Howard’s Barbeque

This is your basic old-​school Southern BBQ and seafood place. Being from the South, I enjoy places like this so I was excited (and very hungry). It was late afternoon/​early evening and the five of us were seated very quickly. Staff was friendly and attentive. Dining area was clean and had a nice view of the river. Fresh, hot hush puppies were brought out and quickly devoured. The highlights here were the seafood. The catfish was fresh, tasty, not too heavy on the breading. The shrimp was also very good and not too heavy on the breading. Some of us couldn’t get enough of it. The barbecue was good — not mind-​blowing but definitely good. It’s your standard eastern NC style barbecue, which I can appreciate for what it is: chopped pork with just a little seasoning and a choice of sauces on the table. The potato salad and cole slaw appeared to be homemade. Either way, they were excellent. I decided I needed a vegetable to go with all of the fried food I was having and ordered green beans. This was the definite low point, as they were clearly overcooked, canned green beans. All in all, everyone left happy and satisfied. It definitely hit the spot after being on the river all day. We agreed that the good greatly outweighed the bad and, if we were in the area again, we’d probably stop in — especially after spending all day on the river.

Great food, the waitress was very nice; food came to my table quick and tasted great Id recommend this to all friends.

After eating at Howard’s, we went straight to the Dairy Freeze to wash out the taste with a milkshake. Definitely not our style of bbq. The chopped pork as well as the chicken was not to our liking. The hot dog was red in color and equally bad. Even the okra was the worst we’ve had in the last 3 days. However the homemade potato salad was good as were the black eyed peas. Thank God for the hush puppies!

This place isn’t even worth rating it a one star.
My fiancé and I went here tonight (4÷1÷16). we were seated quickly and the hostess gave us menus. After about 10 minutes with no drinks i started getting a little ticked off. I flagged down a waitress and she told us that sometimes the hostess (an older lady named Diane) forgets to tell the waitresses when they have tables, but she would get our waitress. mean while a table that came in after us was seated and already got their order taken, so now im really getting pissed but im not the type of person who lets it show. so i quietly wait for our waitress to get back with our drinks. When we got our food my BBQ was way over cooked and had no flavor and my fiancé got the fried pork chops and they were under cooked which made her sick. We just asked for the bill and paid. Diane the hostess checked us out and when she saw that i didn’t leave a tip because of the horrible service and food she decided to catch an attitude with me.
The food was horrible as well as the service, to be treated the way i was for not tipping was unbelievable. this is no way to run a restaurant. DON’T EAT HERE!!!

Bland, soft food, but likely exactly how their edentolous customers like it. Found a hair in my salad, that’s not good. Wait read never bothered to mention specials and we waited longer than other couples where were seated after us, perhaps not related to the ‘fambly’?

Very disappointing — I was hoping I had found a local bbq hot spot, but I can make better bbq myself!

Good Que and NC Seafood.

This was the first time I have ever gotten up and left. (I paid for what was not taken off the bill.) BBQ pork with bones in it? Barbeque chicken that had no sauce or color or flavor, and was pink inside. A shrimp sandwich that left an aftertaste similar to that of chewing a rubber band. Just horrible. Don’t ever bother.

Good BBQ and shrimp. Fried pork chops are awesome. David had been spending more time there and you can tell by the quality. PS ask for Morgan as your waitress.

Just came from having lunch at Howard’s BBQ. Had the pulled pork sandwich w coleslaw and black-​eyed peas. The place was clean. Loved the location. Sat down near the huge windows in the back over-​looking the river. Watched the canoes launch… much fun. The waitress was very friendly and brought out a big basket of hot hush puppies. All good. Had half and half sweet tea and it was the perfect blend of not-​too-​sweet tea. The sandwich was hot. Added some extra sauce. Tender. Perfect. Asked for coleslaw on the side — which they did. Added some slaw onto the sandwich and took a bite of tender, hot smoky heaven. The slaw was nice and sweet and a great counter-​balance. The BBQ sauce had the mildest heat I’ve ever had for ENC BBQ. The black-​eyed peas had a good flavor and the fries my GF had were hot an salty. So — to recap. Clean. Good service from smiling people. Good food. I’ve eaten BBQ from Texas to Virginia and every state in between. It took me a while to warm up to ENC BBQ. But I can honestly say Howard’s BBQ is my new favorite.

First time here and thought this place is pretty good for the local area!
Pros
— Fresh fish! Yum yum! The waitress said their trout and cat fish are literally caught on a regular basis in the river behind the restaurant. I ordered the fried catfish, which was fresh, meaty, and lightly breaded. You can always tell good fried fish when the batter isn’t thick and doesn’t take away from the fish.
— Yummy hush puppies! They were slightly on the sweet side, which I thought was a nice change. They were fluffier and not as thick and heavy as hush puppies I’ve had from other restaurants.
— Nice layout and clean. There is a nice outdoor section, as well, which overlooks the river. Also nice so that we didn’t have to deal with any of the smokers. :P
— Good and friendly service. Waitress was friendly and helpful with offering suggestions for ordering. Even after we were finished with our food, the staff asked if we wanted any refills on our drinks, which was appreciated.
— Good size portions. I ordered a small platter of the catfish, which came with 2 fillets. It was definitely plenty!
— Price is very reasonable for what you get.
Cons
— I wasn’t too thrilled with the sides. I ordered fried okra and the french fries. My boyfriend had baked beans and french fries. Our friends ordered green beans as one of their sides, as well. The fries, green beans, and baked beans all seem to be pre bought and/​or pre frozen and/​or canned. I don’t think they make them fresh on site, like they do their main dishes. It’s kind of a shame, because I thought the main courses were pretty good, but the sides took away from what could potentially have been a great meal.
— My boyfriend had the pulled pork and chicken. He thought the pulled pork had a nice flavor, but the chicken was not as tender as it could be. All in all, he didn’t think the BBQ meats really stood out and had a distinctive flavor. In other words, he’s had better.
Final Answer– Not bad, especially in an area where there isn’t that much choice. I really want to give this place 4 stars, because the seafood is pretty good and the staff are so friendly and sweet. Unfortunately, I don’t think the quality of the BBQ and the sides warrant a 4 star rating, especially for a restaurant that calls itself a BBQ restaurant. Would come back, but probably not the first place I would go to to for really good BBQ.

