Name: Bucky’s Bar-B-Q
Date: 12/28/15
Address: 1700 Roper Mountain Road, Greenville, SC
Order: Monk: pork plate; Speedy: St. Louis rib dinner (link to menu)
Price: Monk: $7.95; Speedy: $13.95
Monk: In the midst of a heck of an undefeated season for the Carolina Panthers, as season ticket holders, Speedy, Mrs. Monk, and I headed down to the ATL to support our team. While our trip actually in Atlanta was a bit whirlwind in nature (and unfortunately included a Panthers L), it at least afforded us a chance to grab barbecue on the way back to NC. Consulting the SC Barbecue Association’s 100 Mile BBQ site, I picked the Roper Mountain Road location of the four Bucky’s Bar-B-Q locations in Greenville.
On a side note: after researching potential joints to hit on the way home, I am officially declaring the stretch of I-85 between Greenville, SC and the NC/SC border to be a barbecue wasteland. Try barbecue restaurants in that part of that state at your peril.
Speedy: Bucky’s has an old school joint feel, with mismatched tables, barbecue paraphernalia on the walls, and a counter to place your order. The menu isn’t very diverse, but in barbecue, sometimes less is more, so Monk and I made sure to order two of the three meats (skipping chicken, obvi).
Monk: Obvi. One nice touch at Bucky’s that I hadn’t seen in many (possibly any thus far) cafeteria-style barbecue restaurants was the chopping of the pork butt in front of you as your order. The pork served from this freshly chopped butt was decently smokey and moist. I tried the table sauces but found that the meat held up on his own and didn’t need it.
Speedy: The ribs were big, meaty, and well seasoned. You could get a nice bite and you didn’t really need to add sauce. They were also cooked membrane off, which is a nice bonus.
Monk: Finally, membrane off! I feel like this is a common complaint at just about every joint we visit where we try ribs.
Speedy: Overall, they tasted like a good rib is supposed to taste, but there wasn’t really anything that made them stand out. Just a solid effort overall.
Monk: The green beans tasted straight out of the can while the mayo slaw was also nothing special. I tasted some of Mrs. Monk’s mac and cheese and it was slightly better. Based on the sides I tasted this day, the focus on Bucky’s is mainly on the meat. Which at a barbecue joint, I guess there could be worse things.
Speedy: That kind of sums up my thoughts, Monk – it was a pretty good meal overall, but not one I’ll be making special trips to replicate.
Ratings:
Atmosphere – 3 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Ribs – 3 hogs
Sides – 2.5 hogs
Overall – 3 hogs
