Our journey to Ann Arbor, MI this weekend took nearly twelve hours. Crossing five states in one day is bound to make one hungry. We were mid way through West Virginia around lunch time and decided to look up a local BBQ joint. According to Google, the options were pretty limited in the Beckley area so we set out in search of the first joint mentioned, Southern Red's.

Our first attempt to find Southern Red's was a fail. The address that we'd pulled from the online search was out dated. When we pulled into the parking lot, it was pretty obvious that Southern Red's was no longer in business. Luckily, a friendly local informed us that Southern Reds had changed locations. He kindly pointed us in the right direction.

The new(er) Southern Red's location was an addition to a gas station. Though seeing a restaurant attached to a gas station doesn't exactly say "quality", I've learned never to judge BBQ joints by their outside appearances. One positive sign was the large trailor smoker in the back of the lot.

The menu at Southern Red's was really basic. They had ribs, pulled pork, chicken and chopped brisket. Each (except for ribs) could be had on a platter or a sandwhich. Since they didn't offer two meat combo, LD and I decided to order one chicken plate and one pulled pork plate and split the meats.

The 1/2 chicken was smokey and flavorful, but a bit dry. It was also a pretty small portion size considering it was half of a chicken. The pork was ordered "West Virginia" style, meaning "with sauce". It was tender, but the flavor was completely masked by the sauce. I equate it to slow cooker pork bbq. The sides were basic and somewhat low quality. Everything was pre-packaged and/or pre-made.

Southern Red's simply wasn't great quality BBQ. Unfortunately for the people of Beckley, there aren't many other options. Though their sauce was pretty good, it should never be the highlight of a BBQ meal.

To see how Southern Red's compares with other BBQ joints from across the country, check out the "BBQ Ratings" page.