After sampling food from different local barbeque restaurants, members of the Variety Staff conclude that Dawg Gone Good BBQ and Pulaski Heights BBQ offer the best barbeque sandwiches in Athens.
Variety Staffer Isabella Westrich eats a pulled pork sandwich from the White Tiger restaurant. The Variety staff searched four Athens restaurants for the best barbeque in a quest for Athens’ best. Video by Kalli Samaltanos
Dawg Gone Good BBQ on West Hancock Avenue in Downtown Athens is pictured above. The restaurant’s smokey dining room contributed to its 8.8/10 dining experience. Photo by Chloe Sears
Dawg Gone Good BBQ
With truly delicious and flavorful barbeque, Dawg Gone Good BBQ on West Hancock Avenue is a hidden gem waiting to be found.
The restaurant features few delectable options for patrons, showing that quality takes precedence over quantity at this restaurant. Customers can order a pulled pork sandwich and a side of mac and cheese for just under $8, providing an affordable meal.
Dawg Gone Good BBQ has a variety of sauces for patrons who enjoy many different flavors, ranging from tangy to sweet. The pulled pork itself is flavorful, tender and cooked to perfection. The bun is fluffy and soft. While patrons may wish for a larger bun and more pork, the mac and cheese is warm and fulfilling which compensates for the smaller sandwich.
The restaurant’s affordable pricing and delicious barbeque items will leave diners wanting more. Those who want to grab a quick and delicious bite to eat in Downtown Athens can’t go wrong with Dawg Gone Good BBQ.
RATINGS:
Ingredients: 10, Portion size: 6, Location: 8, Price: 10, Sauces: 9, Mac and cheese: 10
Average: 8.8/10
Pulaski Heights BBQ, located on Pulaski Street, is pictured above. The restaurant provided a nostalgic dining experience and superb outdoor seating which created the atmosphere of a family cookout, landing it in second place with a score of 8.3/10. Photo by Chloe Sears
Pulaski Heights BBQ
With a homey feeling, Pulaski Heights BBQ provides a flavorful barbeque sandwich and a variety of tasty sauces, along with sides that add contrast to the rest of the meal.
The pork is delicious alone, as its variety of textures elevates the dish. However, due to the dryness of the bun the meat loses some of its original flavor. Pulaski Heights BBQ provides a simple solution seen in the four varieties of sauce offered: Korean style BBQ ssam, sweet tomato, Carolina gold mustard sauce and spicy vinegar, each containing their own twist.
The price of a pulled pork barbeque sandwich and two sides is $14.58. Although the meal is not as affordable as other restaurants, it presents a combination of flavors all ages can enjoy.
The sandwich is served on an open bun, encouraging diners to customize their food with add-ons such as the sweet homemade pickles and the large selection of sauces.
Overall, the menu offered at Pulaski Heights BBQ and with the classic taste of the barbeque helps bring the meal to the next level, resulting in an enjoyable barbeque sandwich.
RATINGS:
Ingredients: 9, Portion size: 8, Price: 7, Location: 7, Sauces: 9, Mac and cheese: 9
Average: 8.2/10
An infographic about regional barbeque styles is shown. From Memphis ribs to spicy Texas barbeque, America has a wide range of styles regarding this type of meat. Graphic by Kalli Samaltanos
Butt Hutt BBQ is shown on Macon Highway. The restaurant’s ordinary sandwich paired with its uninspired mac and cheese earned it the third place ranking with a score of 6.8. Photo by Chloe Sears
Butt Hutt BBQ
Butt Hutt BBQ, located on Macon Highway, provides customers with an underwhelming barbeque sandwich whose supporting elements are necessary for a desirable dining experience.
Butt Hutt BBQ’s barbeque sandwich provides patrons with an affordable yet somewhat unfulfilling meal. Although the barbeque within the sandwich itself is dry, it becomes much more palatable once combined with the tangy, but otherwise flavorless, sauce. The sandwich as a whole contains dry barbeque along with firm and dry bread, with the sauce necessary for a more juicy sandwich.
For the price of $6, the sandwich also doesn’t provide enough barbeque to fulfill customers. Although this is the case, available sides such as the mac and cheese add a larger variety of textures to the meal. As such, these sides are necessary for customers to have a more desirable meal. The mac and cheese helps provide a different taste to the meal, although it provides a texture that feels manufactured as opposed to that which feels homemade.
Overall, Butt Hutt BBQ’s barbeque sandwich may leave diners dissatisfied, but its sides and add-ons allow for a slightly more enjoyable dining experience.
RATINGS:
Ingredients: 6, Portion size: 7, Price: 7, Location: 7, Sauces: 6, Mac n’ cheese: 8
Average: 6.8
A map of the four Athenian pulled pork sandwiches sampled by the Variety staff is shown. As part of their evaluation, the Variety Staff considered seating options and atmosphere.
White Tiger on Hiawassee Avenue is shown. White Tiger’s friendly neighborhood atmosphere is enjoyable and adds to customers’ overall experience.
White Tiger
Smoky and flavorful, the pulled pork sandwich offered at White Tiger on Hiawassee Avenue is decently tasty.
However, its dry texture is slightly overpowering, making the sandwich harder to eat and taking away from the overall eating experience.
The sandwich itself is $8 with sides coming at an additional $2-4 each. An order of a barbeque sandwich provides customers with a bun and a generous serving of pulled pork, plus barbeque sauce.
Only one sauce is available, a vinegar-based option that adds to the flavor of the sandwich but fails to improve the texture of the pork. Mac and cheese is offered as a side, but it’s also disappointing, providing a bland combination of noodles and cheese sauce that doesn’t meld into a cohesive dish.
The friendly, neighborhood atmosphere is enjoyable and helps compensate for the comparatively lackluster pulled pork sandwich. However, those in it for the sandwich rather than the dining experience should look elsewhere.
RATINGS:
Ingredients: 7, Portion size: 9, Price: 7, Location: 6, Sauces: 6, Mac n’ cheese: 5
Average: 6.7
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