Redneck Bar-B-Que

Omg!!! Living in the area, I finally decided to stop here with a friend in August. We both are in the restaurant biz, and couldn’t believe how rudely the guest in front of us was being treated. We get it… it was a long day… and 30 min till end of serving., but we are in a tourist town where the days revolves around baseball games. When your restaurant is only 5 min from the ball fields… u should expect larger parties right up till close. So treat your out of town guest with respect! They are the gravy to your business.
Well we were seated, waiter was ok, not the most professional but ok.
Our drinks from the bar was the only thing going. Our meals were gross!!! Again we both work in the biz and hold high expectations when we eat out.
Well, the BBQ ribs… overly cooked… dry and no meat! The baked beans were from a can and still tasted gross.
Red Neck BBQ. … hire a new chef, change ur menu up, and get some friendlier front of the house staff!!!

Unfortunately, like others, we too failed to read the reviews before stopping here. As we walked in we were not greeted by the four people standing at the front. Tried to order the pork sandwich without coleslaw and was told there was no way that could be done. She told us to just take it off. Wtf? The waitress was a total bitch, long wait to order and super unfriendly staff. Go someplace else.

If I could give a rate solely on great music in an restaurant then they would get a 5 Star!!! But the place … I don’t even know how to put it into words!!! Ok… S U C K S. They have not one clue on how to run, staff, train, food prep NOTHING! The building, location, and facility is very nice and you can tell a lot of money was spent on that end of the business. However, when you enter the restaurant and the signage reads ‘Please Wait to Be Seated’ and you look to your left at the host/​hostess station and a 9 year old child is there on the phone. The bar in the rear has perhaps 6 patrons, and 1 bartender, who has yet to acknowledge your presence. The dining area on the other side has 2 tables of people. AND WE WAIT… I walk by a few of the barroom tables that have yet to be cleared, finally the ‘barmaid’ notices me and says ’ hey hon, you can sit anywhere’… We decided if we wanted to be acknowledged we had better sit at the bar. It took 10 minutes, for them to take an order…(I know any NORMAL PERSON WOULD HAVE LEFT BY NOW RIGHT???) But we were starving, and NOT willing to get in the car to look for something else!
Food was MEH… Considering there are 100’s of Breweries in the area, they do not have any Beer on Tap… And a limited selection in a Coca Cola upright Cooler! I truly don’t wish any bad wishes on a new venture in the restaurant business — but this is not a good sign, if they don’t even have basic customer service skills established! Just a hint ATTENTION TO DETAIL — fill the ketchup, bottles, wipe the tables, clean the silverware, make sure everyone has napkins, clean the tables after diners have left… and don’t catch an attitude with the people that want to TIP you

