Fat Boy’s Bar-B-Que Ranch

All I can say is… I’m in love. The owner is so sweet and the vibe of the place is super cool! The food is amazing, awesome sides. I wish I lived closer!

Probably would have never gone here if not for the reviews, but a great find. It is a simple but charming place run by very nice people. Ribs were «fall off the bone» good — I had smoked turkey/​pulled pork plate that was excellent. Disappointed that strawberry pudding was out of season — locals tell me it is great.
Reviews were right about coming early for ribs. We ate at 5:00 on a Saturday — people were picking up slabs & they were almost out.
We live almost 90 minutes away — might just make the drive sometime for more.

If you are within 20 miles of this place, it is your ONLY option for food. I wish they had a meal plan cause I’d eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner.

Perhaps it is simply a difference in styles from state-​to-​state (being from TX and SC), and perhaps it was an off day, but the meat was incredibly bland and very dry. Sausage was like a Jimmy Dean. The sauce was thick, sweet, and honey based. Got the sampler plate for $ 20 (plus tax). Big portion for the price, but the meat simply did not do it for me. Atmosphere was the best part of the experience. Service was not good. Have had MUCH better Q in Alabama. Would not go back.

Really deep smoked with little need for sauce. Get there early or the ribs will be gone and the cobbler will be eaten up. I got the blackberry fried pie and it was awesome. I had no idea what a fried pie would be, but I’m a fan now.

Pulled pork was tender and delicious. The baked beans had a hint of chilli or something spicy in it and just set them apart! Mixed with the great potato salad and it’s heavenly! Wife got a tater and that could have fed a family of 5! The peach cobbler was some of the best I’ve ever tasted!!!

Okay, where do I start… DELICIOUS, is still short of how good it is! Not a knife in the place and nobody needs one!
Fat Boy Special offers a taste of it all and it leaves you with a smile! Must have the potato salad for a side (as good as my grandma Hansel’s).
Don’t forget to save room for the strawberry pudding!
Checking my calendar for when I can head back!

Went here on recommendation of local family members. The women who great me was very pleasant full of southern hospitality. She very helpful going over menu and making recommendations. Went with favorite of pulled pork, but I opted to add the brisket as I like beef. The brisket is tender and falls apart and it’s flavor is better than that of the pork. Both meats were good. The sauce though was lacking. It had a sweetness but there was a funny twang that I don’t think came from vinegar? I put this place between three and four stars.

We stopped in on our way from Indiana to Florida. Great food and fast service. Everyone loved their meal — pulled pork sandwiches, pulled pork meal, and ribs. My wife loved the stew too. Gretchen was super nice and patient with us as we figured out what to order. Would definitely come here again.

The best bbq I’ve ever had: the meat was so flavorful, and it just fell off the bone. A slight smoky taste – this Californian felt like I was wine tasting, there were so many flavors to savor. The owner had to encourage me to try some of his special sauce – the meat was so wonderfully cooked and flavorful, I ate most of it without sauce. The baked beans were just as good as my grandmother’s homemade baked beans. If I’m ever in Prattville again, I will be sure to come back! Next time, though, I’d skip the french fries, and try a different side.
And since this Californian is far from a bbq expert, I’d place more faith in the review of the locals who came in after me, and said Fat Boy’s was the best barbecue in town. The gentleman highly recommended the smoked chicken. I ended up going with the owner’s two favorite meats – brisket and ribs, both of which were fabulous (they tried to talk me into the combo plate of all the different meats, but I just couldn’t eat that much!).
In the dining room, Fox News was playing (a little too loud), but the owner came out and visited with me, chatting about his family background in the trucking business, and all the places we’ve both visited. He recently attended the Alabama Shakespeare Festival for the first time, and since I work in theater, we chatted quite a bit about that. He raved about the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and said he went because so many of the actors came in to eat while working on the show. ASF, I assured him, has a national reputation as a top-​notch company.
A fantastic dinner, great company, and a wonderful slice of Southern hospitality.

Great BBQ for our annual college gameday roadtrip on our way to Tuscaloosa. Probably the best potato salad with a hint of cinnamon and very good slaw. Pulled pork plate was good and the food came out to our table in 5 minutes. And it doesn’t hurt that Mr. Danny is a great guy

Our family was driving through Alabama on I-​59 a few days ago and were looking for a place to eat on the way down to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. I found this, and told my family to go here. This place really feels like country and the pork was actually pretty good. But the brisket was phenomenal! I love taking road trips for vacation, only because I get to see many things and go to places like this! So if anyone is driving through Alabama and looking for some tasty BBQ, I would totally recommend this place.

It was good but my pulled pork plate was cold, and there wasn’t any real flavor to the pork until I added their «bbq» sauce which was okay. The baked beans had good flavor, I just wish I had more beans and less sauce (seriously I had like a small scoop of beans compared to my husband and we ordered the same thing.) The fries were soggy not crisp, and the potato salad was real pickly. Over all its okay, not the best I’ve eaten but not the worst either, also it was a bit pricy for the portion sizes. You can get more bbq and sides that taste better and arrives to the table hot from other places.

This was my first visit to Fat Boy’s and I ordered a pork sandwich along with fries and a drink. The food was very good but I wish they had more side options. I love the food and I’ll definitely be coming back again.

