McCall’s Bar-B-Que & Seafood

This is the place where the people that live in Wayne County go. It’s the best BBQ in town. There’s a variety of food choices and it’s all very good. BBq, fried chicken, slaw, hush puppies the list goes on. And on Friday and Saturdays they have the most delicious seafood! The people are friendly and it’s very clean. This is an upstanding establishment you don’t want to miss.

Every time I have ever been here, the service has been wonderful and the food was tasty. A lot of the food on the buffet reminds me of my mother’s home cooked meals and it makes me extremely happy! Got to love some good olé southern comfort food!

Decided to come here based on a locals recommendation. Sometimes you make a great find, others no so much. I should preface this review by saying I despise buffets, seat yourself places and I’m really spoiled in Georgia with so many great BBQ places, so my standards are pretty high.
The good items we found on the buffet line were the pulled pork, and brisket. The salad bar area is not appetizing to look at but the chicken salad tasted better than it looked. The creamy potato soup was pretty good along with the bread selections. The desert, fruit and yogurt line had lots to choose from but way too many selections to have anything amazing. We went with the banana pudding, cherry cobbler and yogurt with fruit and granola, all okay
The not so good part of the buffet were all of the fried chicken items, the corn, pinto beans and Lima beans looked straight from the can, there were no baked beans at a BBQ place, no ribs either, the staff were friendly but there’s definitely a flaw in the system when they have servers in a self serve place. Seat yourself but hope you don’t choose a table that’s already occupied. That happened to us as we didn’t realize that silverware on the table meant occupied lol. Also, why have servers when all they do is get you drinks and refill them, then you’re obligated to tip when you pretty much did all the work anyways, so the cheap buffet price ends up being $ 12−13pp if you get anything other than water.
It wasn’t terrible but not that great either. I would not go out of my way to go here and now that I know it’s a buffet, def wouldn’t come again

Great down home cooking
Pot roast, ribs, fried chicken, shrimp, potato salad, coleslaw, steak and gravy — all simply delicious
Just don’t go during lunchtime– Long wait
Plenty of parking and seating
Deserts are amazing! Favorite restaurant in Goldsboro.

I’ve lived in eastern NC for about 3 years now and have acquired a lot of love for their BBQ. This spot is great to take family and friends that are new to the style. They have good food and every time I go back I find it a little better. Never a bad experience so far.

The buffet is always crowded, but plenty of choices. Pretty good fried chicken, and the pulled pork is the same as you’d expect from any of the other multitude of eastern-​NC BBQ places around the area. I would put the food and service just below Wilber’s which is just across highway 70. I do like the fact that they have drive through, especially since they aren’t far from our house. I did have issues with orders the last couple times I drove through, but the manager on duty made it right.

I visit North Carolina every year for thanksgiving, I will either pick something up from Here or a family member will already have some bbq waiting. The food is good and the service is nice. There are so many good bbq places down here and few have a lot of choices except for this place. There are many options and sizes. They have a drive thru window and a regular seating area.

The bbq is not as spicy and tasty than Wilbur’s BBQ, but has way better sides. Still yummy NC style BBQ though… And I’m obsessed with the Mac n cheese! Service is always fast and friendly no matter how packed it is.

I love their buffet, especially the pork bbq and bbq chicken. I love the dripping sauce of the bbq chicken on the pork bbq. The seafood, especially the crabs are always great. The vegetables and the salad bar are also very good. Always a family favorite for the buffet or take out.

Went to McCall’s on Sunday evening with a party of 22. The food was good and the buffet contained a variety of meat, seafood, and vegetable choices. The only thing that bothered me is how the restaurant handled my father-in-law’s meal. He is very fragile and only able to eat purred food. Since the menu didn’t contained any mashed food, we got him a small bowl of sweet potatoes from the buffet. Nevertheless, the restaurant charged him full price for an entire meal. They wouldn’t even give him the senior citizen discount because it wasn’t applicable to the buffet. Although the food was okay, I wouldn’t go back to the restaurant.
Suggestion: Don’t advertise a senior citizen discount, if it doesn’t apply to all menu items and buffet meal!

Hmmm… I’m on the fence with how to rate this. It’s not the best, but it’s a huge buffet. The BBQ was good, but there was black crap all over the bottom of the sauce container. That’s just gross. They should be cleaned and changed DAILY. I think it’s been months or years since its last cleaning. The veggies and the ribs were good too. The staff was friendly.

Across the road from Wilbur’s. Buffet with everything you can imagine. Everything good. Fried chicken livers. Barbecue is good but not as good as Wilbur’s. Fast friendly service. Butter beans. Salad bar. So much food for a reasonable price. But as with most buffets we ate to much.

No collards?! :/
We came in mid-​week and was looking forward to a buffet that included some seafood. Not much was offered though. All that was on the buffet line was popcorn shrimp. They did have a nice salad bar and their Mac and Cheese is really good.
Bills BBQ has got them beat for sure, but for the days that we want to stay in town McCalls will do :)

McCall’s customer service is horrible, plain & simple. Many times, when calling to place a take out order, our family has been hung up on, the take-​out staff is rude both on the telephone & in person. The take-​out often tastes like last night’s leftovers warmed up. When I moved to Goldsboro about 8 years ago their food was terrific, however over the last year or two both the service & food has become mediocre at best.

