This is the best BBQ in Laurel, MS while it isn't really my favorite brisket it is better than most…read moreof the other options. The best brisket in the area I've had so far is at Swamp Shack BBQ a short distance away in Ellisville, MS. They seem to often be out of things here and then they have "specials" that they are also often out of which seems to indicate they are very busy usually. This place is definitely VERY popular in the area and it tends to be VERY crowded. They sometimes serve you really huge portions and other times smaller portions. I'm a big fan of Texas style BBQ which the brisket here doesn't seem to resemble the brisket I've had in Texas. Overall it is the best BBQ in Laurel, MS and they do have a cool space which is decorated with all sorts of bling bling inside.

Laurel was our planned lunch stop on a long road trip from Up North to New Orleans, and Hog Heaven…read moreBBQ was the obvious choice for so many reasons: easy access from I-59 and great reviews, here on Yelp. We were not disappointed. The first sign we'd hit gold was the line of (likely) locals pulling in to the drive-up window. We ordered brisket, pulled pork and the corn nuggets. No surprise that the brisket and pulled pork were excellent (juicy, flavorful, plentiful portions), but the corn nuggets: wow! And it also bears mentioning, the staff treated us like visiting family.

Let's start with the food. The chicken is moist and Smokey. The pulled pork is fresh and…read moreflavorful . The sausage was delicious and the Ribs were good. The coleslaw was first rate as were the Baked Beans. The service was first rate also. The restaurant has dine in or drive through. The restraint isn't huge but there is always customers. The wall are covered with hunting and fishing photos. A great place to take the family.

They have great prices and good food. We did a takeout order. The clerk that took my order was…read morehelpful and good.

We are back in town and this is one of our favorite bbq restauarant. We like to arrive early since…read moreit's a hopping place at lunch. I have never been a rib eater due to being on a bone and fatty meat but this place has changed me. I love their ribs!!! So tender and juicy! You can order the ribs only or with two sides for the same price so I get the sides. Love the fried okra! Friendly customer service. If you have not tried this place you will not be sorry for stopping in. Enjoy!

The swamp shack is located in Ellisville, MS. The menu is full of delicious bar-b-que items. We…read moreloved everything we ate. The staff were friendly and the atmosphere was very welcoming. Will definitely be back!

The food was amazing overall, although I thought the pork chop was overpriced for what you…read morereceived. Our waitress did a good job and was friendly throughout the meal. There was a very large party that had taken over the entire patio during our visit, so I completely understand why the kitchen and service may have been slower than usual. The frustrating part was the seating process. There were several open tables, but customers weren't being seated very quickly. We were a party of two, and the table we eventually sat at was empty for about 20 minutes before we were seated. There may have been a perfectly good reason for the delay, but nothing was explained to us. Once we were seated, the food was worth the wait. I would definitely recommend making a reservation and giving yourself plenty of time, especially if you're visiting during a busy evening. The building itself is also worth mentioning. The inside has a fun, unique atmosphere that's different from your typical restaurant and adds to the overall experience. I'd definitely eat here again because the food was so good. I'd just make a reservation next time and plan on not being in a hurry.

