Mac’s Speed Shop

In town in a business trip and hosted a happy hour here for about 12 people. It has a great atmosphere and diverse clientele. Our server was Caroline and, even though the place was very busy, she was very attentive to our party for entire three hours we stayed and had good recommendations on the massive beer list. We only had apps and desserts but they were all really good (fried pickles were amazing). But how they went way above and beyond is that the next day, I realized I had forgotten to grab a copy of the receipt. I called as soon as they opened as my flight back home was in just a few hours. The manager helped me figure out my receipt and sent me a PDF copy right away, he was just so nice! He also remembered to tell me to have a safe flight and let him know if I needed anything else.
Really impressed with the level of hospitality and customer service. Would absolutely go back.

The St. Louis style ribs were not St. Louis style… they were burnt. A family of 3 orders a whole side of ribs and only 1 plate was brought out. Service was slow and no wet wipes were offered with our ribs. Will not go back.

Ordered catering from the other location and they told us the order was here. When we showed up here they told us that someone had already picked up the order. After realizing the other location lost our order this location made sure to do everything they could to fulfill the order. Within 10 minutes they had 10lbs of brisket and pulled pork ready to go, along with other sides. Couldn’t be happier with the outcome, food was great and service was awesome. Can’t wait to come back.

Rude hostess — she was very short with us when we got here. We requested a table outside and she rolled her eyes. Then she sat us and the waitress was rude as well — didn’t want to take our order and very short with us and the kids! Do not come if you want good service!!!’ Very disappointing

Just wow! Probably the best barbeque I’ve ever eaten. Love all of the sauce choices and the perfect level of smokiness in the meats. The hog wings, brisket, and ribs are all devine. The creamed corn is absolute heaven. Mac and cheese, onion rings, and green bean casserole were all great as well. The catfish and shrimp tacos were out of this world. Oh, and then there’s the beer selection… This is my new favorite restaurant in Charlotte. Our bartender, Allie (sp?) was also delightful. Will be back ASAP!

Service was great, food was just ok, my son’s route 66 burger was too salty, po’boy fish sandwich sounded great but the hoagie was mushy as was the fried fish, ribs were good, good flavor.

Good: wings are the best thing here and so many beers on tap. Best flavor sauce for smoked meat. Even the veg burger tasted very good which is very hard to get in smoke house.

Came here for the first time. Ordered a half slab with fries and baked beans for my sides. The fries I enjoyed, they were very well seasoned (not salty). The ribs definitely have an intense smoke flavor to them. At first I wasn’t too thrilled about the beans but when I reheated the next day they were more appealing to me. I also ordered a cup of chili and while they didn’t add the jalapeños I wasn’t too upset and did enjoy it. Very meaty, not sure what all was in it but I finished every bit of bit. I ordered a sweet tea but it wasn’t very sweet, but hey, who comes here for the sweet tea. I want to come back for try more of their menu, but I was surprised my how small the sitting area is. They have lots of high pub style tables with the low level seating along the walls of the restaurant. If you’re not a fan of pork I would suggest you ask what is in everything prior to ordering the beans, chili, collards.

This place completely fell off, the smoked chicken that I ordered was undercooked and it tasted like lighter fluid. So I gave it back and ordered pulled pork which didn’t taste good at all. The bowl of chili that I had was cold in temperature. I used to love the green bean casserole here, but even that doesn’t taste good anymore. The only good thing about this was that the server was really nice, and manager helpful too. It’s not there fault their cook was terrible so I still left a good tip.

The place was nice and food was pretty good. I had the the baby back rib appetizer but didn’t care for the spice rub that must have been used. My wife got the pulled pork and we ended up trading meals. The pulled pork was really good and she enjoyed the ribs. The Mac and Cheese that came with ribs was very good. The server was really good and service over all was good. Nothing was exceptional but everything was ok.

Old hickory rubby red logger! Best beer ever! Kansas city beef rib! #omg so good! Great place to hangout and watch the game and you can even have your dog outside!
All the desserts are good!
Wings are thick and sticky!

