Old Brick Pit (Chamblee, GA)

4805 Peachtree Road
Chamblee, GA 30341
770-986-7727
www.oldbrickpitbbq.com

At first glance, Old Brick Pit is my kind of BBQ joint. It's old. It's simple. It smells of fresh burning wood. Most importantly, it houses a real, old-fashioned brick BBQ pit. Believe it or not these are hard to find in most BBQ restaurants nowadays. Once upon a time it was regarded as one of Atlanta's best BBQ spots, if not the best. It's not as busy as it once was, but the pit still remains and hopefully so does the authentic Southern BBQ.

When we pulled in for dinner this past week (They close at 7), we were the only customers there. Not a good sign. You could smell the hickory smoke still in the air. You walk in and are immediately greeted by the restaurant's proud focal point, the brick pit. I spoke briefly with the worker who informed they only use hickory wood to freshly smoke the meats daily at around 200 degrees. If this was true, then we would soon be indulging in some fantastic BBQ. I ordered three pork spare ribs, pulled pork (we're back in GA), brunswick stew, and coleslaw. Jamie was also on board for this GBH stop and ordered the pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. Old Brick Pit has a very simple menu of pulled pork, pork spare ribs, and smoked chicken. Their sides include coleslaw, baked beans, or chips. My meal was also served with a couple pieces of white bread (which I appreciate). The prices are pretty fair with both of our meals only costing around $14.00 total.

After BBQ is cooked properly, it then becomes completely subjective. Personally, I can't stand when some folks smother their meat with BBQ sauce before you get it. I feel like it covers up the flavor of the meat more often than it complements it. The pulled pork was pretty well covered in their tomato-vinegar sauce before I could even lay a hand on it. The pulled pork here is a little different. It's very finely chopped and lacking any hints of bark. I think the sauce is added to make up for the dryness. It's nearly impossible to finely chop pork without losing a majority of the juice. I'm not sure if it was due to the sauce or not, but the meat also lacked any smoky flavor. I feel like a lot of restaurants are afraid to fully smoke their meats. It's a lot like seasoning something, you can't be afraid to do it. Yes, you can over season things just like you can over smoke meat, but more often than not I've found a lot of BBQ places are afraid to really let the pork or beef soak up the amount of smokiness that it deserves.

The ribs weren't as tender as I would've liked, and again, didn't have a lot of smoky flavor. Out of the two, I probably enjoyed the ribs more though. I will say that the coleslaw here is pehenomenal here. It's a mayonnaise based slaw that's very creamy and sweet. The brunswick stew is just ok...nothing special. Jamie's sandwich was a little disappointing as well. If you're hungry, I'd probably recommend getting a couple since they're pretty small.


I love the retro aesthetics of Old Brick Pit and definitely think they have the tools to make some great BBQ. The food wasn't my favorite here, but I don't think it would take much to turn it around and back to the BBQ staple that it once was.