My 4 stars is mainly because the staff are excellent, and it's a nice clean, uncluttered dining…read moreroom. We went here because husband expressed a desire, he likes BBQ and smoked meats, for myself, I'm not a fan, and I only went because I thought I could cobble together a plate of sides and be satisfied.
He got the brisket plate, ($32) which had brisket, 2 sides and a cornbread muffin. He was asked if he preferred meaty or fatty, he said a mix. I opted for salad and fries. Now for the salad - the side salad (9.95) is a small plate but you can go back multiple times for a refill. The large plate (16.95) is a one time deal. It would make sense to go for the side salad, but husband made me get the one time large plate. I like to dump my fries on my salad. You should try it, it tastes good.
The young lady behind the counter was lovely, very chatty and bubbly. So he gets his brisket platter, which to my eye, looked pretty small for $32, he chose Mac n cheese and potato salad for his sides, and the Mac n cheese was a decent sized portion, but the potato salad was in a small plastic cup, a little larger than the ones you'd get a serving of sauce in.
They have a shelf with lots of hot sauce bottles, and a little side bar where you get sour cream, jalapeños, pickled onions etc. while we were hovering around selecting items, the young lady told me she'd given me a cornbread muffin, (free) as they were so good! As i make cornbread muffins myself (bacon, cheese and Jalapeno, and they are perfection) I thought it a somewhat lofty claim, but we'll see.
If I'm honest, I was somewhat disappointed with the salad bar - I like spinach, I always get that for a salad, but there was lettuce or spring mix, and whenever I have lettuce from a restaurant I get indigestion from it. This only happens with restaurant lettuce (my home grown lettuce doesn't cause this phenomenon) hence why i always opt for spinach. There were no cold meats at all. Some shredded cheeses, black and green grapes, watermelon, beetroot, an olive mix, celery, grape, tomatoes, shredded carrot. Maybe my expectations were high, but we do have a couple of good salad bars in town. Anyway, I smile and select what I will eat.
They had ranch, so I got ranch, but no honey mustard, which I wanted.
So I had my salad, and he had his brisket plate, but no fries yet. Husband went to the counter to enquire, and was told, we air fry them, we don't use deep fat fryers. So I had to wait a bit for those, and was eating my salad really slowly, because the point of the fries is to scatter them on the salad. Anyway, they eventually arrived, nice and crispy, very shoestring fries, those were good, and a perfect pairing with the salad. The cornbread muffins were fresh and hot, and I ate half, but they were crumbly, and I couldn't really get a solid bite, as they were falling apart. The taste was good though, they had a honey glaze I think.
He professed that his brisket wasn't the best he had tasted, but that the Mac n Cheese was good and cheesy, but that the price was a little high for the amount of food he got. I can't fault the staff though, they checked on us often, and were very sweet. If not for them, my rating would be 3 stars.