09/29/09

Good BBQ the Eastern Carolina Way

by Old North State Forever

Barbecue Lodge has been a favorite of mine for many years. Unlike the BBQ establishments further northwest and west of Raleigh, BBQ Lodge sticks to the Eastern NC tradition of serving baskets of hush puppies and cornbread sticks when you are seated- nothing stingy here! Our waitress is excellent every time and is trained in the old school- find that in any chain restaurant, I dare you. When I want good bbq and chicken I don't have to have chintz and valet parking. All I want is good food and service in a clean establishment and you get that here! They even make good unsweetened tea- Yankees take note!

• Pros: Ample Portions, Plenty of Hush Puppies, Cornbread Sticks
• Cons: None...unless you are a Yankee or some other foreigner

07/05/08

Generus but salty

by galateaparty

Typical Eastern NC BBQ comes family style with fried chicken, hush puppies, cole slaw and your choice of sides. All you can eat; with generous helpings of everything in an 80's inspired formica palace. Mediocre suburban surroundings, with occasional live music brings a very rural feel to the strip mall location.

The food is ok, but very salty. Collards come laden with pork belly fat, hush puppies are sometimes piping hot, other times tepid and unappetizing.

The menu has more choices than many BBQ restaurants. All in all, it represents a good value if you're very hungry and don't mind a lot of salt.

Service is very friendly and makes up for the dreary surroundings.

• Pros: Abundant Eastern NC BBQ and all the trimmings, family style, good friendly service
• Cons: Dreary decor, too much salt, fried bread a go-go

05/30/08

Great Barbecue!

by Veeann01

The Barbecue Lodge still has great barbecue. I use to live in Raleigh years ago and I now live in Charlotte, NC. I went to Raleigh to visit some friends over the Memorial Day weekend and had a chance to eat there. We were seated quickly and the service was good. We got the buffet all you can eat with barbecue, seafood and fried chicken it was so much food but it was good. The barbecue in Charlotte which is considered western style isn't as good as the eastern style barbecue I grew up on. As far as I know Charlotte has only one restaurant that serves eastern style barbecue but the restaurant hours are limited 10am to 3pm Monday through Friday and it's to far away from my job to go there for lunch. The Barbecue Lodge is one of things I miss about Raleigh.

• Pros: Good food, fast service