honestly people, it's like you've never eaten real bbq

to be fair, real good bbq is hard to get even in the states. look, i've wanted to like home plate, just like i wanted to like tim's, but i needed to write this to counterbalance what seems like undeviating, unabashed (and uninformed) praise. as a born and bred southerner whose bbq tastes were honed by carolina and central texas for over a decade, when it ain't, it ain't.

i went when it opened, i've tried it several times since, but my verdict is still the same: passable, but far from authentic, tasty bbq. pulled pork was dry both times i ordered it, which isn't so bad with bbq sauce, but the real deal should still be fall off the bone and moist. as for other cuts, i'm a bigger fan of central texas style 'cue, so there's definitely not enough smoke on the meat for me, but it's probably enough for a layman.

with the sides, i have no egregious complaints. the fried pickle chips (i've always had fried pickle spears) were great and honestly, chips are an improvement over spears. no complaints on the fried okra either. both seem to have cornmeal in the batter, which always gets a thumbs up from me.

the only absolute, horribly awry thing was the chili fries. honest to god chili fries are an extremely difficult creation: balancing the texture of the fries, the quality of the chili, and making sure your cheese melts just so. thing is, my fries were soggy, the chili was a strange, foul tasting meat paste, and the cheese wasn't melted at all. three strikes guys.

as it's out of my way, i won't stop by much more, probably only if i'm really hard up for some bbq.