Jack Cawthon’s Bar-B-Que

Simple, delicious smoked pork, brisket and rib platter with perfectly seasoned greens and good mac-​n-​cheese. This is my first trip to Jack’s but I will certainly be back on my next trip through Nashville!
The free rub seasoning for checking in is a plus also!

Quick, solid choice for BBQ. I had the chopped shoulder plate with macaroni and collard greens. The bbq was good on its own but they offered six different sauces to choose from. I’m biased toward a vinegar based eastern NC sauce, but the Tennessee style wasn’t bad. The greens were very good and the macaroni was decent too. Not vegetarian friendly.

Really great food. Clean, incredibly friendly staff.

Great food! My boyfriend had the brisket and I had the smoked chicken. Both were great! I liked the sweet BBQ sauce best. We checked in on Unilocal and got a free dry rub. The only reason it got 4 instead of 5 stars was due to it being a little pricey, and there was no music playing.

Went here on a Friday for lunch. It was nearly 2pm and fairly quiet. I ordered beef brisket and two sides. I was served from an uncut, incredible looking whole beef brisket and picked the collard greens and mac/​cheese to go with it. Two enormous pieces of cornbread were on the plate. The brisket was so good that I didn’t even stop to put sauce on it! The cornbread was delicious as was the mac/​cheese. The greens, like a lot of greens in Nashville, tasted like they had sugar in them but the pickles on the side took care of that. The iced tea was really, really good. It was a lot of great food for not so much money and I really enjoyed my lunch.

Came here after the football game to avoid traffic on our way back to Knoxville. I read reviews to get the brisket. Glad I did because it was really good. I like that they have several sides to choose from and several sauces. I don’t usually like baked beans but we got the family meal and it was one of my kids side choices. It was sweet and good. Great prices. Will be back next time.

Excellent brisket; so-​so ribs (good flavor, but too hard).
The best BBQ sauces were Kansas City style and Carolina style.

Great food. Sat outside on a beautiful day. Had the pork shoulder & sampled all the great sauces. Coleslaw was excellent. Had the sweet potatoes mac & Cheese & green beans. Should have sampled all the meats!

This place was good. Straight to the point BBQ. Get in line and order what you want and eat it. No frills, but that’s the way I want my BBQ. I had the beef brisket, and it was better than anything I’ve tasted in NYC. The price was also incredibly reasonable. I think for my plate I paid something like $ 13. Would definitely recommend trying this place if you’re in the area.

Great BBQ and a place my wife and I love going to. I only give it 4 stars because their service is slow a lot of the times, but what service isn’t slow in Nashville?! I love the many BBQ sauce options, plus they are warm! Overall: great food!

Best brisket I ever had. Most places give you either too lean or too fatty of a cut of meat, but this place was right on target. The ribs were a little dry and the pulled pork was too. Didn’t love either of those, but the brisket made up for it. I also love a BBQ place that has corn bread, so this place got high marks for that! (And banana pudding!)

Well being from Texas your BBQ better be on point. This place has done just that. Went straight for the ribs and boy they didn’t disappoint!!! Keep up the good job. I’ll definitely be back some day.

This is some of the best bbq money can buy! The beef brisket was too die for! Just the meat itself had a really good smoky flavor, and it had NO fat. This bbq is more of an art then a food! The outside had a good bark on it and the inside was juicy and tender! The mac and cheese was amazing, and the baked beans were phenomenal. The cook know what they are doing. When we went in and ordered they pulled a brisket fresh out of the smoker and started peeling the bark off and there was a big glob of fat in the center and he said it was no good and threw the whole thing away and got a new one and sliced it by hand! And the bbq (which they have like 5 different kinds) was very good, i had the kansas city bbq and it was amazing! The staff was very friendly, and it was very clean inside and out side! There was plenty of parking too. I will definitely be going back!

We stopped here for lunch on our way to Cincinnati. We saw the reviews on Unilocal and expected better than what we got. Pretty ordinary barbecue with not so great portion sizes. They do have a large variety of sauces though. There are other better bbq places in Nashville.

Omg after those ribs I’m speechless.
Food was AMAZING.
And the prices were good as well.
After a hard morning rock climbing this place was right down Charlotte avenue and I will definitely come back.
Pretty decent selection of sides, I had turnip greens and cuke salad, but the ribs were why I came and why I’ll be back soon!

2.5
Yikes. I’ve gotta admit: I was surprised to have had such a ‘meh’ experience here. After flying up and down this stretch of Charlotte for a while, I thought I should stop in for a nice bbq lunch. After eating here, I was more annoyed that I filled up on food I wasn’t quite crazy about. I don’t know that I’ll come back.
This was my first time at a Jack’s establishment. I don’t know if they’re all set up the same way or not but this one had a cafeteria feel. You walk in, grab a tray, look up at the board menu, order, move down the line, grab your food, and sit. I wanted to order the turkey sandwich but the fellow behind the line said that I couldn’t. Either it was the wrong day (I came in on a Thursday) or they were out or some other craziness. End of story, I couldn’t order a smoked turkey sandwich for lunch. So, I was stuck with ordering a plate.
I don’t eat much beef these days and I am trying to lessen the amount of pork I put in to my body… so, chicken it is/​was. That’s not a hardship for me; I’m from Kentucky. We’re weaned on chicken. And Jack’s smoked chicken was done really well. The smoke didn’t overpower the meat but gave a nice flavor. I didn’t find that I *needed* sauce — which was a good thing because all the sauce is located at the front of the store and is only available in those small white ‘toothpaste’ cups. I understand that it’s probably a cost thing but 1.) you’re a bbq restaurant; put the sauce on the table and 2.) the markup ($ 11 for a meat and TWO, not three… and the plates aren’t huge. You’re not getting heaping amounts of food for the money.) should cover any loss you might have from the errant customer who opts for too much molasses or vinegar on his meat. And, speaking of the two… my mac & cheese was runny (consistency matters as much as taste when it comes to mac & cheese) and my cornbread was awful. There’s no excuse for either. In a northern establishment, I might roll my eyes and keep it moving. But I refuse to accept bad mac & cornbread from southern restaurants. I won’t do it. The greens were serviceable. Just so you know, the beer list is small and bottled, if that sort of thing matters to you… and expensive. $ 4 for a bottle of low-​end domestic. Hold on, now. This ain’t Broadway.
The quality of the bbq meat was enjoyable but that was the extent of what I liked about this location. Maybe the trick is picking up the meat to go and then serving it at your home or a cookout. If the other sides are comparable to the ones I had, you can skip ‘em.

