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.

Shane's Rib Shack

Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Restaurant: Shane’s Rib Shack
Location: 123 Perimeter Center West
Atlanta, GA 30346-4205
URL: http://www.shanesribshack.com/

7.25

Shane's rib shack is not really a shack, but they still have pretty good BBQ. They are a chain with several locations and their meat tastes like it was made for the chain and not made on location. The Beef was very very dry, had to stop eating it. The ribs were a little tough but pretty good. They did a fairly good job with the pork.
They seem to have one of every kind of sauce. The spicy has a really good kick, Carolina Vinegar not enough spices, but had an apple vinegar taste. One of their best items was the Brunswick Stew. Nice and thick.
Shane’s Rib Shack is good for what it is, a convenient chain BBQ restaurant. Stop by if there is one around, but don’t go out of your way.

Full Rack - $19
1/2 Rack - $12
Plate (2 Sides) - $9
Sandwich (1 Side) $7

Dan
Overall Score: 6.75
Main Dish Taste:
      Pulled Pork - 6
      Ribs - 8
Sauce:8
Tenderness: 6
Sides Taste :
      Fries – 7.5
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 6
Cost: 8
Comments: For a chain, it was fine. The ribs were good, but the pork just wasn’t anything special. I wouldn’t rush back to go to Shane's, but the price aint bad and the service is pretty quick.

Matt
Overall Score: 7
Main Dish Taste:
      Beef - 4
      Ribs – 7.5
Sauce: 9
Tenderness: 6
Sides Taste :
      Brunswick Stew – 9.5
      Mac & Cheese - 7
      Fries - 8
      Fried Okra - 8
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Cost: 8
Comments: Chain. Meat seems to be reheated. Beef Very Dry and chewy. Ribs need a knife to separate but tasted good. 5 sauces to choose from. Spicy has a really good kick. Carolina vinegar not enough spices, but had an apple vinegar taste.
Stew, one of the best. Very thick; Fries good seasoning; M&C decent cafeteria style; Okra good

Mason
Overall Score: 8
Main Dish Taste:
      Pulled Pork - 8
      Ribs - 8
Sauce: 9
Tenderness:7
Sides Taste :
      Brunswick Stew – 9.5
Service: 6
Atmosphere:6
Cost: 8
Comments: Even though Shane's is a chain, it was a great BBQ. The stew was excellent. Pulled pork was great. The ribs were definitely on the tough side, but great flavor. The sauce was excellent, many to choose from. The only negative i could point out is the atmosphere, very chainy. But i have to say it excelled where other dives failed. I will be going back here a lot.

Year End Review

We started the BI Bbq Group back in October. So far we have made it to 8 BBQ restaurants. Here is what we think so far.

Visit Date - Restaurant - Group Score
12/2/2009 Fat Matts - 9
10/14/2009 Spiced Right - 8.17
11/16/2009 Old Brick Pit Barbeque - 7.83
12/9/2009 Swallow At The Hollow - 7.83
12/29/2009 Fox Brothers (Review to come) - 7.5
11/24/2009 One Star Ranch - 7.13
12/15/2009 KC Pit - 6.5
10/27/2009 Ribs Etc - 5

Here are our individual favorites

Best In ___ (So Far....)	Mason	Dan	Matt	Peter
Overall BBQ	Spiced Right	Fat Matt's	Spiced Right	Fat Matt's
Ribs	Fat Matt's	Fat Matt's	Fat Matt's	Fat Matt's
Pork	Swallow At The Hollow	Fat Matt's	--	Fat Matt's
Beef	Spiced Right	--	Spiced Right	--
Brunswick Stew	One Star	--	One Star Ranch	One Star
Sauce	Swallow At The Hollow	One Star Ranch	One Star Ranch	Fat Matt's
Atmosphere	Swallow At The Hollow	Fat Matt's	Fat Matt's	Fat Matt's
Service	--	--	--	Fat Matt's
Side Dish	Fox Bros.	--	Fox Brothers	Fox Bros.

Yet to Visit
Dreamland
Slopes
Pig and Chick
JRs
BBQ1‎
Five Star Barbecue
Lowcountry Barbecue Restaurant
Shane’s Rib Shack
Old Hickory House
BBQ Corner 2
Smoke Jack
Woodys
Rolling Bones
Dusty's
Community BBQ
DBA Barbecue
Williamson Bros Bar-B-Q
Rib Ranch