Instead of listening to the reviews, I decided to go for myself. The fried chicken is weird. No flavor and a strange batter. The pork chops were okay. The collards and string beans were decent the Mac and cheese was blah. I was surprised by how small the buffet was. I'd rather go to Golden Corral where I can get a variety of selections. They also need signs. I couldn't tell what some of the bbq items were pork or chicken. The people working there are very pleasant. read more

Ralph's Barbecue - Front of building. - Barbeque Near Me - Weldon, North Carolina

5 stars for food. 4 stars for ambience (plain, open tables, old but comfortable). 5 stars for friendly servers. 5 stars for prices. PS. 0 stars for alcohol selection = none. I got the buffet because I like it all and wanted to try it all!! Buffet has specific times for lunch and dinner but all day buffet on Saturday and Sunday. I went on a Saturday. I posted current buffet prices - but didn't get a menu. But food prices are up everywhere. Still, a great deal!! And authentic BBQ. Right off I-95, instead of a sticky Cracker Barrel or lousy Arby's. read more

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Say you're heading north on I95 in North Carolina and you get that nagging feeling you forgot something on your hastily planned 2 night trip..... Idiot!...you forgot the BBQ...Carolina whole hog BBQ but you're making good time and still have the loop to deal with so maybe some place not to far off the highway for a quick fix? That's where Ralph's Barbecue comes in....This place is huge with a whole seperate waiting and ordering wing for takeout alone and they are busy! The concept is good also because you can opt from the a la carte menu or just go for the AYCE hot buffet situated in a dining room directly out of 1969. We went for the buffet and the offerings was quite extensive with everything from salads to 3 types of whole hog.I'm no rookie so directely to the hog it is....... First plate was finely chopped already dressed with Ralph's signiture slightly sweet vinegar based sauce,fatty pale pulled belly and the darker back and rib meat mixed with cracklings and a basic cabbage slaw. The hog was fatty,silky with a surprisingly tame smoky back ground that was just right as the really smoky stuff tend to overtake and dominate the final taste of Q. There is no Sweet baby Rays or anything resembling it either on the table or buffet because this ain't Texas and the house sauce is perfect for this type of BBQ. Second plate was topped of with the crispiest fried chicken and catfish I've had in a long while along with a basic mac and cheese but I had to have another helping of that addictive slaw. The chicken was indeed crisp but held little seasoning but salt. The catfish was fresh,flaky,seasoned perfectly and along with the hog was worth the price of admission itself. Dessert was the obligatory bananna cream pie and another piece of catfish...no. not in the same plate silly. Service was excellent,atmosphere was friendly and homey and the value was great at $15.00 for lunch.Ralph's is not going to win any prizes for their BBQ but I like it because it's good ,honest, well prepared southern cooking presided over by a team of proud and friendly folks and I would definately stop here again even if they served me just the cat fish and slaw. read more

I actually wanted to give this establishment zero stars. Their was nothing good about this establishment. My family and I decided to try this because of all the talk about this barbecue joint. They give you the choice of ordering the menu or get the buffet. I decided to try the buffet so that I could tried a little bit of everything. The food was out right horrible and taste nothing but vinegar. The coleslaw didn't look like normal coleslaw like it was missing ingredients. The waitress that we had was rude when we left she didn't even bother make eye contact with us when we left. I don't know what the hype was about at this establishment. It doesn't feel like a good barbecue place because normally elsewhere you can smell the smoke. I don't recommend this place nothing was good about this place. read more

I love the buffet at this place. I love it so much, it was the last place I ate before COVID hit. Yes, I braved a buffet because this place is that good. All the Southern favorites are here, and the staff are the epitome of Southern charm. No trip to Roanoke Rapids is complete without a stop here. read more

Love Ralph's !!! Every time I visit Roanoke Rapids, It's my first stop. The barbecue with coleslaw is my absolute favorite. read more

Worst bbq ever. We got the pulled pork, chicken and collard greens. Never ever will go back here. Pork was dry as a bone Chicken was undercooked and no sauce. Collard greens nothing in it to compliment. Awful read more

I placed an order a 11:30 when I picked up my order the chicken was dry and was uneatable.

