Boar’s Nest Bar-B-Que

The food ranged from terrible to fantastic.
My fiancé got catfish, which was incredibly good — tasty, tender, with a perfect crust. But it was served with a sauce that mostly just tasted like mayonnaise. It wasn’t tartar sauce and it wasn’t good. The fries were limp, greasy and poorly seasoned; a few fries were coated in seasoning and the rest had none.
I ordered the combination platter with smoked chicken and brisket. The smokey flavor on the chicken was great, but it was so dried out and chewy that I had to drown it in BBQ sauce to make it edible. The chicken was diced; my guess is that they dice a bunch of it early to help them through the lunch rush. Definitely would not order again. The brisket was the very definition of «meh.»
I chose jambalaya and red beans and rice for the sides. Both sides were delicious and the portions were surprisingly large. They were both definitely spicy but I thought they had the perfect kick. It could be too much for someone who likes their food mild, though, and there’s no warning on the menu nor was there one from our server.
They put a bucket of different sauces on the table. Only one was labelled something like «Sweet and Spicy.» There were two mystery red sauces and also a bottle of ranch. The two mystery sauces were both vinegar-​based; even after shaking them, all that came out of the bottle was thin vinegar that tasted vaguely of BBQ sauce. None of the bottles were clean.
Service was okay. Our server spent a lot of time chatting with the other servers in plain view and our drinks went empty for a couple of minutes, but it was tolerable. She was friendly and polite.

The food took forever to come out and the onion rings weren’t even fresh and tasted extremely processed. I ordered the brisket sandwich and there were only three slices of brisket on it, the brisket was average but not very filling. The barbeque sauce had a spice I wasn’t too fond of (maybe anise?) However, the tamales were very good and their catfish is good. Overall I’d say it’s okay. Not the greatest barbeque and certainly not the worst.

Convenient place to wind down at the end of a long day, especially if you are staying at one of the adjacent hotels.
Lots of Southern fare on the menu but one stands out in particular:
The Po-​Po Burger has bacon and cheese and is served inside of a glazed donut! Fear of cardiac arrest prevented me from ordering this, but it did sound tempting!
Opted for a lighter fare of heart clogging excitement… cheese fries with beef! Paired perfectly with Jack Daniels and Diet Coke (I am watching my weight :), this was a wonderful ending to a long day of seeing customers while in the Springdale/​Fayetteville area.
As for service this place is beyond reproach! Be sure to stop by when Jesse is working behind the bar. She really makes this Southern gem shine!
The only negative that I have is not specifically with the Boars Nest, but with local tax laws from greedy municipalities on the 30% tax on alcohol. A $ 5 drink costs $ 6.50!
None the less, when I travel here I always stop at the Boars Nest and you should too!