For some time now people lined up in long lines with the hope of getting a taste of Mama Jean's BBQ…read moreout of their very popular Food truck. But today, they didn't have to, because the owner's dream of having one day a brick-and-mortar Mama Jean's BBQ Restaurant came true! After being awarded the Yelp NC Triad Squad Yelper of the Year 2024 Award at the Yelpies Award Ceremony last year, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, celebrating their contributions and accomplishments throughout the year, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and businesses, and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Mama Jean's BBQ Restaurant, in Roanoke, Virginia, is a perfect example. At precisely 11:00AM this morning, the long awaited Mama Jean's BBQ Restaurant finally opened its doors to the public, and I was fortunate enough to be one of the first ones to be there for this momentous occasion. Located at 3404 Brandon Ave in Southwest Roanoke, it occupies the building where Jimmy V's Restaurant used to be, but with a complete renovation that went above my highest expectations. I arrived early at about 10:30AM when people were just starting to arrive and line up on a covered porch surrounding one side of the building. I quickly parked my Lexus in their conveniant parking lot and got in line. A gentleman standing in line next to me from Brent Mountain was planning on getting his Smoked Turkey and gravy, to take to their Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, on Thanksgiving Day. As we waited in line to enter the restaurant, two restaurant's lady employees came around to take alcohol drink orders and credit card payments, and then brought back their drinks so they could drink while waiting. Along the porch, they had these warmers to warm the customers up in the evenings since they now planned to stay open until 7:00PM, The new hours of operation would be Wednesdays through Sunday 11:AM to 7:00PM. Inside, I was very impressed with the simple yet eclectic decor with artworks hanging from the walls which were a combination red bricks and white painted walls. The shiny flores and light treatment made the restaurant stand out. The bar was also decorated in very good taste. The small size of the place just gave it a warm and cozy ambiance in which one could enjoy their food and drinks. Most people were ordering their food by the pound to take out, but a few, like me, ordered ours to dine in and experience Mama Jean's BBQ in the comfort of a brick-and-mortar restaurant. The lady and gentleman, at the ordering counter were very friendly and helpful. When I explained I wanted to dine in and try a couple of BBQ items and sides, the lady suggested that I design my own try with one meat and two sides. Iincreased it to two meats: 1/4 lb of Pulled Pork and 1/4 lb of Brisket, with sides of Coleslaw and Mashed Potatoes. To drink I had a Cherry Coke. When the food was ready a server would call out our name and bring it to our table. On the condiment table they had the plastic silverware, together with the different BBQ sauces. The food was amazingly delicious. Now I knew fist hand what all the hipe was.all about. I would have had one of their banana puddings as dessert but it was getting late for my 12 Noon appointment for my haircut. I highly recommend this brick-and-mortar BBQ restaurant that used to be a Food Truck, and invite you to view my photographs and video clips that accompany this review to get a better sense of the place and the quality of its food.

Out on the road, I visit a lot of restaurants, because let's be honest, on the road, there's not…read moremuch better than a good piece of meat. Consequently, I end up at a lot of BBQ joints. On New Years Day, 2026, I found myself at a new BBQ hotspot in Roanoke, VA. Welcome to Mama Jean's. They started as a food truck, 2018. In 2025, they moved into a building. It reminds me of every BBQ joint in Alabama or Mississippi. If they have any problems right now, it's not enough seating. The menu glowed with all the BBQ mainstays, brisket, pulled pork... And then I hit something I don't recognize, baudin balls. This Louisiana specialty is a ball of pork and brisket and fried like a hushpuppy. For a BBQ lover, like myself, it is perfection. But I am distracted, let's keep going. The ambiance of this place is pure southern hospitality. Everyone knows your name and works together to make sure no one leaves this place unsatisfied. My own experience was brought to me by a lovely lady who will from this moment forward be known as, her Majesty, Queen Daphne. She took the time to make sure I understood what I needed and was pleased with the experience. This team understands customer service! And finally, the highlight of Mama Jean's BBQ, the meal! I ordered, well, everything. Brisket, pork, some ribs. Heck, I even bought the hat... From the moment I took my first bite of the brisket, I knew every cent I spent was well given. I mean do the kids need a college education? Maybe. Do I need this brisket? Definitely. It melted in my mouth. I took the whole sausage, not all at once mind you. You have to build up to that. You ladies understand. Make sure you don't forget the balls, baudin balls. Served five at a time, they are the perfect side dish for that moment when the flavor of the sausage veritably explodes in your mouth. Ah, Mama Jean, I will be coming back to Roanoke if for nothing more than your meat... Follow on note, this is a family friendly restaurant... ;-)