A MUST for the Country Buffet crowd. Lots of vegetables, extra special mac and cheese, lightly crusted fried chicken and fresh rolls. The banana pudding was outstanding. Friendly service. read more

Ralph's Barbecue - Ready to dig in - Barbeque Near Me - Weldon, North Carolina

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We were traveling and trying to find a decent place to stop to eat that was a step above fast food. Somehow I discovered Ralph's online, what a delightful surprise! Delicious food, good selection, and a great price! read more

Maybe they were having a bad night but the buffet presentation wasn't good, food was average but the server was awesome.

We stopped here because we were in the area on some business. I love barbeque and I had never heard of Ralph's Barbeque. The parking lot was slam full, so I though we could grab some lunch. The no.1 red flag about this place it doesn't smell like they served smoked meat that you would normally get in a barbeque joint. Turns out all of their meat is oven roasted, or brazed. No smoke flavor, and they just have the vinegar sauce on the table. They have all the BBQ sides brunswick stew, banana pudding etc... Just not any actual BBQ. I was so disappointed. We still ate, and it was good just not reflective on what the sign promises to be inside. So I feel like I got baited in and then switched when I entered. Food was actually excellent, 3 stars for the bait and switch. Nothin here but oven roasted meat and some sides. Hush puppies were also pretty bland, nothin special. Apparently the locals love this place, and why not, it is good food. Just not barbeque. read more

Delicious your last real chance for real southern food if your heading north and your first taste of southern food if your heading south. The prices are very affordable read more

Just sort of stumbled across Ralph's while traveling and delighted that I did. There isn't anything really special about it, sort of big cafeteria like buffet, but the food is good and the prices right. The BBQ pork is most typical to that of North Carolina being and pulled in longer strands instead of being kind of mushed up in a style more typical to that of South Carolina. Considering that it's a buffet, it still has a table service for eating utensils, coffee refills & etc. which I found polite, friendly and really on the ball in keeping up with customer needs as well as helpful suggestions as to which of the buffet foods are best. Another food thing about Ralph's is that it has a huge parking lot, one that you don't have to get cramped into wherein others tend to bang or chip the paint of your car when opening the doors of their cars. read more

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The reviews on here that claim this restaurant is really great, are not correct. It's a buffet and the barbecue is not actually barbecue. The only good thing on the buffet are the greens and even those might've beenfrom a can. It is a lot of food so if that's what you like then this is good but if you want quality Carolina barbecue, this is not it. Also, after we ate, by the checkout counter, we noticed that the cleanliness rating is a 93. That's just frightening. read more

Hush puppies the worst ever, the service needs some serious overhaul, technology should not be an issue, but they apparently do not answer phones and when I was there the credit card machine was having problems. However, what really got me was that they were having problems getting orders right. And I unfortunately was one of them. They need better management and need to decide they want to be a good restaurant. Go somewhere else. read more

A great place to get authentic Eastern NC style barbecue. The service was great and they made sure that the buffet was replenished and tidy. I highly recommend. read more

Cat fish good but rest was blah for the price. Need to be updated inside. Needs different food on bar same stuff every time.

