Roy’s BBQ

Aww it’s closed? :(They had the best bbq pork sandwiches!

I am SO depressed that Roy’s is no more! I will miss that Georgia Gold. However, I am excited to see that they might sell their sauce. I would buy it in buckets. :)

I’m heading over for the Georgia Gold… The last day is Saturday, open until the food runs out… :(
Seattle Times reports they are trying to sell sauce at the Market — keep your eyes pealed!

Georgia gold how I love thee…
Two words: Georgia Gold.
One more word: Royben

Lunch time in Columbia City, where to go? I felt like having some BBQ so I walked the two blocks to Jones Barbecue. Quoted from Biz Markie, «Oh Snap! Guess what I saw?» Jones is closed on Mondays like a few other good eating places in this area. Since Roy’s BBQ is across the street and they were open «You, got what I neeeeed!»
I walk in and order the Georgia Gold Sandwich — smoked pulled pork with mustard BBQ sauce and slaw. I dig into the side of potato salad first, not bad. After I finished the salad I took my first bite of the sandwich. I was not impressed, the smoke flavor was there but the texture seemed like wet cardboard pulp. The mustard BBQ sauce was good which was perfect so it could mask the meat.
One thing disturbed me that will keep me from coming back. As I was eating another customer ordered a pulled pork sandwich. I see the worker separate the bun and throw the serving of meat in the microwave. Microwave? Really? I will now quote Ed Lover, «Come on son!» So if you want some good BBQ, it’s Monday, and you’re in the Rainier Valley then go elsewhere or wait until Tuesday when Jones Barbecue is open. My BBQ lunch was so poor I don’t even have The Itis.

In the words of Homer master food critic «not undelicious». In fact, quite good. Tiny space is crammed with all sorts of crazy odds & ends and relaxed service hits the spot. $ 1.50 cans of PBR complete the picture.
Combining my two favorite sauces (BBQ & mustard) is sure to make me one happy girl. What was truly unusual to us was that the pork comes out looking like a neat little patty, only to quickly dissolve into pulled pork goodness upon biting into its soft (locally baked) roll. Sides are small, but pack a punch & additional amounts are really unnecessary with the amount of meat packed on that bun.
Come in, sit down, and open wide cuz this BBQ is gonna make you happy.

Short version: great food and great customer service!
Long version: I went here a week or two ago with my boyfriend and had a great time. The place is super tiny, but don’t let that throw you off. I ordered the chicken sandwich, with the georgia gold sauce, and the bf had the regular pulled pork. The gold sauce was amazing, by far the better of the two, but even still the pork was much better than other places we’ve tried. The potato salad was tasty, and I thought the portions were great for the price. We’ll definitely be back for those tasty sammies! Oh, and the staff was great too. Funny, laid back and very helpful. Yay! I just wish they were closer to me!

Went back for a second go, this time I brought my wife along. Same great flavors and same great prices.
I you are looking for a rib joint or classic BBQ this is it. It is just great BBQ sandwiches for a good price.
Not the best BBQ I have ever had, I reserve that for Perry Foster’s in Warrensburg, MO, but pretty darn good for the NW.
For all those Foodies out there, if you have never had BBQ in Memphis, Georgia, N. Carolina, Missouri, or Texas (as much as I hate to say it), don’t critique the stuff up here as unauthentic.

I just moved to Columbia City and have been slowly working my way through the neighborhood restaurants. I decided to visit each at least twice before reviewing them on Unilocal to give them a fair shot, but before I was halfway through my sandwich I knew I had to come report on it ASAP. As I took my first bite of the BBQ chicken sandwich I ordered, I thought, «What is this meat? Unicorn? It tastes endangered.» Endangered unicorn meat meaning, of course, COMPLETELY DELICIOUS. This sandwich is amazing, this place is magical.
Other than the fact that it’s not open 24 hours a day, I don’t see anything wrong with this place. The prices are low (around $ 6.50 for a sandwich that will fill you up), there’s a decent selection of well-​chosen sides and several drinks — also cheap — and they have a few random options you won’t normally find at a barbecue restaurant, like meatloaf and fish tacos. We ordered, stood around reading our horoscopes in the Stranger for less than five minutes, and then were handed our to-​go bag with a smile. We got home and spent the next 15 minutes on our front porch, rolling our eyes and getting barbecue sauce everywhere. Add to this the fact that the employees were genuinely friendly and they were blasting Loretta Lynn’s «Van Lear Rose» when we walked in, and I can’t think of a bad thing to say about the place. I’ll be planning my social calendar around their hours from now on.

