Sam Jones BBQ

We drove two hours to try this restaurant in Raleigh, because it was highly recommended by a YouTube video of two men from Britain who did a food tour of the southern United States. Unfortunately, the food tasted average overall.

We ordered the fried fish as an appetizer, which was pretty good— crispy on the outside & moist on the inside with seasoning! 👍

But the whole hog BBQ sandwich disappointed us; it wasn’t how it was hyped up online. The people online said you could really taste the flavor of the pork meat, with the moistness of the pork belly & the textural crunch of the pork skin. Neither one of us tasted anything more than your average BBQ pork sandwich. The ribs were tender, but not very flavorful— again, just average. Same goes for the sweet potato biscuit. 😔

The cole slaw tasted pretty good— it was sweet & refreshing! 👍

The dessert was surprisingly the best thing we had there: the banana pudding included meringue on top, which was a creative & flavorful combination with interesting texture! I personally really enjoyed that. My brother, on the other hand, ordered the deconstructed chocolate ecclair. Its crumbles on top used as a substitute for the usual pastry added great texture to the ice-cream-scoop-sized ball of chocolate & cream below, & both tasted sweet & flavorful. ❤️

Overall, it wasn’t work driving 2 hours to eat there, my brother & I agreed. The food was average to pretty good. 3 out of 5. We didn’t pay a whole lot for the large amount of food, though.

If you’re in the area, give it a try, but I don’t HIGHLY recommend it or going too far out of your way to get it. I do recommend the nearby bakery called Edible Art, though; they have great cookies!

Great BBQ! We stopped in & got the family takeout meal. We recently had a taste of their BBQ from the Winterville location that a family member had purchased & since we were in Raleigh we decided to get more.

Me and some friends came here for lunch. The service staff were friendly and the decorations inside were cool. I got their signature pulled pork sandwich and collards. The sandwich was absolutely delicious! The collards were more vinegary for my taste. I feel the way many feel about the cornbread - it’s not real cornbread. All other sides were more on the bland side. I think the move is to just go for the protein!

The food is delicious with the exception of the most bizarre cornbread I’ve ever seen or tasted. It’s as dense as a brick and has basically no flavor. It’s dry but doughy/undercooked at the same time? It’s so wild. Do they ever taste it themselves? Everything else we had was fantastic! Will definitely come back but will never order the cornbread again.

The BBq wings and BBQ baked potato were delicious! The Mac n cheese and beans were good but have had better. And what is the deal with pink lemonade instead of just normal lemonade. I can’t make an Arnold Palmer with pink lemonade.

Anyways, I’ll still be back because those wings and fries are seriously delicious

Really enjoyed my meal. The ribs were great. Atmosphere is pleasant and everything is clean and inviting. Service was excellent. Banana pudding was really good. The cornbread was dense and not so great.

Amazing pulled pork! One of the only places I know of that does Wood fired, whole hog BBQ. It's worth traveling just to try it!

It's clean, authentic, and delicious!

Historical Carolina BBQ at its best here! Definitely worth trying, and coming back to!

Pulled pork was amazing, but the potato salad was just average.

A lot of flies outside.. but the inside was very clean!

One of the best BBQ spots in Raleigh. The chopped pork is perfect without any added sauce. I'm not a fan of the cornbread here, BUT the sweet potato muffin more than makes up for that tenfold! Arguably one of the best burgers in town as well (Wings are absolutely 🔥 too).

They also have a TOP SHELF whiskey flight for $40. Well worth it for whiskey lovers.