Cally’s Sticky Bones BBQ

Ooooooh baby. Had a sampler platter with ribs, pulled pork, chicken and my choice of sides (bbq beans and greens). The ribs and pork were awesome, perhaps the best I’ve had. The chicken was good (done perfectly) but if I went back I would probably try something else because, after all, it’s chicken. Greens were good, and even better with a little of their Lexington (black pepper-​based) sauce. BBQ beans were sweetly spice and really good. Drove across town at rush hour to get me some… and will probably do it again next time I’m in town.

Do yourself a favor and get the ultimate sampler. This place knows what they’re doing, with a wall of trophies and plaques to prove it, not to mention reviews like this one. The barbecued meats were spectacular, succulent, savory, smoky and delicious. Sides like the corn bread pudding was a unique and delectable surprise. All his sauces are homemade, but the barbecue is so damn good that you probably won’t even use the sauces except to dip to taste what each one is like. The ribs were a high point, the brisket was great, chicken was very good as was the chopped pork. Cally’s is definitely worth a try!

Awesome bbq! I had the pulled chicken sandwich and poured hot bbq sauce all over it. It was delicious

This place is the best barbecue around. My boyfriend hates barbecue and I convinced him to try this place because of all the great reviews it had, and we were more than happy with everything this little place had to offer. The first thing we noticed when we walked in was that the owner was making the food himself, which is something you don’t see too often. The owner makes his own sauces, all five of them. My boyfriend ordered the brisket and I had the pulled pork sandwich. The sandwich is the best pulled pork Ive ever had and I could tell it was fresh and made to order. The brisket was delicious and so tender. I can’t get say enough good things about this place. After eating the owner himself came out and talked to us about the food and you can tell that this is what he loves to do. He has won multiple awards for his outstanding barbecue, and he makes every order as if he was competing in a competition. We will back for sure. Definitely a need to go barbecue spot. You won’t be disappointed.

I generally don’t really like BBQ but my husband loves BBQ. He had a bad day at work so I decided to take him here for dinner. We got the combo (I forget the name) with beef, chicken, pork, and ribs for about $ 20. We got a couple of sides too. First I really love that they leave the BBQ sauce off and let you choose your own. They had 6 different kinds of sauce on the table. I usually hate BBQ sauce because I don’t like the brown sugar in it, so I was able to mix my own using the spicy and regular to get a flavor I didn’t dislike.
Usually when I get BBQ the meat is dry so they smother it with sauce. Not so here. The meat was really moist and juicy without the sauce. It has enough flavors that it didn’t even need sauce. I put a tiny bit of BBQ sauce to give it extra flavor. I generally stay away from BBQ chicken because it’s too dry for my liking, but the chicken here is amazing. So is the beef brisket. I’m not a huge fan of pork but their pork was pretty good (my husband, who does like pork says that the pork is amazing). I thought the ribs were good. Again, this is coming from someone who doesn’t like pork. My husband calls the ribs amazing, some of the best he’s had.
So a girl who doesn’t like BBQ or pork loves this place and can’t wait to go back. There were two people behind the counter when we got there, I assume the owners. They were very friendly and helpful. The woman even came to ask how everything was and if we needed anything.

Why 3 stars? Because it’s fairly average Q.
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I enjoyed the pulled pork, but the ribs left a bit to be desired. Every bite of meat seemed to be accompanied by unedible bites of (ligaments?) coming off. I know that this does to happen with ribs, but it was an unusually high amount in this case.
The side dishes struck me as about what you’d expect, again, hence the 3 star rating. We had the mac, backed beans, and potato salad.
Cally’s is a smaller, mom-​n-​pop BBQ joint near the border of Carrollwood. I love supporting local business, so I hope my review doesn’t come across overly negative. I would definitely go back again, and I love BBQ more than any other food group, so you can bet another appearance is likely.

