Fuller’s Old Fashioned BBQ / Pembroke, NC

You know a barbecue sandwich is really bad when I stop eating after three bites.

I have now sampled sandwiches from over 120 different barbecue joints across the great state of North Carolina - literally Manteo to Murphy - and I have never had a sorrier excuse for a barbecue sandwich than what I experienced from Fuller’s Old Fashioned BBQ. I hesitate in even calling this barbecue. I honestly don’t know what the hell it was I bit into, so I will refrain from using the word “barbecue” when referencing this atrocity. 

The meat tasted off. I am assuming it was pork, but what part of a pig that was, I haven’t a clue. I have had turkey barbecue and I have had venison barbecue and this, this seemed dubious in origination and perhaps some combination of various mystery meats. But it was nothing like anything else I have ever sampled. The haggis I had in Scotland last year was tastier.

The chop was inconsistent. It had no idea if it wanted to be minced or cubed or shredded or run over by a car. It flopped out of the bun like it was trying to escape. There was a 1-inch cube sized chunk of blubbery fat that fell from the bread and then there was some kind of meat string thingy hanging out the back. 

The meat was tough. I’ve gnawed on more tender jerky.

The color was grey. No worry about pink meat here, that’s for damn sure. Since there’s no whiff of smoke, I’m assuming no wood was harmed in the making of this meat.

The slaw was sloppy. Again, the knife work was all over the place. No consistency in chop. Tiny piece here. Giant chunk there. And it was trying to escape the bun as well, probably embarrassed to be seen with that meat. And is that a hunk of cucumber in there?

The sandwich lacked flavor. No red pepper. No vinegar. No salt. It was absolutely lacking any of the flavor profile required to be considered a barbecue sandwich. Blah.

This sandwich has no redeeming value. So, no snarky closing quip. No cutesy quote. It was just bad. Really. Really. Really. Bad. 

1 / 10 - it gets a "1" and not a zero because the bun was fresh...

Fuller’s Old Fashioned BBQ

100 E 3rd Street

Pembroke, NC 28372