In Nashville for a conference, and the only thing on my mind is barbecue. I’ve visiting the Jack’s on Charlotte Ave. as well as the one on Broadway. Suffice it to say that the Charlotte location doesn’t hold a candle to the other. I found my brisket to be incredibly dry, so much so that I had to drench my sandwich in BBQ sauce (the TN sauce is outstanding). The cornbread at both locations was on the dry side, which I believe is by design. However, the Broadway location’s bread was more moist — while this one struck me as almost stale. The flavors were all there, but the execution was lacking. I recommend hitting up the Jack’s on Broadway.

Everyone had a smile on their faces and were warm and inviting! Food was amazing! Totally would come back!

Tony and I was out and about in Nashville today. I was really disappointed in the weather, the news said it was going to be a great warm day. so I was excited about hiking. Alas, the weather men in Nashville was wrong again. so we just sort of drove around.
It became lunchtime, around 1pm and we were near the West Side of town. At first we were going to try Castrillo’s Pizza first but they looked closed, so Tony said «Hey let’s just go to Jack’s» because we passed it a million and one times and mentioned trying it before. so why NOT???
First of all, GREAT PARKING LOT in the rear… that is a huge plus. They have a great entrance back there going right past the smokers and they have a great patio seating area (((when weather is permitting)). I was happy so far… little things like that make a difference, you know First Impressions and all… right??? Right !!!
We went inside and there is plenty of room in there. I loved the décor. It is open and airy with large windows giving natural sunlight (when available) and the dining room was nice. No TV’s to distract your dining companion.
I liked that. I loved the art work on the walls. There is a great painting of the First Penitentiary in Nashville and I really liked that. I am a history buff.
There is also some other great pieces, one of Nashville in an abstract way and the other of musicians titled the NEW ERA CLUB. also hanging above some of the tables were piece of metal or tin art of «Pigs Flying» artwork for the lighting. I really enjoyed those as well. They were colorful and playful Whoever did the décor, they did an awesome job planning the layout.
When you enter, you immediately to a place at the front counter where you can see the wall menu and place your order. We opted the 3 meat platter with 2 sides to share. We chose the smoked sausage, pulled pork and beef brisket to get a great sampling of their meat wares. For the sides, OMG there were so many great ones to choose from… we opted for the mac n cheese and green beans. I wanted everything to be truthful, but I had to show some restraints. I did order a small side of Brunswick Stew for only $ 1.99. Tony had to go with Bud Light and that was a bad sign…
He hates restaurants with horrible beer selections and they have nothing in draft, which is another bad sign. I ordered a soft drink and went with Barq Root beer. They didn’t have any craft sodas. Again, Not a good sign. Third thing and a MAJOR NO NO when I am eating at a BBQ Joint… They don’t put the sauces on the table… WHY THE HECK NOT??? This is a BBQ JOINT. the sauce makes it. There should be a bottle of each flavor you are pushing on the tables so people can enjoy them without getting up and down to get more. I don’t like having to pump some into a cup and take to the table. I like a lot of sauce and I like to try all the different sauces. I always feel that they are being too cheap to put it on the tables. People pay a good deal of money to enjoy their meats, and not to have a liberal amount of sauces handing for your dining is a big SLAP in the face.
To be truthful for my dining experience goes down dramatically when I have two major things wrong… Lack of sauce bottles on the tables and bad beer choices. The food was OKAY, nothing I couldn’t live without or I would have dreams of having to have again. I have had better BBQ and Smoked meats in Nashville, and then to have the bad beer choices and NO bottles of sauce on the tables… I will give them a 3 out of 5 stars. I almost did a 2 out of 5 but the food was good and the décor was excellent. Now this is my opinion, I would love for you to go and try them yourself and let me know how it went for you.
I paid $ 27 with taxes for one plate of food to share, a side of brunswick stew, one beer and soda. They did give us Texas Toast as a bread side. Since there is no table services, I left no Tip. Value of the prices for the meal was acceptable. I would say Medium average pricing for the dining experience.

My husband and I were visiting a friend in Nashville and she isn’t a fan of barbecue but we are aficionados. At first glance when we walked in we were a little hesitant. The dining area was a bit empty. We decided to order our food anyway and I’m so glad we did. My husband ordered the ribs dinner. I ordered the brisket which I have to say I am not a fan of brisket but this brisket was out of this world. The meet was absolutely tender it fell off of the bone ribs I should say. But the brisket was also absolutely tender with like 10 «r’s» I love that in the south mac & cheese is considered a vegetable. I loved all the gravies and barbecue sauces that you could choose from particularly my favorite was one of the spicy barbecues and the brown gravy not a huge fan of the mustard sauce. Probably the best barbecue I’ve had ever. The end
People did start to trickle in after we sat for about 30 minutes maybe we had dinner earlier my only reservation would be the neighborhood I think (safety reasons).