Smithfield’s Chicken N Bar-B-Q

Smithfield’s has always been one of my favorite restaurants but I simply can’t eat there anymore due to the poor sanitation. Over the past year or so I have noticed the cleanliness declining with no improvement. There is consistently a layer of grease on the floors and it is difficult to ever find clean tables and chairs.
Food is great, cleanliness is unacceptable. Very disappointing.

I debated about giving this 2 stars. Giid good as always but this location had the worst service ever encountered at SCNB. Not only did I have to go and request tea refills but was callously ignored at least three employees walked by without anything in their hands not one even looked or acknowledged two customers were standing waiting for something
Service definitely no more than a 2!

I understand that BBQ is regional and this isn’t my region, but if you like the taste of smoked pork, this isn’t your place. The meat is soaked in vinegar so that your palate is burned out and the only thing you can taste is the syrupy tea. The chicken, on the other hand, was very good (thus the 2 stars).

Solid BBQ. Really sweet sweet tea. Sauces were good, but a little too runny. Fried chicken is where it’s at!!! Moist, hot, seasoned well. It does not disappoint.

Food and service are top notch. The service is great for a order then seat yourself or carry out restaurant. The orders are filled in a timely manner and in the order received. The fried chicken is great… not greasy, seasoned just right and served hot and juicy. The shoestring type French fries are done to perfection… not under or over cooked or too salty. The BBQ is very good and again served fresh and hot… hush puppies are also just right! I have eaten in as well as take out when visiting the Wake Forest area and have never been the least bit disappointed. The tea is also always freshly made and not refrigerated ahead of time which basically ruins tea. It may be a small chain but the quality control on excellent food is there!

I love this place. There are many reasons but even though the food is so good, (Can you say amazing hushpuppies?) I want to give them kudos for wonderful service. In this day and age of the tip jar for handing out cupcakes (yes it’s a pet peeve of mine), you go to Smithfields and with no tip jar, you have a friendly person waiting to take your order. Answer questions about the menu. Bring your food to you at the table. Come around and ask how your meal is. Offer drink refills. Bring something if you need it. Don’t get me wrong, I am a good tipper when it comes to restaurants .But I get so tired of going to places like Moes or a cupcake place and there’s a tip jar. But here they do it all without that. We went today and chicken was perfectly cooked and moist. The hushpuppies were excellent. The service, fantastic. The only reason I would not say 5 stars is I want real butter. I know I’m being nitpicky but I want real butter for my hushpuppies not buttery spread.

