T C’s Barbecue

My daughter and I recently visited TC’s Barbeque as I always do when traveling thru Jacksonville. We ordered the rib chicken combo for $ 14​.00​.It consisted of a half slab of ribs, half chicken, tosseds salad and fries. We opted not to eat in since they only have a very small dining area and it felt like it was over 100 degrees in there. We thought we would take our food back to the hotel, but when we got to the car the aroma took over and we chowed down right there in the parking lot with the ac blasted on high. These were the best ribs I’ve had in years. The chicken was so moist and flavorful and the sauce was out of this world, I slopped it up on the 4 slices of bread that came with our order and I was in sauce heaven. This place is a gem, in a town that has it’s fair share of BBq restuarants. The owners, 2 elderly sisters, knows how to do meat right!

Very good smokey meat with a vinegar based sauce. Tender to the tongue.

Imagine sounds of piggly BBQed pork euphoria coming from this reviewer’s countenance as you read this review. This is the way BBQ should be — PERIOD!
The place itself is just basically a large counter with a bunch of comfortable chairs and tables in its modest dining room with a small TV blaring away in the corner and courteous and friendly ladies tending to you. But — you don’t come here for the atmosphere — you come here for BBQ!!!
Picture a loving and humble senior lady who could be your grandma (that’s Ms. Lucille) patiently standing over a pit, all day long, tending to and turning delicious ribs over a slow heat for hours and hours until they’re perfectly tender, tasty, lightly charred and falling off the bone. Add to that a crispy iceberg salad with their special (Thousand Island) dressing, expertly cooked fries, white bread to soak up the drippin’s, saltines and the best sweet tea you’ll ever have and that is TC’s. (No booze or beer is served [or even allowed!] here, but even *I* don’t care about that, the food’s so good!)
I’ve been back in the kitchen and I swear you could eat off the floor it’s so clean back there. I won’t hold that against them though because their BBQ is so good you’ll be in an absolute trance after indulging in their wood coaled goodness.
If you ever find yourself in JAX and are looking for the real thing, forget the other places — they’re all pretenders. Come here and indulge. You WILL become addicted, I guarantee!

This update reflects the results of my independent Jax. Rib Off. Five slabs from five different restaurants were test tasted by 11 hand picked rib experts.
TC’s — Tenderness — 4.2, Smokey Taste — 4.3, Moistness — 3.2, Fat Content — 4.2 and Personal Preference — 3.3 Overall Average — 3.8.
Comments: These ribs held there own but were defeated by a lack of moistness (1.6 points below top rib) and therefore tenderness. This may be the result of being kept hot too long or too much grill time. They were judged best in class in smoky taste but place 4^th overall. I cannot recommend them as delivered, but you might get lucky if you speak to the right people.

Ate at TC’s on September 21, 2007.
Excellent ribs.
The folks running TC’s are some of the old staff from Fred Cotten’s barbecue on Main Street and they sure know how to cook up some barbecue.
I would strongly recommend it