What is the BIBbq Group?

At work we have a group of guys that enjoy to go out to lunch every day. There had been several debate to which is Atlanta's best BBQ restaurant . We decided to hit up a different BBQ restaurant each week and rate several aspects of the experience to determine what is truly the Best In BBQ in Atlanta. Thus the BIBbq group was born.

Each week the group will visit a different BBQ restaurant. We are currently located near Perimeter Mall, so we are starting off with the restaurants within a 10 mile radius. We will rate the restaurant on the following categories: Main Dish Taste, Main Dish Tenderness, Sauce, Side Items, Service, Atmosphere, Cost and an Overall rating.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Sam's BBQ1

Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010
Restaurant: Sam's BBQ1
Location: 4944 Lower Roswell Road
Marietta, GA 30068-4321

URL: http://www.bbq1.net/
Recommended By: Matt

8.5

The walls of BBQ1 are covered by their competition BBQ trophies. Starting off we knew we were going to eat some award winning BBQ. They have good lunch specials. $6.95 for a meat, side and drink.

The sauces are served in a pumping station. KC, NC Vinegar and Mustard were available. The KC and Mustard were excellent, but most were not fond of the vinegar based. It was too vinegary.

The pork, beef and ribs all had a great smoky flavor and were pretty tender. The beef could have been a little more tender. All very delicious.
The mac and cheese was excellent. Fat noodles, cheesy and a thick crust. The Brunswick stew was thick and tasty. We also got tater tots, fries and fried okra, all were good.

You can tell that BBQ1 knows how to cook BBQ. All of their dishes were very good and worthy of competition

An additional note. Sam offers a BBQ cooking course called PorkU. This class teaches techniques for BBQing for your back yard or for competition.

Sandwich with 0 Sides - $6
Lunch Sandwich with 1 Side and a drink - $7
Plate with 2 Sides - $12
1/2 Rack Ribs - $14

Matt
Overall Score: 9
Main Dish Taste:
      Beef – 8.5
      Ribs - 9
Sauce:
      Mustard – 9.5
      KC - 9
      Carolina -7
Tenderness: 9
Sides Taste :
      Brunswick Stew – 8.5
      Mac & Cheese – 9
      Fried Okra - 9
      Tater Tots – 8.5
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Cost: 8
Comments: Meats were very good. The beef was a little tough. I like that the sauces are served in a pumping station and you mix them as you please. They were all pretty good.
The Mac and chees was great, big noodles and nice cheesy taste. The Brunswick stew was good.

Mason
Overall Score: 8.5
Main Dish Taste:
      Pulled Pork - 8
      Ribs – 8.5
Sauce:
      Mustard – 9
      KC – 8.5
      Carolina -1
Tenderness: 9
Sides Taste :
      Brunswick Stew - 8
      Mac & Cheese - 9
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Cost: 8.5
Comments: BBQ1 had a catering-like van outside that had "Competition-Style Southern Barbecue" written on it, so my expectations were raised at that point. And rightly so, this place was excellent. They had trophies on the wall of competitions that they had won. The lunch special was great, BBQ sandwich, a side and a drink $6.95. It took quite a while to get our food, but that really was the only negative thing about BBQ 1. They had a whole station set up for sauces. Their sauces were excellent, with the exception of the Carolina. Extremely vinegary! Just not my style. The ribs were very smoky and delicious. The pulled pork had a great smoky flavor as well and was very tender. The mac and cheese deserves a mention, it was very good! BBQ 1 is the real deal when it comes to southern BBQ and I will be going back when I get the chance.

Dan
Overall Score: 8
Main Dish Taste:
      Pulled Pork - 8
      Ribs - 8
Sauce:
      Mustard – 9
      KC – 8
Tenderness:9
Sides Taste :
      Tater Tots -8
Service: 8
Atmosphere:6
Cost: 8
Comments: Definitely enjoyable. The service was a little "shacky", literally, but all in all a very solid spot.











Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Atlanta Magazine - Atlanta's Best BBQ


Atlanta Magazine's July addition rate's Atlanta's Best BBQ.

Here is their top 5
1. Hickory Pig - Gainsville, GA (63 miles north of Atlanta)
2. Sam's BBQ1
3. Swallow at the Hallow
4. P'cheen - Monday Night is BBQ night
5. Blind Pig BBQ - Jackson, GA(50 miles south of Atlanta)

I do agree that both Sam's BBQ1 and Swallow at the Hallow are both good BBQ joints. Swallow at the Hallow is overpriced and abuses the use of sauce. BBQ1 is just good, maybe not the best but very good. The rest are either too far away or only serving BBQ on Mondays.

The article also has a one page BBQ DIY article. It is based on Sam Huff's PorkU. (Sam is the owner of Sam's BBQ1). Matt attended PorkU a couple of weeks ago and a write up is coming.