The Swallow At the Hollow

Kind of overrated... we've eaten here a few times and it's a very mixed bag.

On the positive side: Lively atmosphere, very clean and modern (though in a cabin so sufficiently "country"), good location.  The side dishes are excellent - fried green tomatoes are crisp and perfect, the mac and cheese is gooey and luscious, the potato salad is different but has great flavor, the cabin bread (plain or as toast) is soft and homemade, and the pickles excellent. Salads and dressings are also very fresh and nice. They also have wine and beer, which not every BBQ place does. They have a veggie option of a smoked Portobello as a sandwich or a platter that I haven't tried but assume would be welcomed by anyone who is a vegetarian.

Negative - Service is friendly but can be verrrry slow, especially if you are sitting outside and it's crowded. And this place is usually crowded - it is a darling of the Roswell crowd.  The bottom line though is that this is a BBQ place, one named in the top ten by Atlanta magazine this year, and the meat is just ... not great. Sub-par actually. Brisket has been dry, pork has been alternately dry or too fatty. The sausage has a good snap and consistency but adds 20 minutes to your order and then is so spicy that most people can't tolerate it. Chicken and turkey are just OK.   Ribs are heavily sauced and not super tender. There are three sauces - a mustard based, a spicy vinegar and a sweet.  None of them were truly great in my opinion. I love a vinegar sauce and theirs is too fruity, not that spicy. The mustard was OK but the sweet was too sweet without any depth to round it out.

Was tempted to give it three stars for the sides alone, but when it comes down to it a BBQ place needs to be judged by it's meat and I wasn't that impressed. We will probably be back because friends love it and it has good atmosphere, but I will probably choose to make myself some sort of plate of sides.

The pork in my chopped platter had a lot of unavoidable fat, though my wife's chopped pork sandwich did not.  Collards were very flavorful, home-made bread was delicious, mac-n-cheese was very tasty (creamy, not baked), and fried green tomatoes were excellent.  It was great sitting outside for lunch as well.

I'm on a quest to try the "best" bbq places in the area, and my focus is brisket.

This is an idyllic setting, as one could eat on the front porch and enjoy the bamboo trees.

Though this place is highly rated, it didn't meet my expectations.  I ordered the sliced beef sandwich (was told it was brisket-----I'm not entirely sure).  The meat was dense, dry, and hardly any marbling, or flavor.  It was likely overcooked.  Thankfully, two of the three sauces were good with the beef.  The texas toasted bread was an excellent complement to the beef.  I ordered a side of cole slaw, and this was excellent.  Good texture, and long shreds of cabbage.  Sandwich was $9, and the slaw was $3. A glass of draft was $4, and total was $17 with tax.

Service, as reported elsewhere in these posts, was amateurish, and unprofessional.  Mostly college age kids working here, and their interest is obviously not servicing their customers.

No need for me to return...there are more places to try out.