Review of Dirt Road BBQ in Trinity, AL

      I usually review restaurants on Google, urban spoon, or yelp, but they do not have this place listed. So I will do that here now.  First it is a small place in a colorful shopping center on Hwy 24.  The people are nice and friendly and they did their best to get the order accurate.  The restaurant is very clean and neat and tidy.  The menu is easy to understand and read.
     How about the food? Well it was ok.  My husband had the beef brisket.  He said it was alright.  It did not stand out to him.  It tasted like roast with bbq sauce.  My daughter had the grilled chicken with white sauce.  She liked the white sauce.  I had the fried catfish.  I liked the catfish's taste but not the portions.  Way too small.  Only one fillet for a charge of $12.99!  I was very disappointed in that!  I expected left over fillets.  Way too pricey for what I received.
      The sides were disappointing, as well.  I wanted them to be good! I ordered almost all of them hoping they would be awesome.  But they were not.  The 'loaded potato salad' was red potato salad with ranch dressing.  I expected cheese and bacon.  Not ranch dressing.  Gross.  Ranch and red potatoes are not two things I would ever make at home.  Red potatoes taste so good with rosemary, garlic, butter, ...but ranch!
      The baked beans were not bad.  But they were not memorable either.  I do not like canned baked beans at all.   So these were a little better but not much.  The fried potatoes and onions were cold and hard.  Like they had sat there waiting to be served for over an hour.  Not at all appetizing.  They are actually shredded hashbrown potatoes with diced onions.  I was not impressed with those.  I LOVE potatoes, my favorite food, but these were too bland and ice cold to be edible.
     The mac and cheese was better than most places.  It appears that they use real cheese and not pasteurized processed cheese food.  So that is a plus for sure.  Those seemed to be the most edible out of all of the sides we tried.  The fried okra was not fresh battered and fried. It was a really generic frozen version of fried okra and not even one of the good frozen kinds.  This kind was bland.  We ordered it well done.  But the okra on the outside was still blonde brown.  It was crunchy, but that brand really sucks.  I hate to say that, but it does.  Get a new brand of okra or make it yourself.  It tastes way better from scratch and use our wonderful local produce.  I paid enough for the fish to deserve better sides.
      I ordered a side salad because the menu said all of the salads were made of romaine lettuce.  I had iceberg at home but wanted romaine.  When we got home we noticed the salad was iceberg 100% and not one piece of romaine.  That is false advertising.  That really bothered me. I do not like being misled like that...at all.
      The brunswick stew had great potential...if they knew how to season brunswick stew.  The owners need to travel to Coweta County Georgia to a barbecue place called Sprayberrys and try their brunswick stew.   Then they will understand what I am talking about.  Or even corporate Williamson Brothers BBQ in Marietta would show something different.
     Overall, the food is ok.  The mac and cheese and baked beans are your best side bets.  The brunswick stew is better than Big Bob Gibson's, but theirs (BBG) is the worst I have had in Alabama.   The entrees are overpriced.  The people are friendly and nice.  But they are expanding too quickly after opening and will probably end up going under like so many around us have who have done the same.  I wish them the best.  But unless the quality and price get in line we will not be back.
     Oh, and offer something besides plain white sunbeam processed garbage bread with the meal.  Offer wheat, or garlic butter wheat, or make the bread homemade.  My husband wanted me to add that, *chuckles*.