Thanks to a friendly debate with fellow Unilocaler Fred B. on the best Eastern NC BBQ, I decided to mimic his showdown and rate the cue myself. The showdown consists of testing and rating in order the best Eastern style BBQ via the «BBQ Alley» which is basically a stretch of Highway 70 that makes stops in Goldsboro, La Grange, and then New Bern. You could argue that this may be the best stretch in the state for BBQ. It has merit anyway.
Like Fred B. I bought a pound each of chopped BBQ at Adams in Goldsboro ($ 8.99), Wilber’s in Goldsboro ($ 9.35), McCalls in Goldsboro ($ 10.66), Ken’s Grill in La Grange ($ 7.50), and finally Moore’s in New Bern ($ 8). I will use this preface for each review. I did a review on each place like we typically do for Unilocal.Then to really make this a showdown, my parents and I tasted these BLINDLY by a number and ranked them. To really sell it, we each tested it twice blindly just to make sure we got the same ranking for our favorites. We did. So each place will have a normal review, and then our blind taste test ranking. We are super excited to do this.
Review:
McCalls isn’t a typical BBQ place in that is in sharp contrast to our other four we sampled from. It is actually a sit down family restaurant that has a super buffet. The buffet serves everything from fried chicken, BBQ chicken, fried seafood, and even frog legs. I love this buffet! They also have a drive through to do takeout. You can do a drive though take out or you can do the walk in takeout. I like how they separate this. Very organized.
It seems from the reviews that people think McCalls is the red headed step child of BBQ, particularly when compared to Wilber’s. I have never understood this as they are very similar. I actually like McCalls better. The BBQ is a tad finer than Wilber’s but clearly moister. The sauce is also zippier than Wilber’s and I like the bite on it better. The vinegar is the stronger taste and a tad tangy maybe. It doesn’t need any sauce or add ins.
Blind Test Smackdown:
Remember, we tasted all these blindfolded and ranked them after we tried them all. It is amazing what you pick when you can’t use the sense of sight. We agreed that all were excellent and this is a matter of taste preference and nothing more, as Fred B. mentioned. We would all eat the BBQ at each place without question again. It is a matter of what you like and when. This is how our blind test went in order of preference:
Me: Moores, McCalls, Kens, Adams, Wilber’s
Mom: McCalls, Wilber’s, Kens, Adams, Moores
Dad: Adams, Wilber’s, Ken’s McCall’s, Moores

There are not a lot of choices in Goldsboro, North Carolina. This is a place that my sister-​in-​law and brother had gone to so we gave it a try when we came into town to visit them.
The staff was great! Everyone was friendly and helpful.
The food, was alright. We opted for the buffet and I tried a little of everything. BBQ, catfish, hush puppies, etc. I wasn’t too impressed. It was ok for where we were. I also might have higher standards because I am from Texas and the BBQ is completely different in our neck of the woods. I’m also not a fan of buffets, so there’s that.
This is a good family restaurant though where everyone can come together and choose whatever they want because of the choices, so I will give them points for that. It’s what you’d expect from a small town.

Congratulations to this fine NC Eastern style BBQ restaurantion for the nice article in the Feb 2014 issue of Our State Magazine. Haven’t been able to get by since the first of the year, but I will soon.

I am basically astonished that anyone would give a negative review to McCall’s.
True, this is a LOCAL restaurant, primarily serving farmers, military, and weekly locals, but I am NONE of these, and have never had anything but top notch, friendly service.
Especially impressive given that this place is a BUFFET! Sure, you can order off the menu, but you’re really not meant to.
McCall’s offers BBQ done NC style, and done very well, indeed. Fried chicken is excellent too. If you can’t get past the idea of a buffet, go elsewhere. If you’re game for some fierce eating, then by all means enjoy. But be careful who you bring along, this place won’t cater to your high-​maintenance, would-​be food critic, ethically motivated vegan, or gluten-​free friends.
Southern food lovers will appreciate and enjoy.

Visiting from Columbus, Ahia. (Go Bucks).
Always enjoy southern cooking, McCalls didn’t disappoint. Staff very pleasant. brisket excellent smoke rings and all. Great veggies, all around a great deal. When you’re in Columbus try City BBQ, also available in the Queen City.

We stopped by here last night, because a family member had won a radio contest for a «Free Family Deal». Typically we stop by Wilbur’s, but I was looking forward to trying McCall’s barbeque. We had a few family members from out of town meet up there as a mid-​point on our way back from the beach.
The food was good, the barbecue had a great smoky flavor. The fried chicken was a little dry, but still had good crisp to it.
The bigger issue was the service. We were sat quickly and our server was attentive to our needs. However, when we showed her the letter we received describing the deal, she and the manager informed us the Family Deal was take out only (which was not stated on the deal) and could not be used for dine-​in purposes (also not stated). Because none of us live in Goldsboro and there were 2 parties meeting together, this didn’t exactly appeal to anyone as we couldn’t just take it back to one house to eat. We hoped they might accommodate by applying the retail value of the deal ($ 24) to our final bill (which would have been ~$ 65), but they were not willing to help. The manager’s reasoning was that «anyone who comes here regularly knows what the ‘family deal’ entails.»
My apologies for not being a constant customer, but I feel a small bit of leniency would have gone a long way in helping us to become one, as well as recommend to our friends that travel through there often.
I am confident Wilbur’s (across the street) has better quality barbecue and a much more accommodating staff, and would recommend going there anytime.