Burnt Fork BBQ

I’d like to know what happened to this amazing restaurant. They had the best cuban sandwich and the best brunskwick stew in town. Can someone please shed some light? This was my go to spot for cuban sammies. Very sad to hear that it closed.

I live in the area and we’ve eaten here several times, but our experience has never been stellar. Which is a shame because the food is pretty good.
When you go, please know the following:
1) They will be sold out of something. Usually it’s something you want. Tonight, for instance, they had no pinot grigio, ribs or rice and beans side dish.
2) You will wait an inordinately long time for your food. We went to dinner this evening at 6 p.m. because my child’s bedtime is around 7. We didn’t get out of there until nearly 7:45 because we waited nearly an hour for our food. This on an evening when only two other tables were taken. On another visit, I waited nearly two hours because they were «still cooking the ribs.» Really?
3. Your meat may be disappointing. I love brisket burnt ends; however tonight there was more fat than meat. I’ve had better.
I keep giving this place chances because I love the fact they have NC barbecue sauce and I like having an alternative to the always-​packed Fox Bros. But every time I leave here I’m disappointed. It’s a shame.

Wanted to like it. Brisket and greens were tasty. But service was SLOW and they messed up my order and locked us in at 1:20. French fries were awful. Seems like it may have once been good from reviews but it is going downhill fast.

They’ve closed. Definitely a bummer. Seriously, for a vegetarian, this place is paradisiacal. Their bbq tofu plate with a variety of vegan and vegetarian sides never fails to delight. My omnivore friends say the pulled pork rocks. I don’t know why they’ve gotten some bad reviews of late. This is my third trip here and I’ve never been disappointed. Their sauces are all made in-​house and they are so varied and yummy. Nothing is better than ordering an appetizer of fries and sampling all of them on the fries. The service is friendly and the food comes out quickly.

The food here isn’t bad. It’s actually pretty decent. Yes, there are better options, but I’m not sure why this place is struggling as much as it seems to be. The last time I came here, they were closing early, had run out of several items, and informed me that they were no longer selling draft beer.
I had take-​out from here a couple of years ago and enjoyed my meal. This time, the food was still fine. I wanted the rib combo meal, but they were out of ribs. So I just got the meat combo, opting for pulled pork and sliced brisket. The latter was a bit dry, but the former had a lot of good flavor. I didn’t even add any sauce to it. The mac & cheese was good, as was the kale. My SO got almost the same meal, except for the Brunswick stew in place of kale. That was the only definite failure of the meal. It was thick and basically tasted like bottled BBQ sauce. Their pickles, which seemed to be made in-​house were actually very good. We also enjoyed sampling the different BBQ sauces at the table. My favorite was the Memphis.
Service was fine. Food arrived in a timely manner, as it should, considering there were only three tables occupied, including ours.
I would definitely return here if I’m getting take-​out or too lazy to drive farther to Community Q. I guess not enough of my fellow Decatur residents feel the same way.

Disappointing and going downhill
I’ve visited Burnt Fork on several occasions over the past few years. Service was always lackluster, but my family likes BBQ and we want to support neighborhood restaurants. The past few visits have been really disappointing and we won’t be back.
The restaurant is rarely crowded, yet the wait for food is ridiculously long. We waited nearly an hour for a meal where the meat was served cold and the side dishes were served separately. One meal on our order was sold out (after we were assured it was still available). They are regularly out of menu items. From now on, we’ll be going to Community for our BBQ fix.

I’ve been to Burnt Fork a couple of times and had a few different dishes.
They always have a couple good local beers on tap for a great price. The dining area is small and I’ve never had an issue with service.
One of the first times I visited I was eating vegan, and I was excited to see they not only had vegan options for their sides, but explicitly listed them. I remember the kale and pecan in sweet broth as being fantastic.
I won’t pretend to be a connoisseur of BBQ. I know things that taste good. They have a number of great sauces that will flavor their meat any way you want.
My usual order was pork, one time I came in and asked for brisket only to find that they only had burnt ends. Freaking delicious. So much taste and crunch and fatty goodness. Highly recommended if it’s available.
The floor always seems a bit sticky, but not in a gross way– more like someone spilled sweet tea and it didn’t get properly mopped.