When I first started Unilocal-​ing I was baffled by people who wrote reviews of chain restaurants. I mean, does the world need a review of Taco Bell? Isn’t their neon orange «cheese» and questionable «meat» pretty much the same everywhere? I thought to myself smugly «I’ll never write a review of a chain!».
Well, the tides have turned, because here I am writing a review of Smithfield’s. Yeah, they’re a small chain, but a chain nonetheless. That being said, they are in competition with a number of other similar restaurants that are part of far larger corporate conglomerations, and thus I feel like in highlighting their majestic fried offerings I am still finding a way to «stick it to the man». The man of course, being Colonel Sanders and his pal Mr. Bojangles. As an aside-I’m still somewhat flabbergasted that no one seems to give a second thought to the racial insensitivity of naming a fried chicken place «Mr. Bojangles», but I’ll save that topic for another day.
I’m always a fan of restaurants that focus on having a small menu of offerings and perfect those items compared to other spots that are jacks of all trades but masters of none. Smithfield’s strengths lie in the two things highlighted in their full name: chicken and barbecue. Their tangy vinegar based sauced (ketchup-​based bbq sauce is an abomination unto the Lord, IMO) pulled pork is tender and juicy and the sauce is balanced. Not too vinegary, a little bit of heat from some red pepper flakes here and there, not too sweet, and not too salty. It’s the kind of thing you’ll find yourself continuing to shovel into your face even though you are absurdly full, because it hits all those flavor notes our palates love: sweet, salty, spicy, sour and that rich meaty umami savoriness only a pig can provide.
Their chicken, I feel, is where they REALLY knock it out of the park. Incredibly juicy, well seasoned, not overly battered or overly salty. They also don’t use MSG like most fried chicken chains do, which is a big deal for me because I am terribly allergic to the stuff. In fact none of their food contains any unpronounceable ingredients, which is certainly not the case for Kensucky Fried Chicken or Blahjangles. Chicken breasts often take a beating when fried and come out looking golden brown and delicious but are actually drier than the Sahara. This is not the case with Smithfield’s chicken.
Their side offerings are admittedly a little hit-​or-​miss for me. Their hushpuppies are great, of the elongated/​tubular shaped variety which I prefer to the spherical kind. Their coleslaw is fantastic, not gloppy or overly sweet with fresh, crunchy cabbage, and pairs wonderfully with the bbq pork. I’m not very fond of their potato salad-​it has too much sweet relish in it for my taste. I grew up on potato salad with lots of minced onion and dill pickle and no eggs involved. I don’t know that I could say their potato salad is «bad», it’s just a different variety than my preferred style. My husband likes it, so if we get potato salad and coleslaw I’m happy because I know I’ll get the lion’s share of the coleslaw. We haven’t tried their fries or baked beans. Not sure why we have yet to sample the beans, and fries we pass on because the closest Smithfield’s is about 15 minutes or so from our house so they wouldn’t fare well after a drive back to our abode. Were they to add greens or mashed potatoes or mac and cheese to the rotation, and execute them well, I’d be thrilled. But, in the long run it’s not a huge deal because it means I can cram more chicken into my facehole, but I can’t give them a perfect 5 stars.
My husband is in love with their sweet tea – a beverage I must confess I am not at all fond of. Yes, take away my «real southerner» card, I know I bring shame upon my family with this admission. Hubs can’t get enough of the stuff and if he wasn’t concerned about Wilfred Brimley showing up on our doorstep to tell him he has the diabeetuhs, he’d probably house a gallon or so of it every day.
If you have one near you and you have been patronizing another take out fried chicken spot, I IMPLORE you to try Smithfield’s. They even have a drive-​thru for cryin’ out loud. I claim no responsibility for how this decision will lead to the breakdown of your reputation with your cardiologist, personal trainer or skinny jeans, but I assure you that you will find their fare far superior to any other counter-​service or fast-​foodesque chicken place in the Triangle and beyond.

Love the food BUT twice I called in an order and twice they didn’t have what I ordered when I arrived. The second time I even verified that they still had BBQ, but 10 minutes later when my husband arrived they were out and hoped to have more in 30 minutes. I had guests who were excited to try Smithfields and twice they/​we were disappointed. We will stop eating here.

Five stars for a fast food place, you ask? Yes.
I should mention that I compare restaurants against others of their kind, not against the entire realm of food options. Fast food, casual chains, and fine dining aren’t similar, so my star rating system doesn’t pretend that they are. Instead, I rate how well a business does in the genre that it’s in. And as far as fast food goes, Smithfield’s rocks. I have never had a bad meal here and often take home some Brunswick stew for dinner the next day. The stew is buy one, get one for $ 1 pints — it’s 2 – 3 healthy servings of delicious. It heats up great in the microwave and is easy clean up for a quick weeknight meal. It’s probably not healthy, but I can pretend. The value pack sandwich is great, as is the crispy and succulent fried chicken. I’ve paid three times as much for fried chicken that wasn’t as good. Two thumbs up!

