Ole Time Barbecue

I’ve eaten a devil of a lot of NC style BBQ and fried chicken at a lot of places in lots of towns but this was hands down some of the best I’ve ever eaten. Come hungry cause you’re gonna want to eat your weight in que and chicken.
Pick up a bottle of sauce and hush puppy mix for home and enjoy a taste of their goodness at your place.

Came here expecting great BBQ after seeing 4 stars on Unilocal.I was fairly disappointed. I ordered the BBQ pork and BBQ chicken along with mash potatoes and onion rings. My mash potatoes were good but the onion rings were undercook and still had dough in them. The BBQ pork was very dry and mushy. The BBQ chicken was not good as well. I should have ordered the fried chicken instead. I felt the chicken was boiled then simply dumped into a tub of BBQ sauce then served to us. The best part of the meal was probably the hush puppies but it was likely due to the butter I dipped it into. Our waitress was also a disappointment. We were standing by the cash register and waited for about 3 minutes while she finished her conversation with one of her coworkers even though she saw us standing there. We were kind enough to wait for her but still, it was very unpleasant not knowing when she would cut her conversation short so we can pay.
Overall, I’ll unlikely come back here for anything other than the appetizers.

The food was just ok. Not terrible. Very nice people. I hate giving family restaurants low ratings. But we went there because of the ratings and it was a mistake. I’m sure it’s an awesome hangout for locals, but the food is lacking. Sorry!

Pretty average Bbq place. Bbq was just ok although their bottled hot sauce to put on it had good flavor. The Mac and cheese was good. Skip the boiled potatoes. Apple sticks are kind of like mini apple pies. Hush puppies were delicious, just a touch of onion.
Also tried the chicken pastry hoping it would be like my grandmas but it wasn’t quite. A lot of soup and very little pastry.
Waitress seriously lacked personality and never came back once to check on us or refill our drinks.

Amazing bbq and service! As a customer, you can’t ask for more. If you’re planning to go before lunch, you may want to look at going early before 12:00 p.m. If you decide to go anytime after that with a party of 4+, it would be best to do a take out. The seats are really limited but I think that’s what makes Old Time Barbecue so special.
The mac-​n-​cheese is delicious! It’s the perfect amount of cheese mixed with pasta shells. The hush puppies are amazing! Make sure to dip it in the butter and bbq hot sauce. The chopped pork goes perfectly with the bbq sauce.
A great and affordable place for quality bbq in Raleigh!

Not sure what people love about this place so much. This is a tiny mom and pop shop and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s one of those restaurants that seem to always have the best food. Unfortunately my meal was very mediocre. I had a chopped barbecue sandwich with baked beans and string beans. The sides had to be straight from a can. The sandwich was average. It tasted like something I’ve bought from a fast food restaurant for less money. The hush puppies were delicious though. The staff was attentive and friendly.

I went there decades ago and there were cockroaches all over the place. With a health score of 94 I bet there are still a few around the place.

This is a small family owned Restaurant. The service is very friendly and great. Kind of like going to your parents house and having your Mom cook for you. The BBQ is just awesome, some of the best I have ever had. If you are in the area come in and say hi and have some good Carolina BBQ.

My second time here, and I loved the food as much as I did the first time! The best BBQ Chicken, pulled pork and fried okra around.

Made it by here a couple days after they had
reopened. I’ve been here before and for some
reason I just like the atmosphere here. Down to
earth people, relaxed atmosphere and decent
food. It was the first time I have been able to sit
down inside, relax and just get to enjoy the place.
I ordered a bowl of Brunswick Stew and a
Barbecue Sandwich. While I was waiting they
brought out some Hush Puppies. It’s all stuff I’ve
had before here. I liked it then and I still like it now.
But it was nice to be able to finally not have to eat
my meal in a hotel room and just enjoy talking to
some good people in a place with a little character
and alot of atmosphere.
Raleigh is usually my last stop before heading
back home after a couple month long trip. Along
with some Barbecue, Brunswick Stew, Collards
and some of their house hot sauces to go.
I can’t think of a better place to do that.
And Morris agrees too. He always gets a whole
barbecue that night. And he eats every bit of it.

Stopped by to have a late lunch based on other reviews. We weren’t disappointed. The prices are very reasonable for serving sides.
Skip the baked beans… they seem to just be canned with no extras. The Cole slaw has pickles in it.
It was good. Service was great. The ladies working up front were very friendly.

