There are a number of This Is It! locations throughout Metro-Atlanta, but we decided to eat at the one off Camp Creek Parkway near the airport. When we pulled into a parking spot, I was surprised to see that it was packed. We arrived at about 4:30 PM, an awkward and undesirable time to eat by most peoples' standards.
The atmosphere inside of the restaurant was hectic. People waited patiently in a cafeteria style line while workers scurried about cooking and plating orders and serving drinks to people seated at tables. It reminded of a lunch time rush in a typical high school. Students race to the front of the lines because they only have 20 minutes to eat. Those students at the ends of the lines may be in line for the entire 20 minutes and are subsequently forced to eat while walking to their next class. My family and I steadily inched our way forward to place our order, but waiting in line was just as uncomfortable and miserable as I remember it being in high school.
Due to the long wait to place our orders, I had plenty of time to pick what I thought was the most flavorful and thus intriguing item on the menu...rib tips! I am not the type of person to usually order rib tips at any type of restaurant because they are relatively expensive and do not come with much meat on the bones. However, I looked around and saw other people ordering rib tips and I was pleased. They were receiving large plates full of rib tips which appeared to be tender and were covered with a rich barbecue sauce. Unfortunately, my keen observations were not keen enough. I overlooked something which I consider a big No, No in cooking.
When I placed my order, the server dropped two big scoops of rib tips on my plate. My mouth began to water as I began to fantasize about eating every bit of beef off the rib tips and then wiping my plate clean of leftover barbecue with a piece of moist and buttery cornbread. I held my anxious hands out to receive my plate when BAM- it happened. My dreams came tumbling down. The server turned her back to me and proceeded to place my rib tips in the microwave.
Pause...take a deep breath...and realize that I am not lying or sensationalizing this story. I am Christian man, and I do my best to be honest in life. My rib tips were placed in the microwave in plain view of the 70 or so people eating in the restaurant. They were heated for about one minute. What was even more disturbing is that the microwave was placed on a table 10 feet behind the plating area in a location convenient for the workers to access. Also, I could tell it had been used a lot throughout the day. Why? because there were dried food stains on the inside and outside of the microwave. This turn of events was devastating, appalling, inexplicable, and a whole bunch of other adjectives which are not presently flowing through my frustrated finger tips.
There are a couple things I find disgusting about using a microwave while cooking in a professional manner, i.e. offering barbecue for eleven or twelve dollars a plate to hard working and honest customers.
Number One: A microwave zaps the moistness and freshness out of any type of food, but especially barbecue. Anyone can throw a hot dog in a microwave, press the express cook button, and then wait a minute and a half for the food to be heated. That hot dog might be edible, but it lacks the smokey flavor that it would have received if it was cooked on a charcoal grill.
Number Two: After food has been cooked, it must be kept at a certain temperature so that bacteria does not grow in it. If it falls below a certain temperature while waiting for customers in the plating area, bacteria will grow in it and people who eat it will become sick. Having to microwave food to heat it up is a good indication that the food was sitting at a temperature which was too cool to kill bacteria. I ate my food to be polite to my father and step-mother who took time out of their busy day to hang out with me and my wife, but it became unsettling in the abdominal region when I realized I could have been eating bacteria infested food.
I wish I could tell you that This Is It! Barbecue and Seafood is worthy of the high praises which it promotes. However, the microwave incident is too incriminating to overlook, and frankly, I dumbfounded when I try to understand how the place got such a great reputation. My suggestion is that when you are visiting Atlanta, try other barbecue restaurants. My hometown has a great barbecue tradition and there are countless barbecue joints which serve quality food. Also, my cornbread tasted like cardboard. Have you ever had cornbread made from a Jiffy box? Well, that is exactly what the cornbread tasted like.
Random Commercial about This Is It!
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