Sweet Charley's BBQ, Snowflake, AZ

10 January 2009

Well, on a spontaneous trip up north to find snow to play in, the wife, the kids and I stopped at a local BBQ joint on the Main Drag in Snowflake, AZ called Sweet Charley's BBQ. It looked like an older building from the outside but when we walked in it looked great. A totally remodeled interior greeted us. We were there about noon and were the only customers in the place. The prices were a little high but I was willing to take the risk.

I was quite impressed with the atmosphere. We ordered a rack of ribs, rib tips, a pulled pork sandwich and a few "Snackers" (snack-sized pulled pork sandwiches that were perfect for my boys.) We also ordered a slice of lemon-berry cake to share for desert.

We were sitting around waiting for a little while but, you can't rush good BBQ right? And at least it smelled delicious.

When my food arrived, I was less than impressed. The ribs looked like they had been heated and reheated numerous times. They were also a little tough for my tastes. (I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't have to fight with your food.) I didn't taste any kind of rub or spices at all. It was as if they were just cooked naked.

The next thing that I tried was the pulled pork. Again, I was less than impressed. The pork was dry and almost tasteless. It left me searching for a water glass. At least the BBQ sauce was decent enough to drown some of the tastelessness.

While the kids ate the "Snackers," one of them noticed that there was mold on the bread. A little more disgusted, I moved on to the rib tips. They had more flavor and were quite a bit more tender than the ribs. With the sauce they weren't bad.

I took a short break and when I got back to it I didn't want any more. I sampled the lemon-berry cake and its gel filling was not enough to override the dryness of the crust.

Overall, the food was dry and tasteless and had no redeeming qualities other than the BBQ sauce. With the food and sauce together ranking a 3 of 10, the service and atmosphere brought it up a point to 4. I would say that makes it a "Don't waste your time or money" place.