Check. Raise. Fold. Pit Boss BBQ

I've gotta say - I was downright disappointed with Pit Boss. I've had much worse barbecue, but after reading a pretty gleaming review by a friend and respected BBQ superstar, I have to give it the ole' thumbs down. Located on the back of a convenience store, Pit Boss's location was unassuming to say the least. Thankfully, they have a sign out in front of the convenience store with a remarkable Piggly Wiggly doppelganger mascot otherwise, I wouldn't have found it.

Once you enter the aroma of smoked meat hits you - a very good sign. I placed my order at the counter - a half rack of babybacks (they offer St. Louis as well), mac and cheese, Brunswick stew, and a half pound of pulled pork to go. No, I didn't eat it all in one sitting - well everything besides the pulled pork. That was my first problem with this joint - you can't get a combo with ribs and another meat. It just doesn't exist on the menu. The guy behind the counter recommended I just add on a half-pound of meat and later I realized that just ordering a sandwich would be a much cheaper option. Sigh.
Anyhow, the food came out and it all looked good. Right away, I could see that the ribs were of the smaller variety of babybacks, but I didn't let that get to me. The ribs were moderately tender, but lacked any real smokey or spice rub flavor. Honestly, I hardly detected any. Fortunately for me, their sauce (with a strange orange hue) is really good at Pit Boss so I made due - coating my ribs with orange goodness. Interestingly, as I worked my way to the smaller end of the ribs, they became juicer and more flavorful. Don't ask why, as I've never experienced this anomaly previously.

The Brunswick stew had some really nice spice to it, but the meat was unacceptably tough. You'd think that it would break down even more in stew, but that was not the case.
The mac and cheese was a decent rendition of the classic southern dish, but again, just slightly above average.
I had a couple of bites of the pulled pork before leaving. It was of the shredded/chopped variety and had no flavor whatsoever. Or color for that matter- it was kind of just... gray? I know my picture shows some pink smoke ring, but that came out more with photo-editing than anything else. To my naked-eye, it wasn't there. I brought the pork home with me and the car smelled like baked meat. I don't get it, but it was truly without flavor. I will say the portion was much more than the half pound I ordered but with the quality of que, hardly worth it.

I really had high hopes for Pit Boss and was hoping I could add it into my rotation-it's truly only a 15 minute drive from in town. It just didn't live up to the hype at all. I'm gonna have to give Hambones BBQ (a mere stone's throw away) a shot in the coming months.