with Ghost Peppers". Sure, I'll bite, but you've scared me, so please put the cheese on the side. Tasted them seperately then decided to just slap that cheese on there and go for it. People around me probably thought I was having a heart attack. Sweaty forehead, heavy respiration, drinking a gallon of sweet tea... It was indeed hot, very hot. It danced along that fine line between "burns so good" and "Oh God make it stop!". Nice!!! Kudos to being brave enough to put an item like that on the menu. It's an hour later and I can now feel my lips again. Now I'm trying to figure out a way to mainline Prilosec OTC. 30 feet of intestines will pay the price later. The food was good, the service fast - in and out in less than 30 minutes. Fast forward to some internet research - the Ghost Pepper aka Bhut Jolokia was certified the hottest chili pepper on the planet in 2007 in the Guiness Book of World Records. read more

Countryside BBQ - Spicy grilled chicken , ghost cheese on the side - Barbeque Near Me - Marion, North Carolina

They have catered holiday meals at my workplace several times over the years and I have eaten in Countryside a few times. Always tasty and filling "countrystyle" food. IMHO, Countryside out "countrystyles" Cracker Barrel. read more

Great local barbecue joint. I usually go here any time I'm in the area. The portions are large for the price and they've got all your typical southern sides. Be sure to grab one of their huge chocolate chip cookies on your way out. Plus Obama's been here. read more

Very good ! Pulled pork was awesome! Mac and cheese was great too . recommended !! Service was good and easy. We did curbside and it was quick and they even let us keep the pen. COVID safe read more

Great North Carolina barbecue with friendly service, at reasonable prices. We vacation near Mount Mitchell and look forward to this restaurant during our trips between our condo and Florida. Portions are generous, and prices very reasonable. Not fancy, but a great, local, independent experience. The onion rings, brisket and hush puppies were memorable. read more

BLT with half raw bacon. Been disappointed with this restaurant quite a few times lately. Food is not as good as it use to be. I thought a BLT would be hard to mess up. I was wrong. read more

I've eaten from here a few times now to give the benefit of the doubt. Thought perhaps I just got food on a bad night and tried different dishes. I won't ever eat here again. It's a waste of money. If you like tasteless, bland, unseasoned food then this is the spot for you. However my granny cooked way better than whatever they try to pass this off as. Even tried the smoked half chicken and it always came out dry and unseasoned as well. read more

Asked the waitress what kind of ribs they served. She said "st Louis style" not my favorite, but I wanted ribs.riba came, they were baby backs. Point is, educate your staff. read more

Great place to eat!!! Everything was great!! Then I was leaving and saw the picture on the wall and got a little nauseous.

This is a great family atmosphere with great food at a great value. Have eaten here many times and used their catering service with excellent results. Highly rate this wonderful restaurant! Well managed and great service by a pleasant, quality staff. read more

This is an awesome place for the whole family. Their menu offers many choices. Everyone in the restaurant was very helpful and friendly. They took our beverage order as soon as we arrived, entree order shortly after, and after a few sips of tea...the food was on the table. Let me just say, the chicken was falling off of the bone. read more

The menu says the pork is an all time favourite, so that's what we tried. Pork and the home fries were delicious, the baked beans and coleslaw were good. They have a very nice vinegar based bbq sauce. Overall the meal was very tasty and portions just right. It's not everyday that you get to eat where a USA President has eaten. read more

Countryside BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Marion, North Carolina

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We enjoyed the Sunday buffet. Adult price is $8.99 and cards are accepted. What a feast! Meaty smoked pork barbecue. Crispy, meaty chicken tenders. Smoky-sweet BBQ sauce. Saucy tenders. White and red slaw. Crispy home fried potatoes. Homemade broccoli casserole. Rolls. Corn. Mac n Cheese. Potato salad. Pasta salad. Baked beans. Green beans. Apple Crisp. Peach cake cobbler. The list of treats goes on. As many plates as you like. I don't normally like buffets because they encourage you to overeat to get your money's worth, but this place had just the right combo of price and selection. Our ONLY complaint: We went up for dessert and someone poured out our drinks while we were gone, took our straws and made us feel a little rushed. They were slam full by 11:30 AM! I'm a stickler for servers taking remaining food on my plate and such. Tsk tsk. But we loved this place. My wife and I left full for $23 + Tip. And then we drove just 20 miles to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a nice Sunday stroll. read more