I found some seriously delicious, competition-​style, barbeque in a little place located on the northern end of Armenia Avenue. Cally’s Sticky Bones BBQ is the home of Gary & Susan Callicoat’s smokehouse /​BBQ shack /​mighty fine little restaurant.
Gary and Susan have won numerous awards for competition barbeque, and they’ve recently received the Florida State Champions award from the Kansas City Barbeque Society. Inside of Cally’s you’ll see lots of trophies, photos, and awards from their many successful years on the professional barbeque circuit. Oh yeah, I could tell that this meal was gonna be epic!
The easiest way to get to Cally’s is to take Busch Boulevard to the traffic light at Armenia. Turn north on Armenia and follow the road about a half-​mile until it bends around to the right and becomes Linebaugh Avenue extended. Cally’s is immediately on your left before you get to the next traffic light which just happens to be Armenia Avenue heading north. Don’t blame me for the confusion — I didn’t name the streets in this part of town!
Cally’s sits on the end of a small one-​story retail plaza, and you will definitely smell the smoking meats as you get close to the restaurant. Cally’s has about half-​a-​dozen half-​sized picnic tables around the perimeter, and a larger high-​top table in the center of the floor. There are also some stools at a long wooden bar in front of the big picture window.
March yourself up to the counter and select from barbeque sandwiches, platters, daily luncheon specials or just a container of the meat. You can choose from chopped pork, brisket, pulled chicken, sausage, ribs, or a sampler. Sides include cole slaw, baked beans, potato salad, collard greens, French fries, corn bread pudding, banana pudding, mac & cheese, and corn on the cob.
Cally’s also has carryout «Crowd Pleazers» designed to feed a couple of people or a small family — perfect choice for a group lunch at the office, or a to-​go dinner for the family. With some advance notice you can also order a whole hog or a whole beef brisket with sides, BBQ sauce, and bread for your backyard barbeque extravaganza.
For lunch I tried the two meat sampler platter with chopped pork and homemade sausage, and added potato salad and collard greens for my sides. At the table were five different homemade sauces as well as homemade pepper vinegar and their own special habanero hot sauce. You’ve got the standard Sweet, Mild, and Spicy barbeque sauces along with a Carolina-​style mustard sauce and also a Southern-​style vinegar sauce. All of the sauces were super tasty, and they perfectly complemented the meat.
Cally’s is open till 8pm Tuesday through Thursday, and 9pm on Friday and Saturday, so it’s a great place to pick up some very tasty carryout for dinner. If you work in the area, I highly recommend a stop for lunch so that you can enjoy a sandwich or a platter before heading back to the job.

Don’t let this tiny little place fool you on how big their food is. I’ve driven by it so many times thinking it’s closed, but they’re actually open daily until 10pm, besides Sunday, which they are closed. I ordered their sweet potato fries with St. Louis style ribs. This place is my new favorite (smoke shack is close behind). The inside is actually decorated very cozy & tastefully with surprisingly enough room to fit a good amount of people. They’re ribs are super tender and practically melt in your mouth. There is a reason they have so many trophies on the window. You’ve gotta give this little hidden gem of carrollwood a try.

Always Quality BBQ at a great price! They guys know how to do BBQ right. At least once a week I have to have my Chopped Beef platter with baked beans and slaw. It is a family owned business that cares about their customers. It would do triple the business, if it was in a more convinent location. But it’s worth the effort to find it. You will not be disappointed.

I went in here today for lunch. Had the brisket sandwich lunch special with potato salad and Mac and cheese. Brisket was great and very flavorful. Sides were good as well, with just a touch of salt and pepper. I was really impressed by the selection of Barbecue Sauces: loved both the Hot and Sweet sauces. Definitely a great place for barbecue in Tampa!

I went in last week when looking for some great BBQ. I just got back from Afghanistan, and as you can imagine the good there is less than stellar. I went to Chili’s a few days before this with family and had a rack of ribs that were so lean that I was still hungry afterward. I was unsatisfied with Chili’s, Google and Unilocal helped me find Cally’s, and I am very happy that they did. I had a half rack with the pit style BBQ sauce that was on the table (one of at least six home made sauces) and a pint of Brisket.
The ribs were unbelievably good. It was a truly meaty half rack that was fall-​off-​the-​bone tender. Then I tried the Brisket and was even more impressed. I left there and was sure that this was the best BBQ I have ever eaten.
It’s a little hard to see at night. If you’re driving North on Armenia it is just around the bend and about 100ft before the 7-​Eleven. They don’t serve beer, but we were welcomed to bring our own in from the 7-​Eleven which was nice. No customer bathroom that I saw, so take it easy on eating with your hands if that concerns you. There were wet-​naps and paper towels available, but depending on how much you get into your food it may not be sufficient. Staff was very friendly and helpful. I would highly recommend Cally’s to anyone in the area. Very much worth the drive from Pasco or South Tampa.

Thanks to Unilocal,I just found the best BBQ in all of Tampa Bay!
The ribs were fall-​off-​the-​bone good. The pulled pork was incredibly succulent, moist, and flavorful. Five homemade sauces were all very unique and delicious but then we found the sixth, homemade habanero sauce in a secret little bottle with the pit master’s face on the label! Zowie! Endorphin time! We got a bottled «to go» to relive the experience…
The outside is out-​of-​date stripmall but the inside is spotlessly clean, pleasantly air conditioned, and decorated with numerous 1^st place BBQ trophies!
Trek here. Walk here. Hitchhike here. Do what you have to do. Trust me.