Like many apparently, I had a pretty lackluster experience. It would probably be 1 star, but the burnt ends were phenomenal (and they’re hard to find around here).
I walked in and placed a to-​go order. Service was neither good or bad, just unmemorable. I ordered a combo plate with pulled pork and burnt ends, and sides of mac n’ cheese and brunswick stew.
I had to take a picture to show the disappointment in portions when I opened my bag. I feel like $ 14 before tax is a bit steep for what I got. FYI I put the dollar there for perspective, not to brag about all my dolla dolla bills!!!
The mac and cheese was above average but nothing amazing. The brunswick was flavorful, but too spicy to even eat all of it. A pretty small portion of pulled pork and burnt ends. Thanks for throwing in the one slice of bread.
Aside from the burnt ends, there was nothing to really write home about. The sauces were kind of confusing and off. The pulled pork was dry. And the portions were just sad. Will not be returning unless it is to order burnt ends by the pound.

This experience was odd. The brisket was DELICIOUS. It just didn’t taste barbecued. Or smoked. Or anything close.
They were «out» of macaroni and cheese. Hush puppies were tasty, as was coleslaw.
BBQ that’s good, but doesn’t taste like bbq– at all. Go figure.

Nuts and bolts: Celebrating my friend’s birthday.
Note: Parking is kinda tight in the front. But there is parking around the back. There is a door that is marked EXIT ONLY, but still opens up from the outside. Which is a bit weird. And people come in that door anyway.
Order: Rib combo plate with white chicken. Hush puppies. Kale with pecans.
Pros:
OK, I have been utterly disappointed in BBQ here in Atlanta. Burnt Fork has turned that all around.
Good for large groups. They set up tables together and had a reserved sign to save our spots. They were able to split/​combine checks as we needed. Tip was automatically applied– no problem, our waitress did a good job.
The food was just great. They have various sauces to fit your desires: (1) Kansas City (2) Sweet Memphis (3) North Carolina (4) South Carolina. My top choice was the Sweet Memphis. Ribs and chicken were both well done. I was hesitant with the hush puppies (they had jalapenos? inside). But I ended up really liking them. The kale was nice and sweet and the pecans were a nice addition. Other guests raved about the mac and cheese.
Cons: I originally wanted something that was on their online menu, but it was not available in the restaurant. :-(The waitress said they had recently updated their menu.
Take home message: Great food at a reasonable price. I finally have a favorite BBQ place.

The only reason there is one star is because you cant not check one. I am a United States Navy veteran, retired. I pass through Decatur often on my way to the VA hospital. I found Burnt Fork on Unilocal.Being a huge rib and brisket fan, I was happy to find it close to where I would pass by on April 29^th at 1300hrs (1pm to you civilians) .
I ordered the rib combo plate which was supposed to come with a quarter rack of St Louis ribs and brisket. The bartender apologized up and down explaining that they were SOLD OUT OF RIBS !!!
WTF. ??? A barbecue joint sold out of ribs on a Tuesday afternoon !!! I actually couldn’t believe what I just heard …
I have experience dining in foreign countries in their restaurants, bars, and pubs, all over the world for 20 years !
And never in all of those years and countries have I ever experienced something like this !!!
I asked the bartender and was told that it actually happens all the time!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT S**T? I couldn’t…
I asked to speak to the manager about it just to hear what excuse they had for letting this happen. The bartender informed me that after telling the Mgr a customer would like to speak to them…(after patiently waiting for over 10 minutes), that the manager had actually LEFT to go to the store!!!
Another WTF ???
A man appeared from the kitchen in front of me and asked if there was a problem. I introduced myself extending my hand, he hesitantly shook mine WITHOUT INTRODUCING HIMSELF !!! I had to ask him his name ! (JOSH BY THE WAY) I asked him if he was the manager and he said no he was the OWNER !
I asked about the problem with the ribs and he tried the baffle me with some BS about pork prices going up, the distributor was slow, and they just sold out of ribs ! I asked who ordered the stock and allowed that to happen … If ordered by someone that actually knew what they were doing and in a timely fashion, that should never happen. JUST MORE BS and blah, Blah, BLAH …
Do yourself, your family, and all of your friends a favor by SPREADING THE WORD through all of our electronic social media options ! The United States Navy really needs your help on this one ! Your time to GIVE BACK to your COUNTRY !!!
JOSH hasn’t got the 1^st clue as to how to run a business, let alone deal with somewhat confrontational inqueries and constructive
criticism !!!
HE IS A COMPLETE MORON !!!
signed ‚
Thomas Carney
US NAVY Veteran (ret)
Decatur, Georgia
United States of America
The most POWERFUL country
on the PLANET !!!
GOD BLESS US, each
And EVERY ONE
HOORAHHH
;)