Ok, to start off with the outside looks like a typical BBQ place. The inside is a little reminiscent of a couple of my old haunts back home in Texas. Liked seeing the Smoker in the back, brought back memories of the BBQ depot in Vidor TX.
Now to the Brass tacks.
The waitstaff — seems to be overly interested and trying too hard. But given it was a weekend and there was only one other family there. I will chalk it up to being bored.
The menu– It’s a BBQ joint without any real BBQ. wha? Nothing but burgers, sandwiches, and salads. There were ribs on there, however being from Texas BBQ means more than one item on a menu. And most BBQ joints don’t normally have burgers on the menu since they get way too dry in the smoker.
Their Scotched Eggs — the good– the idea is an interesting one. Stuffing eggs with pulled pork and then breading and frying them.
–The Bad — I have never had dry pulled pork in my life. It tasted almost like it had been soaked in liquid smoke instead of actually having been smoked.
Broiled rat toes (AKA Stuffed Jalapenos) — the good– Fresh jalapenos, still crispy and not soggy like they can get if done the wrong way. Surprisingly large.
–The bad. — Way too much going on with this dish. Could have removed a couple of ingredients and presented it a bit cleaner.
Now is where it gets scary…
We each ordered burgers (there were 4 of us)
The grasshopper
— the good– jalapenos, average sized burger.
–the bad– Asked for lettuce and onions for the burger, and got lettuce and tomatoes-​The Bad– Asked to have it cooked medium and came out blue rare. more on this to come.
The mountain man burger
— the good– The grilled cheese part of this was amazing!
–The Bad– Asked to have it cooked medium and came out blue rare. more on this to come.
Screaming Texas burger #1
–The good — the fries, we didn’t finish or bag it to take it home…
–The bad– asked to cook it med well, and came out Well done instead.
Screaming Texas burger #2
–The good — the fries
–The Bad– Asked to have it cooked medium and came out blue rare. more on this to come.
When you order something that is cooked to order there is a accepted scale for meats. And I am including this here as an educational tool .
–Raw — Uncooked.
Blue rare or very rare — Cooked very quickly; the outside is seared, but the inside is usually cool and barely cooked.
–Rare – (52 °C (126 °F) core temperature) The outside is grey-​brown, and the middle of the steak is fully red and slightly warm.
–Medium rare – (55 °C (131 °F) core temperature) The steak will have a reddish-​pink center. This is the standard degree of cooking at most steakhouses, unless specified otherwise.
–Medium – (63 °C (145 °F) core temperature) The middle of the steak is hot and fully pink surrounding the center. The outside is grey-​brown.
–Medium well done – (68 °C (154 °F) core temperature) The meat is lightly pink surrounding the center.
–Well done – (73 °C (163 °F) and above core temperature) The meat is grey-​brown in the center and slightly charred. In parts of England this is known as «German style».
–Overcook – (much more than 90 °C (194 °F) core temperature) The meat is blackened throughout and slightly crispy.
The reason I am including this is somewhat disturbing. As you noticed 3 of our burgers stated «Asked to have it cooked medium and came out blue rare. more on this to come.» so here is the more on this. When you ask for something done in a specific way, IE medium, you expect it to be cooked to that level of doneness. And then to be chastised by the wait staff that oh they cook it different here. Well unfortunately there are no notices on the menu, in the building, or given by wait staff about this little known fact. When we brought it to the attention of our server she told us that that was the way it was done there. When we asked more questions about this, she blamed the cook and made it sound like he had no idea how to cook since it was his «first day». Then after being told to not worry about it we would just not finish and move on with our day, she went to the kitchen and had him refire one of the burgers, after much shouting and debasement about how that is the way it is cooked for how we ordered it. And sent us out a well done half of a burger that we chose not to eat.
A few notes, as a chef there are things that are «must do’s» in the kitchen when you are cooking. Number one you have to season what you cook. If you take a ball of burger and just throw it on a flat top you should, at a minimum, salt and pepper it. Number two, remember that the customer is always right. Never argue with them, or yell about them when you know they can hear you.
Worst $ 90 we have spent in a while.

This is the one restaurant where the customer is always wrong!!! Went in there on a Saturday afternoon with nine people. They sat us at 2 separate tables. We asked if we could put two tables together so we could all eat together and they said no. My friend wanted to order a pulled pork sandwich without cole slaw, they said no. Another friend ordered a sandwich but said she didn’t want any French fries, she was told that she had to take them, and that it is against the rules to deviate from the menu. Another friend had to run down a list if 5 popular rums until she found one that they served. After all this the food was mediocre, the sandwich rolls were like wonder bread. The place was clean with real annoying music. I think that the employees must be scared shitless of the boss because they are petrified to make any decision that deviates from their «rules»” laughable. Never going back.