I walked up to the counter, ordered a pork sandwich, a side of fries, and a drink, and without batting an eye, the owner looks at me and tells me it’s $ 9.57. Clearly he’s been doing this for a while, and it probably explains why Fat Boy’s is the best barbecue I’ve had in the Montgomery area.
Barbecue is not rocket science, though with as many dry pieces of meat I’ve had to smother in sauce, you’d be excused for thinking it was. In the case of Fat Boy’s and the other better barbecue place in town, Varsity, it comes down to a matter of fat and its inclusion in the overall dish. My sandwich had a very good amount of fat throughout, and as such it was the perfect collection of chopped pork. It needed no sauce, nor did it exist in this earthly realm long enough for me to reach for the squeeze bottle.
The sauce is another interesting component. It’s dark and sweet, though not in a way that ascribes to a particular region of barbecue. The ingredients listed on the bottle included sauce (duh), pineapple juice, and other sugars; as you might expect, it was sweet to the point of nearly giving me a stomachache as I liberally applied it to each of my fries.
Still, it comes back to the fundamentals that solidify Fat Boy’s as one of the area’s best: hickory smoke and plenty of fat to keep things lubricated. For as much as the owners want to believe the Lord told them to make this barbecue cabin a little bit off the path of downtown Prattville, it’s more simply their ability to properly work a smoker that makes their meats heavenly.

I will preface this review with the fact that I LOVE BBQ! I am also very critical of almost every element, so I was very excited to eat some southern BBQ while I’m in town.
As soon as you drive up you have high expectations of the food here. This place looks like it should be set back in the woods on your grandpa’s farm. The next thing you notice is the great aroma of smoking meat. Their menu is simple but has a good variety of food. I couldn’t decide on one thing, since I wanted to try it all, so I ordered the Fat Boy Plate, which included all of the meats and 3 sides. This was definitely a good decision. For my 3 sides I ordered coleslaw, baked beans, and potato salad (the only 3 that really seemed worthy of eating/​judging)
–The coleslaw was very good. Sweet-​ish with some sour from the pickles in it that really worked well together. Probably the best coleslaw I’ve ever had at a BBQ joint.
–The potato salad was good. It was thick and creamy with some chunks of potatoes in it. You could taste the eggs in. Overall it was very good.
–The baked beans were awesome. They were sweet, tangy, smoky, and meaty. The sauce was thick and they were delicious.
–The pulled chicken was tender, moist, and had good flavor. It was good on its own but if you put some between the provided bread with some sauce and it’s even better!
–The smoked pork was tender and moist. I’m not huge on pork but it was unremarkable, neither bad, nor great.
–The brisket was tender and moist. I did get an end piece that had lots of smoke flavor and some rub on it that was good. But it had a VERY mild smoke flavor throughout.
–The rib was tender and moist and had good flavor. Came right off the bone and you could taste the smoke and rub just like the end piece of brisket, and it was good.
–The sausage was the highlight of the plate. Tender juicy with great flavor. At first it tasted a little like a smoked breakfast sausage and then the heat slowly showed up with more smoke flavor. It was REALLY good, possibly one of the best smoked sausages I’ve eaten.
–The BBQ sauce was just OK. It tasted like most commercial sauces you can buy. But it did liven up the flavor of the meat when used
Overall the meal was not disappointing, but it wasn’t something I would tell people to drive hours to go eat. All the meats were moist but not overly juicy. The smoke flavor was pretty weak unless you got the right bite, and the sauce was just average. I’m used to Texas style BBQ so I was excited for some southern BBQ and the sauce and was fairly disappointed with the sauce. The saving grace of this restaurant was their smoked sausage and the sides. I would go back for those, but would probably skip the rest.

3 of us went for lunch. We each ordered unsweet tea and just a BBQ sandwich each, no sides. That was a good choice, because the amount of meat they put on their sandwiches is INSANE!!! The meat was tasty & moist!!! Service was attentive and the place has a small town country feel.

The Fat Boy BBQ Ranch really is like a ranch. They just need some cows and horses and dogs outside. There’s a dirt parking lot in front of the building that is next to the «crick.» The benches on the front porch are perfect for sipping iced tea and going to town on good BBQ. It all smells good.
Head on inside to order at the counter before you get your drinks (all you can drink cups so don’t order the gallon unless you’re taking it to go). There’s tables inside too but the air conditioning was cold. I would rather sit outside but I’m sure that’s nice when it starts getting hotter.
Ribs and pulled chicken were great. Some ribs fell off the bone and some didn’t — must have been two different batches. Beans are the best I’ve ever had and I bought a bottle of BBQ sauce to take home. Coleslaw was different with cut up dill pickles in it, I liked it but it seemed a little more runny than I like it… pretty much the norm for this area though. Totally forgot to try the hush puppies. And if you order the peach cobbler (made with canned peaches) it’s kinda small so don’t expect to share. Ask them to throw it in the oven for a few more minutes (or 30) cause the crust was underdone.

Still my favorite bbq joint. I keep trying others and none of its like my Fat Brother! There brisket had me tryin to smuggle it back on the plane. No those arent drugs, they are rib tips. If ever in Prattvile u know what to do!

Okay when I rolled up to this joint, I knew I was in for a treat. Any time you roll up to a bbq place and the building doesn’t look like it would survive a heavy rain fall — it’s legit. The building looks like it’s somebody’s house/​barn.
You order up-​front before you seat yourself. If I remember correctly, it is cheaper than your average bbq place. The food came out fast and the waitress was extremely welcoming. It seemed like it was a family business with everybody helping out.
The bbq came out very flavorful and without sauce. They have sauce on the table if you want it, but you really don’t need it because of the flavor. Overall the place was just a warm nice environment to enjoy some bama bbq.