I wasn’t in love with Burnt Fork for a couple of reasons. First of all, my feet stuck to the floor when I walked in. It was a rainy, humid day so this could be excusable but it didn’t excite me. Second, I was definitely visiting on an «off night» and things were just not running smoothly for these folks when I was there. They seemed to be very short staffed and frazzled and this was fairly obvious from a customer perspective. They were out of napkins. We waited a while before being greeted or served. There was no music at all which made the atmosphere rather strange for some reason and we had to share our ketchup and pepper with another table.
On a positive note, the food was pretty good. I must praise a BBQ joint that acknowledges it’s vegan/​vegetarian customers. Burnt Fork offers BBQ tofu as a plate– with 2 sides, or as a sandwich with one side. I opted for the plate and ordered kale and fries as my sides. The kale was prepared like greens and was pretty tasty and the fries (which are organic and made in house) were also tasty. The BBQ tofu had a good texture and was not mushy. It would certainly hold up well on a sandwich.
Despite the aforementioned imperfections, I would be willing to give Burnt Fork another try based on the food and the fact that the staff were all friendly even though it wasn’t a flawless night for them. Good food and friendly service goes a long way!

I would probably give this place one star if they didn’t have a vegetarian option. But they do offer barbecue tofu and some other veg/​vegan sides, and for that effort I will give them two stars.
Quite simply, this place helped me stave off hunger one night but it did not tantalize the tastebuds nor did it seem like a fair price for the quality of the food.
I had the barbecue tofu sandwich, kale salad and sweet potato fries. The tofu was fried and too chewy. The bun was stale. The kale was cooked (GASP) and the sweet potato fries were not fresh. :(Overall, quite a disappointment.
The service was great — our waitress was both helpful and quite nice.
I will say when I got home my stomach didn’t feel so great. I don’t think we’ll be back.

My husband and I stopped in for lunch today. There was only one server, but she did a good job at keeping up with all the patrons. The food was ok. My pulled pork was cold, and the rice and beans didn’t have any flavor. The French Fries were delicious. I tried each of the sauces and didn’t care for any of them. They were all very runny, and I had to add quite a bit to the meat (more than once). I do appreciate that they are gluten friendly, use all natural meats, and incorporate local foods when they’re able.

My wife, kids, and I were close by yesterday and decided to stop in since she’s vegetarian and the had the options.
First off, the poor server was the only one there, with a nearly full restaurant. She was quick to take our food and drink order, but we waited 50 minutes for our food. That’s not the server’s fault, at all, though. That’s on the kitchen. The service, in general, was as prompt as it could be, and still very friendly. When the food got there… the mediocrity was insane.
All of the sauces were too sweet. No tang. No heat. Just sweet. The mustard sauce tasted like honey mustard. The two regular sauces, of which one was suppose to be hot, had virtually no difference. And the vinegar sauce? Let’s just say vinegar and overly sweet don’t mix well.
I had the meat combo plate with sliced brisket and pulled pork with collards and baked beans (they were out of stew). The pork was a little dry, but not too bad. It had decent flavor. The brisket was dry, chewy, and had zero char or flavor. And, again, the sauces were too sweet to put on anything. The baked beans were also overly sweet, and the collards had a metallic/​sweet taste. So weird.
My wife said her BBQ tofu had great firmness, but that the sauce had zero flavor. After trying the four I had, I couldn’t believe it wasn’t even sweet, so I tried it. Yup. Completely bland. She did enjoy her kale and other side (I forgot what she had other than kale).
Our kids loved their PB&Js. The bacon we got for one of them, though, was as hard and dry as could be. It turned to bacon dust when we bit into it.
All in all, I probably wouldn’t come back here because there are tons of other WAY better BBQ places in and around Atlanta.

«What?!!» said my friends when I told them I’d checked this place out. Apparently, me taking my vegan self to a BBQ joint felt a bit surprising to my beloveds. But, behold, I told them, opening up the menu I had brought with me — vegan options!
The owner’s wife is a vegan — WE ARE EVERYWHERE! (and we vote) — and she is a real delight to talk with. We chatted away whilst my vegan apple turnovers were cooking. I also got some bbq tofu and some kale, and a side salad with a ridiculously yummy champagne vinaigrette. I coulda eaten a gallon of that kale. I’m salivating in my mouth right now just thinking about it. Anyhoo, because she is a vegan, she «gets it» — as in, how uptight we vegans can be about our vegan-​ness. Thus, there is a separate fryer for all things vegan, and no meat shall ever taint its oily purity. Yay!
She told me she’s developing a few new vegan dishes, so I’ll keep stopping by. I would like to try the chicken fried tofu that she told me about.
This place is perfect for mixed groups. You know, when you have some vegetarians, some vegans, some carnivores, all looking to chow down. It’s a nice, relaxed, friendly atmosphere, just right for a social meal. Enjoy!

