Sauced BBQ & Spirits

Good: Big place, fun atmosphere, fast service. Bad: Sloppy service from both waitstaff and kitchen. You don't always get what you need or what you're supposed to, requiring you to flag down the waitress yet again.

* Spareribs. Half a St. Louis baby rack, uncut (which was odd). The good: very tender, and the glaze was applied thickly before roasting, so it had a beautiful shine and the flavor had at least sunk into the top of the meat. The bad: no real chew, little smoke (which Spouse was fine with, not liking the taste of smoke). And with no steak knives on the table, only butter knives, cutting the rack apart into separate ribs mangled them unattractively. Doesn't affect the taste, obviously; but it's unnecessarily messy and unattractive.

* Pulled pork. This is one of the rare pulled porks that has the tang of real vinegar on it, a true Carolina trademark. It's faint but definitely there. The bad is that it was dry. Well-shredded, but unless you doused it with one of the BBQ sauces, it was uninteresting by itself.

* Brisket. Dry, dry, dry. Slab, not point cut. Thin long slices, a tiny edge of fat along the top edge. Don't even bother ordering this.

* Sausage. All of us liked it. This isn't quite as good as the sausage at KC BBQ/Berkeley, but it's close. It's different from KC's: not quite as large, an unusual sweetness to it but good texture, crisp chewy casing. I could taste a little more smoke on this than I could from everything else we got, but Sauced is the polar opposite of Smoked/Berkeley. Sauced's idea of smoke is so gentle it's almost unnoticeable in most of their meats.

* Chicken Wings. The winner by a full body length, or at least a tummy's width. Well-seasoned before cooking but without sugar or excessive salt, they were roasted to a good medium brown. They maybe could have been pulled off the heat 2-3 minutes sooner, but they were still good.

The wings had great flavor from that rub or seasoning blend, with a crisp dry-flour coating, light and tasty. If we lived closer I would drop in just to get these for take-out. The BBQ sauces are reasonably tasty, but these wings don't need 'em. They are fine just as they come, unadorned and ready to eat.

Sauces:
1. Pig Candy: tomato-based, innocuous
2. Georgia Mustard: it may sound awful, but if you've ever eaten McDonald's Hot Mustard dip, you've eaten the milder commercial version of this. Sauced's version has less sugar and a little more of that Coleman's bite, but it isn't harsh or pungent. I liked it, but I can't see it as a sauce for pork. Chicken or beef, maybe (although Sauced doesn't have any beef dishes except for burgers)
3. Tin Roof: tomato-based, a touch more molasses, medium heat (which on a scale of 1-10, is only a 3 - we aren't talking Thai or Korean heat levels)
4. Hot Tin Roof: tomato-based, a moderate edge of habanero chile. The heat builds, but it stays tolerable to any chilehead. Spouse rated it around 5 or 6 on the 10 scale.

NOTE: in the middle of the room, there is a table with at least 3 dozen different hot sauces displayed. If you want heat, grab some of them and zip up those bland BBQ sauces into serious chile territory.

Sides:
- Baked beans are heavy on the molasses with just a touch of mustard. We mixed them with the pulled pork which improved both.
- Mac 'n' cheese has a thick curdled cheese sauce. 3 of us liked it, 1 was so-so on it, preferring a creamy sauce.
- Squash casserole. Same thick cheese sauce for yellow and green zucchini squash. 2 fell in love with this and would order it again.

Great Food. First meal here and will not be my last.  Had the 3 meat combo Ribs, sausage and Sliced Brisket. AWESOME. Took home a bottle of the Hot Tin Roof BBQ Sauce.  A little over price for my taste however I do plan to return especially during Football season. I'm sure MNF here will be a blast.

This is my go to place for BBQ! great food and good service. Huge whiskey list. it can get crowded but I've never had to wait long. Highly recommended.