Charlie K's BBQ

The brisket was flavorful and great. Sauce was awesome as well. The staff was super friendly and great experience. I will be back tomorrow.

We stopped at the farmers market next door and we're lured over to Charlie K's because of the wonderful smell of barbecue. We were very disappointed. I don't see what everybody raves about in these reviews. Maybe because they've never had real BBQ like I have, from North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City, and Austin.

We ordered a full rack of ribs and a half pound of brisket with four sides to share for the two of us. We had wanted to try their chicken but it wasn't ready yet, not until the dinner hour.

Our first disappointment was the ribs. They don't even trim the silver skin before cooking. That shows their inexperience-- or MAYBE just their laziness. Regardless, I hate chewing on that tough leathery silver skin, especially when it gets hard or dry from barbecuing. The sauce was pretty good, on the picant side and not too sweet. But I wouldn't go back for their ribs.

The brisket did have a nice Smoky flavor, not overpowering. You could tell they really did smoke it. But we were also disappointed in how it was served: we asked the girl at the window if it was sliced and she said yes. When we got home and opened the container that was only half full, it was clearly shredded, lots of little bits and not a slice there. I assumed they weighed it but maybe not because it filled only half the container. I would eat this again.

As for the sides, the three potato salad had a nice flavor. The macaroni salad used very large pasta spirals, and was a different preparation than I had ever had. Not really mayonnaise-y, but not really a vinaigrette style either. It was nothing more than the pasta and some very finely diced celery, nothing more.
The coleslaw was very very finely shredded cabbage with a VERY vinegary dressing. Too tart, not even a hint of sweetness that I believe coleslaw should have. And all it was -- was cabbage, not even a single shredded piece of carrot or anything else. The fourth side that we tried was the baked beans, again nothing special. It did have a lot of chopped green pepper added to it, which was a bit tart, red bell pepper would have been better. I guess overall our biggest complaint with the sides was the portion, really only about four or five bites per serving, barely a couple ounces.

Lastly, I have to comment on the cornbread. It was so dry, almost chalky. It just crumbled to bits when you try to bite or break off a piece. I've had a lot of cornbread in my 60 years, and this takes the award for the worst I've ever eaten. No thank you!

If not for the flavor of the brisket, I'd have given only 1 star. I'd be curious to try their chicken, and maybe taste their Amish pie. But sadly I won't make a special effort to return to Charlie K's. There are better places to eat in the area.

The brisket was shredded and too wet. The sauce was great, though, but I much prefer a sliced brisket. The failure was in the sides however; the slaw that was a bit sour and the cucumber salad fell short. I'll give them another shot as their chicken apparently gets a lot of positive reviews.