I'd only been in Nash-vegas for a mere half hour, and I was already on the hunt for smoked meat. Whitt's wasn't on the top of my barbecue to-do list, but I needed lunch and it was near my hotel.
Whitt's is clearly more of a fast food style barbecue joint, much like the somehow popular Dickey's back in Dallas. The dining room had all the glitz and glamour of a McDonald's, complete with drive-thru window. Oh well, I've scarfed down food at trashier places.
The only options on the menu (outside of a sandwich or a baked potato) were pulled pork, turkey, or a slab of ribs. The ribs didn't look that appealing, so I settled for a #3 Combo: pulled pork and two sides. Their options for side dishes were equally limited, but I hoped that potato salad and baked beans would suffice.
Everything on my plate looked really bland and lifeless. The beans were pleasantly sweet, but were clearly canned. They weren't worth more than a few bites. The potato salad had a bright yellow color that screamed "mustard". It was ice cold and had almost no crunch. There was a slight pickle flavor, but I couldn't find any actual pickles.
The pulled pork came in equal shades of tan and gray, with no smoky hue anywhere to be found. It was kind of dry and had no taste of smoke whatsoever. In fact, the only flavors I found were pork and salt. I don't normally gravitate toward barbecue sauce, but I made an exception here out of pure necessity. Their regular "mild" sauce was mostly tomatoes, with just a hint of salt and pepper. It definitely didn't add much to the already flavorless pork. The "original vinegar mild" sauce came out clear, despite the dark-colored liquid inside the bottle. It was as runny as pure vinegar, and tasted like it too. Neither of the available sauces could save this sad glob of pork.
Whitt's should be ashamed to even call this barbecue. When no one was looking, I tossed the remaining 90% of my food into the trash and bolted out the door. It's astonishing that Whitt's is still in business. Maybe Tennesseans just have weird taste buds.
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Whitt's Barbecue
2629 Lebanon Pike
Nashville, TN 37214
(615) 883-6907
http://www.whittsbarbecue.com/
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