Roy's Bar-B-Q in Russellville, KY

The signs were all there...

I have dozens of relatives living all around the Bowing Green-Russellville-Franklin, Kentucky area, I visit the area at least twice a year and every one of them knows I love Barbeque. 

Yet not a single one of them had ever told me about Roy's Bar-B-Q. 

That should have been a sign to me.

Instead I read about Roy's on the Barbeque News Forum.  The post goes something like this:

Roys' Bar-B-Q in Russellville, KY, about 25 miles west of Bowling Green, serves the best pulled pork that I have ever tasted and I have eaten BBQ all over the eastern United States. We drive the 200 mile round trip often to get their BBQ. Get your butt on down to Roy's and you will not be disappointed, I promise.

Sorry. 

Looks Good So Far 

We found ourselves heading to the area recently for a family get-together and I remembered the that post.  So, hungry after our drive from Louisville, we pulled in to Roy's right around lunch-time on a Tuesday.  The signs we good from the outside as the parking lot was packed. 

The insides we what you might expect -- Mounted deer, foxes and catfish on the walls, newspaper clipping of local sports teams and plenty of University of Kentucky memorabilia -- but looked more like diner than a BBQ Joint.  This, too, should have been a sign to me. 

We seated ourselves and the waitress brought us menues.  Across the top it read "Roy's Pit Barbecue" but, surprisingly, I could find only a very few BBQ choices amoung the dozens of sandwiches, dinners and desserts.  You'd think this would have been a sign to me, too.

Nonetheless, I ordered the pulled pork BBQ dinner with, corn bread, cole slaw, baked beans and onion rings.  Normanda had the same except for fries and corn and Blake ordered a grilled cheese and fried pickles.

There Was One Good Dish -- Unfortunately it wasn't BBQ

The "Famous Pit Barbecue" was mediocre at best.  The meat was moist but not very tasty.  It was served on the Pancake-shaped corn bread rounds and, surprisingly, squirted with a few drops of a vinegary North Carolina-style BBQ sauce.  The few drops on the meat we all we could try as there was no bottles on the table.

If the Cole Slaw, Corn and Baked Beans weren't all store bought, the chef does an amazing job of faking that look and taste and has a career at Sysco.    

There was one really good dish.  Blake's Fried Pickles were the best thing they brought us -- which, unfortunately, is NOT quite what I expected from a place famous for BBQ.  Instead of the sliced pickles we are accustomed to, they were whole wedges, deepfried to a crispy brown.  Avoid the watery Ranch Dressing they bring with them and just enjoy them plain. 

The Signs Were All There, I Just Didn't Read Them

If I had entered Roy's off the street thinking I was entering a diner, I probably would have been pleased with my trip.  I would have looked at the menu, packed with diner fare (it had way too many extras for a good BBQ Joint) and I would have ordered some "diner food" (the catfish on the table beside Blake and the Biscuits-and-Gravy two seats over looked especially good.)  The best thing we had, the Fried Pickles, are traditional diner food. 

Based upon our visit, that's what Roy's is -- a passable diner.  But it is not a BBQ Restaurant that I can recommend.

Mark

Roy's Bar-B-Q is obviously very popular as the posting on the forums and the amount of traffic we saw indicated.  So did we just have a bad trip?  Should we try again?  We're down in this area twice a year or more.  Is there another, better place we should try?

Please, let us know what you think.

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