Really enjoyed our time eating dinner. Group of 5, it was a slower night at the restaurant but our server Amanda was great and provided excellent service. We had the deviled eggs as an appetizer along with the hush puppies that came out hot and fresh. Had the «little bit of everything» (ribs, brisket and pulled pork) along with the Mac and cheese/​cream of corn for our sides. All of the food was extremely tasty. The only semi negative would be the ribs were tough trying to take them off the bone, didn’t affect the taste. Really had a positive experience and would come back at the next opportunity

Best beer selection I’ve seen in the area. Prices are really great for what you get. I’ve been twice and loved both of my meals. I feel like this is the kind of place I’ll bring out of town visitors. Downside is limited parking.

So, as a through-​and-​through SoCal gal, I can tell you that barbecue in California is not the same as NC. I was visiting family for the week and we absolutely had to try the southern bbq cuisine that was so easily within our grasp.
Their Pulled Pork BBQ from the platters section was moist and delicious! They’re also not kidding about lightly tossed with their bbq sauce. The meat slightly seasoned, enough to the point where you can eat it super happily without any additional sauce, but light enough so that other sauces at the table could be used.
My two «side cars» included mac & cheese and regular french fries. The fries were so good, and a great salty, sharp contrast to the barbecued meat. Mac & cheese tasted like they were deliciously homemade! The creamy cheese flavor had a perfect salt balance. Sweet potato fries, while good, were a little on the soggy side.
The St. Louis Rib from the Combo Platter was (!)#$*#_​delicious!!! The meat fell right off bone and then apart in your mouth. It was perfectly coated with Red BBQ sauce, and had a deep smokey taste.
I’d definitely recommend the St. Louis Ribs with the mac & cheese side car. With those two options, you can’t go wrong. Forget the sweet potato fries as it’s nothing special (though I think they charge an extra $ 1). It’s a place that I’d go back to if I ever visited the area again!
Service was on point — fast and polite, though I did get a good chuckle out of some of the startled stares because of my Asian face. Ha… ha… Mac’s has a great sports bar atmosphere, but I felt a little confused with the sports bar, plus bbq, plus… racing/​motorcycling (??) theme. In any case, it seems like a great place to be to hang out with friends and family.

I have been here a number of times and have driven by a million times at least. They have a lot of awesome sounding live music outside. Speaking of which, their outside patio area very spacious, and really cool looking for it to be so simplified.
The inside atmosphere, to me, is more sports bar, rather than the «biker bar» type of places they kind of pretend to be. They do have a motorcycle body hanging from the ceiling and the flyers and decorations around the room are biker oriented, but really, it’s more sporty.
They have a lot of tvs and one of the factors that make them unique, or so I’m told, is that they play every NFL game.
Another positive is the beer variety. They have a HUGE selection to choose from and if you love trying new things like I do, you are bound to find some new beers to try on this list. Decision overload!
The food is tasty. I’ve had their salads, their burgers (including the vespa veggie burger), a fish sandwich, and their chili, as well as fries. I’ve found all of it to be pleasing. The prices are right on.
Negatives.
The type of people they draw in aren’t really my type of people. Lots of aggressive looking people in khakis, untucked button down shirts with the top button unbuttoned, and sandals, with well groomed hair cuts, resting asshole face with a gleam of smugness and mostly making aggressive, loud outbursts that makes their friends around them happy… especially the empty looking women who probably at one point in their lives pretended they were one of the women from Sex in the City and deep down think that their self-​worth depends on how well they can S.A.D. Basically, the types of cool guy frat boys who look really successful but also narcissistic, and the shallow, sheepish women type that everyone else in the world love (just not as much as they love themselves). I don’t though. Maybe I’m the asshole. A judgmental asshole. But most of us are so F.U.
This of course is not everyone there, but lots. Every time I’ve come here, it’s been lots. Regardless, not my atmosphere.
I’ve been bumped into a lot here as the inside is super crowded. Really REALLY crowded. The tables and chairs are packed in way too tightly. Even over the loud murmur of crowd noise you can somehow hear your neighbors conversations better than the person or people at your own table. I am not exaggerating this. The parking lot is worse. They should move to a larger location.
I swear that the last time I came here, that my waitress was high as hell for the second half of our little unfortunate adventure with her. For one she sucked. She was slow, and very aloof. We didn’t see her very long periods at a time. I even heard people at a nearby table (like 1 foot away) mention that she sucks too and so it wasn’t just me. After her disappearance, I was relieved to see her because, well, we were wondering if she was okay at this point. She was. She was more than okay, as she was clearly blazed, which explains her prolonged absence. We got our check and she brought back our receipts, but no my debit card. Her potheadedness must have rubbed off on me because I didn’t realize that she didn’t bring my card back until later that night.
Nothing wrong with that. I used to smoke the devil’s lettuce too, back in the day, but I also believe that weed amplifies the negative aspects of one’s personality and if she already was a crappy waitress then being high just made her ten times worse and she shouldn’t be trusted with people’s debit cards. :)
Overall, the atmosphere just isn’t for me. I tried coming here a few times thinking it would be a nice go-​to place for a beer and whatever, but I will pass this place up more often than decide to eat here. I give it an A-​Ok, but am not a fan (3 of 5 stars).

