Taste of Athens: Dawg Gone Good BBQ

Name:  Dawg Gone Good BBQ
Location:  224 W. Hancock Avenue
What I Ordered:  Pulled pork plate with macaroni and baked beans.
Price:  $8.56

I'm back at it again with my local taste testing of food around the city of Athens, GA.  Today we have Dawg Gone Good BBQ located in downtown of the Classic City.  I first heard about this place after watching a video the Alphas at my school put up.  They had some of it at their annual back to school block party, but being the anti-social person I am I didn't go.  Then coincidence would have it that in my mail box this week I got some coupons and inside was an advertisement from this place.  Since I started Taste of Athens I decided I might as well give it a try seeing how I'd yet to find a place that offered something similar to what my Mom makes back at home.

Its a small place, but good things come in small packages.  When my friend and I walked in we were greeted by the owner BBQ Chef B.J. with a Madea inspired "Hello," as Kem blasted through the speakers.  Even though I don't care for Tyler Perry I couldn't help but smile at how welcoming the guy was. They sell pulled pork, ribs, chicken, green beans, mac & cheese, etc.  All of the stuff that you expect to see at a barbeque place with the exception of hash and collard greens I sadly discovered.  The prices were what you would expect from a barbeque place so I wouldn't complain about that seeing how I left full.  The sauce used (not sure if homemade or store bought) was sweet just like I like it.  Obviously with good sauce I enjoyed my pulled pork sandwich and it almost reminded me of the barbeque my Mom makes back at home.

I love macaroni so after trying my sandwich that was the first thing I went for.  I noticed all of the pepper on it which ultimately ruined the macaroni for me as I rarely put pepper on anything, especially macaroni.  Because of all the pepper it tasted too spicy for me.  I'm not saying it was bad, but not the best I've had.  It reminded me of macaroni my friend's mom gave me one year after returning back to school from Thanksgiving Break.  The baked beans were another story.  I LOVED them.  They were sweet so I could tell he added something like brown sugar to the mix.  I originally wanted to order yams, but they didn't have anymore so the beans were my substitute.  Best decision ever.  I left with a full stomach hours after eating which says a lot in my opinion.  The only thing that could have made things better would have been a slice of sweet potato pie or some type of cake.  Then it would have felt like home.

The place is extremely welcoming and I felt like I was just at a family event sitting down and eating.  The owner was in the background giving relationship advice to a frequent customer/friend with curse words every now and then, just like one of my old uncles.  He apologized to me and my friend, but we didn't care seeing how it was nearly 11 anyways.  He made sure to remind me that they had lunch and student specials so one Sunday I may have to go and get a plate for $5.99.  The only downside to this place was I noticed they were out of a lot of side dishes that some people asked for, like my yams.  In addition to that because its downtown parking is hard to find.  The lot behind the place was charging $3 to park which I'm sure had something to do with game day being the next day.

I'd give this place a rating of 4 out of 5.  The food was amazing with the exception of the macaroni for me and things were reasonably priced seeing how you're getting real food and not just french fries.  In addition to that they have specials so there's no reason not to just stop by and try something.  The lack of parking, collard greens, and extra peppered macaroni were the only "bad" things about the place.  My friend and I had to drive around for like 10-15 minutes after finding the place just to park, but that's downtown for you.  I highly recommend anyone in the area go and try it out.