Smithfields Chicken and BBQ

Not very good at all, I ordered the rueben and only after 10 min of paying they came back to tell me they had run out of corned beef and substituted with roast beef. The sandwich was tasteless and the meat was tough. Will not be returning

In the past 2 weeks, I have been to this restaurant three times. Each time I’ve been, I’ve ordered a kids meal and 2 – 3 chicken wings only. When you buy chicken by itself, it comes with hush puppies. The problem I have is that the amount of hush puppies dwindled from 3 per piece of chicken to 1 per piece of chicken, and the last time I was there was yesterday. They are very inconsistent and my food was not fresh the last two times.
My son’s kid’s meal was also wrong, so when I went back to replace it by the suggestion of the manager I spoke to, Julie, I was not treated very warmly. I was treated as an inconvenience. Had they gotten his food right in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to ever come back at all. So, giving me an attitude was not the thing to do!
They need to learn how not to rush through orders, take their time to get it right the FIRST time, take pride in the food they serve, and be consistent.
At this rate, I’d rather drive to Apex for KFC.

Warning this food is extremely good. My cholesterol jumped 15 points just by walking in. I only wished I lived in this area or had a restaurant like this at home. I had the shrimp and chicken meal and everything was really good. I am definitely coming back before I leave.

For a local chain, Smithfield’s does pulled pork BBQ pretty decently.
My friends who were visiting NC were wanting to get pulled pork BBQ, but it was a Sunday and all my go-​to places for NC BBQ in the area were closed (Allen & Son, Cooper’s, Backyard BBQ). So I decided the next best thing was probably Smithfield’s.
They deliver when it comes to BBQ — the smokiness and flavor is all there, and the vinegar sauce is on point. My only critique is that it can be a bit dry.
The Brunswick stew is solid, though — it’s the perfect consistency with the right amount of barbecue, tomatoes, and vegetables. It’s definitely worth trying.
The hush puppies are pretty standard, and the cole slaw is so-​so.
This was my first time at this particular Smithfield’s location, but other locations serve great fried chicken, too.
The place was pretty clean and spacious. Service was friendly and attentive. They delivered our food to our table, and asked periodically if we needed drink refills.
If you’re looking for good NC BBQ on a Sunday, Smithfield’s is where it’s at!

The food is always fresh, hot and delicious. The management and the staff provide the best service. Even if you are carrying out, their attention and customer service is second to none!

Great spot for lunch. The fried chicken and BBQ are both excellent. And the value pack: BBQ sandwich, fries, and a drink for $ 7 is worth every penny.

Delicious Chicken … Reminds me of the best chicken fried steak I never had … The batter is ridiculously good … Hush puppies shaped like mini wieners … Real good and everything form coleslaw to potato salad tastes fresh and homemade!
The potato salad is a egg/​potato salad that’s delicious.
Very friendly staff and courteous manager.
The places is clean with a laid back soda pop 50’s diner vibe …
⁴⁄₅ (make a chicken fried steakwich and bump this rating to a 5)

Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-​B-​Q (SCNB) is an NC original fast food restaurant with about three dozen locations throughout the Tar Heel state.
First, let’s be fair when putting SCNB in perspective. It’s fast food. It’s not fair comparing this to pinky-​out fine dining. There are appropriate times for fast food. When I was a restaurant reviewer, we tasters dreaded the times we had to do buffets and chains because the food generally sucked.
SCNB does not suck.
*** Menu
SCNB hosts a narrow menu focused on North Carolina favorites — fried chicken, BBQ, and shrimp with a few Southern sides like potato salad, cole slaw, brunswick stew, and hush puppies. I went for a combo plate because it gave me a broad taste of many different things. A combo plate is huge and can feed two people if you add on drinks — or perhaps one big glutton. I polished off my plate because I’m Fatty Daddy.
The headliner is their fried chicken. Their chicken is crispy and decent sized. If you were to compare SCNB’s to KFC, the chicken is less salty and less battered. And because batter holds the grease, it’s less greasy. It’s fried chicken, so it’s still greasy — but not nasty drip-​down-​your-​arms gross. It is a touch on the salty side because it’s fast food and needs to appeal to the unwashed masses, but it’s still great fried chicken.
Their sweet tea is also quite nice. Not too sweet. Not very lemony. Not too strong/​weak. And it has a nice «soft water» potassium mouth feel that you get in sports drinks that I can’t quite put my finger on where it comes from. But I like it, so I’m not going to argue. There is a reason why a few gentlemen ordered gallons of the stuff and walked out with it slung on a finger to their work trucks.
One of the things I look for is to see how balance a dish is. Take for example a french fry. A fry should be crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, hot, and lightly salted. The right amount is the medium amount. More is not necessarily better and less is not necessarily more refined. Start with a great basic recipe and then expand on that. By that measuring stick, their chicken, tea, and brunswick stew are very good. All good examples.
Unfortunately, other dishes wander uncomfortably afield from the centermark, which means they are districtingly different. This will appeal to a subset of people, but will not appeal to many more. For example, SCNB’s cole slaw and hushpuppies are a bit on the sweeter side. Their BBQ is significantly spicier than average east Carolina BBQ. And for you non-​Carolinans coming to the area, a few words to help you navigate the local lingo: BBQ is not a verb, it’s not a style of cooking that can be applied to many things. BBQ is grilled pork — either chopped or pulled, but is always always always always pork. Let’s not come in here thinking you’re going to get a huge selection of grilled meats.
Not bad stuff and certainly very good for fast food. But it is quite competitive in this type of cuisine, so I will certainly go to places like Backyard BBQ, Olé Time, and The Pit as first choices for BBQ. But there will be the the times when I need a good old fashioned fried chicken. And when that happens, I’ll come here.
*** Service
At the Morrisville location, you can tell that the place is well staffed and trained. The place was absolutely spotless and tables uniformly aligned/​stocked. I was greeted in a friendly, patient, and professional manner. Service was very prompt. Behind the counter, there were more than just teenagers lazily dropping fryer trays. There were several professional men with neckties and rolled up sleeves working the crews. Nobody was leaning, giggling, or goofing off. Everyone was clearly busting their humps. And the food prep area is big with lots of open counter space, which generally means that food prep is faster, more orderly, and more hygenically. I certainly noticed. And there was a nice older lady who was cleaning up, offering refills, and taking care of the front of shop. All in all, exceptionally well run.
*** Ambience
Well lit with lots of natural light. Right temperature control. Plenty of tables. Appropriate music given that the average age there was 40 years old and 90% men. We middle aged men like our banana pudding and fried chicken with Elvis softly playing in the background. Don’t like ambience? There’s a drive through for you, sir.
*** Prices
You get a mountain of food for about $ 9 via combos. Toss in a drink or some banana pudding and it’s going to cost more. But let’s just say the average is 10 bucks. Tip: catering? Go to their website for deals. There is a coupon good for all of 2015 for two bucks off for platters and large combos here:
Bottom line: this ain’t my everyday fast food place because it’s pretty heavy. But I can see myself coming here a couple times a year to get my fried chicken craving scratched. See you later this year, Smithfield’s!

OK BBQ Chicken, kind of spicy, but good, nothing over the top, out of this world to speak of on our first trip in. The restaurant was clean and the staff was friendly, but the offerings were pretty basic and not thaty exciting. I am not knocking them, the food was good, but with all of the BBQ options in NC, this would not be in my top 10 to do.

Any Smithfield’s Chicken and BBQ will do when I am back in North Carolina.
They just get it all right.
This one was par for the course.
After a 4 day golf trip, I told my travel mate, hey, if we get close to a Smithfield’s, we are going to stop. I was checking the map and sure enough, just a few miles off of the toll road was that beacon.
Cheesing ear to ear we entered. Knowing what I was craving when I left the golf course an hour earlier, I rushed to the counter and order. Chicken and shrimp platter with cold slaw and fries. Everything comes with hush puppies. And to drink, sweet tea. Oh yeah!
I looked at Mike, my travel partner, his eyes on the board with so much to choose from. He chose the BBQ sandwich and pecan pie.
The football game was playing and we dined in and enjoyed our meal. As the drinks got low, he was surprised that they walked around refilling the sweet tea and grabbing any used plates and trash. Now that’s service you would not expect and it’s a bonus when you get any service above the norm.
Clean location with fast and friendly service.
Absolutely nothing to complain about.
Bravo!

The hush puppies are good, but lacking onions, yet they were nice and light. The barbecue chicken taste better then it looked; it looked bland, but was rather tasty, the sauce taste like a combination of sweet and sour mixed with hot sauce. The chicken was good, it wasn’t greasy and had a nice fresh crunchy taste. The popcorn shrimp were not good at all, it was the only thing we didn’t like as a group; however management was kind enough to make a substitution. Lastly the potato salad was good, but just a little too sweet for my pallet. The best thing that I can say about this establishment is the excellent & courteous customer service. The service was great & the workers offered the most Stellar customer service that I have ever seen. The facility was clean & cozy. Kudos to Smithfield Chicken N Bar-​B-​Q!!!

