Whispering Pines B-B-Q

This restaurant has the worse customer service and attitude that I have ever seen! We walked in excited to maybe have found a good little bbq restaurant and the waitress came over like we were bothering her! She couldn’t wait to get back texting on her cellphone. And the main reason for this review is the food. The coleslaw is horrible it’s ketchup and vinegar mixed together that’s what it taste like. Yuck! And mushy cabbage. The hush puppies were hard and the bbq was not even fit to eat. We couldn’t eat nothing! And our waitress never came over asking do u need refills or how’s the food? (garbage) i wouldn’t eat here again if someone was going to buy my food. And I have already let a lot of people know don’t waste your time on this place. And after going there we have heard from a few people the same thing that the food is horrible! Go home and grill out you will be more satisfied then this so called bbq!

You’ve got two choices for Q meat in Albemarle, and this place is the classic. As you pull up to the parking lot, there are some good signs: first, they are not ashamed of putting a pig on their signage. Second, there’s a pile of seasoned hickory leaning against the side of the building.
The interior: it’s a q joint. Formica. Stainless steel. Cracked terra cotta set in concrete. Laminated menus. Family-​friendly and plenty of locals at the counter or in what you have to assume is a favorite booth.
The barbecue (and I should qualify– Eastern-​style NC barbecue) is great here. Subtle wood smoke on pork. The sliced plate has a ton of good smoky bark to it, not too dry. The sides were a great pile of red slaw and fries. The eastern-​style sauce was a tad salty, but the park didn’t need it. The kids both got sandwiches with chopped on top, and were as happy as they could be.
Bonus: the pitmaster was taking off meat while we were there, and invited me and the boys to see the pits and to see how the wood becomes coals and how the smoke hits the meat. Quite the treat.
It’s a great choice, and won’t disappoint the barbecue purist. If you’re in Stanly County, and hungry for Q, this is a great choice.

Avoid. I first came here probably 15 years ago with a good buddy from the area, and I thought it was good. However, every visit in the past 5 years has been below par, and each visit it gets a bit worse. Our latest experience reflects a lot of what other folks have reported. The staff isn’t very attentive (glad to know I’m not the only one that had to go pour my own tea refill), and the Q is dry (the «chopped») or stringy (the «sliced»). I had to go ask for knifes, and got handed a couple of plastic knives. There’s a fine line between an interior being «old school» and «run down», and I’m afraid WP falls more on the latter side. Whether you like the dip or the slaw, that’s a matter of personal taste, but in general the sides were not good. My onion rings looked like rejects that had been in the fryer too long, and the hush puppies were hard and barely warm. None of my family finished their plate, and everyone felt ill on leaving. I’ve been all around the state eating BBQ, and this was one of the worst experiences.

I have been eating at The Pines since I can remember. There have been a few times when the Q was not so good, but there are a lot of variables involved. I much prefer it to Log Cabin’s gas-​cooked version by a large margin.
The Pines also has the best tea in town. Thumbs up.

It’s too bad that this quirky looking mid-​century diner is home to such abysmal barbecue.
Neither eastern nor Lexington style, the smokeless, old oily-​tasting, stringy, overly-​dry chop is barely covered in the strangest (and awful-​est) excuse for slaw I’ve ever had. It was a Lexington style red slaw but had green peppers in it. Somehow it tasted of sour pickles. Yuck. The hush puppies were either frozen or old and reheated. Or maybe all of the above. The sweet tea was reminiscent of stale coffee and ashtray.
Perhaps Whispering Pines was once run by someone passionate about great NC barbecue, but those days are long gone. Sad.
Instead go to Log Cabin; we tried their barbecue earlier today and it was simply fantastic. We left Whispering Pines and went back there for some takeout for dinner.

When you walk in to Whispering Pines B-​B-​Q, it’s as if you’re stepping in to a time warp. This is the kind of place that locals frequent and have been frequenting since the 1940s. Wood panel walls, old school booths, and a diner-​style bar make up the interior of this establishment. They cook their BBQ Lexington-​style (predominantly the whole shoulder) over a built-​in brick pit using a combination of oak and hickory wood.
Now on to the food… I came to a BBQ place, so I’m ordering BBQ. I decided on the chopped BBQ plate with onion rings and slaw, with sweet tea to drink. The pork BBQ was quite excellent. It was moist enough without being soggy, it possessed good flavor, and it had small pieces of bark sprinkled throughout.
They do offer a dip at each table. It is a little different from the traditional Lexington-​style BBQ dip in that there is a different predominant flavor. I’m not sure if it’s chili powder, hot sauce, or what. It works well with the BBQ, but it doesn’t take much. The dip is potent stuff!
Now on to the slaw — the slaw seems to be a point of contention among reviewers on here. However, I found it to be very flavorful. The slaw is a coarse-​chopped slaw that uses their house dip as the dressing. It gives it that same spicy, tangy characteristic that the dip has. As for the onion rings… meh, really wasn’t that impressed with them. Take it or leave it.
The price point is very reasonable — the chopped BBQ plate was $ 7.55, with the sweet tea adding an additional $ 1.30 to my bill. Service was nothing spectacular, but it was nothing terrible. They largely stayed out of my way and kept my tea refilled — not much else to ask for there.
To me, this was worth the 45 minute drive from Charlotte.

