Old Carolina Barbecue Company

I can save you from reading the whole review just by stating, «run of the mill».
I really wish there was more of the smoke flavoring in their meats because it almost taste as if things were boiled then put on a smoker for a short amount of time. BBQ is a process of low and slow, where the fats and smoke open up the meats natural flavors. And when you lack just that, you end up with very muted flavoring!
And what helps that absents in flavor? None other than BBQ Sauce. Good BBQ, in my opinion, doesn’t need a large dose of BBQ sauce. To me it’s like adding sugar on a sugar cookie… Not to say it is not needed, but when I find myself over compensating BBQ Sauce to fill in for a lack of flavor. It is pretty much a done deal in my book.
I’ve had the chance to try just about all of their «CUE meat selections» and their meats are indeed tender, expected, but flavors are very mute at best.
Their sides are OK, I’ve tried Mac N Cheese, Green Beans, Garlic Mash Potatoes, and a few others. Most were pretty typical, I personally thought the Garlic Mash was most favorable. Their corn bread isn’t to shabby as well.
Overall, just OK in my book. I’d come in for a quick bite as I have rather than hitting up a local fast food joint.

Food was excellent. It’s a simple and straight-​forward ordering system. If you’ve ever been to a Smash Burger or Noodle & Company it’s that style of ordering. You order your food, then go sit down while they bring it to you. Boom. I had the 3 slider platter which consisted of a fried chicken slider (AMAZING), turkey breast slider, (VERY GOOD) and pulled chicken slider that I managed to finish 4 hours later without reheating and it was STILL soft and good. I had macaroni & cheese with red skin garlic mashed potatoes which were… you guessed it, good. It almost doesn’t even matter what sauce you throw on what, it’s ALL GOOD! (Makes touchdown symbol.) Only drawback… the staff just didn’t seem very engaging. I took all the pickles from the condiment station and informed one of the other workers that they were out. He then points to another coworker and says «you have to tell him». «Him», just so happened to hear me so my message was conveyed, but why did I have to tell that specific person? You could’ve just took care of the issue OR relayed the message. I don’t care about the staff though, I’d come back here again and again for the same exact meal.

Stopped for dinner as we headed home from Charlotte. Hubby wanted bbq. I had the The Texas Combo– ¹⁄₃ slab of ribs (4 nice size ribs) brisket (super tender) vinegar coleslaw (tasty) and baked beans (a little sweet and tangy). He had The Carolina Minis (pick any three meats with 2 sides). He had the baked beans and mashed potatoes which he said were very good. You order as u walk in and someone brings the food to your table. Wood booths and florescent lights. Prices are reasonable for ribs and brisket. I’ll come back again.

This place is similar to Dickey’s BBQ. Located in a crappy strip mall, the location is sizeable but nothing special. Ribs were good, tender and flavorful but not very saucey (they do have self-​serve sauces near the soda fountain if needed). Chicken however was dry, wouldn’t order it again. The sides were okay, hush puppies were pretty good but the mac and cheese tasted like Kraft. Overall it was a good amount of food for the price, but I probably wouldn’t really come back here unless I was craving BBQ and this was the closest option.

Ok the BBQ is not what you’d find in the hills of Tennessee where they bury the meat for a week and smoke it and serve it with their secret sauces however the brisket is lean and tasty as is are the turkey and chicken. The restaurant is simply laid out. You order at the counter and they bring the food to your table. Side dishes include hush puppies which are excellent two types of slaw and wonderful baked beans. Four different sauces are offered along with pickles and jalapenos at the counter. We believe this is the best barbecue in Akron however we’ve not tasted all of the barbecues the city has to offer.