Due to all the good reviews we decided to give Ralph's a try. We drove over 30 minutes from Lake Gaston, after having called twice with no response trying to confirm they were open & inquire about the buffet price. We walked in to the eating area to which my boyfriend said reminded him of Haunted House by Disney. The tables & chairs were very sticky. The food wasn't "bad", but it definitely was not worth the drive or the hype from these other reviews. The only thing i genuinely liked was the banana pudding which by itself deserved 5 stars but everything else was basically a miss. Also, nothing was labeled so you kinda had to guess what some of the things being served were. read more

Happened across this spot because the "chain restaurants" were over an hour wait and I am glad we did!!! Outstanding fried chicken, bbq, and damn the sweet potato casserole is a must have!!! I highly recommend getting the buffett for 11 dollars you can't go wrong. I will definitely stop here again on my travels. read more

Food isn't as good as before,must be new owners.The chicken was dry,bland and crusty.The stew taste like it's from a can.The iced tea used to be perfect.....it tasted stale.The place is screaming for remodeling as it gives me 1970's vibes .....what's happened to this place? read more

This is not what bbq taste like. This is Ralph s Barbecue the way he makes it ............................

Stopped based on recommendation of lady at North Carolina welcome center. In a sea of chain places off I95 exit 173 wanted to support local business. The staff was outstanding attentive and sweet. Buffet was ok, barbecue could have been warmer smothered and fried chicken were adequate sides forgettable. Did not have dessert, but the kindness of the staff made up for the food read more

$16 for buffet bar lunch, no senior discount except for Tuesdays (Golden Corral offers it every weekday). Very very limited selection, and poorly prepared. Everything cooked until it's dry and hard. Negligible flavor on anything I tried. The fried chicken consisted of a ton of batter (poorly prepared batter at that) hiding a bite or two of chicken deep inside. The BBQ pork took an effort even to cut. That may well have been the worst fried chicken I've ever had. I wouldn't feed this food to a dog! The desert bar was simply disgraceful, some mixed fruit that tasted like it was straight out of a can and two gooey and yet tasteless desserts. The following night I went to Parker's and found what BBQ is supposed to taste like. Yeah, it's all you can eat, but after sampling a little of most of the offerings, I quickly lost my appetite even though I hadn't had a bite to eat all day. In short, the prices are higher than Golden Corral, the food is even worse than GC, and the selection is infinitely inferior to GC. How do they stay open serving lousy food at high prices? read more

As a California native I have never experienced a place like Ralph's. A few miles south of the Virginia/North Carolina border, Ralph's is a family owned business that has been around since 1941. There are three choices when eating at Ralph's; a walk-up take-out window, sit-down menu orders, and an all-you-can eat buffet. I can only speak to the buffet, although I suspect the take-out BBQ sandwich is pretty good judging from the amount ordered at the window while I was at the restaurant. When you walk in you are responsible for seating yourself. No one will tell you this and there is no sign...you are just supposed to know. Upon sitting your server will place a basket of first-rate hush puppies on your table. You give your drink order and then go to the buffet. I know what you're thinking...yuck...buffet sucks! Not here. There are two types of Barbeque (of course in this part of the country this means chopped pork) plain and with the vinegar sauce mixed in already. East Carolina barbeque is tangy with a heavy vinegar flavor. I like a milder vinegar taste, and if you are like me you will want get the plain and add the right amount of sauce yourself. Most people seemed to just pile on the pre-mixed barbeque...I guess that is what the locals like. The pulled pork was excellent and the slaw was good enough to eat by itself (generally I hate slaw by itself so this is saying something). There are two types of meatloaf, red and brown, both were good but the red meatloaf was a stand-out for me. Obviously the difference is the addition of ketchup, but I suspect there was more then that as a difference because the brown meatloaf didn't brighten up with the addition of ketchup. If you only try one I recommend the red. The biscuits are obviously scratch made and fresh. You would expect no less from an authentic southern restaurant. The highlight of the meal for me was the fried chicken. I think they put crack in the batter because after one bite it was all I wanted to eat. Yummy...I can't think of a more descriptive term. Not to greasy, fresh made, crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside. They have a pig on the building...but a chicken should share equal billing. The mashed potatoes were disappointing. They were the consistency and texture of boxed potatoes. Dessert was great. The banana pudding was better then mom used to make (you know the recipe on the Nilla Wafers box) and the apple cobbler was good. I ate so much food at this meal that my wife nearly sutured my mouth closed to stop. A return visit is on my to-do list if I ever make it back to Roanoke Rapids/Weldon in the future. I am told I missed the dish on the menu, brunswick stew. I hope you enjoy. read more

