Old Carolina Barbecue

We went at 8:15pm on a Friday and they had put away most of the food for the night. When we finally was able to find something that was still «available», it was rather gross. There was no flavor to the chicken, and everything was cold. Have not been back since.

We ordered the two meat platter with beef brisket, pulled pork, Brunswick stew, and hush puppies. To be honest, the sides (Brunswick stew especially — good broth with abundant veggies) are better than the meat. The pulled pork is OK but the brisket seemed overcooked and very dry. (Eaten with hot sauce is the only good way to eat it.)
However, my husband and I share the platter, so it’s a very cheap meal and fairly filling. Sadly, I remember a time when they served better food (when it first opened). I do love the restaurant concept though, and perhaps we just walked in at a very busy time.

Really enjoyed this place. The food is excellent with the right amount of smokiness. I ordered ¹⁄₃ slab of ribs which were really tasty. You have a choice of about 6 different sauces you can add. I had a side of mac and cheese with it which was just as good as homemade. The rest of our party ordered the 3 slider combo, chicken fingers, and pulled pork. No complaints at all. The smoked chicken wings are very good also.

Great food and amazing staff! There was an issue with my gift card and Sadie handled it immediately and went ABOVE AND BEYOND! The dining room was full and there was quite a line but every person in there was so friendly and happy to be doing their jobs! Excellent customer service!

I love OCB. I’ve gone to one of the Akron locations but the Stow one is closest to me. I like that you can pick your sides. The baked beans are unique as they have a few different types of beans mixed in. I love the pulled pork. It is nicely seasoned but served dry so you can choose from their various sauces according to your particular taste. I’m more of a sweet and savory bbq girl so I especially like this because lots of times, I think certain bbq is too hot and spicy for my taste. The fresh cut fries are a delicious side and they serve you a huge portion. I always leave this place feeling like I overdid it, but it’s so good.

Four+ stars. Had the «Two Meat Platter» with brisket and pulled chicken. Also ate one of my fiancée’s mini pulled pork sandwiches. All were excellent, especially the brisket which was really tender. Enjoyed all the sauces. Vinegar coleslaw was very good as was the cornbread. Looking forward to a return trip, only reason didn’t score it 5 stars is that I feel it’s slightly overpriced, given the mostly self-​serve atmosphere.

Wife & I have eaten in a few times, also had take-​out — food has been good, decent portions. I’ve tried all the sauces, each good in it’s own way. Jalapeño slices help. Reminds me of a small-​scale Bandanna’s, which we knew from St Louis. We get the pulled pork plates usually, as the sandwich buns tend to disintegrate. Baked beans & cornbread good, green beans & mashed potatoes okay, haven’t tried the other sides yet. This place was my introduction to Cheerwine, now on my list of soda faves.

I really love pulled pork and I really love true Carolina style barbecue sauce (I should, that’s where I’m from!). Everything we’ve tasted here has been so southern and yummy. They have a sauce bar and I love them all. It’s also super kid-​friendly which I love.
The butter for the cornbread and sweet and perfect. Hush puppies are also good. The portions are perfect and usually enough to share with my toddler. They have some huge tables and they also have a rewards app. It can take a few minutes to get your food but nothing outrageous.

Hubby and I are here for the first time. We ordered the Sampler to get familiar with various BBQ selections. Portions are abundant – one sampler between the two of us is enough for dinner tomorrow too! Nice selection of sauces Taste is great – the closest we found to Sonny’s Barbeque (no Sonny’s BBQ in Ohio yet). I would’ve given it 5 stars but the music selection was stomach acid producing and the employees need some training as we were not welcomed upon entering nor asked what we wanted to order. They both just stood there at the cash registers. Overall, it’s a wonderful fast food alternative with a slow-​food taste! ;)

Order took forevvvvver. The portions were small. The sauce is nothing to shout about. Tables were messy. This place will close soon.

Previously we have had good experiences at Old Carolina and loved their food. I even ordered their catering services for an art opening for my thesis show. However I was super shocked and disgusted at my latest visit. There were flies in the back landing in food, one of the servers was scratching his head and then handling food, and the woman from the cash register didn’t put gloves on or wash her hands before handling food either.
We did take the coleslaw we ordered but after eating it the two people who ate it ended up getting sick and the one person who didn’t was fine. I might go to another Old Carolina in the future but I likely won’t be going to the one in Stow anymore.

We went there today at about two pm for a late lunch and had the wonderful pulled pork meal we expected to receive. Very tasty.
However, we were not pleased by the level of cleanliness we found there. The meat prep area (which was not being used right then) needed a thorough clean up. The remains of what must have been a busy lunch rush were still to be seen on the knives, cutting table and the floor of the area. The large window invites you to look in so perhaps it should look presentable.
After ordering we went to find a table, but the first two were covered with liquids, crumbs and spilt bbq sauces. The dirty plates and silverware were gone but nothing has been wiped down. We had to clean our table and seats ourselves before we sat down. The floors looked as though they hadn’t seen a broom all day.
This turns off your guests.

