The Pit

This weekend my Aunt is visiting me from Western North Carolina and I couldn't be more pleased to show her around Raleigh. She requested to eat dinner at The Pit. If you look on any list of Research Triangle restaurants, inevitably this restaurant will appear. Every time I've attempted to go to The Pit in the past, the wait has been upwards of 2 hours (thankfully I realized that you can make reservations on Open Table) so last night I finally got to see what all the buzz was about.

The Pit is located at 328 W Davie St, Raleigh, NC 27601 and is in a very busy shopping area so parking can be a little tricky, but luckily they provide complimentary valet.

The Pit

 Decor: good. The restaurant itself is a celebration of North Carolina and BBQ. Pictures on the walls are of various local farms and produce and diagrams of different popular cuts of meat.

Service: good. Our server, despite the restaurant being packed with a line out the door, and Lord knows how many tables he was handling at the time, was attentive and took care of us well. Our water glasses were never empty, he quickly brought us bread and hush puppies to snack on before our appetizer arrived and removed used plates with so much efficiency you hardly noticed he was there.

Food appearance: good. It is no secret that BBQ is no fuss or frills because it itself is no fuss or frills. Biscuits and hush puppies arrive in a black, wax paper lined basket with a cup of honey butter and entrees arrived on cream-colored plates.

Food taste: excellent. I'm just going to say there's definitely a reason why this restaurant is named in literally every travel guide for the Research Triangle. We shared the Pimento Cheese Balls appetizer with a side of pepper jelly. The pimento cheese was tangy and delicious and the pepper jelly was slightly sweet and hot. I ordered their Chopped BBQ entree with the Daily Vegetable (creamed corn) and Fried Okra. The Chopped BBQ was succulent and their house-made Eastern Carolina BBQ sauce was the perfect acidic complement to the pork. Nate ordered the Brisket. The brisket had a spicy and smoky crust and was so tender it practically melted in your mouth. We ended the meal with a bowl of bourbon ice cream. It tasted like bourbon in all the best ways, the smokiness, the slight sweetness and was accompanied by a spiced ginger cookie. Everything we ate was absolutely fantastic

Cleanliness: good. As to be expected with a restaurant that busy, everything was a well-oiled machine. Tables were pre-bussed by servers and bussed quickly by other staff to create a quicker turnover.

Total: 11/15

Well, I would definitely recommend checking out The Pit if you're ever in the Research Triangle because it truly is fantastic but I would highly suggest making a reservation a few days beforehand via Open Table.