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What won me over was not so much what I had that was delish. It was the fried flounder my friend had that he could not finish and he had the small portion!!!!!! I had Brunswick stew which I had never had and boy was it tasty!!!!! I also went for the pulled pork sammie and hush puppies on the side. I felt like I was home again in VA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right off 95 on the way to FL!!! Can not be beat !!!! read more

The pork came out extremely fatty and it looked like it had been sitting in water for hours. I was extremely disappointed with the atmosphere, cleanliness, and more importantly, the food. We immediately left without eating. This place needs a major overhaul. read more

Foods ok but service is terrible. I called-in my order and still had to wait 40 mins for pick-up. They have everyone in one line (those who called ahead and those who want to order at restaurant) which makes the food cold for those that order ahead. They could easily fix the problem by watching how Chick-fil-A does it or by letting the guy, whose only task appears to be opening the door, sort out the customers to appropriate windows indoors. There is no excuse at this point in the COVID times Ralph's hasn't figured out how to expeditiously get customers waited on. NOT WOTH THE WAST OF YOUR TIME! read more

This was my first time coming here and I was pretty disappointed. I was with a group of 12 and almost all of us were not very impressed by the selection, taste, or quality of the food. Definitely not worth the $12 charge per person. In addition, there weren't any signs to indicate what each dish was - Something I think every buffet should have! Although my stomach and taste buds left dissatisfied (after trying most of the food I ended up resorting to rice and salad to get full), I will say that the hush puppies were pretty tasty. The fried chicken (although a bit dry), Brunswick stew, baked beans, pulled pork, and dessert were okay but nothing to write home about. If you're looking for a decent BBQ buffet, I would try Carolina BBQ and Chicken (although I can only account for one located in the South Whitakers, NC area). read more

Ralph's Barbecue - Piglets - Barbeque Near Me - Weldon, North Carolina

This place has amazing food. Country delicious food. We try to plan our trips so that we can stop and eat here.

A Bar-B-Q buffet should have more BBQ in it. The price is reasonable, but you get what you pay for. The chicken was dry and overcooked. The only real good thing was the pulled pork. It was good enough to make up for the fact that I didn't like anything else. read more

Great small town bbq place, stew is awesome along with great pulled pork bbq. Everything has that hometown flavor, all the traditional sides. They only accept cash they have a atm. Service is good small town service. Good conversation and friendly. A must go to when in RR/Weldon area. read more

The best items we sampled were the iced tea and the salad. Waste of time and money,$ 60. I have been trying to experience food places off the beaten path that are not major chains, but in this case I wished I would have played it safe. Greens tasted out of the can, like Glory greens, fried chicken was dry, rice was soggy. The okra was good. The pulled pork was cold. Our server was busy cleaning empty tables and not busing and servicing our table. She never picked up empty plates nor did she refill glasses of tea. Typically I thought this is what is done at buffets to justify the server's tip. She refilled all ketchup bottles and hot sauce bottles including ours though we were still sitting there eating. I would have prefer we she done every empty table around us and wait until we were gone to do tat. Bad form I hoped dessert would save the day. But unfortunately that did not break this underperforming trend. The cake was mushy, and the banana pudding cookies were soggy as well. read more

This really did not meet expectations. The waitress was very nice but the food quality was poor. The buffet is ok if you are an "all you can eat" kind or person and you don't really care what you are eating. We didn't try the BBQ (it wasn't appetizing) and the free hush puppies had no flavor and were greasy. Unfortunately, this isn't the little roadside gem we had hoped for during a long drive. read more