The food was AMAZING! The service was amazing! The location was clean, bathrooms clean, and the staff was extremely FRIENDLY! Love great customer servic3 and I will definitely be back again.

First I want to say I’m from the west coast. When they put the words ‘bbq’ on a sign, usually it means ribs, brisket, chicken.. over an open flame. This is not that.
What it is… fried chicken and some kind of vinegar based pulled pork.
The fried chicken was awesome! Even though I wanted bbq I was happy with the breaded fried chicken.
The pork or beef or what ever it was before it became a cold mass of something that you unclogged out of a drain.
It might have been the most random collection of flavors I have ever put in my mouth.
Think a wad of cold wet hair, covered in vinegar, hot sauce and tastes like what cat food would taste like. It had a strange fish aftertaste to it. It might be one of the most horrible things I have ever eaten.
The staff was super friendly. Great service. I’d come back for the fried chicken. as for the other stuff, well I hope I don’t get sick. I always think it’s fun to pray all night and hope I don’t have food poisoning.
3 stars for the chicken and staff. I would give more but the ‘bbq’ I wouldn’t feed that to my pets.

The customer service was amazing! We felt very taken care of! It is traditional southern food. We would return simply for the customer service. Good customer service is very hard to find these days! Thank you.

This review is only for the Brunswick Stew! I had never had this until coming to NC. A friend of mine told me Smithfields makes it really good so I had try it! I was hooked from the first taste! I am now on the westcoast and wishing there was a Smithfields out here!

Tried this place for the first time. Wasn’t really impressed. I got the dark meat platter for $ 8.99.
First of all, I was really shocked the HUGE portion sizes. It reminded me of those meals at Ruby Tuesday where you had to share it with another person because of the unhealthy giant portions. I think I would have been happy pay for a smaller portion size for a bit less doe.
The chicken was OK. Didn’t blow my mind or anything. I got two sides, potato salad and fries. Nothing to write home about there. The hush puppies were pretty good. As I was taking the chicken breast piece off of the plate, I noticed that there was a big pile of pulled pork as well! Holy crap that’s a lot of food! Now I understand why lunch costed $ 8.99.
The place was pretty clean.
I’ll come back if I’m craving some deep fried food again.

Came here on a whim and ordered the white chicken plate. The chicken was full of flavor and extra crispy. The potato salad was a little watery for my taste but the beans were good. I was surprised to find the hush puppies underneath my chicken but it was a good surprise. I do think that they could make their sides more visible, multiple people in line had to ask where they were on the menu.

Great pork bbq sandwich for a reasonable price. Love the lack of sauce and serving size! Potato salad and Cole slaw r a little sweet for my taste but not bad.

It was my first time visiting this restaurant a few weeks ago. Great food! I ordered bar b que and shrimp. I loved everything. They definitely gave me more food than I expected. I enjoyed ordering the food and having it brought out to me. Was not expecting to have a server at this type of restaurant but it was a pleasant surprise. Sweet tea was excellent. Also we received a coupon for our next visit. I will definitely go back!

Feel pretty crazy that I’m a born & raised North Carolinian & I’ve never had Smithfleld’s!
However, having ate here once now, I’ll definitely eat with them again.
The BBQ sandwich & fries are pretty tasty & yes, the sweet tea is sweet & refreshing.
Their prices are a bit steep, but when I looked at my sandwich & fries, I couldn’t complain, because the sandwich was huge & they gave me a lot of fries.
Employees are really friendly & sweet & constantly came around checking on our drinks. The restaurant was clean & employees were continually sweeping the floors.
As someone else mentioned, the menu is kind of limited, but surely you can find something to eat. ;)
Parking is decent, since it’s a stand alone establishment.

Limited menu, but everything is absolutely delicious. Great pulled pork, good fried chicken, tasty sides. Friendly people too.

Gotta take it down one notch, unfortunately. Is it just me, or do the chickens appear to be getting smaller? Normally I love their fried chicken, but the last few visits the coating is on so heavy it takes a while to get to the chicken, leaving not nearly as much meat as it appears to be when you look at it.
Other than that still great service and sides. Price is more than fair for what you get (two thighs & fries for $ 4.99) and even better if you use one of their coupons off the website or from their newsletter.
I do wish they’d turn the AC down cos it’s freezing in there! They seem to have it on year round & it gets very uncomfortable. I’m sure it’s very hot back in the food prep area, but there’s gotta be a way to make everyone comfortable!

