Fatboy BBQ [General]
2011 Dec 9
Thanks for your comments, Abdominous!!!. I've cloned them to the vendor listing here: Fatboys Southern Smokehouse
I heard from a friend that compared to The SmoQue Shack , Fatboys Southern Smokehouse is less sweet and sauces tend to be served on the side. Thumbs up for both of those, in my opinion!
I heard from a friend that compared to The SmoQue Shack , Fatboys Southern Smokehouse is less sweet and sauces tend to be served on the side. Thumbs up for both of those, in my opinion!
Abdominous!!!
Lots of room inside, in fact it's huge. The patio & bay doors will be great in the summer. A few too many TVs for my liking... what're you gonna do..? Staff was friendly but a bit up-sell-y. Again, not much you can you do about that on day one.
The menu looks pretty good, a few app options (incl. Fried Green Tomatoes which are a fav of mine), lots of sides (mostly typical bbq sides but a few interesting ones too), a few sandwiches, salads and of course smoked & BBQ meat. It's not a epicly length-ed menu which is really for the best in my opinion.
I was in a bit of a hurry & eating alone so I went for a couple standards to get an idea of what this place was all about.
I ordered the fried pickle app and the pulled pork sandwich.
At $8.99, the pickles were a decent size & pretty tasty. Not being a fan of mayo, I opted out on the creamy sauce that came with them & tried the three in-house sauces that are on every table. One was a standard sweet/smokey BBQ sauce, one a slightly spicy BBQ & a mustard based sauce. All were fine though none jumped out at me.
The pickle themselves were battered with a light, crunchy coating that had some herbs (I believe dill) mixed in & were properly fried, not overly greasy. The portion was an ok size at $8.99. Nothing to freak out about but a decent snack to share with a few friends. B-
The Pulled Pork sandwich was a very good sized portion at $7.99 & is what anyone who has been to BBQ places in the states should expect. There are a few places in town that charge a lot more money for a lot less meat. If there is more bun than meat, it is NOT southern BBQ.
It also came with a small portion of coleslaw & a dill pickle spear. It was nice to see that the pickle was definitely the same as the fried ones. I skipped the 'creamy' coleslaw cuz of it's mayo-iness but they do have a 'tangy' vinegar slaw option. I will definitely try that next time. A couple of little extras like this make the price that much better in my books.
The bun was an egg bread & was the lowest point of the sandwich. It was borderline stale & way too chewy/crumbly. Though I love a fresh, plain un-heated bun with a BBQ sandwich, this was a misstep. A minute on the flattop or in a steamer would have averted that.
The meat itself was good though not life changing by any means. It was little on the dry side & with the bun being sub par it made for more chewing than I would prefer. Having the three sauces at the table made up for the dryness of both the meat & the bun. I asked for hot sauce but all they had was the big T. An in-house vinegar based hot pepper sauce would be an excellent addition to their menu...
All & all (mostly for the price) I would order the Pulled Pork again. B+
I've travel throughout the south/southwest and Fatboy, at the moment, is the closest thing Ottawa has to Southern Style BBQ by far. It's not perfect but if it was this good on the first day open to the public, I have high hopes for the rest of the menu.