On my sense of lunch adventure I stumbled upon this establishment. Upon entering, I noted several BBQ competition awards and newspaper notations. As a result, my expectations got even higher for quality.
They offered a lunch special which includes a regular chopped pork sandwich, 1 side (cole slaw, baked beans, potato salad or collard greens) and a small drink (coke products or ice tea) for $ 5.95 or your can get a larger drink for 30 cents more. In addition, if you have a burly appetite for lunch there is a large chopped sandwich combo which only is $ 1 dollar more. SOLD!!! Quality potential cheaper than cost of some crappy fast food drive thru meal. Needless to say, I ordered the regular chopped pork combo, a side of potato salad and what else would make this meal more southern complete than to wash it down with some ice tea.
As I waited at my table for my order, I noted that they had 5 different signature BBQ sauces (regular, sweet, hot, the lexington and Suzie’s swine sauce. Being that I’m a fan of flavor build, I discreetly sampled each sauce to note what flavor profile they highlighted. Since the time of day wasn’t to busy I think the front end staff as well a someone in the back, observed my sampling routine.
Upon order arrival, I looked for some profiles of my opinion of good chopped pork. That being moist and tender meat with hints of a smoke ring that occurs to low and slow smoking of meat. Anyways, not to drift toward BBQ technique, the sandwich portion for the regular chopped pork sandwich was oozing out which pieces of chopped pork. I can’t imagine trying to conquer a large chopped pork sandwich. My plan of attack, was to use Suzie’s swine sauce since it was the one that stood out to me the most. It didn’t have the appearance of a traditional BBQ sauce meaning the darker profile from molasses, brown sugar, etc… It was more of a goldish to yellow color. Poured on heavily, first bite took me to paradise where a whole pig was being roasted at a luau… Wait… I never been to a luau, but if I did I imagine it consisted of this sandwich with this amazing sauce.
Upon almost finishing my sandwich, a young lady approached my table and asked how was everything. In my complex answer, I dissected flavors and technique. I eventually asked for hints of whats in the Suzie’s swine sauce, pineapple or pineapple juice? I see mustard seed so there may have been some form of pickling profile in there as well. Needless to say, I got no definites on whats in the sauce. She told me her husband crafted every sauce and many have tried to figure out and bargain to market. In particular, the sauce I like story is her husband placed a sample of the non classical sauce on her finger to taste and she thought it was AMAZING!!! There on out began the birth of Suzie’s swine sauce.
So, in the world of BBQ today needless to say I was extremely satisfied. Sauced versus dry rub? Today by a landslide Kansas City BBQ and sauces reigned supreme.

Ok, so. I am new to the area and I live near another bbq restaurant, that my son and I frequent often. However, one evening, I decided I wanted another bbq experience, so that I could make sure I wasn’t being ‘biased’. I came to Unilocal and looked specifically for restaurants serving Rib Tips. Hey, I’m from the Mid-​West, so waddaya want! I met the owner on the night I went, which was kewl, because I got a chance to tell him wat I was looking for and he was able to accommodate with such great one-​on-​one service that I was impressed. His sauces are to die for, though the meat left a little to be desired, It was palatable, don’t get me wrong, but not the flavor I was expecting. Maybe it’s the wood he uses. Either way, once I put the sauce on, it was better. The sides — beans, potato salad — were NOT edible to me, at all.
Would I go back? Maybe…
Decent overall experience, tho…

I have tried many BBQ places around town and this is by far the BEST. The brisket is smoky and juicy and it melts in your mouth. Gary makes several different kinds of BBQ sauces including a «slop» that is very runny but a perfect flavor to add to the pork or brisket to compliment the BBQ sauces. If you are lucky you may get to experience the White BBQ sauce.

I drove two hours to eat here, it’s that good. Seriously, come for BBQ. By the time you finish eating, you’ll be planning your next trip.

Best BBQ I’ve been able to find in Tampa. The brisket is is moist and delicious. He doesn’t slather his stuff in sauce because he doesn’t need to. The pork is also good, but it isn’t shredded/​pulled. Instead it is sort of chunked. It’s good, but making a sandwich is a little more challenging. The ribs… oh the ribs.
Seriously good bbq. Also a real nice guy. He chatted me up and let me taste some sauces he had just made while I waited for them to finish my order.
I’ve been here three times and I’ll continue to go back… no question.

This place has awesome barbeque and the home made sauces taste way better than anything from the grocery store. I recommend this place any day. Like they said he doesnt have all those trophies for nuthin.

Best BBQ in Tampa bar none. If it’s your 1^st time get the ultimate sampler so you can try a bit of everything. It’s enough to share if you are not starving and probably enough to share even if you are. The ribs are my favorite but the beef brisket is a close 2^nd. The sides aren’t too bad. The greens are good if you like greens and their vinegar sauce on the table goes great with the greens even though it’s for their pork. Potato salad is better than most and their beans are top notch as well. You won’t be disappointed with Cally’s.