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| - Macs has proven to be one of my tougher reviews. There's a lot to like about it and a bit to not like about it. My mixed experience there makes for quite a mixed review.
The miss' and I went for dinner on a Saturday night at 6:00pm. It was not busy and we were greeted and sat immediately. The waitress came over soon after and asked what we wanted to drink, but there were no beer lists on the table, so we had to wait for her to find some and bring them over. Why there just wasn't one on each table is beyond me. Anywho, once I had the beer list in my hands I was blown away. I would guestimate that Mac's keeps over 100 different beers on hand, be they draft, bottle or can. The vast selection of beer was definitely a huge plus and something that would definitely bring me back.
After taking our orders the waitress dropped off the complimentary hush puppies. They were pretty darn good...firm, sweet, and not too doughy. For an appetizer we split an order of a half dozen wings ($4.50) in honey BBQ sauce. The wings are grilled, not fried, and having that smokey, char taste and texture to them worked wonders in my mouth. I fell in love with these meaty wings and I would highly recommend them as a nice, light appetizer.
Then came the dinners. The miss' went with the beer can chicken ($9.00) and it was very good. The chicken was juicy and not dried out...simple yet very effective. Being a BBQ fanatic I wanted to try as many of their things as I could to see what they did best, so I ordered the "A Little Bit of It All" combo platter. It's a custom platter where you select four meats and two sides. I went with the smoked turkey, ribs, brisket and sausage. Right off the bat I have to say that the ribs and brisket were cold like they had been sitting on a counter for quite some time. This was a huge turn-off for me, particularly with the brisket. The brisket was a nice, juicy cut of meat and was mighty tender, but I think the low temperature made it tougher than it normally would have been. Also, cold meat tastes a lot different than hot meat so that was another strike against the brisket. The ribs were also not piping hot when receiving them, but they turned out better than the brisket. They were fall off the bone tender but had quite a bit of meat on them, and it tore off in nice, satisfying hunks.
The sausage was not what I expected. I'm pretty sure it was a beef sausage as opposed to the pork sausage I'm used to getting at BBQ joints. Also, it was a leaner sausage than I was used to, so it was a strong beefy, tough, dry bit of meat. This wasn't a bad thing though, as it was also crisp and spicy, and all these things together made for a pretty good sausage. Then came the smoked turkey. This thing knocked my socks off! I didn't know what to expect...part of me kind of thought it would be just slices of turkey breast that were smoked, while the other part hoped for something more. It did indeed end up being something more, and I never thought I would say this but the turkey was the best meat at this BBQ joint. It was indeed smoked but it's shredded/pulled and has just a bit of sauce on it. It's simple yet delectable, and it was one heck of a moist smoked meat (no nasty dry white meat turkey). It kind of reminded me of those giant awesome turkey legs you get at Disney World and other fairs/ events. It was totally awesome and by far the best turkey I have ever eaten out (and probably better than the turkey I had at Thanksgiving, but don't tell my mom that.)
Next thing to talk about are the sides. My wife and I both had the mac & cheese and we were both disappointed with it. The mac portion was slimy and super soft like it was cooked for hours in the boiling water. The cheese part was practically non-existent as there was very little flavor to it. My other side choice was the potato salad which not bad yet nothing amazing.
The last thing I need to talk about is the BBQ sauce. I'm from New York, so the BBQ sauce I am used to is thick and sweet. Now I'm not bashing Carolina BBQ, but I am just not a fan (yet) of the watery vinegar-based sauces with a bite that are down here. I'm 110% certain that over time I will acquire a taste for them and will eventually be poo-pooing the overly sweet, rich sauces but I just couldn't help thinking how different the food would have been with a thicker sauce on it.
So Mac's does some things good. An awesome beer selection, great smoked turkey and grilled wings, and decent ribs and brisket (though best brisket so far still goes to Lancasters.) I didn't mind the "biker bar" type theme, but I didn't go there for it either. I was a bit disappointed with the cold food, side choices and the sauce. Would I come back? Yes I would, but only after I have tried several other BBQ joints in the area first.
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