Top Ten Best Barbeque Restaurants in the State of North Carolina is back in business and the food is somehow better or is it because we have done without while repairs were being made after a vehicle crashed into the restaurant? You be the judge.

Please open back up!!! Best southern sides I’ve found in Raleigh that’s not downtown in a fancy hundred year old building. If your like me and love finding quality «hole in the wall» style joints this place is for you. Collards, Brunswick stew, and slaw can’t be beat hands down. For my personal taste the chopped pork was a bit bland (just a bit not too extreme) with what seemed like just salt and pepper and no burnt ends but we all have our own personal taste. If wanna try bbq I threw some George’s sauce on and it was fantastic.
Also on a side note you gotta talk to the owner or manager whoever he was because he had me laughing within minutes of walking in. Who needs chain establishments when you have gems like this place?

First admission is that I’m a Union (as in US Civil War)-leaning Marylander, so my opinion about BBQ holds about as much weight as a rotted rubber band! To me the stars of the show were the sides and the free hush puppies that so many other reviewers remarked upon. The cabbage in particular was exceptional, though we were both disappointed to learn that they were OUT of mac and cheese. My gal is a mac and cheese connoisseur, after all!
As for the ‘Q, I must declare I found it pretty much «meh»! I’m really not a fan of minced bbq pork, even with the two choices of rather liquidy bbq sauce they have available at all of the tables. I simply didn’t find it particularly tasty, either in sandwich form or on its own. It was humorous to observe the service after reading other reviews. The lady at the counter remarked on numerous occasions about hoping to shut down early since it was New Year’s Eve (we were there around 4), and though she greeted locals/​regulars by name, she wasn’t exactly friendly with outsiders like us! That was no big deal, though, as she wasn’t really rude, and we have lots of such folks at old school restaurants in our neck o’ the woods!
Wish I’d be able to rave about our «North Carolina BBQ experience,» but alas I’d only rate it so-​so.

Ended up doing takeout and got the shredded pork and ribs. Soooo delicious. Had the collard greens and beans. Surprisingly I absolutely loved the collard greens. Others ate the hush puppies. Apparently they are to die for as they dipped them in butter containers as they ate them (like you dip drench fries in ketchup), but I wouldn’t know. Ribs had great flavor and the meat just fell off the bone. The shredded pork was in a vinegar based sauce, a BBQ style frequently found on this side of North Carolina.
Would recommend you try this place out if you haven’t yet!

Olé Time Barbecue has the charm of a roadside diner. The employees are all very polite, and I would absolutely love to fall in love with a place like this. Unfortunately, I couldn’t.
I appreciate the heck out of their hushpuppy baskets that come with every meal. Barbecue and hushpuppies are a natural pairing, and some barbecue places somehow go without this treasure. Hushpuppies do not count as one of your sides.
I once ordered a chicken and pork combination plate. Due to cook times that can span many hours, barbecue restaurants don’t cook most of their meat to order. It’s natural for a restaurant to precook their meats and to keep them in a steamer, but what happens when a chicken breast stays in the steamer for too long? The bones become incredibly brittle. Do you see how this can be a problem when they serve the chicken on top of the pork?
Olé Time Barbecue now serves the meats on different plates, but all I can remember is finding all of the bone shards in my pork. Yes, this is partially my fault for not asking for a separate plate, so I admit that I may be just as stupid as Olé Time.
Olé Time Barbecue’s sides are simply upsetting. To claim that they give half the effort of other barbecue restaurants would imply that they give any effort at all. The green beans seem to go straight from the can to your plate. The mac n cheese is Velveeta crap, not the delicious baked mac n cheese that you find at many other barbecue restaurants.
There are way too many good barbecue places for me to want to return to Olé Time Barbecue.

Really like this place. It’s tiny. They have counter seating and tables. Was able to sit right away at the counter. When I was there, the clientele was diverse — races, ages, students, ties and working man…
The food (Eastern style) was very good. Great puppies, very well cooked pork (although could be smokier) and good slaw. Collards were sloppy and subpar.

