Lori N.
Yelp
I love exploring local restaurants when I'm traveling. Not necessarily fancy schmancy places, just places with a local flavor and vibe. This place fits the bill. Located in historic downtown Kingman on Beale Street, it attracts a local crowd, along with tourists looking for local "Que".
The food itself, or at least the BBQ meats (pork ribs and beef brisket) we tried were probably more of a 3-star experience.
* Pork Ribs: If you're a fan of fall of the bone BBQ, then these pork ribs are for you. It was so smoked that you could even easily chew the tendons, which I did, and oddly enough enjoyed. Personally, I don't like my meat so tender that I can eat it with a fork, but I did really like the thoroughly smoked flavor that permeated the meat.
*. Beef Brisket: This came with an old fashioned hamburger bun so that you could assemble a sandwich. The bun was a little dry, but perfect if you made a sandwich and smeared it with BBQ sauce so that you could still hold it intact, and it wouldn't turn soggy. It too had a nicely immersed smoky tinge, but for me, it was dry without BBQ sauce.
Oddly, I enjoyed the sides more than the BBQ items themselves. The macaroni salad and mac n' cheese were really good. I'd pass on the cornbread.
If you like pork rinds, don't pass up on these! For $5.00, you get a massive platter of huge warm pieces of freshly fried pork rinds, made to order. The portions are really enough for a party of 10 people. No kidding. Just check out my photo. These were light, fresh and fantastic!! I'd just ask them to go lighter on the salt next time. These were absolutely the best fried pork rinds I've ever had! Even better than in the South, where freshly fried pork rinds are common at BBQ spots. I polished off the entire platter all by myself back in the car, and bought another one to go for a good friend, who I knew would enjoy trying them. As an aside, I've also had them at Bazaar Meat by Jose Andres in Las Vegas, but at a crazy high price for just a few measly pieces.
Speaking of sauce, they had a mild sauce, but no hot BBQ sauce option. Instead, they had Tabasco sauce. There was also a light vinegar sauce. I'm not a fan of vinegar-like BBQ. I've been to the famous Lexington BBQ restaurant in Lexington, North Carolina where vinegar reigns king. I've also been to numerous other Eastern and Lexington-style BBQ joints all over North Carolina. I figure if I didn't like it at all these spots, I wouldn't like it anywhere else, and I haven't.
The servers were really nice and came by periodically to check-in, even though it was an order at the counter type of restaurant.
The kitschy decor was also fun and befitting of historic Beale Street. A throwback in time with old soda machines and license plates from all over the U.S. It's a fun, clean and comfortable place to chow down on BBQ.
They also offered complimentary cold bottled water. You could freely take as much as you needed. Can you believe that? I've never ever been to a restaurant like that anywhere, and I'd just about faint if that were offered anywhere in San Francisco, where they easily charge $2.00 for bottled water at many restaurants. What a nice surprise!
There's also an attached pizza restaurant on the other side that I'd be up for trying another time. It had a real wood-burning oven, with a more updated ambiance. If I were passing through Kingman again, I'd easily make another stop into Floyd.