I enjoyed my meal, the atmosphere as well as the service. I would have given 5 stars but the fact is I have had some amazing smoked bbq in the past so the 4 star review is really a good review.
My pulled pork meal with fireslaw and mac and cheese was presented well and tasted just as good. The pulled pork had a great smoked taste, was a nice sized serving seasoned well and it was nice and moist so I didn’t have to drown it in any sauce at all. The fire coleslaw was a nice touch and in my opinion it was not very hot or spicy at all so a little more «fire» would have been nice but still a great side. The mac and cheese reminded me of a homemade side with nothing special going on so just a touch of salt made it nice. Nothing fancy, no breadcrumbs or yellow cheese «packaged» looking tiny elbows here. The beers were cold and iced tea was fresh. It was an overall nice experience and good meal that was very reasonably priced.
If you are looking for good bbq and smoked meats in the area this is the spot !

Awful. Completely Unaccommodating for our team party, couldn’t move a chair or budge a table. Waitress and owner both completely rude to our organizer in front of our kids, avoid this place.

From the outside, you cannot miss Redneck BBQ, but the inside is a different story. First off, does the music have to be blasting in the bathroom? Sure, I’m not doing much talking in the bathroom, but the music is so loud that you’d have to yell just for someone standing next to you to hear you.
Then the service. We were seated for about ten minutes until someone came over to take our drink order. We would’ve understood if the place was busy, but there were plenty of empty tables throughout the restaurant.
Next, after our waitress took our order and gave us our drinks, she joked about how mad she was because she caught a cold in the summer. Sure, it’s great she was interacting with us, but the last thing we want to hear is that the person who will be handling our food is sick. If we weren’t exhausted we would’ve left right then.
Looking back, we should’ve left because the food did not meet any of our standards. Aside from the fried pickles that were good (except for the sauce served with the appetizer), the food just wasn’t good. I had the mountain man burger which sounded incredible, a burger with grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches for the buns. Sign me up! But when it came out, the beef was overcooked, the grilled cheeses were soggy, and there was barely any bacon. My friend’s Cuban sandwich wasn’t any better, as he complained about how dry it was.
We did have a good experience here last year, but this past weekend the quality was not consistent.

Don’t Pull Over! Just keep driving! Waited ½ hour for a table, a family seated the whole wasn’t even served within that time. They sat another family that came before us. We walked out. Read all the bad reviews should have listened and just kept driving!

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a good cell signal to read online reviews beforehand, but as others have mentioned, this place looks like a ‘must stop’ place from the outside. There were only two of us on a leisurely Sunday drive, and we asked to sit at the bar. I went to the bathroom, which needed a good cleaning and some repairs, while my wife started to review the menu. By the time I got back to meet her, she was very uncomfortable and she informed the bartender that we were going to move to a hi-​top table. She was abruptly told ‘no — you have to wait for a waitress to reseat you.’ I picked up my menu and we headed to a hi-​top. Now I wasn’t comfortable, as the backless stools were causing me back pain. The waitress offered to move us to a small table (neither it or where we were sitting had been cleaned well), but I politely declined.
I wanted ribs, but the price was crazy…$ 20 for a half rack, so I ordered a Mountain Man Burger, which is a burger with grilled cheese sandwiches for a bun. My wife asked the waitress for her opinion between the Veggie Burger and the Catfish Po’Boy, as she was concerned about a smoky flavor on the fish, which she doesn’t care for. She was told the veggie was a great option. I had to ask for the draft beer list, as it wasn’t offered.
After placing our order, I couldn’t take the stool any longer and we moved to the table that had been offered. When our waitress came through, in a slow stroll pace that never varied while we were there, she exclaimed that she was glad to see that we moved because the way I was sitting in the stool looked like I had a pole up my ass. Really professional way to address a customer.
My beer came, and it was ¼ head — a money saving scheme or bad pour. Our meals came, and we looked at them oddly. The veggie burger was dry with absolutely no condiments, lettuce, tomato, onion… nothing. My wife ate about three bites of it and couldn’t stomach any more. The bread used to make the grilled cheese buns on my burger was cheap sandwich bread, not even ¼″ thick… the type you send kids school lunches with when money is tight, and this thing cost $ 15, with about as few fries as in a McDonald’s Kids Meal. My medium rare burger was raw in the middle.
While there, we observed our waitress going to tables and doing one quick rag swipe to clean them. She asked us once if everything was alright, while walking past the table, never stopping to hear any reply from us. My wife commented that all the wait staff looked miserable and she hadn’t seen one smile. Our bill for two burgers and one beer was $ 34!
We own a restaurant, and our assessment of the Redneck is that there is a collective environment of apathy and disdain amongst the wait staff. The menu is priced to chase the tourist dollars that comes with being outside Cooperstown. The food was lackluster and cheaply made, and this is the first time I have ever stopped at a BBQ place and not wanted to order any barbecue.
We are sorta local, but next time we’re in the area, I think we’ll try New York BBQ just South about a ¼ mile. Won’t be going to Redneck again.