As a BBQ lover, I’m always looking for new BBQ places to indulge in. I’ve been driving by Olé Time BBQ for years without realizing it was actually a restaurant, let alone a really good BBQ joint. When you walk inside, you immediately get a family vibe and you can tell this is what they do for a living and love it. The place is very small and the seating is limited, but they do offer take out.
Immediately after we were sat, they brought us a basket of hush puppies. The hush puppies were freshly fried, just crisp enough on the outside and extremely warm and soft on inside. I really loved the consistency of them, and they did not taste «doughy» at all. I ordered the chopped pork and ¼ fried chicken combo with baked beans and cole slaw. The chopped pork was excellent, chopped to a very even consistency with just the right amount of eastern Carolina vinegar sauce to not over power the flavor of the meat. They do have a spicy and a sweeter BBQ sauce you can add to the pork as well, and both are packed with flavor and seasonings. I fell in love with the fried chicken. The coating was so crunchy and the chicken was so moist on the inside. It was definitely some of the best fried chicken I’ve had around the triangle. The coleslaw was also a great side item, and the black pepper seasoning on it really gave it that little extra bite. The baked beans were okay, nothing special. Overall, I really enjoyed my meal and for $ 10, it is a great value for BBQ and fried chicken.
I would highly recommend Olé Time Barbecue. Don’t be discouraged by the old diner look the place has. Inside, is BBQ goodness. I will definitely be back to try the ribs!

Every time I go to Olé Time Barbecue, I order a larger meal. I just can’t get enough of it! You seat yourself and before you have a chance to order anything, a fresh basket of hushpuppies is delivered to you. Immediately, I’m enamored.
Last fall, it was the Hand Chopped BBQ Pork Regular Plate for $ 7.99. You get two sides with most any meal, so mine was Hand chopped bbq pork plate with baked beans and green beans. A month or two ago, the Hand Chopped BBQ Pork Large Plate for $ 8.99. Yesterday, it was the BBQ Pork & Chicken (Fried) Combination dinner for $ 9.99. It’s made even better by the fact that it comes out within 10 minutes or less. They must be chopping that bbq and frying that chicken all day long!
One thing remains constant: I always order sweet tea. And I think I’ve always ordered the same sides. These last two visits, I haven’t been able to finish my meal, but it’s delicious for leftovers. I’d kind of like to try their breakfast.
They’re open from 6am to 8 or 9pm most days. This is a classic southern diner off the beaten path between the NC State Fairgrounds and Cary. Service is delivered with a smile and a southern accent with many regulars popping in.

Items selected:
Chicken Pastry
Hush Puppies
Chopped Pork, Fried Chicken, Mac & Cheese, Coleslaw
Banana Pudding
Taking a ‘cue break to visit a few museums and stores in downtown Raleigh it was back to the plan that we leapt, and finally finding Olé Time Barbecue open after several down days due to the weather it was just after 5:15 that we stood outside the window watching the lone chef chop, chop, and chop some more pork before heading inside where an overhead stereo played an eclectic blend of classic rock and expected country while service offered Southern-​charm at its best.
Every bit as rustic as the exterior would have one guess, yet at the same time virtually spotless without a speck of dirt to be seen amidst the various knick-​knacks dotting the décor, it was mere moments after taking a seat that the restaurant’s lone waitress dropped off menus and with water glasses soon filled it was before an order was even placed that a big basket of golden hushpuppies arrived, each oblong nugget pillowy soft and delicious on its own, but even better with some fiery Olé Time Hot Sauce.
At this point having already dined on chopped swine alongside fried chicken twice that day, and still with one more meal to go, it was a foregone conclusion that a shared combination plate would constitute the bulk of our order and offered the option of eating ‘right away’ or waiting for the next batch to be fresh chopped the answer was obvious, a bowl of dumplings in rich gravy entitled ‘chicken pasty’ enjoyed as we waited, along with the rest of the fried dough.
At this point enjoying the interplay between waitress and no less than a dozen regulars who stopped in to procure ‘cue to-​go on their way home it was perhaps twenty minutes before our entrée arrived and with the pork absolutely steaming with light notes of acidity juxtaposing briny bits of skin it can only be said the chicken was even better, a robust crunch overlying each juicy bite while sides of macaroni and sweet slaw were no less impressive, the former particularly impressive with al dente noodles far more impressive than those at competing houses of Carolina-​style ‘cue.
Unquestionably impressed by savories it was to a limited selection of sweets that the meal would conclude, and told that the Banana Pudding was «nothing fancy, just real good’ a small Styrofoam bowl was delivered straight from refrigerator mere minutes later; the composition of homemade pudding, overripe bananas, and soggy ‘Nilla wafers without any unnecessary whipped cream instantly proving our server’s words to be true.