The Georgia Gold sandwich is so good that, even when I’m planning to have something else, I end up ordering it. Make sure you go with someone else so that you can try the Brisket, the Fish Tacos,
or a cheeseburger. Great potato salad, beans and appropriately homey mac & cheese.
Run by super-​splendid people who care that it’s reliably tasty. You’ll end up craving it everytime someone mentions BBQ.

Roy’s beef brisket sandwich is definitely worth the drive to Columbia City. The sauce was delicious and the meat was perfectly tender. I had a bite of my fiancé’s pulled pork sandwich. It was good, but the brisket was better.
All was going well, until I dove into my red beans and rice. It was a big let down. I ended up taking the rest home with me… then adding pepper, Frank’s Hot Sauce, and some much needed SALT. After these additions, the beans and rice were only o.k. .
I’ll be back someday to satiate my bbq brisket needs. Next time, however, I’ll skip the sides.

Wow, what a let down. I had the Georgia Gold, which seemed by all accounts to be the pinnacle of BBQ sandwiches (meltingly tender, tangy, spicy, etc…). Sorry, but mushy, flavorless pork does nothing for me, ever when covered in a tasty sauce. The mustard based sauce was indeed good, but the pork seemed more like tuna salad, consistency-​wise, than pulled pork. The coleslaw that came on the side was flavorless, watery, and boring. Sorry, I’ll stick with Kau Kau for my pork fix.
They get +1 stars for being extremely friendly and pointing us to some great ice cream down the street (Full Tilt).

The Georgia Gold has become my new gold standard for a barbecue sandwich. The meltingly tender pork smothered in their amazing savory sauce, then topped with just the right amount of crisp cole slaw, is a match made in heaven. Such a difference from the usual reliance on hot and super sweet sauces that masquerade as BBQ.
The person who waited on us was super friendly. We took our sandwiches «to go» for a picnic lunch at Seward Park. She gave us extra napkins and told us to enjoy the sun. Nice.
I’ll be back again and again even though it’s a pretty good distance from home.

I love Roy’s.
The owner, Shane is a really cool guy and all his employees are awesome too! The place looks like it should just be a hallway, but that doesn’t stop them from making some great food. His wife (i believe) came into the pet store i was working at down the street to wash her pooch, and placed an order that i overheard so I told her that where I was going when i got off work, she informed me that they were closing before I was off, which broke my little heart, but about 45 min later she came in with a fish taco and gave it to me! It made my night!
I love love love the pulled pork sandwiches, particularly the Georgia gold. There cheeseburgers are great too! He gets his hamburger meat at Bob’s down the street (also where I go for ALL my meat) and his buns from Columbia City Bakery, which I love! I don’t think I could have a single complaint about this place.

I went there about 1.5 years ago…
The sandwich (smoked oyster po’ boy) was amazing, but seemed really simple and like it was extremely overpriced for what it was. The coleslaw was a little dry and I think too peppery.
Never went back b/​c we just weren’t impressed enough, but it was definitely good to try it out and I can see how some people could easily become regulars.

Georgia Gold — Spicy good flavor, tad dry, but nothing worth going back for
Coldslaw — DRY AS DIRT, can’t believe they sold it this way
Beef Brisket — Nothing fantastic, but not horrible
Mac n’ Cheese — No flavor, dry, and not fresh or cheesy
Final Verdict: Overrated

Note: the coupon for Roy’s you might get in one of those value packs that show up in the mail from time to time might not be valid anymore. Apparently it’s a huge hassle to remove your business from their system.
Another note: the service at Roy’s is so good that if you didn’t know that, the fellow working there may just give you free mac and cheese to make up for the snafu.
Seriously.
The sandwiches and barbecue here are awesome. It’s rare to have 5 people gathered together for a meal and not have a single word uttered for about 10 minutes except «Mmmmmm» and «you have to try this» (with mouth full) and «oh my god this is so… *nom nom nom*.»
The first time I tried to go here, they had had a fire and were closed. So Roy’s BBQ was literally barbecued. I felt bad for them, but I also had to chuckle at the irony.
The place is tiny. The art is pretty rad.