So close and yet so far…read more.. I guess I am spoiled having owned and operated several successful restaurants ( including a popular steak & prime rib house ), and owning a home in San Francisco where no doubt one can easily find amazing food served in amazing restaurants by classy staff who understand what delivering excellent service means... But, we do love our Laurel.....and I do love The Loft! Food gets 4 stars, atmosphere and "the experience" gets 2 stars... Tried The Loft last night for prime rib... 1. The cute as a button young hostess was chomping on her gum to the point it was annoying! Very sweet young lady, but chomping her gum with her mouth open as she talked, walked, sat you, etc. Issue number one here.... no manager on duty? No adult with a measure of class to advise her to spit out her gum.... and THIS is consistent with the tone of this rant & atmosphere..... her open mouth gum chomping is only a part of the issue at The Loft. 2. Prime rib meal was a great value and the quality of the meat appeared to be excellent. Correctly priced in my view! The portion was excellent. I ordered my cut medium-rare and it was served to me a perfect medium-rare..... but look at the photo I attached! Looks well done, huh? SEE ABOVE- my Prime Rib & Steak House did 5.5M a year in sales, we were experts at roasting high quality prime rib.... STOP DIPPING THE PRIME RIB IN AU JUS AS IT DOES TWO THINGS..... ONE, IT TOUGHENS THE MEAT AND TWO..... IT ELIMINATES THE BEAUTIFUL PINK/JUICY PRESENTATION OF A FRESHLY CUT SLICE OF MEAT. Do not make the same mistake that Hog Heaven makes... by cutting the prime rib in advance then storing it on a steam table.... need to slice prime rib "to order", and NEVER dip it in hot au jus as it toughens the meat and makes rare or medium-rare or medium meat look well done. Mt cut was on the tough side but only because I can tell the cook (sorry, not a chef ) dipped it in au jus to heat it up right before serving... it came out looking well done but it was in fact medium rare as ordered. The hot au jus toughened up the meat though, so you lose a few stars for that bad practice. SEE my other photo of my prime rib from my restaurant, never dipped in au jus, and look how nice and pink and juicy it is compared to what was served last night. At my steakhouse / prime rib restaurant I had a batch of baked potatoes coming out over the oven every 20 minutes during peak hours of operation to guarantee my patrons received a fresh and hot potato. Last night the server explained upon arrival to our table that the cook forgot to put in the potatoes so they may not have any in time for my dinner.... happily, by the time we were served the potatoes came out of the oven so mine was incredibly hot and fresh... and hopefully the owner reads this and adopts the "out of the oven every 20 minutes" practice. Reduces waste too... Salad was fresh and the portion size perfect... no complaints coming out of either end of me regarding the lettuce! :) Ok, now the bad part.... Turn up the air! Same complaint we had last year... the same complaint we heard from two tables near us..... your restaurant is TOO COLD and the icy air blows down on the hot food doing what? You guessed it.... making your food cold! No need to freeze your patrons... cool is ok, icy cold is not fun, not comfortable.... Your flatware, again.... is a joke. Come on... as I asked before... drive down to Hattiesburg and visit Longhorn and take note of their nice silverware and steak knives. SEE the photo? We are not prison inmates, this is not elementary school or a long-term care facility.... please provide your patrons with some decent, not cheap, flatware.... your choice of the cheapest flatware takes down your restaurants classy-level by 2 stars. Train your servers! Laurel is visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to see the Home Town sites... and obviously many visit The Loft. One's impression of Laurel, in part, is formed by ones experience at each restaurant visited...yes we are small town, yes we are deep south... but lets train what class is! Please... Learn the wine menu, where each wine comes from, etc., and learn the stages of service that includes how to properly suggestive sell. Our server was great overall, but she did the usual " did you save any room for desert?" routine. To increase revenue, server quest check averages and tip averages, teach how to suggestive sell! After pre-bussing and then later removing dinner plates.... have them approach the table and say this... "I just tried our bread pudding and it was amazing! We make it fresh daily and the cheese cake too which, by the way, I had last night and it was incredible... can I bring you a slice? You're going to love it..." Is The Loft a nice place? Yes, but "nice" is relative... it's not "fancy nice". Lastly, men... take your hats off!