I really wish I would have read the reviews on here before we stopped. Service was bad, food was mediocre, the menu is limited. My non-​picky 11 year old had trouble finding something to eat and my husband who loves BBQ wanted a sampler, which wasn’t an option.
My daughter and son got burgers, which they only ate half of and I got the adult grilled cheese, which looked like it would’ve come from a kids menu if they had one available. Fountain drinks only come with one refill! Be careful!
I most def would not recommend especially with how much it ended up costing us for lunch!

Worst service and food we had the entire time we were in Cooperstown with our baseball team! Should have believed the other reviews on here prior to going. When you can’t get 11 hungry 12 year old boys to eat the BBQ or ribs you know something is wrong! Had to take our team out to eat after leaving this place. And I would have left a no star rating if Unilocal would let me…

The service is awful! There is no hostess, no one organizing the seating, no organization, Period! Waited for over 10 minutes for an employee to acknowledge we were even there. Once seated, it took another 10 minutes to order drinks. At this point I wanted to leave, but was talked into staying by the other people in my party. (A party of 9) We then placed our orders, (which don’t try to change anything on the menu, because that is a problem) and waited yet again for over 45 minutes to have our orders come out before the appetizers! After all of the wait, the food was not even good, overpriced, and small portions. Overall this place is bad service, bad food, bad employees and a waste of meal and money!

Made a reservation for our team at 9 am for that evening between 8:30 and 9. Game ran a little late tried calling to tell them be there close to 9. Get there with whole team and they gave the reservation away without even calling me. Prepare to be disappointed.

I’LL MAKE IT SIMPLE… JUST DON’T GO.
What a joke! I’ve had BBQ up and down the coast and this place might call it self a BBQ pit… but it’s actually just a pit. The BBQ is edible, but barely. Are you ready for this? The best thing about Redneck BBQ is the salad. Seriously. If you have taste buds, go anywhere else in Cooperstown.
Now for the service. We brought a group of about 30 people. They fit all but three of us on the 2^nd floor. That’s cool, because I was one of the three and we elected to take a small table outside. EXCEPT… a downstairs waitress got a little crazy about that. She got so aggressive that I quietly asked her if she wanted us to take our 30-​person group elsewhere. Her reply? I could care less where you eat. We are pretty quiet, reasonable folks. No one was in anyone’s face. I am an easy-​going 50-​something guy on a baseball trip with my son. The other two in our threesome were a man and his wife, on the same baseball trip. We are all well-​behaved, polite CANADIANS. Finally a waiter takes hold of the situation and he serves us outside, no fuss, no bother. Easy as pie.
Our group on the 2^nd floor had the same experience. This is a roadhouse folks, full of beat up old wooden chairs & tables. One of the kids on the 2^nd floor dragged a chair to another table and a waitress had a hissy-​fit about it. Don’t drag the chairs!!! They make noise!!! Seriously? In a place called REDNECK BBQ? You’d get better service in Moscow circa 1970.
Finally; beware of the skinny, dark-​haired waitress with the Eastern European accent (Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian?)…she is a mean-​spirited nut!
It’s REDNECK alright. REDNECK mean!

