Hogue Barmichael's

My second lunch visit in a month. First visit, very quite, food slow to come out, good service, food okay.
Second visit, very quiet, food quicker, good service, Pulled Pork Sandwich.....perhaps the best I've ever had. I was shocked!
If they keep this food quality up and do a better job with marketing, this place will be around for years to come. You guys are so close to getting it right it would be a shame to see you disappear due to lack of business.

Great staff.  Great setup.  No people.  Its a ghost town.  Ten people for a live band on a Friday night says something and it could say a couple of things.  

My first observation would be that they aren't getting the word out and maybe need to hire a social media person or someone that can navigate today's way of marketing.  Its a neighborhood bar with no neighborhood (business area), so they have to go and get them to come there on purpose.  Very few people will just stumble into this location.  Great place for concerts, but no one shows up.  Its seriously, nicely set up and as I said, the staff is great.  Fun.  Very friendly.  

Food!  Their food is not very good.  The cook is a nice guy, but his food isn't anything special.  It tastes bland and its smothered in commercial bbq sauce that isn't very good either.  The corn bread was gooey in the center, the chili was nasty and had chunks of hamburger patties in it (budget?), and the mac and cheese was elbow mac with some sort of cheese sauce poured on top.  They didn't even mix it in and it didn't taste good.  It was NOT homemade.  I've tried all the specialties and the best thing I've eaten there was a turkey sandwich (who can screw that up?).  For a BBQ themed menu, they really need someone who brings a unique flavor and their own BBQ recipes.  There is more to it than cooking it through and smothering it in sauce.  The greens were decent.  The wings, well, they were hot wings, but small little drummettes.  Nothing spectacular there either.  There is no signature to their food other than very average or even below average.  I have decided to avoid them until they get better food because I"m a foody.  I like to eat.  I don't like to eat there.

I wish them luck, but they've pretty much lost me for the most part.  When I drink, I need a food base and I can't get that there.  Seriously, get better food and then market the change and invite folks back.  You won't be successful with what you're serving now.  Sorry, but those are the facts.

There is a reason this place is dead.

Filthy place with greasy food compounded with crappy metal music that you can hear up to a half mile away. Is that were you wanna eat? Probably not.

Personally, I would not want to support the rude people that run this place. It's one thing you have a filthy white elephant restaurant and another when you play crappy metal music FULL BLAST to everyone in the surrounding area. I can't imagine working in the same shopping center as these people.