It was so good. We were passing through and so glad we stopped. This bar b que was excellent and I’m not a huge fan of barbecue Cesily gave us great service too

Being from Goldsboro, I’m the first to admit I’m an Eastern NC barbeque snob. But when in Lillington recently, I decided to grab a bbq sandwich from Howard’s. Unfortunately, I didn’t love it. It was a little too finely chopped for my taste and didn’t have as much of the vinegar taste I’ve grown accustomed to with Eastern NC bbq. The fries were of the frozen variety, so I’d definitely get a different side if I went back. I might go back and try the fried shrimp and maybe some Brunswick stew, but I won’t be in a hurry. I can’t speak for the atmosphere or service since I used the drive thru, but it’s a bbq joint– you’re not going for the atmosphere, you’re there for the pork! Side note: they aren’t open on Mondays.

Very Meeeh. Life long eastern NC’er here, lived in Lillington for quite a while. Howards does have some heat to it, but it’s not cooked with wood which knocks it out of the running for anywhere near the top. You see, heat and more sauce are needed to make non wood cooked BBQ taste better. If i eat at Howards, i get the seafood.

The décor is, according to another patron, «unforgettable.» I would say, contrary to the review, the décor is in fact forgettable. I remember it being beige and brownish, but that’s about it.
The portion sizes for proteins are pretty large, but I still feel like it’s overpriced. I would have been much happier paying $ 8 for what I ordered (pulled pork plate, 2 sides) as opposed to paying $ 10 – 11.
This is awful to say, but I would rather go to a chain barbeque place than Howard’s. Pulled pork is one of my FAAAAVORITES, especially with Eastern BBQ sauce (and generally if it’s pulled pork I’m not very picky), but what comes out of Howard’s is not what I’m looking for.
Because it had been over a year since we ate there, we tried it again recently. I ate it because I was hungry, but made the decision that if I have the time to, I will drive to Smithfield’s and get good BBQ. Alas, if I don’t, I’ll just go without.

Although the décor is sparse, the food is excellent. The pulled pork is simply excellent, even without the famous NC BBQ sauce.

Let me start by saying that this isn’t really my thing. I don’t eat seafood, and I rarely go out for barbecue – nor am I very fond of NC-​style, vinegar-​based barbecue. But I was obliged to have a work lunch here today.
The interior is almost entirely unforgettable. I ordered the pork BBQ sandwich, which was fine but not great. As a side, I got the green beans, as most of my other options were fried – they came out and were clearly heated up, canned green beans. Yuck. This far away from a metropolitan area and you can’t even find real green beans? I could barely touch them.
Maybe worth a try if this is your type of place, but I won’t be back.

This is one of those old school ENC BBQ restaurants I had not been to in a number of years, and today we made it a point to stop off, and try some of their barbecue — and several others items, too — well, we were already there.
The Avrette family has been serving up barbecue in one place or another in the Lillington area since the early 1970“s — the seafood came later. They were located on the other side of the bridge spanning the Cape Fear River on my last visit, and this is definitely a nicer, more modern interior than the old one. This place over looks the Cape Fear, and they have a glassed in patio area which affords a nice view.
They cook shoulders here, and use an electric cooker, so there is little hint of smokiness. The barbecue is moist, tender, chopped a little on the fine side (they machine chop it), and well sauced out of the kitchen. The sauce is the typical ENC style, vinegar and pepper based, but with more heat than most — much like B’s and Ken’s. I love it this way, some will not care for that much heat. The white slaw is rather dry, with a little sweetness to it — love it on the chopped sandwich –sandwich goes for $ 3.85. The Hushpuppies are also very good — light, with a nice crust.
The Shrimp Burger ($ 4.40) has a nice amount of well fried shrimp, with a little kick to them. I’d pass on the slaw, just add a little Tartar Sauce, salt & pepper. The Trout Sandwich (well priced at $ 3.85) is a nice portion — again, skip the slaw, just Tartar & seasonings. The Hot Dog ($ 1.99) was a very pleasant surprise — nice tasting chili, though a little thin, and I’d like a few less onions — but overall this was a very, very good dog.
The folks here are friendly, helpful, and efficient, though a little laid back getting orders out of the kitchen. This is destination barbecue, and seafood also — easily in my top 15 or so.

Wow, what a disappointment. Ate here with a coworker a few weeks ago and it was a real let down. My coworker had bbq chicken which may have actually been a pigeon or some other small bird. The waitress really got his hopes up by bringing out a huge stack of napkins ahead of time. maybe they were a side dish. The place seemed dirty, food was nothing special at all. Waitress even complained about the coleslaw. We should have left after ordering our drinks, but I hesitated.

Great atmosphere and staff! If you are in the area this is one place you should check out. Best BBQ and hushpuppies in the area! The hamburger steak is delish! Seafood is great too!
Not open on Mondays.