I am visiting family in Charlotte and since I’m from Northern VA I figured I’d try the BBQ. Mac’s was the closest place to where I was staying.
I got the Little Bit of Stuff Platter with the pulled pork, brisket, chicken, and ribs. Everything was great. Chicken was moist and delicious but my favorite was the brisket and ribs. They were very flavorful! I also got the mac and cheese and green bean casserole, those were both good but nothing I’d dream about.
Overall visit was good, service was OK. My rating is mostly based on the food.

Food was very good and came out quick. I’m not a fan of vinegar based bbq sauce but the one called red sauce was tangy and spicy so it was okay. Bbq beans were tasty and the pulled pork was tender. $ 4 for a 25 oz beer was a nice surprise. Hubby really enjoyed his side of chili with all the fixings.
We would definitely come back. Just a little noisy & lots of families with small children. Not a biker place…

I came to this location with my wife and two family members after accidentally typing the wrong address into my GPS (I was trying for the South Blvd. location.). The parking lot is a little cramped, even for the tiny car we took.
We were greeted and seated immediately and requested to sit outside, where there are a bunch of picnic tables. Our server was quick to get us waters and take our beverage order. There are lots of good beers on the menu, and most are $ 5 a pint. After placing our food order, we waited. And waited. And waited.
For a BBQ place, the wait is substantial. Eventually, an Eminem lookalike who was loudly rapping delivered our food (and some terrible rhymes), and everything looked good. One person in our group ordered a salad, and the server didn’t bring his dressing until she stopped by to ask if we needed boxes. She was pretty bad.
The food itself is mediocre. The mac and cheese was fine, and the pork BBQ was decent. The ribs were the best part of the meal.
Overall, I will not come back to this location. I might give the original location a try, but my expectations will be pretty low. If you want BBQ, there are much, much better places in town.

I’m picky about BBQ but this place is one of the best I’ve been to in a long time. This place has a «biker theme’ but you’re more likely to see middle aged businessmen than actual bikers here. The service is very friendly and they have an excellent beer selection. They even had a guy from a local brewery giving out samples of bourbon aged beer.
As for the food, the Tabasco fried pickles are about the best I’ve had anywhere. They’ve got a spicy flavor without being too heavily breaded. The pickle chips were thin and weren’t greasy at all, in fact we ended up ordering a second basket. As great as the pickles were, they beef rib was even better. The beef rib took up most of my plate and was something out of the old Flintstones cartoon. This thing was tender, well cooked, and I could barely finish all of it (and I was starving.) The green bean casserole and BBQ beans were both excellent as well but I was too full to eat too much of them. The Texas toast is pretty good as well but I was too stuffed to eat much of it. The sweet tea was worthy of ordering as well.
This place is a must try in Charlotte and I’ll be back here if I’m back in town.

So I’m a fan of the Mac’s South Blvd location (original) so I had high hopes coming into the Steel Creek location. Totally different feel… there’s an actual, «proper» parking lot, but it is definitely not the same.
Went on a work night with a couple buddies and dinner and had a good time. Started out with brews (which they do have a nice tap selection) and then ordered food. Seems like the portions were smaller here, but there was no shortage of friendliness with our server. Just a well oiled machine of cranking out BBQ.
Similar setup on the inside… large bar to the right and movable high top tables in the center. Oh yeah, this location had booths that flanked against the windows. I think South blvd only had a few booths.
Since it was January and cold, I didn’t see much of a patio, but it was partially covered (also where people were smoking). Not as big of a patio from the original location, but it is good to note that it has one.
I’d probably go back if I find myself in the area, but I’ll stick to my go-​to South Blvd location for now.