I attended the friends and family soft opening tonight and what a beautiful evening for this food…read moretrucks debut. There were many in attendance and with my family present, it was great to have such a smorgasbord to taste! For starters, all the ingredients are fresh - except the fries - and you can really taste the freshness. Smash burgers were on point and many options left you wanting to try each one. I think we had at least three different ones - including the classic smash, the Kenny smash and the plain smash. All served on amazing soft Martins potato buns. We also had a couple hot dogs - the manhattan and the Star City. Loved the Dr Pepper chili sauce and the NYC onion sauce was a mix of mustard, ketchup in onions and spices and blended nicely with the sauerkraut and spicy mustard. French fries are crispy and battered and cooked perfect. My brother in law ordered the Gahbage plate - a favorite from Rochester, NY and it is not for the lite eater! It is a packed meal of hamburger, hot dog, on top of the fries and topped with chili meat sauce, mustard and a side of macaroni pasta salad on top. Wow. A lot of food!! My sister had the chopped cheese and it was fabulous. We also purchase a couple of cookies that were being offered from a local bakery and they were gobbled up as well. Prices are amazing and felt we could have easily paid more for each item! This was the inaugural kickoff of the food truck and I easily see this as being a favorite in the area. Service was awesome - friendly staff wanting to make you full and hope you return. And yes - we will be following this truck and yes. we will return. Great job!

The Star City Bodega have the best hotdogs and fries in the Roanoke area. Their prices are very…read morereasonable and service is top notch. I think they are the BEST food truck in the Roanoke!

To be clear, this is a food truck, and I am rating it as such. It is set up in a gas station…read moreparking lot. They did put out a single table for me to eat there, but it has nothing to offer in the way of ambience. Weather may also be a factor, and when I arrived at the post opening time they were still setting up. The reason I have a high opinion of the place is not any of those things, but that it offers the distinctive home-cooked taste of a cuisine that is not otherwise available in the region to my knowledge. It is vegetarian South Indian and most of the options revolve around lentils and spices. I sampled a preparation I hadn't had before of ildi, a steamed rice and lentil cake, with some mouthwatering spicy powder. My spicy dosa, which I made it clear I wanted really spicy, was indeed fiery, but also possessed the delightful crispness and mix of sour and savory flavors distinctive to this cuisine. I also note that sometimes the salt in sambar overwhelms me but I didn't have a particularly tough time here; the flavors of the spices were enough without the ridiculous oversalting that some restaurants do. It is a taste that I would be happy to come back for in the near term and I would try virtually everything they offer.

absolutely amazing food!! this little food truck puts out some of best Indian food bar none. first…read moreSudha is a very sweet lady who is more then helpful for those who might not know some of the dishes. All of the food here is vegetarian, but she can cook these dishes with such a depth of flavor and perfection that even the most ardent carnivore will be blown away. We had the masala dosa, samosa chat, dahi puri, vegetable manchurian, and finished everything off with a magi lassi and an order of carrot dessert. everything was seasoned perfectly, with layer upon layer of flavor. There is a nice sitting area next to the truck where you can sit an enjoy your meal. please take an opportunity to venture to out to this incredible dining spot and let Sudha take your taste buds on an adventure.

I truly believe this is the best burger in all of Virginia (and I've tried a lot of burgers!)!!!…read more My personal favorite is the I'm So Bleu burger - blue cheese crumbles with an onion ring?!?! Gastronomically brilliant! Thin crispy fries. I cold soda. Nothing better :)

Food truck had a limited menu. Selected the steak sandwich…read more Ready in about 7 minutes; came with Ruffled potato chips. Sandwich was delicious. Will absolutely eat here again. Initially I thought it was a little pricy, but it was loaded with meat, and very tender.

Oh man, I'm so happy we got to dine here and on Cinco de Mayo - fun! The food was delicious,…read moreeveryone was so friendly - I even recognize people from TikTok (super cool) - it was a vibe. We got there fairly early - the parking lot was BUSY but we got seated right away, and had the sweetest young gal as our waitress (she had mentioned she only had been there 3 months) - very polite and explained things well. You must get the fresh guacamole and chips - SO FRESH - you can taste it! Everything we had was so fresh, flavorful, hot and delicious! If you're in the area or visiting - must try!

