Bacon Bro's Public House

Bacon Bro's Public House is a new restaurant on Pelham Rd near the 85 exit. I've heard great things from others, so for my birthday, we decided to go check 'em out. 

The first thing I noticed when we walked up was that it was in a strip mall. Now, there's nothing wrong with any restaurant in a strip mall, but as you can see by the picture, the look and feel they're trying to go for is NOT strip mall. They're going for the more upscale dinning experience. The paint, wood work, and other decor gave it a nice dim atmosphere for a good sit down dinner with my wife. I had to go to the restroom, and once you walk in you immediately notice that it looks like a whole in the wall bar's. The paint is all there, and the door on the stall is still standing, but it's the very cheap plastic wall and door divider that looks like it should have written on it "for a good time call ...". Does the bathroom really matter in the scheme of things? Maybe not, it just wasn't very appealing for the atmosphere they're shooting for here. 

While we're waiting, I go up to the bar and grab a glass of wine for the wifey, and I shoot for a Jack and Dr. Pepper. I get the bill and it's $14. That's a little on the pricey side, but again, it's a nicer place so it's expected. Once I receive our drinks, I was not thrilled with the portion size to price ratio. 

We got their around 6, and was told there was a 30-35 minute wait ... ok, no problem. While we were waiting, I noticed a table right in the middle of the dinning area empty. At no point was it ever dirty, so it obviously hadn't been used in a while. There were 2 separate times while we were waiting that there were 3 empty tables in the dinning area. A table would leave, be cleaned, and then left empty for (what seemed to be) no less than 5 minutes before someone was sat down. 

Bacon Bro's also has 4 tables our on the front walk way. They were all empty when we got their, but we wanted to eat in, so we passed on those. Two other couples/parties came shortly after us and sat outside. About halfway through our wait, a couple walked in and once the hostess told them the wait time, they asked to sit outside (2 empty tables left). The hostess looked at the customer and said "oh absolutely, there's a 5 minute wait." Remember, these tables are EMPTY. Approxamity 2-3 minutes later, another couple walks up with the same request. The hostess tells that couple that sure they can sit out there, but now it had a "10 minute wait." 

It wasn't all doom and gloom. Once we sat down we had great service. Our waitress was extremely nice and polite, and quickly let me know that they were out of the Chicken Fried Pork Chops that I originally ordered. At 6:30 on a Friday, they were out of a menu item and she didn't even hesitate when I ordered them either, so that gave me the impression they didn't just run out. 

Ok, anyway, places run out of items all the time. I then turn my eyes to the ribs. Dawn gives me a hard time that I'm too picky about places ribs and that I should stop ordering them, but I was trying to find something quick since the waitress was there and it was a safe bet at this point. So, I look over and 1/2 rack of ribs is $12 or a full rack for $21. I settled for the 1/2 rack since we were splitting an order of fries ... you see, no entree comes with a side, so a side of fries was $3 extra. 

If there's one thing that burns me, it's when a restaurants menu says one thing, but you receive another. A full rack of ribs has 12 bones. Therefore, if someone was to get half of that ... they'd receive 6 bones, right? Bacon Bro's 1/2 rack of ribs is 4 ... 1,2,3,4 bones. Their ribs are at least Spare's so you get some meat with the bones, but it's not a 1/2 rack. If you're going to quarter them or third them, then say 1/3 or 1/4 on your menu. Don't say it's a 1/2 rack of ribs and then bring me out barely enough to taste. If 4 bones cost $12, I would have hated to see how much/little you get for $21.

With all that said, these were some of the better ribs I've in Greenville. The top piece you see was one of the ends so it was a little extra crispy, but that's no biggie. The flavor and texture of these ribs were spot on. When you bite into the rib it doesn't completely fall apart in your hands like some restaurants do. There's a nice pull with great tenderness. I don't know if the ribs tasting so great made up for the missing bones, or pissed me off more because I didn't have as many to eat. 

Dawn had a much better experience than I did. She got the Jerk Chicken Sausage, and really enjoyed it. I think the spice of the dish lit her rear on fire a little, but she still really liked it. 

Although I had a delicious HOME-MADE German Chocolate Cake at home, the Turtle Bacon Brownie caught my eye. The piece we got was an edge piece, which is usually my favorite because you get that good crunch. This piece was a little extra extra crunchy ... as in it was inedible. The rest of the brownie was AMAZING!!!!!

The prices weren't horrible. It was about where we were expecting before we went in (minus my $3 a bone ribs). I don't see them changing the size of their adult beverage glasses, so if you're looking to get your moneys worth you may want to stick to the beer. The rest of the "issues" I had I really think will be fixed if they realize they have an opportunity here and move to a stand alone building. This could have been their first stop and a cheaper way to get started and get their feet wet to see if they were on to something, and if so, that's understandable. Maybe they are a strip mall type business, and I should have held them to that standard, but judging by their appearance, they want to be a higher end restaurant than that so that's how I treated them. 

Although we didn't have the best time ever, I can see us returning. The food definitely saved them from the pits of hell. If I had to rank the experience without the food, it would have been about a 1 pig, but the food was the saving grace.