Camel City Barbque - Winston-Salem

I've been a regular at this place since I moved to Winston-Salem 7 years ago, but especially more in the last couple of years since bringing two kiddos into the world. When I don't know what to eat, I can rely on grabbing reliable, quick, and consistent quality food here to go. This has saved me a lot of time and money when I need a place to feed the family affordably. My fam's go-to has been the meatloaf or smoked sausage platter for me (main meat, coleslaw, beans, and hush puppies) and the 6 wings fries for my hubby, we cash out at about $22. Considering this is how much we'd spend at Mcdonald's or some other comparable fast food chain, I feel I get a lot more for my buck here. The arcade has been a fun pastime for me as well as classic working video game consoles like NES and Atari in the booths that you can play with while you wait for your food. Also great for a casual hangout or dates, you can enjoy cornhole outside on a nice day. Lastly, lots of interesting pieces of art are scattered throughout the venue like the camel city bbq phone booth, the big red bicycle, and the giant pig.

Group of friends decided to eat BBQ. So we went here. I would say it is nothing spectacular. They try hard with decorations, service was OK. food nothing spectacular. Prices are a little bit on high side. But, not too high. Would I eat here again? Probably. I cannot say go there and enjoy . If you want to try and eat, you will not be disappointed. Just, not extra excited.

I am from South Georgia and have had BBQ that SETS THE BAR and let me tell you, Camel City is NOT the place. Soupy and generic pulled pork. Also the layout of restaurant is confusing- order at the counter, but must go upstairs to get an alcoholic drink, but a separate beverage station for water and oh yeah, you cannot use the stairs. Weird. Coleslaw recipe too far from the norm. The mac n cheese was tasty. Oh yes, and one of their BBQ sauces costs extra.

It had been a while since I'd darkened the doors of Camel City, if I must be honest. I'm pretty sure that my recent visit here was the first since COVID 19 made its appearance, and even before the pandemic it wasn't a place I frequented. But back at Christmas time someone slipped me a gift card from here, and it was time to get that thing out of my wallet before it wore a hole through the leather. The prices seemed a bit higher, and there are cough barriers up at the counter, but nothing else seemed to have changed in my absence. The ordering process was quick, and the food didn't take long to arrive either. My choices for lunch were the brisket tray accompanied by mac and cheese and hushpuppies. I'll admit that the M&C came out pretty good, but that's not exactly a difficult thing to accomplish. The brisket did not grade out anywhere near as well. I could find no smoke flavor whatsoever. Nor could I see a smoke ring. Honestly, that stuff might as well have been roasted in an oven. And then the sauce slathered upon it was an unpleasantly sweet concoction, the sort that you might find squeezed out of a plastic bottle from a discount grocer. Frankly, between the two I cannot remember a worse approach to brisket or to barbecue in general. All this reminded me about why I hadn't been to Camel City in so long there's nothing appealing about their barbecue. Keep in mind this is coming from a guy who likes Lexington style. And eastern whole hog. And SC mustard sauce. And ribs from all sorts of places, in both wet and dry rub fashions. And Texas true brisket and sausage. What I'm getting at is that I generally love most every kind of barbecue (some more than others, of course) but I can find nothing to like about what CCB dishes out. There's a little over five bucks of credit on that gift card. If you want it, I'd give it to you.

Ok Camel City was SO good! Their pulled pork BBQ is so juicy and never dry which is why that's usually my go-to. This time, I tried the pulled chicken and the brisket and let me just tell you... Get the brisket!! It's served in this special BBQ sauce that is just to die for. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that their mac and cheese is top 5 best I've ever had. I'm serious. The cork screw noodles held the creamy cheesy sauce so well! I could eat the whole pan of macaroni and cheese. I love their hush puppies and the collards are equally delicious. The arcade stuff everywhere doesn't really do it for me but the food is incredible. If you're a gamer, there was a game with controllers at each booth to play while you wait for your food.