Second chances don't always work out.

  I know the other day I said I don't like to give a bad review.  Well today I went to Mac's Speed Shop in Charlotte, NC to give them a second chance.  I passed by this place my first week here while delivering trunks. It looked cool and I asked around to see what the locals had to say.  A few guys said it was definitely a hip joint to eat.
  Last weekend there was a BBQ competition here in the middle of downtown and Mac's had a booth, I had to try it.  I got a half rack of ribs and brisket plate with a side of beans.  The pork ribs didn't have a lot of meat, I only got two pieces of brisket and the beans.....well let's just say they tasted like they came out of a can.  I was pretty happy about only getting 2 pieces of the brisket because it was like beef jerky.  I was let down.  I've been to North Carolina a bunch in the last 3 years  and expected a lot more.  I figured that maybe it was because i ate at their booth at basically a street fair, but then again it costs plenty and it was a BBQ competition for crying out loud.

Mac's smoked buffalo wing's

  Anyway  a co worker told me he went there and they have a Kansas City style beef rib and it was supposed to be huge.  Now I'm a firm believer that when it comes to beef Texas has the market cornered especially beef ribs so don't give me this Kansas City crap.  Of course I was willing to give it another shot and try their beef rib.  I rode my bike out to the south end for lunch.  It was packed and yes very hip except for way to many stools.  I hate stools.  I was greeted quickly and seated immediately.  I asked the waitress for her recommendations on appetisers and was given a lot of options, but decided on the wings. They are smoked and I got the buffalo flavored.   These wings were Bad Ass for sure.  The flavor was unbelievable and the buffalo was just right.  I was stoked about ordering the beef rib with a side of chili and collard greens, especially since the wings were so awesome and the service was great.

Mac's beef rib

  As I was finishing my last tasty wing my plate showed up and the rib was HUGE as expected.  I put all the fixin's on my chili so the cheese would have time to melt and tried the greens.  They were sweet but very good.  I went back and tasted the chili.  It could have stood to be a little hotter,  temperature and taste, but was good.  then I cut my rib from the bone and found a lot of gristle.  I went around the bone nibbling off everything that I couldn't cut and enjoying the flavor it was good, but fatty.  Then as I started my way through the large portion of meat (which is typically totally friggin awesome) it just got fattier and fattier.  So the flvor was great but the consistency of the meat was not to my liking.  I told the waitress and she said, "AWWWE, I'm sorry you didn't like that sucks,"  and that was it.  It was a $16 rib.  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.  So from now on I'll wait until I'm in Ft. Worth to have beef ribs.  

Outlaw

  I do believe however that Mac's probably has some great food that I didn't try but I probably won't find out.  You can check them out at http://www.macspeedshop.com/.  While I was at the BBQ competition/festival I tried two other competitors ribs.  The first one was Gibson's,which came highly recommended and the other was Outlaw BBQ.  Gibson's had great sauce and fell right off the bone, but Outlaw had totally Bad Ass flavor and was moist and meaty.  Outlaw's ribs were the best out of the three 1/2 racks I tried.  They didn't need any sauce although I'm pretty sure they used at least a rub.

Gibson's

  Please let me know where the best ribs you've had were or which ones you like better, pork or beef.