Countryside BBQ - Sunday Buffet Lunch - Barbeque Near Me - Marion, North Carolina

Stopped in Saturday before The Expo at McDowell Tech. Seat yourself place with rows of booths- we were given plastic menus followed by our drinks in a flash. Nice size tumbler plus a mini pitcher each for self service refills! I ordered the half smoked chicken with collards, potato salad and hush puppies. My husband got the chopped pork with cole slaw, ps and a bun. This aint my first bbq joint but i gotta say i was blown away! First, the potato salad was hands down the best i ever had. Collards were fresh and clean; both meats were juicy and smoky and the hush puppies tender. Portions generous but we decided to split a piece of coconut cream pie-again not my first but OMG. Worth the drive from Asheville just for that creamy, coconutty confection. We will be back! read more

Great food! Great FRIENDLY staff. Bent over backwards to accommodate my slightest request. Waitress, Lori, was fantastic!

This is a great place to get your feed on. A+ food & great service, awesome staff. Great taters,slaw,barbecue and all.

What a great find! Spur of the moment trip to the mountains and needed to stop for breakfast. Just what we wanted! Food was wonderful and the service was excellent! Really cute place...very clean..I highly recommend the Pecan Pancakes!!! read more

This is my favorite restaurant in Marion. Always get great food and generous portions. The barbeque is very good and so is the smoked chicken half my two favorites. The service is always fast and friendly. They always check back to see if you need anything. The desserts are great. Can't say enough good about this place. read more

The food was unique and extremely tasty. The price was spot on and affordable The service was excellent. Say HI, to Brook - she was awesome. read more

I thought this place had some great pulled pork and smoked chicken. Both were juicy and full of flavor while not too dry. The sides were great as well. I had the Mac n' Cheese which was very cheesy but had a good flavor. Their baked sweet potato was perfect but I'd opt for the baked beans if you are in the mood. The only criticism I would give this place is that they didn't have much choice in BBQ sauces. However, the 2 they had available were good. Located at the base of the Blue Ridge Parkway, you'll notice that this is a gem in a town where you'd be lucky to find an open Taco Bell. Not trying to put down this beautiful mountain town, but it is naturally slim pickens in the restaurant scene as you can imagine. Would Return! read more

He has the smoked chicken (AMAZING), brisket, chicken tender, mac and cheese, okra, hush puppies, potato salad, baked potato and onion ring. Everything was so good. Highly recommended. The staff was great! read more

Mashed potatoes were chunky, The shrimp was overcooked and chewy. Absence of cheese sticks angered me but its acceptable. The Bathrooms are disgusting. I wouldnt reccomend this to anyone. read more

I think I heard that the definition of insanity is trying something over and over again and expecting different results. When it comes to barbecue restaurants my problem is I have had a whole hog cooked over a slow cooker and there's nothing else that compares to that. The miniature hush puppies were really good, the corn was ok,the chicken tenders were not too bad. I won't be back. read more

Great BBQ. Was on our way home from beech mtn and stopped in for some lunch. Friendly and a good price.

Their food is good and the service is good as well. The speed of service can be kind of slow but the staff is friendly

The mac in cheese was delish! BBQ was so so. Needs updating, atmosphere was a little depressing. Waitress was great.

Had smoked chicken salad croissant sandwich with home fries and coleslaw. Sandwich was very good and didn't have a lot of fillers like celery and onions - just right amount of grapes and pecans. Home fries were cooked just right and coleslaw was fresh, creamy and cold. Sweet tea was good also. read more

Love this place. Very consistent! Best desert in town!! Breakfast lunch and dinner ant country side is great.