Came here directly from our rental car pickup based on a lunch recommendation from a worker there… and I’m glad we did. Not only was the staff friendly and accomodating but my meal was delicious! I got the dark meat fried chicken meal which came with generous sides of potato salad, coleslaw and hush puppies. The chicken (1 leg and 1 thigh) was perfect, not too greasy and unbelievably moist. All of the sides were amazing. Coleslaw was some of the best I’ve had. Of course I can’t forget the sweet tea… sooo good. And it doesn’t hurt that they come by with free refills. They also have drive thru. This will be my go to on my way back to the airport too :)

A. Chang goes to an A (health rated) Chain. Omygoodness, see what I did there, lolzcats. Date of visit: November 1, 2013. Categorically speaking:
Location: 3 out of 5
Solely based on the fact that from where my folks live, I can walk to this little shopping complex (along with the one adjacent to it) and find such stores such as a neighborhood Walmart, several coffee shops (DD and Sbux), several restaurants, and all sorts of new retail popping up across the main thoroughfares of Davis and M-​ville. Free and plentiful parking exists, though not unexpectedly, there are not public transportation options. Unless, of course — you count your feet. If I didn’t live within a 3 – 5 minute radius of this complex, I’d probably skip it — there are enough chain and independent bbq places out there that you wouldn’t and shouldn’t make the trek all the way here.
Customer Service: 5 out of 5
The young lady working the cashier on Friday morning (November 1) was so ultra polite and friendly — she was the quintessential stereotypical southern’esque gentle spirit. So kind, in fact, that had I not actually been raised in east TN, I would have found her pleasant and sweet demeanor to be disarming. There was a nice man that brought out my food as well — he came by a few times to make sure everything was ok. And yes, I’m giving these guys a 5 out of 5, even with the knowledge that they’ve probably never had formal white linens training, and perhaps may never work at a Michelin star restaurant.
Décor and Cleanliness: 4 out of 5
Heh heh — little picnic tables setup on the inside of this very large dining area. Wooden benches and chairs, with a few booths along the walls. It’s a feeling that’s very familiar, yet forgettable as well. I found the restaurant to be quite clean when I walked in (1030am or so), and probably for good reason as the one thing that stood out to me was the fact that they had a near-​perfect health department rating, woo hoo!
Selection of items: 2 out of 5
Not the smörgåsbord that you’d find at Smokey’s Shack, but enough that I imagine that most families with kids would find something for each member (provided that they eat meat). Pulled pork, fried chicken, chicken tenders, fried shrimp are your main protein sources, and your sides are limited to cole slaw, p-​salad, fries, hush puppies, beans, and Brunswick stew. They also have some prepackaged cake slices.
Quality/​taste: 2.5 out of 5
Eh. Honestly — the pulled pork would have been better if they had let it cook up maybe 10 — 20 more degrees so that the collagen could start breaking down. The texture that they served it today was as if someone nicely smoked or cooked shoulder to basically the consistency of a tenderloin (170’ish in temp), and then pulled it apart with tongs. Not to get into too much of a debate here, but Smithfield’s might have considered holding the temp at 170 for more time, or just going for a higher temp of 200 — 225 in order for the collagen to break down more efficiently. The sauce that came on the pork (as well as the table) was eastern Carolina style, which I much appreciated. Vinegary with decent hits of spice. Niiiiice. The fried chicken was above average, and the two dark pieces I got were well cooked: crisp on the outside, not overly seasoned (or under seasoned), and the meat was tender and moist on the inside. Within genres of food, the fried chicken was actually better than the pulled pork. Nothing about any of the sides really stood out to me (I had the slaw, p-​salad, and hush puppies), and if I return to any of these locations, I’d probably rather just get straight up meat.
Value: 2 out of 5
My combo plate with bbq, 2 piece dark chicken, p-​salad, slaw, and hush puppies cost about 9 dollars out the door with no added drink. I expected a little more, either in quantity or quality, and of course I would have preferred the latter.
Overall: 3 out of 5
Generous 3 out of 5 experience based on customer service and cleanliness. If I weighted the quality/​taste a little heavier, this would realistically be a 2 or 2.5 star experience. Nonetheless, this location has really nice service and a clean restaurant space. The food sadly, is not its forte, but could be remedied by a few simple tweaks as mentioned above. I didn’t love my experience, but I didn’t hate it either. I am unlikely to return anytime soon, but it’ll do in a pinch. Kudos for opening at 10am.
Honestly, slightly disappointed because I was under the impression that even a chain bbq place in NC would be better than what I could get in Chicago or Milwaukee, but I’ve made a few shredded pork shoulders in the past with my own version of eastern NC sauce that were considerably better than what I ate today.