The prices are very affordable and good size portions. The staff is friendly and inviting. The restaurant was clean and spacious. Great overall experience. Would recommend for everyone young and old. read more

It's been a long time since I have visited a Buddy's BBQ, and this visit felt more like a chain, rather than a family owned business. The food is solidly good, and it is served up quickly. I made the mistake of ordering the Brisket, because I'm used to Texas Brisket, and this is way different. Good staff, nice bathrooms, and a clean dining room. They feature a mix of Country and Bluegrass music. The lemon wedges are substantial and fresh cut. A delightful woman came by my table and offered me hot out of the fryer hush puppies. That was cool! read more

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Buddy's BBQ is perhaps my favorite "quick BBQ" place of all time. You have the option of drive thru, sit down, carry out, and dog friendly outdoor patio dining. Don't let me saying "quick BBQ" deter or confuse you with "fast food" - their BBQ is just as delicious, prepared with love and time as any small-time, dine in only BBQ joint. Many times, Buddy's BBQ has saved me with my BBQ cravings, but I need to just do a quick drive thru and not a full sit down experience. I love that they have a drive-thru option. The welcoming atmosphere and friendly staff add to the overall exceptional dining journey. We had the pleasure of dining in and drive-thru visits, and both have been excellent. Speaking of dining in, the dining room attendant (I believe her name was Brenda) was wonderful. She was so friendly, attentive to our needs, and anticipated our wants. She's truly a gem! A favorite time to visit is on their "Tuesday Special," which offers a pork dinner with two sides, hushpuppies, AND a medium drink for just $8.99! Talk about a very tasty bargain! The pulled pork is my personal favorite, while the hubby's is either the beef brisket or ribs. The potato salad and fries are our go-to sides, and do not skip that sweet tea! You'll be happy you didn't! My one complaint is that I wish fried okra was offered on the menu. Nonetheless, we've had a great experience every time, and we highly recommend Buddy's BBQ to anyone who loves bbq food. read more

I was pleasantly surprised at the smoked wings! They were GREAT! The ribs were good too! read more

Great food, even better service! Stopped in for a late lunch and the staff were very polite and friendly.

Buddy's is always great. Good food and service. Reasonable hours. Cleveland Tennessee and Athens Tennessee locations are both great

Buddy's is always has friendly service and the food is excellent. The restaurant and the restrooms are very clean.

Prices are great and food is fresh! Mrs Candace is amazing and friendly! Highly recommend checking this location out!

Very friendly staff, especially Ms. Brenda and Ms Candrance. The ribs are great & the loaded Hawg Potato was great as well.

Last month we had a very good meal from Buddy's BBQ. today, 5/28/2025 we order a pork dinner and a turkey dinner. The food looked like it was thrown into the to-go container and they gave my wife maybe a half order of baked beans. The food was edible, "it was not I want to return anytime soon". Looked at the drive-thru window like the the kids were in charge today and quality control was not part of the menu. Very disappointing. read more

Service is excellent. Restaurant very clean. Best of all the food is delicious. Brisket is excellent. Loved the coleslaw and sauce. Will go back for more! read more

Ok so I was going to Freddys and ran across this place.. their both in the same parking lot. I decided to give it a try , why not can't go wrong with bbq. Well food was ok everything hot! I enjoyed the sides, especially the corn. Oh and they give hush puppies which were great. The meat was alright the bbq sauce enhanced it. Overall this is a pretty decent bbq restaurant. I would visit again to try other meats. read more

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Food was good. Prices are fair and service was friendly. Was in town for business and stopped in for a bite and enjoyed the options they had. read more

The inside is clean. My wife ordered the half chicken with corn and fries and enjoyed it. I ordered the brisket sandwich with fries. The brisket had no flavor whatsoever. I've had the pork before and it was good for this being a fast food BBQ place, but the brisket was a waste of money. I'm sure we will be back at some point but I would stick to the pork and chicken. read more

I always stop in on my way home from work. I love to unwind in a clean, friendly environment. The staff is always amazing. The manager always speaks and I always get extra hush puppies. read more

Always a great experience! We always love to see Candace in the dining room and the new manager, Chris always has everything running smoothly! Also the girls at the register are always amazing. We love our Cleveland buddy's! See y'all again soon!!!! read more

I got the Rib Dinner with Green Beans and Slaw and added 3 extra ribs. Went through the drive thru to pick up order. Friendly and speedy. Got home, well to start the green beans are the flat kind and have strings. They are cooked to death. Strike 1. Next was the slaw, or should I say cabbage, because that is all you are getting. No carrot, purple cabbage, nothing. Sad and strike 2. Now the ribs I got sauce on the side. I like to see what I am getting then add sauce. Half of the ribs were thick and juicy. Perfect. The rest were , like the bottom of the barrel and had been there for awhile. Dried and hard. Half the thickness. they would have passed for Beef Jerky. Strike 3. You do what you want, but you have been warned. read more

We stopped by buddies barbecue for dinner one evening. It is difficult to find restaurant locations that are so helpful for someone with allergies. I would like to give a special recognition to Aaron at this location, through the drive-through, he got the ingredients just to confirm an item that was ordered would meet the expectations of our allergy. We really appreciate him going above and beyond. The food is very good, you would not categorize this as fast food. The meat is prepared very well, has a great smoky taste and the sauce is light with just a little kick. The desserts are also very good as well. read more

customer service was unparalleled and incredible. the employees were super nice and helpful. food is incredible would recommend the pork Sandwich and the environment was really awesome 5 stars read more