Decent BBQ but pricey for area. Smoked wings were better than average and «hot wings» actually had a nice heat to them. BBQ pork was average. Service was extremely slow even though restaurant was not busy at all. Waitress and staff were less than friendly. They don’t allow any changes to meals. One person in my group didn’t want coleslaw with their BBQ pork sandwich and staff would not allow him to order meal w/​o the coleslaw. Would not allow a small table to be moved over so 6 people in my group could sit together. Ridiculous. Avoid. Not worth it.

My girl friend and I were returning to Oneonta and thought we would try eating at this restaurant. Bad mistake!!! The food was horrible and way over priced. Thought I would try the $ 28 sampler thinking that I would not finish it all. I asked the waitress how big the sampler was and she mentioned it was quite big. The ribs were horibly dry and void of meat. The sauce was terrible and left a bitter after taste in my mouth.
I thought it was odd that our meals didn’t take very long to arrive after we ordered.. The chicken and ribs tasted like frozen, low quality meat .
My Southern girl friend ordered the fried greem tomatoes and she said they were just OK. But we both agreed that the food was horrible and we would never eat there again.

A few buddies and me stopped at this place on our way out of Cooperstown. It was an April Sunday and there wasn’t much by way of customers so seating was plentiful
The waitress was very friendly and responsive to this large group of guys. But when it came to the food the best I could say it was average in taste.
Two of my friends are professional food judges and they participate in judging competitions around the country. Even they said their meals were average.
I had a chicken buffalo BBQ sandwich which looked like chicken fingers from a kids menu with buffalo BBQ sauce poured on it covered by a roll. Visually it was not what I expected. But it tasted okay.
I’ve tasted worse but I have also tasted better. I can’t compare this place to other BBQ places in the area for I didn’t stop at one. But having been to ones in other states I can say this place has much more room for improvement.

There are times when you see a restaurant off the side of the road and you absolutely must stop. That was the case with Redneck Bar-​B-​Que in Cooperstown. It looked so great from the street, and had the appearance of great BBQ — I’m sure you know what I mean by that.
Unfortunately it was likely the most disappointing BBQ experience I’ve ever had. Please do not get tricked by the name and décor as we were. The look is nothing more than a façade, you don’t need to spend your vacation dollars here.
I’m certain our waitress had a lot to do with our experience, so I have to qualify my comments with that fact. She was terrible from the get go… We ordered fried pickles, but she couldn’t guarantee they would come out before our meal? I didn’t even know what that meant? Why is it called an appetizer then? She was surly the whole time and never even offered dessert — just threw the check at us — literally!
I could go on and on, so let me just bullet point this for everyone…
— portions are small (fried pickles had 5 small pickle spears
— chicken was dry and required the whole plastic cup of BBQ sauce (which is all they gave us — one plastic ketchup cup of sauce! And I thought we were at a BBQ place?)
— no bread — of any kind! Have you ever heard of BBQ with no bread/​cornbread???
Hopefully you read Unilocal!before you go. I made the mistake and won’t do that again.

We should have known from the gimmicky décor that this place was gonna try real hard to deliver authentic BBQ and fall completely short. We ordered the pulled pork plate, which turned out to be a small hunk of overcooked pork with two slices of Wonder bread, fresh cut fries that were underwhelming and mac and cheese that looked like it came out of a can and it was EIGHTEEN DOLLARS. Also ordered the pulled pork sandwich with «fire» slaw that had absolutely no bite to it whatsoever. The bun had clearly just been defrosted and the BBQ sauce just barely made the meat edible. The sweet potato fries were actually pretty good, but don’t dip them in the garlic aioli unless you want to ruin them too.
On top of that, the place was full to the brim with tourist tables of 20 – 30 screaming preteen boys clad in their baseball garb making for a pretty obnoxious ambience.
Would not recommend.