We have another BBQ restaurant in town – Billy Sims Barbecue (BSBBQ). They opened up in mid July on South Glenstone near the Supercenter complex where the Boston Market restaurant used to live. I love BBQ and there are only a couple of places here in town that are my go-to places for this simple, yummy, yet seemingly “hard to make well” food genre. Of course I had to check it out. I’ve been for lunch twice now and am ready to report in on what I thought.
Both visits were during a busy lunch hour but we didn’t have any trouble finding a table as they seem to turn around pretty quickly. The process at BSBBQ is fast-food single-queue style. You line up to examine the overhead menu board while making your way to the first stop at the meat cutting station. This is where you tell the staff your BBQ selections. On both visits I selected combo plates and have been able to sample, the pulled pork, sliced brisket, ribs, turkey and bologna (yes they smoke bologna here).
After you order, the meat-cutter then slices and portions your meats using a scale (except for the ribs which are counted out). I noticed that for the pulled pork they add a bit of seasoning from a large shaker and mix that all up before putting it on your plate. Next stop is the sides station.
The sides selection (sideliners) is pretty typical but has no fried items. One interesting selection is listed as ‘mini-huskers’ – which is smoked corn on the cob. I stuck with my usual cole slaw and BBQ beans on both visits. Combo plates come with a piece of Texas toast.
The last stop is the register where you trade your money for food.
Bob’s Whine and Dine
Bottom line – I really liked the meats. They all had a great smoky flavor with that nice dark outer smoky layer. The meats were all tender as well. The ribs weren’t fall-off-the-bone but were still tender and easy to eat. The brisket & pork were just a bit on the dry side, but adding sauce fixed that right up. Speaking of sauce, choices include regular and spicy. Both were good but I fixated on the spicy one. The bologna was an interesting meat to try. It was well smoked like the rest of the meats and because of that, the taste was more smoke than bologna. I’m glad I tried it but truthfully I don’t know why, for the same price, one would pick bologna over pork or beef.
(Sorry for no food pictures, for some reason my camera weirded out and they didn’t come out. I’ll post food pics next time I visit.)
While the meat was good, the sides were ho-hum; nothing really special there. The beans were a little weird. There is pulled pork mixed into them – but the pork is so finely pulled that it makes the beans look stringy. They would at least look better if the meat were little chunks instead of pork threads.
Drinks, plasticware– well everything really – is pretty much self serve. During our visits at lunch time there were a couple of people making their way around the dining room asking if you needed anything. Food is served on those plastic plate/basket things with a paper liner.
The dining room is pretty much left over from Boston Market and is pretty spartan but kept clean. The ordering queue however is not easy to get to if you enter from the north side of the building. It is a tight fit to get to the start of the line between the ropes that mark the queue and the first row of tables. I would recommend entering on the south side of the building to avoid threading your way to the ordering line.
BSBBQ also has a drive-thru which I plan to make use of when I want my BBQ to go.
I’ll be back to Billy Sims Barbecue – it being close to where I live makes it likely I’ll be back often.
3757 South Glenstone Ave – (417) 883-7467
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