I've been trying to figure out exactly how to express my experience at Keystone BBQ.. mainly because, it never had a chance to happen! There were two guys working the grill and prep station making sandwiches for the 3 customers ahead of me. At first I thought maybe they were just trying to get their orders rolling before taking mine.. then 5 minutes passed.. still wasn't even greeted.. normally I'd expect something like "Hello, we'll be right with you!" But not even an acknowledgement that I was standing in front of the register. Between 5-10 minutes there were two couples that had lined up behind me and ultimately left because no one was taking orders or acknowledging the customers in line.. finally, after 12 minutes of waiting I walked away without ever having been greeted or acknowledged in any way. No eye contact, no smile, nothing. But, since I was there to watch them prep the three sandwiches for the customers ahead of me I can tell you that this place is just like any other fast food restaurant. Nothing is fresh. Every piece of meat or food I saw them prepare was cold or frozen and then heated up. They also use Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce, which admittedly I like, but I think seeing huge containers used to fill up their squeeze bottles just put a bad taste in my mouth overall. If I'm you, I'd remind the owner by not eating at this place, that good businesses are ones where addressing your customers presence and welcoming them to your establishment is your #1 priority outside of the actual quality/taste of the food.. for comparison, look at how Chick-Fil-A runs their business.. read more

I should've read the first review and avoided this place completely. I ordered the pulled chicken bowl which game with 2 tiny chinked pieces of chicken (not pulled) covered in coleslaw. The two girls behind the counter were too busy laughing and chatting instead of making food and securing the lid to my pickles which eventually opened in the bag and my arm. Nothing but an overpriced, lazy and frustrating experience. ($15.00!!) I'm only giving them a star because the bathroom was clean. AVOID if you can! read more

Keystone Roadside BBQ - a plastic container of food - Barbeque Near Me - Allentown, Pennsylvania

Food not good. They scoop cold meat out of a bucket. Throw it on the grill to heat it up. Weird way to serve brisket. You also don't get much meat. Staff are also grumpy! Just saw John O's review. His is better than mine. You need to read it. If you already made the mistake of eating here before reading the reviews, at least you will get a good laugh (it's so funny, but spot on). John O., you made my whole family laughed our asses off! We had tears running down our faces we enjoyed it so much. Thanks John O. Your review was the only good thing about eating at Keystone Roadside Barbecue. I give Keystone Roadside Barbecue 5 shit emojis too! Hopefully those scoops of crap they serve won't give us diarrhea!! read more

Avoid this place at all costs. I was on my way up the road and had to make a pitstop. Figured while I was there, I'd grad a quick bite to eat. Oh look, a BBQ place, sounds good, I'll give it a try. Mistake #1. I should have known better when I didn't see anyone in line or even looking at the menu, but no, I was hungry and I'll always go with BBQ if available. I ordered the Beef Brisket sandwich. It comes with tots and vole slaw and 1000 island dressing. What I was not aware of was that it was all on the sandwich. WTF is that about. Why would I want tots on my brisket sandwich?? Anyway, the sandwich came on a kaiser bun. With 2 pieces of shitty ass pre-made BBQ, a few tots, a scoop of cole slaw, thousand island dressing, and a slice of cheese. Not a good combo. Now Congress has had hearings on Benghazi, Steroids in sports, and Executive nominees, but what they really need to have a hearing on, is to have someone answer for that debacle of food intended for human consumption. Where is Rep. Gowdy when you need a real congressional ass chewing.??? Anyway, it was almost $10 for that shit show sandwich. No drink. No sides, nothing, just that disgusting pile of crap. I don't know how to emphasize enough how you should stay away from that place. I only gave it one star because there was no option for 5 poop emojis, so here they are. If I get dysintary from this, I'm gonna be pissed !!!!! read more

Was pleasantly surprised to see this addition to the Allentown Service Plaza. A welcome change from the burger/soft pretzel/coffee places. Sadly this place fell WAY short... making Roy Rogers look like a beacon in the night. Ordered a pulled pork sandwich, which was so buried in creamy coleslaw that you could hardly find the pork. When I did though... it was nothing but hunks of fat covered in bbq sauce. (I spit out more bites than I swallowed!) The employees were another story... uninterested and border-line rude. (I actually overheard the cashier talking to an older gentleman who was in line to ask a question... and she said very dismissively "yeah, this place isn't cheap". To which, the gentleman looked at her with raised eyebrows... and promptly walked away.) Huge potential... but definitely missing the mark. read more

Located in the Allentown service plaza, off the PA Turnpike, Keystone Roadside BBQ offers a refreshing potential change from the usual fast food offerings at most service plazas. Key word: potential. The problem with this place is the only thing worse than the employees is the food. The employees grasp of customer service is tenuous at best, complicated by their inability to understand the English language, stop talking amongst themselves, and get off their phones. Once you finally make clear what you want the real problem starts. And that problem is the food. It is obviously not made on site, not made well, and not made with quality ingredients. The pulled pork failed to be pulled - a slightly larger than a golf ball sized hunk of fatty, room-temperature, barely seasoned pork-like substance next to a smaller glob of cabbage that was purported to be cole slaw. The burnt end baked beans had no burnt ends and were indistinguishable from a freshly opened can from the supermarket - the cheap ones, not even Bush's or Grandma Browns. All that for the low price of $15. Had it been good, or edible, and I didn't need to wait 15 minutes even though there were only two other customers, it would be OK. Anything is better than another terrible fast food meal while on the road. Or so I thought. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. read more

I don't know what was worse... Watching the ridiculously slow employees making my order or the actual food itself? Can only blame myself because this is the second time I've tried it and it was just as bad as the first. Loaded tater tot's and chili are definite no's. read more