Not a fan! The Mac and cheese sucks bland as hell. I asked for the hottest sauce… Wasn’t put in my bag. Got all the way to work and they forgot my banana pudding. Went back to get my sauce and pudding. Then got back to work and realized they forgot my cole slaw. Not to mention my ribs were dry af! Won’t ever be going back!!!

I’m not a fan of this restaurant at all. The food quality and portion size has definitely come down since they first opened. This usually means that a restaurant is not doing well. If that’s the case, lowering quality and quantity will only prevent the inevitable.
Tonight I had a to go order of a leg/​thigh combo with garlic mashed potatoes and corn bread.
We ate as soon as we got home from picking it up which was approx 20 mins.
The chicken was very dry and the leg and thigh were not cut apart and was the size of the leg only that you get in most places.
The corn bread was inedible without a fork. Very dry and crumbly. It came with a thimble full of some kind of cinnamon butter. I can’t give more of a description than that because there was literally less than a teaspoon of it. Not even enough for a bite or two let alone the entire «loaf»
The garlic mashed potatoes had a strong garlic flavor but not much of anything else. Seems like they could use the cooking basics of salt and pepper and maybe some butter so they wouldn’t be so dry.
The bbq sauce is good. Too bad there’s not much to put it on.

The ribs, which I guess are probably the main focus of the restaurant, were pretty decent. At times the smoke flavor felt a little forced, but overall they were satisfying. Green beans, which are usually always mushy in restaurants, were here too, which was disappointing. I was also confused with how a mac an cheese with 4 cheeses in it could manage to have so little flavor. That was made better by mashing up a hush puppy in it… other than that I liked the sauces and I thought it was cute that they had cheerwine, which kind of fills the «random uncommon fountain soda» slot I like to see. Atmosphere was ok, just normal families and people. They were playing good late 60s rock when i was in there and that was nice. Overall it’s passable if you’re craving it, or go with family, but it didn’t really «excel» to me personally in such a way I’d want to go back for the food.

I’ve only had their food when it’s catered, but I’ve been impressed both times I’ve had it! The meat is tender, the baked beans are great without being too sweet.

I come here all the time, try to at least come once a month. I love the food, especially the pulled pork. The meat is always so tender and the BBQ sauces are all good. My favorite is the classic. It’s hard to choose between their sides when I go, but I always make sure to get the baked beans. They aren’t lying when they say simply the world’s greatest.

No stars the meat is cold dry enhance the taste of chemicals not wood the sauce all 5 6 7 of them are absolutely hideous not a one tasted good they’re baked beans are horrible mashed potatoes aren’t any good either and I love instant mash potato mash potato run over by a truck any kind of mash potato I like and these are horrible the macaroni and cheese has bread crumbs on them and I don’t like that and they are way too expensive you better on two banks to go here if this is the way barbecue is in the Carolinas I never want to go they should name the place old meat not old Carolina have absolutely nothing good to say about this place the ribs from Sams Club are better than this and they bake them do yourself a favor and stay away from old Carolina it’s a mistake hiding under a big corporate name the McRib is better look elsewhere not here buyer beware dry turkey dry brisket cold pulled pork what more can I say just stay away

We went to old Carolina in June 2014. I’m not quite sure what I expected, but when I got there, it definitely wasn’t what I expected.
We got a big platter of three different meats to share, baked beans, mashed potatoes. I loaded us up with all different types of sauces so we could taste them by dipping each of the meats into them. And I went to the table with my husband and waited.
Before too long, the food came out. The closest I can say that it resembled was the food that we had at sea world in Florida. It was pink, as if it had smoke lines, but it was cold and in general, unappetizing. Even dipping into sauces with it and then finally pouring the sauces over it didn’t improve the taste of the meat. I couldn’t eat the mashed potatoes and the husband only ate two spoonfuls of the beans. The cornbread it all came out with it was like a little hockey puck.
We were looking for some good barbecue, but we found that at old Carolina… good barbecue isn’t what they provide. We’ll keep looking.

The beef brisket was delicious! They had 4 types of BBQ sauce to try — my favorite was the Piedmont No. 5. My husband’s favorite was the Original Classic. However, we didn’t even need the BBQ sauce for the brisket, it was so tender.
We weren’t as fond of the coleslaw. You can either order the Creamy Coleslaw or the Vinegar Coleslaw. We would’ve like to see a combination of the two. I also tried the macaroni and cheese — it was pretty good, but I didn’t like the bread crumbles on top.
Next time we have an opportunity to eat at Old Carolina BBQ, I will try some of the other side items… and will probably stick to ordering the beef brisket again!