Ralph's Barbecue - Barbeque Near Me - Weldon, North Carolina

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This is my go to BBQ place in NC. My 8 year old son loves the selection. Highly recommend! read more

Hands down my favorite place for bbq. I love the vinegar based minced pork with slaw and Brunswick stew and hush puppies. Add sweet tea and I am in heaven. My Uncle Henry used to work here for years and years quite a while ago. He would never tell me the recipe for the slaw and I've tried many recipes and I cannot find one like it. So good. I think I liked it better before the buffet existed. Then there were leftovers I could take home. The restaurant is right off of I95. Big parking lot. Has little neon pigs running across the roof. Or at least it used to. Oh, and Will Ferrell eats here too. read more

We've eaten here three times on our roadtrips north. Last night's visit will be our last! We arrived at 7:35, thinking they were open until at least 9:00 since it was a Friday night (we did not see hours posted). At 7:45, we asked if they closed at 8:00, since they were taking down the buffet (that costs $15.95 per person on Friday night). No, we close at 8:30. Well, after my first trip to the buffet for salad, I returned for the meal. The entrees were getting cold. Do you know how bad cold fried fish and shrimp are? Nothing on the bar was getting replenished. Listening to the clean up crew, we found out they turned off the steam tables at 7:45! (Health Department, are you watching??) On top of the buffet being closed, the entire restaurant was being torn down so they could leave. Floors being swept and tables being pulled out. We didn't get any service since she was more concerned in quitting time. Management couldn't have cared any less. He was more concerned we got all we wanted. No, we didn't want any more cold, fried seafood. I will end on a positive note, the restaurant will be clean for the next shift. read more

First time here. I ordered chopped sandwich, scallop dinner and hush puppies. I'm an older guy and not picky and or fussy about food. I know what's good and am reasonable. First the good. The chopped bbq sandwich was good and I would order it again. The vinegar sauce was tangy. The coleslaw was ok. For 6 bucks it was not a great deal because it's hamburger bun size. For 5 bucks it would be a lot fairer. The Hush puppies. They are hands down the worst I ever had. They were 98% flour and not seasoned. I again have never had worse. The scallop dinner was served with fries. Scallops were 4 out of 10 rating with 10 being fresh and not over cooked. The fries were nothing really special. The cole slaw was a 2 out of 10. Not even as good as the kind you get out of a Food lion or Giant food store. It was grinded to almost a whipped state. If you took cabbage and stuck it in a blender and added cole slaw dressing that was unremarkable at best then blended it for a while then that's what it was like. It was a weird kind of "airy" and lacked any real southern comfort food. Would I come back? No. Would I recommend it. Oh no. People here forgot what's good. Even the sweet tea was not good. I would avoid this place and go to eat at the Waffle House a block down the road. Ralph's is not good eats. read more

Ralph's is huge and there aren't a lot of choices in the area. It's a BBQ buffet and it is OK. It's not great, but probably better than the options in the area. On the buffet is pulled and chopped pork. Chopped was better than the pulled. The pork was probably braised or cooked in a stainless. No smoke was involved at all, so it's pig, but it's not really BBQ. Slaw was great. Cabbage was good. Fried chicken was overly breaded and not too great. Big supply of desserts that looked promising. Folks were friendly and it was an easy in and out. This place is fine, but it's nothing special. It's a place to go and eat too much decent food. Keep hunting. I'm sure there's some smoke about somewhere in this neck of the woods. read more

My sister asked me to stop by this place on my way to Virginia. She asked me to get a quart of Chopped BBQ. The menu said $13.00 but the lady charged $28 bucks. When I disputed she told me that was the price. I think she knew I was an out of towner. It's sad but that's how my black people treat their own. I've never had a good experience with African American southerners. God help. I had another black owned business in NC cheat me out of $10. I gave her a $20 dollar bill she gave me no change back. That's why I deal with the other persuasion. I'm African American with a little native Indian in my blood but for some reason my African American folks don't like me. Go figure! read more