What a disappointment. I ordered the pulled pork bowl. It came with something that looked like pork but had the taste and texture of soup. The "crunchy onions" were not onion rings, but more like flavorless fried onions. The cole slaw was just veg. I didn't notice any sauce to it. Service was slow and the guy forgot my order and tried to give me the next guys food. read more

Crazy long wait for a rest stop!! A restaurant at a rest stop should not take 19 minutes to hand you a sandwich. There should be a warning before you order. If you go to Allentown rest stop avoid this place unless you have lots of the me to wait. read more

Portions are so small and expensive that I could only come up with one theory. The owner must be looking to make as much money in a short amount of time. In other words he/she is going too rip off travelers for a few years and then close the doors. Because there is no possible way that any sane human being could be proud of the products coming across the counter. read more

Wow. I would have given zero stars if i could. The food is HORRIBLE. Sandwich bread is DRY and they barely put anything on the sandwich. Not worth the $10 per sandwich i spent. The staff is SLOW AS nothing i have ever seen. I and the other 7 customers standing there , waiting, were all rolling our eyes and hoping we got our dinner before breakfast tomorrow. We will never go there again, id rather starve read more

Ordered a side of pulled pork yesterday and it was fine. Tried to do the same today and they told me I couldn't.

Wow, just wow. I thought this might just be a good alternative to the other places in this rest stop. Nope. Food is really bad. Customer service was terrible. The young woman working there was very rude. There's only a few things on the menu, which would be fine... if they had all the components of each option. I ordered a salad and was not informed they had run out of dressing. When I went back I was told "I don't know what you want me to tell you." An apology would have sufficed. Even the manager, while reluctantly refunding my money, did not say a word. Didn't even make eye contact. A little customer service- or even just human decency- would go a long way for a tired traveler and his family. We got none of that here. Stick to the awful chains- at least you'll get a smile. read more

Food portions are very small. The servers were uppity and the cost for what you get is way too high. The only reason I'm giving them 2 stars instead of 1 star is the quality of the food was good, but not enough per serving. I do not recommend this place. I was still hungry after $12.49. read more

I was excited to see something different from the usual chicken and burgers when I walked in to the Allentown Travel Plaza for a quick bite on my way to Philadelphia. Chastity was my server. I don't know if she hates life or just her job but I watch as she made customer after customer wait to order and then have the most horrible attitude during the entire transition. Her co-worker was to busy flirting with the boys in the pizza business next door to get any kind of move on in preparing the food. I just wanted my money back but couldn't. Imagine what that would entail. I had the pulled pork. I thought their sandwich was ok. 8 dollar sandwich. Overall experience not worth an ok sandwich. read more

I love the way the employees look right through you while you stand in front of them instead of asking to take your order.

Quite surprised by this place in the Allentown service plaza. I had low expectations being in a rest stop, but figured it wouldn't be worse than Roy Rogers or gas station food. I bought the brisket bowl and am pleased. Now it wasn't the best BBQ ever, but it wasn't bad, and was actually pretty good! Nice and tender, smoked well, and good flavor. Cole slaw and taters were normal and good too. Can't complain and very pleased I stopped by. Also, I will say I took a look and the pulled pork and chicken and they didn't look to be too notch. read more

Brisket was poor quality and not tender as if it was smoked in a hurry. Very low grade BBQ select another option if you can!!

Awful. Beef brisket closely resembled beef jerky. The coleslaw (which also has little flavor) was spread across the meat and I'm pretty sure I could have fit the entire serving into one bite. For $10, I'd call it the worst value possible. Zero stars. Never again. read more

Customer service is atrocious. No greeting no smile. Just a dead stare and no words spoken. She looked pissed that I came to order something. I ordered the cheese steak sandwich and all I got was a very ugly "what cheese" I answered and was followed up with a "peppers and onion?" Her name is Aurelay and she is not a good face for your business. If she is the face your customers get to experience, based on this intersection I will never go to one again. And when she finished making my sandwich she wrapped it put it on the bag and dropped it on the counter like refuse. I was standing right there. I thought she was going to get something and when I didn't attempt to take the bag she got budgeted at me and nodded her head forward at me like "are you going to take it?" I said thank you and still got no reply. read more

Some of the best BBQ pulled pork I've ever had, so much so that I went back inside and told them! I really enjoyed the pulled pork bbq sandwich with coleslaw, etc on it. The meat and sauce as well as the flavor of the overall sandwich was perfect, IMHO. I, personally, recommend this place at one of the PA Turnpike rest areas heading West in central PA. Much better than the standard fast food choices. BBQ place is like real home cooking, and I'm glad it was an option at the rest area. Nice staff, too. They seemed to work well with each other, also. Thanks for the delicious food! read more

This place was horrible. The food taste like is shut out all day and had absolutely no flavor Your Love... The customer service was just as bad if not worse than the food. Please do not eat here ... I should have tried Roy Rogers read more

Stopped here on a road trip, waited 15 minutes and the food wasn't even started yet. Cooks only made a single order at a time when several people were waiting so customers began asking for their money back, myself included. read more

Should of read previous reviews. Ordered Mac N'Cheese which was super runny, more like a cheese soup with pasta. Pulled pork was very sweet and way more coleslaw than anything else. My son enjoyed the beef brisket chilli. Service was terrible. I was the only one standing at the cashier waiting to order-3 employees chatting away with each other. Rude cashier, dismissive and interrupted my order to chat with other co-workers. Lesson learned, will observe which places have longer line ups (higher chance food is better)...should of realized how unusual it is for a food place to have no line up during peak lunch hour. read more