THE FOOD:
I ordered the sliced pork bbq with onion rings and a drink. The pork came out quickly, but was not sliced, rather it was pulled. Which is fine, but I’d rather they were honest in their descriptions.
The pork had no bark and I wouldn’t have even known it was smoked if it wasn’t for the smoke ring. There was no rub at all and it had very little flavor. Their only sauce was a typical Carolina vinegar sauce, with no choice for those of us that prefer a tomato based sauce.
The onion rings are minced onions, much like Burger Kings… they were just OK.
OHHH yah, one more thing, how is it that this place can call themselves a BBQ place if they don’t offer any ribs or any type of beef (brisket, etc)? Yep, only pork.
SERVICE:
Service was pretty bad. Waitress’ first words were «What do you want?» when we sat down. I had only looked at the menu for about 10seconds, so needless to say, I wasn’t ready. I started to say «Can I get a minute?» but didn’t even get it out before the waitress was walking away saying «I’ll come back…» fast forward 10 minutes and I was finally able to flag her down.
Paying was no better. I put the receipt down by the register and the same waitress didn’t say a word when I handed her my credit card. The receipt printed and I signed it (leaving a 20% tip, as I was on business and feel the need to tip). She never said a word to me.
I will never eat here again.

Whispering Pines has been around for decades. It is a small restaurant and literally sits just a few feet out of Hwy 52N, heading out of Albemarle. The menu has options other than Bar-​B-​Q, but that’s all I ever order. Not ordering Bar-​B-​Q here is like ordering chicken at a steak house. I stop here about once every 2 or 3 months, so I guess I am just a semi-​regular. Orders are taken immediately, and food is delivered lightening fast. No fast food restaurant serves as quickly as WP.
The Bar-​B-​Q is pretty good. I believe wood is still used to cook the pork, and it does have a good flavor. For me, the meat is chopped much too fine, and it is dry. I prefer a little bark in my Q. The house sauce is unique, but I just cannot learn to love it. The slaw is unique too. It’s a course chopped red slaw with larger than normal pieces of tomato and pickle. I have learned to like the slaw, but it had to grow on me.
The waitresses work hard, and I have never seen a group move as quickly, except for one waitress. There is an older woman, with long stringy hair, that has been rude and arrogant to me on more than one occasion. She will come up to me to take my order and just look at me — no «hello», «make I take your order», nothing — just stares. In all the years that I have been coming to WP, she has never refilled a beverage glass. Another waitress would have to do it. These waitresses work as a team, and all tips go into a common tip jar. I tip very well, but this is one waitress that I would like to stiff! Her «attitude» has sometimes led me to dine at the Log Cabin down the road, instead of here.

Avoid the red slaw even though the staff recommends it!!! If you can’t resist trying it, ask the waitress for a spoon full first. That will be enough to discourage you. It’s not sour, it’s nasty tasting. Other than that, the place is average. The fries were soft, even though I asked for them crispy. The shredded pork was fine. The booths are small, the aisles narrow. I drove by Log Cabin BBQ on the way to WP BBQ. Log Cabin was very busy, not so at Whispering Pines. Also CASH ONLY.

Excellent BBQ. Typical BBQ restaurant for the south. Booths, sweet tea, and great food. Always busy when open so don’t be upset when you show up and there aren’t any tables. Or, get your’s to-​go.
Also, check out Log Cabin up the road. Both places are great.

Pretty good, old school, pork barbecue. Mostly locals. Weird slaw.

This «sister» restaurant to Log Cabin Barbecue back down the road serves some pretty good BBQ also. This place, which opened in 1945, is kind of frozen in time, in the way it looks, conducts business, and the pork BBQ it serves — pork still cook by wood. This is a small place, a few stools at a counter, and 6 or 8 booths — all a little worn and dated.
They still provide curb service with real people coming out to take your order, and the inside has not changed in the 30+ years I’ve been coming here. The BBQ is hand chopped, tender & moist, with bits of the outside brown skin mixed in, a little on the salty side, and it is well sauced coming from the kitchen. The sauce, like that up the street, carries some heat., much more Eastern style than Lexington.
The slaw is a very coarse chopped red BBQ slaw, with bits of green pepper in it, and it goes well on a sandwich, in particular. The hush puppies are nice, with a crusty exterior — the fries just ok. The hot dog here is good, but not great. The BBQ chicken is excellent, with some nice spice. The portion here are more than ample, so you get your money’s worth. The tea here is also good, not too sweet.
I enjoy the food here, there is both taste and value here, but all in all, this is just a notch or so below the place up the street.

BBQ as good as it gets! Whispering Pines BBQ is Heaven on earth! Everyone MUST try!

Just as good as any Lexington BBQ. Wood fired pit que.

Whispering Pines carries a huge reputation in North Carolina barbecue. They are often mentioned in the same breath as venerable Lexington establishments.
They cook shoulders in the Lexington tradition, except that I find their dip (sauce) is a little more spicy. The meat is well penetrated with a delicate smoke flavor. The locals usually eat it on a plain sandwich bun with red slaw on top. Plates come with generous portions and trays are a little more modest.
The restaurant itself is old and has been added onto over the years. I’ll admit that I’ve had takeout here far more than I’ve eaten inside. They do a pretty busy drive-​up business.
I also find their barbecue to be very similar to Log Cabin, which is just down the road. Maybe I don’t have a well refined Western-​style barbecue pallet. But to me they are almost indistinguishable.

With typical diner interior, this place offer Southern Style BBQ that’s cooked with wood fire instead of gas or electric. If you go around the back, there are piles and piles of wood.
It tasted good but felt little too dry.
«Chopped BBQ tray» is still satisfying with smaller portion.
Price? Very reasonable. Very.