I stopped here for lunch! Amazing food! I ordered the agua fresca melón, which was very hydrating…read moreand refreshing. Alongside the chips and guacamole! Peaking to the appetite! Yum! For my main course, I ordered the street tacos. One carne asada, pollo, barbacoa, tripa frito. All delicious and flavorful! The salsas also hit the spot. The reason for 3 stars instead of 5, is the fact that service was mediocre. After my food was dropped off, my waitress Joselyn did not check in once. When she dropped off the check, she never picked it up. I had to walk to the front to pay for my meal. Great place, but customer service can be improved. I did share my concerns with management. Ambiance is nice and upbeat!

Minority owned by a husband and wife, although if you ask the husband he says she is the boss!…read more The menu is ever changing. Just as they opened the owner brought out a plank with the newest additions, from a creek burger to a pickle burger with ranch and toppings. My wife had the pickle burger and said it was delicious, while I had the bacon cheese burger with thicker cut bacon. (Note this is not what was listed in the other yelp write ups, the owner said the thick cut was replaced with a slightly thinner cut.) The fries weren't much to speak of, shoe strings but they were hot! Everything was. All was delicious. If you see this place, read the menu and enjoy!

Great place great staff great food. Great venue. Mark it a stop awesome and it's local who doesn't…read morewant to support local

Came to Parkway Brewery to get a beer and eat and this food truck was there. I ordered the mac and…read morecheese bites and pulled pork sandwich. Food was okay! Not the best sandwich I had but it filled me up. Had to wait about 10 minutes for the food to come out but the person I ordered from was friendly. It was hard to find a table near the food truck. The mac and cheese bites were pretty good. I was very hungry so this tasted good.

This is a hidden gem that exceeded our expectations during our recent breakfast visit. The daily…read morespecials caught our attention our attention, and we were delighted with the variety and the quality of the food of the food. The food was excellent and the service was top notch! With indoor seating of a train car. They have excellent daily specials! The great music playing was enjoyable for all ages. I would definitely recommend it and we will be returning for more!

Don't let the name confuse you. Taqueria Rosita is much more than a place where they sell delicious…read moretacos and Mexican food. It's a restaurant with an amazing Hispanic food menu, serving the most popular cuisines from Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador. This local, woman owned restaurant had it's humble beginnings from a food truck, and now it finally has a location of its own. Conveniently located in one of the establishments on the popular Williamson Road in Roanoke, Virginia, the restaurant enjoys a large dining space as well as a nice size space along side it to rent for private parties as well. This room contains a music and disco lighting system, as well as it's being prepared with a full bar. The restaurant was easy to find because its front exterior is painted purple with a yellow and gray awning, and it's almost across the street from the 7-11 on Williamson Road. There are plenty of parking up front and around the restaurant. As you enter the restaurant through a couple of glass doors, there is small foyer painted bluishgreen with a large gold WELCOME sign high above on the wall, a mirror, a glass table with a lamp and a hand ornament doing the shape of a heart, and some kind of an artificial plant inside a long pot. Then as you senter the restaurant itself it is painted the same color with a long beautiful granite floor (the type you would find in Latin countries) with many live plants next to the front window. As I walked through the long and narrow dining room of the restaurant with booths on the walls of both sides and tables with chairs in the middle they was a family eating on one of the booths and another customer was leaving with a To Go orders. At the end there was a counter where a friendly young lady greeted me and told me to have a seat at any table when I told her I was eating in. I went and sat at a booth. The colorful menus were already on the table of the booth. All the main items listed had photos and descriptions of them which helped greatly for the customers who weren't familiar identify them. I was surprised to find many popular dishes of other Hispanic countries besides Mexico on the menu. Items such as Baleadas, Pupusas, Tajadas con Carne Molida, to name a few. Then my server arrived with a basket of Tortilla Chips, greeted me with a smile and asked what I wanted to drink. I asked her what fruit drinks they had and when she mentioned Mango, I asked for one of those, even if it wasn't on the menu. When she came back with it I ordered El Cipote as my main entrée. It seems like this is a popular Honduran dish. I invite you to view my photographs of the menu to read and see all the items it contained. I wasn't about to visit a Taqueria restaurant for the first time and not try their tacos, so I asked my server if they could prepare me a couple of pork tacos as an appetizer. She was so accommodating that she went to the kitchen and in a reasonable time brought the tacos to me. They looked beautiful and tasted amazingly delicious, full of plenty of meat, and accompanied by cooked onions and a slice of lime. Their Chips with Salsa were also very good and unique. The chips were thicker than any other I've ever had and the salsa had just the right thickness and flavor with little chunks of the ingredients as well. When my main entrée arrived it looked like a Culinary Masterpiece. It was served on a long circular wooden tray and contained: fried pork chunks served with rice with pigeon peas, beans, sweet fried (ripe) plantains, sausage (chorizo), pico de gallo, jalapeño, and corn tortillas. Each item tasted amazingly delicious and together they made for a wonderful dining experience. I believe any day can be made special with a wonderful meal. And this was precisely one of the few restaurants where I have experience this happen. For dessert I ordered a flan, after walking over to the dessert display refrigerator and seeing the size and look of the flan. It was the largest and one of the better tasting flan that I've ever had. While I was dining I noticed that the restaurant had an adjacent party room that they rented out for functions or parties. It had a wonderful music and disco lighting system, as well as a full bar at the end. (They are in the process of obtaining their liquor license). I asked if they could turned the lights and music on so I could get some video clips to include in this review. Watch the clips for yourself. Amazing music sound and colorful lighting system. After I paid the bill with my credit card at the cashier counter, I thanked the manager, who by the way had come by my table to say hello and to see that everything was to my satisfaction, and took my doggy bag they had prepared for me to take home with the food I couldn't eat there, and walked outside to take a look at a truck that I had seen parked their selling some type of fruits. It seems they had a custm In conclusion, I highly recommend this restaurant for all the above reasons.

