Uncle J’s BBQ & Restaurant

Normally, I’m the kind of person who will give a new place a few chances before making a decision on whether or no it’s a place I frequent on a regular basis. Unfortunately for this restaurant owner, it only took one visit and a parking lot conversation to get the permanently scratched off my list – and that’s something that will normally require multiple visits with poor service or bad food.
When I first went here, I went planning to order the rice balls which were highly recommended, but I’d had a hankering for a good old Italian sausage with sauce, peppers, and onions on a hard roll, so when I saw that on the menu, I jumped at the chance.
Now I should have taken notice that ordering Italian food in a «not Italian» restaurant is normally a pretty dicey thing to do, but what the heck, I was living dangerously.
Service was poor at best. Only two other tables with people in the entire place and it took me 10 minutes to get a menu and water. I placed my order for the sandwich I’d been yearning for with a side of fries and waited, and waited… another 10 – 15 minutes for the sandwich that was not of my dreams. The sandwich was served on more of a hoagie roll than an Italian hard roll. The sausage had absolutely no flavor. If it hadn’t been for the texture, I probably wouldn’t have thought I was eating meat at all. The sausage seemed to have been boiled rather than grilled as it should have been, and the peppers and the onions seemed the same, soggy, with no carmelization at all. So you take this very bland sausage and put it in a soft bun, cover with plenty of very mush onions and peppers, and for the piece de resistance, you add plain old stewed tomatoes instead of marinara sauce. Sooooo not going back for that sandwich again, I thought to myself as I ate a few cold fries, paid my check and left.
So after a few days, I was considering giving them one more chance by going back and actually ordering something they think they know how to prepare, that being BBQ. Not being a North Carolina native, I’m not as picky when it comes to BBQ so maybe they still have a shot, I thought. However, that night, I opted to visit the new local pizzeria.
While I was there thoroughly enjoying my meal, I watched as an older gentleman placed an order and hovered around the service area seemingly trying to memorize the menu board, prices, etc. When his order was ready he took the box and left. I finished up my meal a few minutes later and made my way to the door. When I stepped outside, the old guy was still in the parking lot. He looked as if he was waiting for a friend to come out, but in fact, he was looking for customers to poach.
He asked me if I liked the food there and when I said it was phenomenal, he told me that if I liked their food I should come to his place (and he called it by name) and get the best Italian lasanga that money could buy; said it would be far better than what I could get at this Italian place. (I wholeheartedly think not! Disagree with that statement from start to finish!)
So now I, 1) don’t like the food a this place, and 2) don’t like the ethics of the owner for trying to poach customers in the parking lot where he was scoping out the new local competition.
Given that you can get decent BBQ in a ton of places around here, and my comments in the paragraph above, I know for sure I won’t be going back to this place. But hey, if you want to exercise your teeth, gums, and jaws, with no reward for your palate or your pocketbook, you just go right ahead. I’ll meet you there… NOT!

We debated driving down to Gastonia to go out to dinner but being a Saturday night I’m not a fan of waiting in lines. I’m glad we didn’t. I was taken back by the lack of customers here. That can be cause for concern but for this place that wasn’t the case at all. The waitress was on point with hydration. The menu is simple and straightforward. I got the sampler plate with the rice ball. I never had a rice ball and to have Italian and real southern bbq on the same plate was pretty cool. The ribs and chicken both had a charcoal char on them. The pulled pork is cooked with a dry rub and plated naked so you can choose between their vinegar or their ketchup based bbq sauce. The ketchup based sauce is choice. The portion size is big and I couldve stopped eating after the amazing rice ball but when you have bbq this good staring you down you gotta do something about it. You can also get a bucket of beers, 6 beers for $ 12! Look forward to going back.

This is was my second time here first time was ok, but slow. This time I was not impressed, first off we had a coupon and two separate bills we were told that only one of the bills could use the coupon because it was only one coupon per table it did not state that on the coupon. Second the menu said Lasagna came with one side. We asked the waitress what side would she get with lasagna, said she didn’t know. We ordered with a side, later the waitress came out and told us that the lasagna did not come with a side, she ask if we would like the add the sides to our bill. No! Mind you none of this was her fault the owner is the one that informed her that the side that was listed on the menu did not go with the lasagna. The food came, they claim to have fresh, homemade pasta. It maybe homemade but it is not fresh. The lasagna nor the ravioli have meat, only cheese. However you can get a side of heavily sagged meatballs for two dollars more. The Marinara sauce is tomatoes and very under-​seasoned. This upsets me greatly because I would love for this restaurant to do good but it’s just not there.

Got there @ 7pm Monday, first time visit. Lady met me at door and apologizes that they are closed but hope to open on Mondays soon– very strange. 5 – 10 cars on lot, people inside dining, Unilocal says they are open…

We really like this new place in Kings Mountain! My husband and I went for lunch, got an Angus burger and pulled pork sandwich with fries and mac and cheese, and lots of Sun Drop! (yum!) Prices are good, you could tell the majority of the food is fresh. We want to come back for dinner to try their homemade pasta! We will definitely be back! Happy to have another REAL restaurant in KM and not just another fast food place! Oh & they will deliver locally for free! :)