Tiff H.
Yelp
Not being in Athens often, I pounced at the chance to attend UGA graduation. This was on our way to Sanford Stadium, so we stopped here for a quick dinner, even though we were already running late. We were hesitant by the "Vegetarian" label on Yelp, since barbecue and vegetarian are contradictory words in my book, but we set that doubt aside and hoped for the best.
We drove past it trying to find street parking and we were shocked to find it a run down shack in what looked to be one of the less safe parts of Athens. Once again, we tried to shake off the weird feeling that this was not a good idea.
We were the second group of people in the restaurant, as they just opened at 6, and we arrived right at 6. We ordered at the front (non vegetarian meals, phew) and seated ourselves at one of the odd tables in the corner. There doesn't seem to be plentiful seating inside, although picnic benches are available outside, too.
After an hour and a half drive up to Athens, plus my hour to get to Duluth to meet a friend to carpool on a Friday afternoon, I had to visit the facilities. To get to the bathroom, you have to walk around the entire outside of the building to the back, which involves stepping down into some rough terrain, so I hope you weren't wearing heels like I was. The bathroom is definitely one of the dirtier bathrooms I've been in, but at least I had low expectations after the hike it took to get there.
The lady manning the register brought us our orders: my friend ordered a pimento bbq sandwich, while I ordered the pulled pork sandwich. Our food took a while, but we finally got it, and realized they were essentially the same thing, except my friend's had some extra cheese on top of the meat.
The pulled pork was tender and flavorful, nothing to complain about. The side of a cup of tomato basil soup wasn't bad either, although it seemed to be missing a key ingredient, which I couldn't pinpoint. It's also super classy to literally bring me a cup of soup in a styrofoam cup. The Mac and cheese also seemed to be missing some key ingredient, but it still satisfied my fatty carb craving. A note we both realized was they use a lot of pepper in everything they brought to us.
White Tiger's layout was very odd to me, with half the restaurant crowded by food storage and an unused glass display case, which could have been better utilized for seating. There was, of course, a stuffed white tiger in the corner of the restaurant.
Overall, the food was pretty good and cheap. While the experience left something to be desired, I can definitely say I've had much worse barbecue in my life.