Outstanding Mexican/Central American food made fresh! We've eaten in every Mexican restaurant in…read morethe Lynchburg area, have vacationed in Cabo twice and lived in San Antonio for five years. This is the real deal!! Th

Celebrating some of the best women small business owners, I can't think of a better person to…read moreinclude than the owner of Kippy's Kustard. I met her for the first time when my friend and I arrived at her amazing Kustard business, housed in a small, cute, yellow trailer, parked in a parking lot, high on top of a mountain next to a college, at 1819 Electric Road, in the corner of Keagy Road and Sugar Loaf Mountain in Roanoke, Virginia. As you well know "Frozen Custard is more creamy and flavorful on the palate since it's not as cold as ice cream. It also has a higher content of egg yolks and butter fat". For ten years she has been sharing this information with her customers, who she also considers as friends, through her amazingly delicious Frozen Custard. When we arrived to the trailer on a bright and windy sunny day, Keller quickly opened the window of the trailer and welcomed us with a warm greeting and a big smile. You could immediately tell that she was a people person and had a delightful personality. She genuinely enjoyed talking with us about her business. The business has also provided a means of her spending time with her twins - daughter Jordan and son, Noah - who have both joined her in the stand, as well as some of their friends. This and the people she interacts with daily have been one of the best things about having the custard stand. On the side of the trailer, she has posted several sheets of menus with an amazing variety of ways we can order her frozen custard. Since it was our first time there we both ordered a Vanilla Chocolate Twist in a Large Waffle Cone. Since it was extremely windy and somewhat cold, we ate the custards standing up next to the trailer. They we amazingly delicious: very soft and creamy. We looked forward to returning when the weather gets nicer and have another custard with more things on it, sitting at one of the tables with umbrellas provided in the area. I highly recommend this Frozen Custard Stand. It is an extraordinary sweet dining experience eating these amazing Frozen Custards and interacting with the friendly owner of the business who is so warm and friendly and such a wonderful personality that you would think you've known her all your life.

I could not figure out why there was a frozen custard van that is apparently set up permanently in…read morethe parking lot to a nursing school. There weren't any nurses around after hours, so it was an isolated spot. And yet some other people drove up after me so apparently they have a non-nurse customer base as well. The custard was available in chocolate or vanilla only, but they had a range of menu options, including several based on banana. The one I ordered had cherry and chocolate. It's not a place that will reset expectations and you can't really get anything without eggs or dairy, but the basic pleasure that it delivers will work for many.

Chef Cori Oram is a talented and dependable professional. She recently catered a dinner for 10 at…read moreour home using seasonal and local ingredients. She prepared an heirloom tomato salad, scallops and risotto with asparagus sautéed with pancetta. For dessert she made mini trifle cups with blueberry mango, lemon curd and fresh whipped cream. She was focused but also kind and engaging with guests. Everyone had a great time and I would definitely recommend her.

My loyalty is now with CR infused catering. With Todays world it is difficult to find a place that…read morehas a combination of good quality food and service. My family not only experienced great food with a beautiful display, the host were very welcoming and family oriented. Excited to say my family has a new go to!!!!