Bill's Barbecue, Wilson NC

[Bill The Grill Guy]

Well, once again I broke out the "Book" and picked out a BBQ joint that was on our way home from the beach. This time we landed at Bill's Barbecue in Wilson NC. http://www.bills-bbq.com/index.html After reading the review in the book I was looking forward to some good Q.

When I pulled up I was over welmed with the size of the place. Bill has his own fleet of catering trucks, a "take out" only building, a buffet resturant and a convience store.



Lunch was expensive. $9 for the buffet per person. They had a HUGE selection of food. They had 2 types of BBQ. Chopped pork and pulled whole hog which was displayed on the buffet line. The pork is done in an electric smoker. :roll:

Over all, the chopped was better than the whole hog. The whole hog was a little dry. I was disapointed in the BBQ. I did like the sauce. There were 2 kinds of sauce, vinager and a thicker red sauce. The hush puppys were good and so was the slaw which was a yellow slaw. They do have good fried chicken.

I am glad I made the trip, but wouldn't go back.

 

[Cliff H.]

Interesting looking place.

I have started just sampling sauces from different joints. I know I am probably not going to like the bbq.

 

[Kloset BBQR]

Well, once again I broke out the "Book" and picked out a BBQ joint that was on our way home from the beach. This time we landed at Bill's Barbecue in Wilson NC. http://www.bills-bbq.com/index.html After reading the review in the book I was looking forward to some good Q.

When I pulled up I was over welmed with the size of the place. Bill has his own fleet of catering trucks, a "take out" only building, a buffet resturant and a convience store.


Lunch was expensive. $9 for the buffet per person. They had a HUGE selection of food. They had 2 types of BBQ. Chopped pork and pulled whole hog which was displayed on the buffet line. The pork is done in an electric smoker. :roll:

Over all, the chopped was better than the whole hog. The whole hog was a little dry. I was disapointed in the BBQ. I did like the sauce. There were 2 kinds of sauce, vinager and a thicker red sauce. The hush puppys were good and so was the slaw which was a yellow slaw. They do have good fried chicken.

I am glad I made the trip, but wouldn't go back.

Sorry to hear about the disappointing trip and food but it does not surprise me. As I was reading your message I highlighted a few parts of it that immediately should set off red flag warning signs. BBQ and buffet just don't go together. It doesn't surprise me that the BBQ was dry sitting on a steam table. This appears to be a very high volume enterprise and I don't see how they could put out authentic Q. Having a separate building for drive through tells me that they are serving mass quantities of BBQ. The final red flag is that the pork is cooked in an electric smoker. Looks like they are succesful enough to fool the general population but not true BBQ enthusiasts like most on this board. I'd probably be mad enough to write the people that wrote the book a letter and ask them what they were thinking of when they recommended this restaurant. I'd be interested to read an excerpt from the review to see if they mentioned that the food was not cooked by wood sources.

 

[Captain Morgan]

Bill grows his own hogs..that probably helps his popularity.
He uses gas to heat hickory coals.

 

[CarolinaQue]

Unfortunately, more and more places in NC are converting to electric cookers. Some say that it is because of new enviromental laws going into affect that are limiting their ability to produce true que. I say B.S!!! I think that it's more due to not being able to afford a good pit master to tend the fire. Or worse yet, skimping on the pit master to save a few bucks.

Either way, sorry to hear you were dissapointed. It's a shame to say that my home state is starting to let their BBQ reputation slip to those that are cutting corners.

 

[Unity]

Griff and I formed a similar opinion without even stopping.

Link

It's surprising (to me) that Ray Lampe and Dave DeWitt had such good things to say about Bill's that they named it the "Best Barbecue" they found on their 6-day BBQ Quest. The best out of the 22 NC Q joints they visited. But then, I shouldn't say anything because I haven't eaten there. Just drove around the Home Depot-size parking lot and marveled.

Jim Early, who wrote the Tar Heel book, did not include Bill's on the NC historic barbecue trail, which is limited to joints that cook traditional barbecue (wood fire being a defining criterion).

Thanks, BTGG, for your review. I probably won't stop there the next time I have an opportunity, either.

--John
(Buffets.

)

 

[Finney]

You should have gone to Parker's... And thanks for the call tp join you. :roll:

And $9 includes your drink... and it is, "all you can eat".

 

[Woodman1]

I hear you can get a good smoke in Wilson though! I used to go through there on my way to an account in Greenville.