Ole Time Barbecue Restaurant 6309 Hillsborough Street Raleigh, NC 27606-1148 Hours: Mon-Thu 6:00am- 8:00pm Fri 6:00am- 9:00pm Sat 6:00am- 2:00pm Closed Sun. Tel: (919) 859-2544 Ole Time's Website by H. Kent Craig ©2006

I've upgraded Ole Time Barbecue from its 2-pig rated ghetto to the better neighborhood of 3-pig on a scale of 4, 1-pig being reserved for the most godawful worst-of-the-worst and 4-pigs being a hallowed rating for only the best-of-the-best - which Ole Time is neither - and because of consistent inconsistency since they opened up in 1993 (though it seems like they've been there for thirty years, another barbecue establishment under different owners having been there before) I kept them stuck at 2-pigs but the past couple of years they've definitely improved the consistency of their daily quality and deserve the upgrade.

Having grown up at the corner of Bashford Road and Hillsborough Street not half a block from their location and eating there at least once usually twice or sometimes more a month as I would stop by to visit my parents who both loved barbecue and I'd go get them a pound of Ole Time's 'cue or some of their barbeque sandwiches, I have followed albeit more from habit than desire their progress as time has passed.

The first few years they were open, the quality of their barbeque was all over the map, from being equal or even superior to very best on their best days to absolute meat-swill I wouldn't re-feed a hog from whence it came the very next day, which made my going to get barbecue to take back to my parents' for lunch or dinner at least an adventure to say the least. But one must give credit where credit is due, and owner Jerry Hart has been attentive in his barbecue chef journeymanship over the recent years and while not a "master" barbecue chef yet, he's getting there.

His Eastern-NC-Style bar-b-q is cooked properly and has a natural moistness which lets the flavor of the pork linger in your mouth assisted by his secret plain vinegar sauce that's lightly seasoned with red and black peppers and what tastes like the barest trace of paprika and a couple of other background flavors I couldn't identify; the texture is that of a medium-chop after an initially hand-pulling, with bite-size pieces ranging from small as a pea to fork-sized chunks, and it's groomed to where most of the inedible and hard bits of burned skin and undercooked fat are pretty much absent.

The sides available, plain boiled potatoes, paprika-coated steak fries, green/string beans, baked beans, etc., are all acceptable but nothing to write home about, most taste like they've come out of cans and have been doctored-up a little, maybe. Their sweet tea is a high point, is as thick and syrupy as one can normally find and would put even a mild diabetic into hyperglycemia on first sip it's so sweet but oh-so good, the melting ice in your large cup not touching the flavor of it. I do have to give kudos to their hushpuppies which they serve you a free basket of almost before you even sit down to order, they're close to as good as one normally finds anywhere, to me are even a little better than Bullock's in Durham which I love and can almost make a meal off of by themselves, slightly onion-y flavor and very crunchy with a cooked but soft center.

They have a breakfast menu of the usual fare of eggs and such but if you order breakfast, be aware: do not add salt to anything before tasting it! As much as I normally love salt and salty foods, they must have stock in Morton they way they usually pour it on the breakfast items during cooking, it's so salty coming from the kitchen that even I notice it.

Also be forewarned of/about the owner, Jerry Hart, who normally hovers behind the counter when he's not in the kitchen and will often come out to serve you or check on you if you're not a "regular" he doesn't recognize on site. While I'm sure Jerry probably is a nice guy at home or with friends, I've seen him time and again be just as gruff, rude, impolite and almost downright-hateful to the occasional customer or two for no particular reason as someone can be whose job it is to serve the public-at-large without getting fired which he can't be since he's the owner.

Last time I was there, taking good friend and frequent lunch barbecue dining companion Russell Smith along with me to get a fourth opinion besides my own and my parents' before writing this review, we deliberately arrived after the main lunch rush around 1:30PM and had finished our very good barbecue lunch by 2:00PM and were just sitting in our booth talking as friends out to lunch do - minding our own business in quiet conversational tones in a half-filled restaurant - when Jerry almost storms out from behind the counter and orders us to leave, saying " you've been here long enough taking up space I need for other customers (one person was waiting to be seated in one of the many empty tables and booths available then; granted, the dining area is smallish compared to some other places but at that time there were more empty seats than fanny-filled ones) now get the hell out of my restaurant!" When Russell and I both turned to look at him, smiling, thinking he was just kidding in some sort of harmless hazing ritual for unrecognized customers, he nearly yelled back " I said you're taking up space other customers need, get the hell out of my restaurant, now!" No longer amused by his antics and it was his establishment after all and it was clear we weren't welcome any longer, we did immediately leave and unless my mother wants barbecue from there for lunch or dinner sometime soon, I'm not going to be exactly eager to go back for another possible dose of verbal reasonless near-abuse.

That said, unless a place has other highly mitigating factors other than a cantankerous old fart for an owner, I think a barbecue joint's barbecue should stand and be rated on its own, and Ole Time's 'cue has definitely climbed into the next level of Three Pig-Land, so that well-deserved rating will stand, despite Jerry's attempt to anonymously piss me off (he had no clue who I was or that I maintain the most popular NC-BBQ website on the Internet when he threw his little tantrum at Russell and I) and keep him in the 2-pig ghetto that his actual bar-b-q doesn't deserve any longer.





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