Usually eat here here often. Today the brisket sandwich was stone cold and totally full of fat. I tried to cut out fat and eat it but got tired of trying to find any good meat on the sandwich. Went somewhere else to eat. Won't eat here again. read more

First visit. Food was good, staff was very friendly! Atmosphere and seating was comfortable. BBQ was quite tasty! I will definitely visit Buddy's again. read more

Well I start this off by saying this out of the 3 BBQ place's we have in Cleveland Buddy's is the one I keep going to. Each day they have some kind of special from $6.99 dinner to $1 hot fudge cake. I lived in North Caroline most of my life it's the heart of pulled pork BBQ. Every time I get a pulled pork plate it takes me back home to a place called Garry's BBQ in Mooresville NC. Everything I've had from the time they opened has just been awesome and never been disappointed. read more

Buddy's Bar-B-Q - ows a plate of food and a drink - Barbeque Near Me - Cleveland, Tennessee

The service was great and the food was ok for bbq, the sauce was so-so without a lot of flavor...without sauce it was just a little smoke flavor and pretty bland. 2 reg sandwiches 1 large fri and 2 small drinks was around $15 so at least the price wasn't bad for a sit down restaurant. I'll probably eat there again but it was far from my personal favorites as far as bbq goes. read more

Wife and I were there last Saturday night for AYCE Ribs and we were not disappointed. Their ribs are smoked and some of the best I've had in many many years. I order them plain so I can apply sauce in the quantity that I choose. They were wonderful. I'm not a fan of fall of the bone meat - seems to me most of those are just overcooked. These were perfect. Sides I chose were fries and cole slaw and all meals come with hush puppies. Quick service and food served at exactly the proper temperature. Although this is a counter service restaurant an employee circulated through the dining room offering more ribs when needed. While we were there that employee was Brenda. Wonderful personality and obviously enjoys her job and working at Buddy's. The young lady who took our order was also friendly and efficient - unfortunately I neglected to get her name for recognition. Bottom line - happy employees, good service and great food. We will definitely be back. read more

Very expensive for the size portions of meat. My wife ordered the ham dinner, and it came completely drenched in BBQ sauce. I mean it was like ham/BBQ soup on a divided plate! Who would have thought ham would be served in BBQ sauce, although it is a BBQ restaurant, so I guess maybe. The french fries seemed a bit undercooked, I think they got behind and tried rushing them, so they weren't completely done. I might give them a pass because it is a new restaurant, and they might just have some kinks to work out, but first impressions are pretty key. read more

Service is SLOW! They are extremely disorganized. The brisket was mediocre at best. The baked beans taste like they just got poured out of a can. The potato salad was alright. The fries were good. read more

This is the one place you have to go if you want delicious fresh BBQ. The brisket is phenomenal and the ribs are killer. The pulled pork is good as a sandwich or on a baked potato. Also the French fries are cooked to order and they are off the chain!!! When you finish the meal top it off with a hot fudge cake for dessert and you'll taste a little bit of heaven on earth! The service is what makes the food so great as well. Everyone there is always nice and helpful and they all deserve kudos for working so hard through the virus issues. I'm there at least twice a week & i would go more if I could. read more

The service was good and the food came out quickly but for what it's worth it's was not good,the ribs themselves had no BBQ whatsoever and there were little chunks of bones riddled throughout the whole thing. The so called hot sauce was barely even mild. The hush puppies were too chewy. The fries were Phenomenal but not worth the rest of the bad food. read more

After having a great meal at the Buddy's in Chattanooga, we had high hopes for the location in Cleveland. Given the current state of things, we ordered takeout. Hubby had the pork plate and kiddos and I shared the combo plate. I also ordered a side of fries. When I got the food unpacked, we realized there were no fries and no sauces for the meats. There were also no pickles, which totally made it for me during our previous visit. The meat was quite dry and ate as though it had been held in a warming oven all day. Nothing "fell off the bone" and was more a crumbly texture. That issue was compounded by the lack of any sauce. Also, it irritates me beyond belief when I pay for something that I don't get - the fries. The two stars are because the hush puppies were pretty tasty and the ribs had good flavor although, again, not particularly tender. We won't return. There are other bbq places to try. read more

My husband and I meet for lunch here. The food is good and the service is great. Everyone that works there are very friendly and helpful. Brenda was so attentive. Great experience. read more

My son loves Buddy's and has eaten at the Athens location and also in Knoxville should at UT. My husband and I tried the "all-you-can-eat rib special" today at the new Cleveland, TN location. We also had a local Flavor certificate for $20 worth of food for $10, so it was a good deal. We were greeted as soon as we entered by Brenda who was busy making surE everyone had refills on big,, tender ribs and deliCious hot hush puppies throughout our visit. Brenda and Deborah were also busy the entire time cleaning and making sure the restaurant was clean and well-stocked. They were very friendly and all of the crew was very friendly and efficient. Our food was ready quickly and we really enjoyed it. The slaw was light with just the right amount of mayonnaise and my husband really liked the baked beans side also. It was a very nice lunch on a cold, rainy day. There are also several TVs in the dining area which were set to different sports games. The chicken is great also. read more

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