Vegan BBQ? had to check it out.
Skip the korean bbq app with tofu. meh.
go right for the BBQ Tofu. oh yes! thin enough slices that are almost fried — they come out just between chewy and crispy — in the best way possible! delicious!
the fries were a bit soft (but I like them that way! and they were plenty flavorful)
I wasn’t such a fan of their kale — I tried to like it and I love sauteed kale!
also yum on the pickle!

The second I read Memphis BBQ tofu on their menu I texted my sisters, we HAVE to check this out as soon as humanly possible! See, we’ve had the best– RP Tracks in Memphis is WORLD FAMOUS for their BBQ tofu (no, seriously, look at their website) and we’ve eaten there a hundred times. So we were dying to see how a spot nearby stacked up.
When we walked in the next day we seated ourselves and we all kind of looked at each other– is the floor sticky to you? — YES. It was super sticky. But we grew up in Memphis where everythang is sticky, no worries.
After a second inspection of the menu we found that they actually have a pretty decent veg/​vegan selection for a BBQ joint, nice! When we got our BBQ tofu sandwiches they looked delicious and like someone around here knows how to work that tofu. The sauce was pretty good, very close to the real deal, but we weren’t digging the bread. It was good, but a bun would’ve been better. Refer to my photo.
I have to say, it was damned tasty, the prices were decent, and I’ll definitely go again. But now I really miss Memphis and my Tracks.

The BBQ was neither here nor there but the sides were amazing. I had the Mac and cheese and fries while my boyfriend had beans and rice and Mac and cheese. Everything is suppose to be organic, or whatever, but I couldn’t tell the difference. The place was empty with only 4 tables being taken so service was great. They seem to do a big takeout service.
My only complaint would be the watery sauces. Even the ketchup was watery.
BBQ is 2 stars but the sides were 4 stars.

At first, my thought was «whoa, I think these may be the best ribs I’ve ever had in Atlanta,» and then I started thinking about all of the ribs I’ve eaten at some of the varying supposed barbecue meccas in the country (Kansas City, Memphis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Carolinas, etc) in my life, and I couldn’t really think of any place where I had ribs I liked more than Burnt Fork’s.
So I will say that these were the best ribs I’ve ever had in my life.
Just thinking back to them is already making my mouth water right now. They were so meaty, and far from the thin and flat portions that I tend to expect at the price they sell them at. Additionally, the meat falls right off the bone, but at the same time, the meat is not limp, soggy or rubbery; the perfect combination of tender inside and charred chew on the outside.
But what blew me away was the rub. There’s a tiny bit of heat, a little bit of spice, and not that I’m like that Picard-​looking French guy from Sweet Genius that can decipher every flavor on a taste, but there are hints of other spices in there that stand out from typical rib rubs of salts, garlic, onion, cinnamon sugars. It’s clear that it is slathered on from the onset, and that some of it glazes a little bit while being cooked, leaving the end ribs as these marvelous bones with a slight glaze but generous remnants of the rub still on it.
Burnt Fork had these four bottles of sauce on the table that were Memphis, Kansas City, and a Carolina-​y vinegar as well as a mustard sauce. I tried them all, and none of them were necessarily bad by any means, but the rub on the ribs was more than enough, and they did not need any sauce by any means. I’m sure the sauces would go great with briskets and pulled pork, and I’ll have a hard time figuring out the best combinations to my preferences because I most certainly will be coming back, but to dare try something other than the ribs is going to be a difficult choice to make.
Their sides I tried were fantastic too. The fries were like the handcut variety, and they were served slightly soggy which I like, and served as good conduit to soaking up rib juice and errant rub, and what I actually used to try the variety of bbq sauces. But also good on their own. Typically, I’m not that big of a mac and cheese fan, but I really did like Burnt Fork’s. Served with gouda and cheddar cheese, it’s cooked to where it all congeals together, but also not to where it’s baked into a casserole-​like consistency. And by no means is it bland, which is what a lot of places’ mac and cheese is, which is why I don’t really care for it that often.
Prices are fine and more or less pretty much fair. Given some of the other places in Decatur I like to dine at, I’d say I’m paying about the same if not a hair less. The establishment is a little tricky to get to, if you’re headed north on Church Street, and they did not appear to have a very large amount of parking, but they are also not exactly a large establishment. Not gripes, but pertinent information. The interior is clean, and despite being a barbecue joint, it was nice to walk in and not get hit with that wall of melted pig fat musky smell. And I had absolutely no complaints about the service I received.
Bottom line is that these are the best ribs I’ve ever had. Thank god it’s (somewhat) local to me, which means I’m most definitely coming back.