Great place for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!! On Sundays they offer a buffet, and everyday they have some delicious specials. Sweet tea is amazing, chicken is mouth watering and well I haven't found anything there I didn't like. Oh and the president even stopped their on his drive thru Marion! read more

YELP led us to Countryside as we were leaving the mountains. The chopped pork Bbq was fantastic. The serving size was good and the meat was very moist. The pork is served with a sweet bbq sauce on the side, the sauce is quite good with a bit of zing. There are a large amount of side options, we tried the fried okra, coleslaw, potato salad and green beans. The okra has a light breading and was nicely fried and the green beans were well cooked - not over cooked or greasy. The potato salad had a nice tang of pickle relish and the coleslaw was solid. The service was great! The place was packed, so I thought we would have to wait for a while for our food - but within 10 minutes the food hit our table. We will return! read more

The food is very delicious. My boyfriend had the chopped bbq with hush puppies and sides of home fries and potato salad. The chopped bbq was very moist and flavorful. I ordered the half chicken but they were out so instead I had the chicken tenders with hush puppies and sides of potato salad and green beans. We enjoyed everything except for the potato salads. If you are near by, definitely swing by because it's worth a try! read more

In other states you sometimes find Carolina 'style' BBQ. This is what they are trying to re-create. If stacks of hardwood firewood outside don't convince you, just take a whiff and you will get the idea. Excellent pulled pork: tender but not mushy, and loaded with smoke flavor, just needs a dash of western Carolina style sauce. Good hush puppies: they obviously use quality oil, and keep it fresh. Get a little bite of creamy slaw, and wash it all down with some sweet tea. It doesn't get much better than this. read more

Great local BBQ spot! Service was excellent and the people were very nice. Definitely would stop here again.

Awesome food! In & out quick on a Sunday after church. Great waitresses, too. We wanted something fast but not fast food. This is NC BBQ at its best! read more

Great ribs! Had a half rack special, smoked perfectly and fell off the bone. Got Mac and cheese and applesauce as sides. Mac was decent, applesauce was jarred- meh. I was really hoping for homemade apple sauce because of the orchards/ local apples sold around here. Attentive service. Will return if in the area. read more

Countryside BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Marion, North Carolina

Working in the mountains today, I came across this BBQ restaurant. Being married to a Texan, I was torn between the pork option and beef. So, I thought I'd use this experience as a taste comparison. First, the pork was excellent. It had just enough to fat to make it slight moist. It was great!!! The beef brisket was smoked to perfection! Wow! And it it got my wife's lone star approval ;-). Another great recommendation if you're traveling in Marion just east of Asheville. One interesting note, the POTUS ate here in 2011; so at least we have one thing in common! read more

Had lunch today at Countryside Barbeque in Marion. The pork sandwich and fried okra was good. Mac and cheese was white and soupy. I didn't care for this mac and cheese. Waitress was friendly and attentive. Didn't take long for food to come to table. We did not order dessert. read more

We stopped here on our way from Charlotte to Asheville. What a gem! Great home cooked food at a reasonable price. The chopped bbq was so tasty! Our sides of coleslaw, hush puppies and green beans were very good. Service was super fast and friendly! So happy we found this place on Yelp! read more

Friendly place great service and very comfortable in a laid back way. BBQ was only average but fried okra and slaw were excellent. BBQ was pulled pork but no real smokey flavor. Sweet molasses western nc style sauce was too thick and overpowering. Spicy vinegar sauce on the table was quasi eastern nc style and better match for the meat. Temp just right AC and fans both working great. Menu is large and offers tons on non-BBQ options so it should be fun for everyone. read more

Go here and never be disappointed. They have great barbecue, and an awesome Sunday buffet. It is a place you definitely want to visit a couple times if you can while in Marion. read more