I came in for lunch. I was a bit surprised because I didn’t realize that it is set up much like a Five Guys or something of that nature. I thought it was a sit down restaurant. But it didn’t really matter. The staff was friendly enough.
I ordered the pulled pork plate and got beans as my side. I also ordered a side of mac and cheese. It came to a hair above $ 10 which isn’t terrible for the amount of food I received. It’s probably a quarter pound of pulled pork with two relatively large dishes of sides and then a cornbread muffin. The pork was good, not overly fatty or greasy but with a nice smoked flavor and char on the ends. The sauces all kind of tasted the same to me except the signature vinegar which just was kind of meh. But at least the screaming beaver gave me a little giggle.
The beans were kind of not what I was expecting, they are chili beans, not baked beans. They were alright but nothing spectacular. The cornbread was also pretty standard. The mac and cheese was the weakest of the sides. Nothing was fabulous but nothing was bad either.
I don’t get the hype of Cheerwine either, it’s just Dr. Pepper. lol

my lunch was incredible. i love a good bbq pork sandwich. the baked beans w/​pork were tangy and so yummy. the best part for me were the hush puppies. i want some more hush puppies right now and to be honest i can’t even imagine eating more food after the dinner i just had.

I’ve been here a couple times now, and they never disappoint. I’m from North Carolina so I know good BBQ. There pulled pork is always really good. The sides are average, the Mac n cheese is a little bland for my liking. 2 of these stars are solely for the fact that they have Cheerwine. I can rarely find Cheerwine up here so it is nice when I have the craving.

This place is so delicious and not too expensive! You walk in the door and the menus are on the wall, so you can decide what you want as you wait in line. After you place your order, you find your seat and get your drinks and sauces. They have a large variety of sauces to pick from that range from mild to spicy so everyone can find something they like. You either pick up your food when they call your number, or they’ll bring it to your table. The food was absolutely delicious! No complaints. I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a quick, good lunch.

The food is so yummy! I ordered the ¹⁄₃ slab of ribs, baked beans, hush puppies, corn bread, and I drank as much Cheerwine as I could get. If you’ve never had Cheerwine, you need to give it a try. It’s native to North Carolina and is somewhat hard to find in Ohio but it’s becoming more prevalent lately.
The ribs were very tasty. They were moist with a great amount of char on the outside. Topped with one of 4 offered bbq sauces (located by the pop machines) it’s very flavorful.
The baked beans are my favorite side here. They are bbq flavored with a little shredded pork in them.
The hush puppies were great also.
The 4 star rating is for the sticky floors. My shoes stuck to the floor as I walked across it and it was gross. Like there was maple syrup on the floor. Please mop!

Called at 12:09 for pick up, was told it’ll be ready in 10 minutes. Got there at 12:20, there was a line in front of me, so I asked the guy in front of me if this was a pick-​up line too, & he said he doesn’t know. So I looked around and saw a sign that says, «pick-​up» so I assumed that carry-​out folks are suppose to stand over there. I walked straight to the sign where it says carry-​out and was greeted with two workers staring at me, one smiling and the other just staring at me. I was confused so I said, «Hi! I’m here for pick up.» So, they continue to blankly stare at me and then walked away… I was extremely confused and was waiting for someone to help me, so I stood there for over ½ an hour…
After some thought later on the day– I realized that these workers & manager thought that I was «trying» to cut and that is why I was given the attitude and no one came to help. I wish someone would’ve told me that this isn’t an actual pick-​up line like how a few other restaurants have. I would’ve walked back over to the eating-​in line and waited there. It wasn’t my mentality to «cut,» but they really should move that sign over to the eating-​in line. I was honestly confused by that.
There was a lady standing right behind me for carry-​out also, and it seems that she also didn’t know & thought it was a carry-​out line too. Shortly after that, I had enough and walked out of there. I really wished the manager at least would’ve came to ask and tell us that this isn’t the actual line for it & direct us back to the other line.
No one in their right mind would intentionally cut so straight-​forward like that. It would’ve been better for businesses to remain professional even if they assumed otherwise.

We are visiting here from NC and I must say, this is better than we get at home. Generous portions, great sauces to choose from and they even serve sweet tea!

