Lancaster’s Bar-B-Que – Huntersville, NC

July 25, 2022July 24, 2022 / Barbecue Bros / 2 Comments

Name: Lancaster’s Bar-B-Que
Date: 7/14/22
Address: 9230 Beatties Ford Rd, Huntersville, NC 28078
Order: Eastern style BBQ pork and sliced brisket with slaw, Brunswick stew and hush puppies (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: My Charlotte revisit continues this week with Lancaster’s Bar-B-Que in Huntersville. Lancaster’s first location is 20 miles away in Mooresville (aka “Race City USA”) where the original was opened in 1986 but before being moved to the current location in 1992. This Huntersville location opened in 2006 in the historic Puckett’s Gas Station & General Store. With the original location having opened in 1986, I believe that makes it one of the oldest barbecue restaurants in the Charlotte area along with Bubba’s Barbecue which also opened in 1986 in the old Bill Spoon’s Barbecue location before moving to its current location on Sunset Road.

I made my first visit back since 2014, and it appears they toned down the NASCAR decor as part of a 2014 facelift some time after my visit.

As for the barbecue, it was lean, not smoky, and coarsely chopped. It had some pepper flakes but no vinegar unless you add in the vinegar pepper table sauce. Does that make it eastern style as they advertise? They certainly don’t smoke a whole hog and they cook on a gasser with added wood according to my trusty NC BBQ Map (RIP EDIA Maps, the maker of it) .

I did order a second meat on this day and since fried chicken would have taken 30 minutes to fry (per the waitress), I bravely tried their brisket. It came out thinly sliced, finished on the grill, and doused in a sweet sauce. No bueno.

The hush puppies came in a manageable number in small cardboard tray and was easily the best part of the meal. The Brunswick stew was tasty although I have a hankering that veggies were frozen. The mustard slaw was reminiscent of Bill Spoon’s Barbecue.

I should also mention that Lancaster’s had some controversy in 2018 when they were sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) because of alleged racial discrimination against a former employee. That employee worked at the Mooresville location but I haven’t found any resolution to that case in my research.

So where does that leave Lancaster’s Bar-B-Que? The rest of the menu is very much a Southern food restaurant with wings, burgers, fish camp fare like fried fish and shrimp, and on that criteria perhaps its more successful. In terms of barbecue, between its lackluster cue and potentially problematic workplace issues you can continue to look elsewhere.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 2.5 hogs
Brisket – 1.5 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 2 Hogs

Lancaster’s Bar-B-Que – Mooresville, NC

August 22, 2014August 22, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Name: Lancaster’s BBQ
Date: 7/12/14
Address: 515 Rinehardt Rd, Mooresville, NC 28115
Order: BBQ tray with bbq slaw and Sweetwater 420 (link to menu)
Price: ~$13

In my review of the Lancaster’s BBQ in Huntersville, I ended by saying I wouldn’t be rushing to the Mooresville location any time soon. Well as it turns out, less than 4 months later I just so happened to find myself there. But not because I necessarily sought it out.

Right before I came here, I tried the sub par barbecue at Carolina Ribs on the Run after I dropped my wife off at a baby shower in town. After I left, I still had a little more time to kill and was so disappointed with my previous meal that I decided to stop by Lancaster’s BBQ to try and salvage my lunch that day. But mainly because I knew they had beer and that sounded good at the moment.

Seeing as how I had already tried the Huntersville location, I knew more or less what to expect. And Mooresville basically matched up to that, though I did rate the pork a little higher this time around. But I suspect that may be due to having it directly after the bland meal at Carolina Ribs on the Run (ok, I’ll stop piling on starting…now). At least this pork had some smoke and spice. It still wasn’t great.

The slaw was the same mustard/mayo slaw as the other location. I was already pretty full so no hush puppies for me, which was too bad because they were the best part of my meal at the other location.

In terms of decor, the Mooresville location takes the NASCAR theme and cranks it to 11 (after all, Mooresville is the “Official Stock Car Capital of the World”). And they have a bus in the middle of the restaurant in which diners can sit in. So there’s that. Unfortunately, the barbecue is still pretty average.

–Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 2.5 hogs
Pork – 3 hogs
Sides – 2.5 hogs
Overall – 2.5 hogs

Lancaster’s BBQ – Huntersville, NC

March 24, 2014July 24, 2022 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Name: Lancaster’s BBQ
Date: 3/21/14
Address: 9230 Beatties Ford Rd, Huntersville, NC 28078
Order: Bar-B-Que pork dinner with slaw, brunswick stew and Sun Drop (link to menu)
Price: $8.66

By my count, Lancaster’s BBQ is the fourth Charlotte-area barbecue restaurant that serves Eastern NC barbecue (including Midwood Smokehouse, Bill Spoon’s, and Bubba’s). I promise our dear readers that I will stop being surprised by other barbecue styles in Piedmont-located Charlotte because according to Tom Hanchett, a historian at the city’s Levine Museum of the New South and expert on Southern food, “it is a city of newcomers and we have other people’s barbecue.” In any case, I visited the Huntersville location of Lancaster’s last week because I had not had barbecue in the month of March and I was tweakin’.

If you go to Lancaster’s I pray you aren’t annoyed by NASCAR and NASCAR memorabilia. Because it’s literally everywhere. Next to my booth was a car engine, which I had the good fortune of staring at during my meal.

On this Friday, they had a pork barbecue plate special which includes 2 sides and a drink and represents a pretty outstanding value considering the meal is usually $10.75 on its own. Picking that with bbq slaw and brunswick stew as my sides, it wasn’t but 3 minutes later that I had a plate in front of me. Bonus points for quickness.

The pork was moist and fairly tender but had little smoke, even in the pieces of bark in my coarsely pulled plate. The two sauces on the table were a vinegar, eastern sauce and a heavier ketchup-y barbecue sauce. I stayed away from the heavier sauce but the vinegar sauce complemented the meat pretty well. Too bad about the lack of smoke, though – likely due to the pork being smoked in a gas or electric smoker.

Even before you order, you get a basket of hush puppies and mine were fresh out of the deep fryer and once I happily let them cool off, they were great – probably the best part of the meal. As for the sides I ordered, the “bbq slaw” wasn’t the Lexington style slaw its name would indicate but made in the eastern style of the pork with mayo and a little mustard. The brunswick stew needed salt but at least the veggies didn’t taste like they were originally frozen. They did have Sun Drop from a soda fountain, so props on that.

Lancaster’s BBQ has another location further north in Mooresville, but I won’t be rushing there any time soon. If for some reason I happen to be in the area (unlikely), maybe I will check it out since it’s a quick meal with friendly service.

-Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3 hogs
Pork – 2.5 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 2.5 Hogs