Yay! A very decent BBQ place close by home. Great for take-​out or just eating there on the premises.
Art that is both for sale or just for viewing covers Roy’s walls. I was intrigued by one particular framed poster titled «Accidentes de Trabajos» (work accidents).
I couldn’t tell if the artist was making fun of minor mishaps like getting your britches caught on barb wire, in a panel titled «Incidente del Campo» (countryside incident) or seriously warning about dangerous workplaces — because in another panel — a worker was running a power saw right through his hand, but had a mild look on his face that seemed to say «Oh Dear, just a little hangnail». I could have studied the poster longer, but my lunch was ready!
I tried the pulled chicken sandwich today. Excellent. Super generous portion consisting of white meat, and served hot. The barbecue sauce on the sandwich was perfect, with a nice hint of cider.
I also had the potato salad and cole slaw as sides.
The potato salad was notably yellow. The yellow apparantly was a result of a tad too much mustard, making the salad bitter. I did like the potato salad’s crunchiness (fresh celery).
The cole slaw was a mix of cabbage, red cabbage, carrot, onion and celery seed. But the slaw was completely dry. It should have been juicier or creamier.
Next time at Roy’s I want to try the mac and cheese.

My wife and I were in Columbia City for an entirely different reason last fall and I saw Roy’s. I had heard about it… and went in to try it, even though my wife frowned at the excess of body weight already on me. I claimed the Georgia Gold and was delighted with my choice. Very fine dining indeed… the outside table had a chair open and I put myself down for a marvelous treat of pulled pork, mustard sauce and cole slaw.
Yesterday I received an email from a friend who had gone for lunch. He said it was «The Bomb» and he bought another pound of meat to take home. Now… I have to go back and try it again… I have shed a few of my pounds, so I’ll tread lightly.

I’m not a huge BBQ fan, but Roy’s converted me! Georgia Gold is so good. I had to keep make sure I savored it instead of scarfing it!
The place is tiny, but cozy, and there is an additional table outside for when the weather is nice.
I live close by and have to pretend it doesn’t exist. Otherwise, I’d be there all the time!
And they have beer…

I’m originally from the South. The Virginia south. Where we had pigs on a spit for corporate BBQs. So I fancy myself a pretty good judge of pulled pork.
Roy’s barbeque is average. Not bad. Not great. I like that the meat isn’t soaked in store-​bought sauce. The coleslaw is good. The Georgia Gold sandwich (with mustard sauce and cole slaw) is the best. The straight up barbeque suffers from weak, run-​of-​the-​mill sauce. Overall a solid establishment that I’ll continue to support. It’s not, however, you-​gotta-​go-​there good. Nor is it you-​gotta-​go-​there cheap.
As an aside I have a little story about the venue now occupied by Roy’s. About a decade ago I was in Columbia City doing some preservation research. The only place open for lunch was in the spot where Roy’s is now. The name escapes me. There were only a few items on the menu. One a burger. A young girl of about 12 took my order. Without much to choose from, I said I’d take a burger and fries.
Young girl: «We don’t have fries.»
Me: «Oh? I’d kind of like some with my burger.»
Young girl: «You won’t need any.»
Me: «Oh yeah?»
Young girl: «Yeah. My grandma makes the burgers really big.»
Me: «Well I’m super hungry.»
Girl: «Trust me. It will be enough. They’re really big.»
Me: «Ok. Give me just a burger then.»
About 15 minutes later, the girl returned with an enormous burger the size of a dinner plate. Enormous sesame seed bun and all. There was at least a pound of meat on there, probably two. She chuckled when she saw the look on my face.
Girl: «I told you it was big!»
I kind of wish that place was still there…