Fantastic pulled pork sandwich!
This is a chain place but a chain place that is only in this area and serves really good chicken and pig! Now if the world had more places like this Peace on Earth could be achieved! The pigs and chickens might disagree but for this meat-​eating human I think it would help!
The service was fantastic, southern hospitality with table service to bring your food out and refill drinks. I had he pulled pork sandwich with the NC vinegar based sauce and they put the slaw on top (only way to have one). The pork was super tender, full of flavor and the sauce added a nice kick. Good slaw and on top is best! I did make the mistake of ordering the Pecan Pie though which was packaged store bought stuff so a little disappointing but everything else was great.
It’s a bit of a drive from MN but I know I’ll stop in when in the area.
KT

Pork BBQ! Pulled Pork! Brunswick Stew! Hush Puppies! No pressure! Sit anywhere you want! The Flavor of the BBQ was A-​OK! The Brunswick Stew was, mmm A-​OK too! Hush Puppies are only going to thrill me if they taste like Donuts so Not too many places are going for that! If you see my photo, you’ll see they let me have what I wanted, no one gets an extra star for that, though it is smart I do not take stars away either! The service was perfect if you could not tell! Fast and Friendly!
My Girlfriend did not think I would like this place and while I would not choose to go back on my own, if someone else chose it I would not complain, yet!

Stopped for lunch. We had a pulled pork sandwich and a BBQ chicken platter. Both were good but not WOW.

Best sweet tea in North Carolina! The pulled BBQ sandwich is North Carolina all summed up.

All you need to know is that the barbecue is great, the fried chicken is excellent, brunswick stew is good, and the hush puppies aren’t bad. As someone else mentioned, the drive-​thru is handy. Also they have «pellet» ice which is hard to find (except at the Sonic next door) and their cups are styrofoam, so that ice lasts a long time. The staff are friendly and helpful. They walk around to see if you need refills or to clear stuff off your table.
There are a couple areas where they could improve or make a little more effort on: I wish they had some green vegetables (green beans, collards, something). Also note that the banana pudding is just that, «pudding»; there are no bananas here. Also their pecan pie is Sara Lee. And for the tea, I wish they had something other than just Sweet and Low, and my wife likes lemon in her tea, but that is just a lemon packet here (next door at Sonic they give you real lemons).
All in all we love SCNB. If we can’t make up our minds, we head here.

I have long desired to eat at Smithfield’s BBQ after hearing favorable opinions expressed about this franchise. Since I did not want to get chopped up by the great NC barbecue debate, I chose to judge this franchise by their fried chicken.
To keep things equal to other reviews and experiences, I ordered a simple multi piece pack with hush puppies from the drive thru. I was quickly and pleasantly served and received my order rapidly. I took a moment to examine the goods after picking up my drive thru food. Everything was hot, the fried chicken crispy and perfectly cooked while not not over coated. The skin was flavorful, for NC fried chicken, and survived the ride home in great condition.
Even after I was home, the chicken was moist, very fresh, and surprisingly not greasy. The accompanying hush puppies were also fresh, with a crisp exterior, a soft interior and a mild sweet corn taste.
I give great kudos to the service, quality, flavor and freshness of the food I bought from Smithfield BBQ. Their NC style fried chicken and hushpuppies are quite authentic even compared to other well known establishments. That’s quite an accomplishment for a franchise operation.

Being from the Piedmont area in NC, you gotta love barbecue. Barbecue is terribly political. Half the state to the West, likes pork barbecue shoulders chopped or sliced with a tomato vinegar sauce (my fave). The Eastern half likes several different cuts of pork chopped or sliced with a white vinegar sauce.
After living in the Triangle for 10+ years, I’ve come to realize that Western NC barbecue is not an option.
I substitute with Smithfield’s.
Here are some reasons to go:
1. Value for money. A person can get a huge plate of food (though notably unhealthy) for less than $ 8, including a drink. They have several combo specials.
2. They have great sweet tea.
3. They have awesome fried chicken.
4. They have really good side items.
5. Mmm. Hush puppies. Mmm. Hush puppies.
6. Super skinny french fries– perfect for ketchup & Texas Pete absorption.
7. They have solid barbecue. I’ve had both the platter and the sandwich and liked both.
8. They’re fast. I’ve been in for both lunch and dinner and was served very quickly.
9. They have a drive-​thru.
10. People from Canada like Smithfield’s– only joking! a friend of mine from Toronto totally flipped out to try some, «real down-​home Southern food.»
Tip– skip the banana pudding. It is completely lame.
Enjoy and do not be afraid of the cheesy Southern/​nostalgic «country» décor.