SOOoo tasty! several sauces to choose from with many different combos. good date night if you dont mind being messy haha

We ordered the bbq bulk order and we were surprised by the massive amounts of food that was provided. That is the beginning of what turned out to be a happy family. The order was intended to serve 50 people and it did. The pulled pork is juicy and not dry, the ribs were devoured, the slider buns were excellent (though there weren’t really enough — thus the only knock from us), the sides — green beans and baked beans were ok, and the beef brisket was excellent. If the sides were better and there were enough buns, they would easily be 5 stars. I would go back and expect to in the future when I’m in Ohio.

I lived in Texas, and I’ve been to many barbecue places all over the country. As far as Akron goes, this is an excellent place. The ribs are always good, and I have had the brisket and it’s good… always difficult to cook a tender brisket. What I like is that they have their own pit and actually smoke the meat. It may not quite be a central Texas joint, but they know what they are doing.

Pulled pork is so good!!! Banana pudding is to die for! Great catering portions! Fast service too! Friendly staff!

I went there on 5÷24÷15 and attempted to order two BBQ chicken dinners and was told that they had ran out of chicken. I was told that they did have chicken fingers etc… but this is a BBQ spot so thats what I went there for. Then it dawned on me as I walked emptied handed out the door one of my coworkers told me of a time when he went to a Cleveland location and they ran out of chicken. In my opinion a store running out of product thus losing customers is a poorly ran business model… needless to say I won’t be back.

Awesome barbecue!!! One of the best places to eat in Akron if you like smoked BBQ you better stop in. Sampler platter is enough to feed 2 people easily.

Hush puppies are to die for or kill first born. Pulled pork was great … Daily special $ 6.95

My wife and I are from the Carolinas and while nothing can replicate true southern BBQ, this place is the closest I’ve found so far in NE Ohio. Aptly named.

Gepetto’s finally has some barbecue competition. The ribs are great, with the original sweet sauce or even without sauce, portions are plentiful, sides are good… banana pudding is awesome.
If you like barbecue, try this place… we got pulled chicken for tomorrow’s lunch :)

The ribs are smoky and have a nice bark and are great with or without sauce. Baked beans are very tasty with bits of pork. The beer is icy cold. If you are in the mood for some bbq and don’t live in Texas, or Memphis or Kansas and you happen to live in the Akron area check them out. This is not fast food so if you think you are going to be in and out it’s not going happen. Bbq isn’t supposed to be fast.

Until this past sunday I was a huge fan of carolina bbq. Went weekly… Sunday I noticed the «no firearms» sign on the door… So really carolina do you think that will stop a criminal from entering your store? They may have a 9 mm on them, intent on robbing the place, see the no firearms sign, then choose to rob someone else? pahleeze. All this does is prevent law abiding citizens like myself from defending ourselves. Keep your liberal bs hippie policy, but you wont have my business anymore, nor any of my like minded friends. Im sure the management and patrons of cracker barrell that got shot up ly wished someone was there to stop the carnage. Check your stats: near 50 percent of US households admit to firearm possession.

You are crazy not to give this 4 or 5 stars… The low rating is very mis-​leading. Northeast Ohio doesn’t have a lot of BBQ places, but this placecan put us on the map. All the meats are AMAZING, great flavor and juicy. The sauces they have are great, they have 4 types that are full of flavor. The sides are awesome, I would suggest trying a few because you will get hooked.
Please trust me, this is not a 3 star place, it is great quality BBQ and promise you will love it.

You really need to try it. I don’t really have anything to compare it to in the area, but Brian, the part owner/​operator is very friendly. He gave us the background info behind his meat. They really put time and care into the product.
I usually get the pulled pork platter and two sides. Baked beans are spicy and have big chunks of the smoky pork in them, with that amazing charred bark on the end. The garlic mashed potatoes are also tasty as are the fresh cut fries (which you can’t finish).
Great place up north to get BBQ. I’ll disagree with the review below that says you can’t get out of here for less than $ 10/​person. The pulled pork platter includes two sides for 7.49 and it’s more than you can eat. Also, if you’re ordering for a family, they have the family packs starting at $ 20 which easily feeds four adults who aren’t morbidly obese.