Starnes Barbecue

This place is an absolute must stop! They have five meats, one sauce, and two sides on their menu; Pork, Beef, Ham, Turkey, Baloney, and potato salad or coleslaw. We shared three sandwiches and one of each side. It was all simply perfect. The sandwiches come with sauce or without, on grilled white bread and served perfectly wrapped in paper. It feels like the way it’s been done for 100 years, with no changes. It was super inexpensive, friendly, clean, unique, and delicious. One of our favorite stops ever, and by pure random chance. Absolutely must go here and step back in time if you’re nearby. Nothing fancy, just perfectly simple and good. Really friendly staff too, and it felt like they knew everyone that walked through the door.

This is exactly the kind of place I figured it would be, a place where people who've never left Paducah in their life come because they think it's amazing BBQ. Boyfriend and I came and ordered a pork and beef sandwich respectively; his sandwich was bad, mine was good. And mine was *just* good, not great or amazing like other reviews made us think it would be. The beef was flavorful but you couldn't taste it over the sauce, and boy did you NEED the sauce. The beef sandwich was the driest beef sandwich in my life, and the pork sandwich was the driest pork sandwich in perhaps all of human existence. It's a real shame when otherwise-good BBQ needs to be drowned in sauce to be palatable, and unfortunately it wouldn't shock me if locals here thought this is just what good BBQ is, a fact made even sadder knowing that Owensboro is NOT a very far drive. The sauce was unique as other reviews said it was, but far from worth buying a bottle. The food was also too expensive for the portion, we were very sad we didn't just get a pound because we left hungry after 9 bucks. Overall this place is okay, and just okay. Not worth a visit if you're used to good BBQ.

It was insanely busy and the staff still provided fast and friendly service. We got a pound of bbq pork with mild sauce, potato salad, and slaw. It was so, so good. I wish they had baked beans on the menu, but the other sides are so good it's definitely not a deal breaker. My family and I will definitely be back and I'm really looking forward to it.