This is a new joint that I was told has only been open a few weeks. They are located right in the…read moresmall downtown area of Ellisville, MS. My Momma had eaten here before and she reported she liked the pork ribs she ate. During her second visit and my initial visit I sampled the brisket plate and got the sides of sweet potatoes along with the mac & cheese. Now for my part I found the brisket moist although lacking in any BBQ smoke flavor and the sweet potatoes were alright. The BBQ sauce here is of the sweet variety and it was an OK version of a sweet sauce. So after some deliberation Momma decided to get the burger with sides of baked beans along with the mac and cheese. Well Momma was 100% not happy with her burger and she didn't even finish it... Just looking at the burger it appeared quite pathetic and weak as it had the beef patty thickness about the same as a generic McDonald's burger. Momma took about three bites and gave up as she said "this has to have been a pre-made generic beef patty they bought!" To add insult to injury they have a huge sign on the front of the building here that says "BURGERS" so they really need to upgrade their burger game here! So at the the conclusion of our meal both Momma and I agreed the mac & cheese was certainly lacking in the cheese department so we wouldn't recommend ordering that as a side item. Overall my brisket was alright while it would absolutely never win any BBQ competition. To my taste the food was below average for the most part other than most people seem to really love the pork ribs here which seems to be an area they consistently do well with at this joint (I don't eat pork so I have no opinion on the pork ribs). For the general area I will rank this spot a three star but in places with more BBQ options this spot would be two star joint or in BBQ Mecca places like Austin, TX a one star. Another small item of consternation to me here is they didn't have any lemon for my iced tea which so far has been a consistent occurrence in this area at the restaurants I've eaten at which just makes zero sense to me? The folks working here were nice and they did seem to draw a decent lunch crowd. So it generally seems plenty of folks like this place and my taste is certainly different from others tastes so obviously plenty of others seem to enjoy eating here which is fine. Remember to like what you like and I will too along with always remembering we all have different tastes!

We eat there several times a month and the worst experience we've had was the day they sold out of…read morerids before I got there. Lol The food is great, the surroundings are comfortable and the staff makes you feel like family. The price is on par with other BBQ shacks but better food.

This restaurant is located on Hwy. 84 West about 2 miles from Laurel. It is only open Thu-Sat and…read morehas both indoor and outdoor seating. While the signs outside mention BBQ (they do sell ribs only) they primarily serve fried seafood here. It was lunch on a Friday before Christmas and I ordered the seafood platter for $11. It came out in about 10 minutes (see pic). It was a nice sized amount of food that included fish, shrimp, stuffed crab, hush puppies, fries and cole slaw. It was a good meal that I enjoyed. I believe this is a good place to go for fried seafood at reasonable prices. I would like to try their BBQ sometime but I don't like ribs and that's all they serve. Counter service inside was friendly and helpful.

Boiled shrimp and catfish plates are my favorite good service good food can't go wrong trying this…read moreplace out when you need a seafood fix.

Maybe we're just spoiled on swamp shack & hog heaven bbq's, but the brisket was large chunks of…read moremeat, couldn't tell looking at it what it was, pulled pork was decent, mac n cheese was dry and mushy, potatoes n gravy were like white water with some bacon chunks , unfortunately, I will have to make the drive next time to get some good bbq, and it was $30 , H H or SS, Id be eating it for 2 days later

The last two times I've been here, I placed an online order. After I had paid and placed the order,…read morewhen I arrived to pick it up, they were out of chicken (both times) and failed to call me although a contact number was provided. Food is mediocre at best on a good day. It's also very expensive for mediocre food and smaller portions. The service is not the best either. Once I went in and two employees were arguing behind the counter in front of customers. Don't waste your time here.

On our way home to Louisiana we stopped for lunch. Cute spot with only outdoor seating. Burgers…read morewere fantastic! Fresh buns and you can build your own. The fries were fried in tallow and yummy. It's worth the trip!

Great food, the employees are always very nice, and the food always comes relatively quickly. The…read moresweet potato fries with the marshmallow sauce is amazing.

The sign out front says the best burger in town and wow, did they deliver!!! So good! Briana was an…read moreaccommodating chef/owner that hooked me up!! I will return!! FYI-- they are open late on Friday and Saturday and they support local live music

I'll be honest, my wife and I had our doubts because, well, let's just say that McGill's isn't much…read moreof a "looker"...but man were our burgers delicious! Large, handmade patties, cooked excellently, good amount of fixin's and great service! The fries had some kick to them because of how they are seasoned and they were delicious as well. Definitely one of the best burgers in Laurel! Will be back for sure!!