Stamey's Barbecue 2206 High Point Road Greensboro, NC 27403 Phone: 336-299-9888

Greensboro’s Perfect Pair: Stamey’s Barbecue & Country Barbecue by H. Kent Craig ©2004

Country Barbecue 4012 West Wendover Ave. Greensboro, NC 27407 Phone: 336-292-3557

Over the past fifteen to twenty years, I’ve eaten at both Stamey’s   and Country Barbecue in Greensboro a couple of dozen times each and each of those times, have never been the slightest bit disappointed with either their Western-NC-Style BBQ or any of their sides, so I’m not going to waste a lot of words or time singing chorals of praise when a simple “folks, you’ll never be disappointed if you eat at either of these establishments, not if you like perfect four-pig rate ‘cue” will do.

Country’s barbecue to me isn’t quite as tangy as Stamey’s, and Stamey’s is a little finer chop than Country’s. Stamey’s I know uses only pork shoulders, while Country’s taste more like but isn’t quite whole hog barbecue, Country using some of the tenderloin and ham and other good parts of the pig as well.

Country Barbecue’s slaw is better than Stamey’s, while Stamey’s hushpuppies are larger and more are served to you than at Country, but their sides while okay to good to excellent aren’t the reason I visit either establishment, their 4-pig-rated barbecue is.

While, to me, the quality of their food is on par with one another, Stamey’s definitely has a broader reputation, has more name recognition, and I think part of that has to be their location which is right across the street from The Greensboro Coliseum, tens of thousands of people from all over the United States being exposed to them for that reason, much like The Golden Ox steakhouse in Kansas City (my second favorite steakhouse in the whole world, behind Blackie’s in DC) is known the world over because it sits next to The Kemper Arena in downtown KC. Whatever the reason that Stamey’s is better known than Country Barbecue is even though they’re located less than three miles from each other, it’s definitely not because there’s a nickel’s worth of difference between these two prime examples of Haute Western-NC Porcine Prime.

If push came to shove and I had to choose right now to eat at one for lunch today, I’d probably pick Country, mainly because Stamey’s while larger gets more crowded and noisier and because of that the service can become a little slow at times, while Country’s dining room is smaller and more private, especially for business lunches and dinners, and the service is a tad faster and better than Stamey’s, usually.

Stamey’s hours of operations are from 10AM to 9PM, Country is open from 6AM (yes, they’re open for breakfast) until 9PM. You really won’t go wrong, won’t be disappointed, picking either one.

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