Tennessee's BBQ Framingham

I remember visiting a location of theirs in Peabody shortly after they opened many many years ago and never went back. Today I paid a visit to Tennessee's Real BBQ at their Framingham location since I figured that if they are still in business after so many years, they must be doing something right.

I must admit that after seeing their storefront, I went "Tennessee's what?" Plenty of parking.

The inside was OK, plenty of seating. Order at the counter and then pick up at the other counter. They were surprisingly busy on a Sunday when the Pat's play at 1:00.

I figured that the Blue’s Rib Combo ($18.79) with 2 Memphis, 2 Baby Back & 2 Texas Beef Ribs would give me the best chance to sample their BBQ offerings. It comes with three sides and I went with the Cucumber Salad, Collard Greens and the Smashed Potatoes with Gravy. The Cucumber Salad was inoffensive and didn't really stand out. The Collard Greens were completely bland, I could see bacon, onions and some meat in there, but it tasted of nothing. The Smashed Potatoes turned out to be garlic mashed potatoes (with the skins left in) sans the garlic but apart from that they were good as was the gravy. As for the ribs, they didn't have the beef ribs, so I got brisket instead. The Baby Backs was nice with a good pull on the meat, but no smoke ring and they tasted only faintly of smoke, The Memphis ribs were fine but again, no smoke ring and just a hint of smoke. The ribs had sauce on them so I couldn't taste the flavor of the rub. The brisket was the same except it didn't have any smoke flavor at all. None, but it was nice and tender and even had some fat left on it and that's a plus in my book. Their thick Hot BBQ sauce was actually hot and the likewise thick Tangy BBQ sauce was very pleasant. But I must say that even Blue Ribbon BBQ on a bad day does a better job than this.