Champion Bar-B-Q

Had BBQ chicken. Portion size was good. And the chicken looked great. The sauce it was cooked in was way too sweet and tasted of vinegar. Put medium sauce from the table on it. Still too sweet and still too much vinegar taste.

Great service. Chicken breast was NOT dry which always seems to be an issue w BBQ. Slightly bummed they only had 2 sauces. Mustard and a tomato BBQ. However, I did like them both. The chicken skin was not the typical crunchy BBQ you can’t help but eat. We did arrive at opening though, so it may crisp throughout the day. No problem, as the chicken was moist. Wings had a great flavor. Side portions generous.

Had pulled pork and brisket. Brisket looked leftover and dry which it was. Pork not much better.
The sides greens and beans were ok. Don’t waste your money or time.

BBQ was a bit better than average. The food was much better when they served out of the food truck on 40. Hopefully, they can settle in a get back to the great food and high standards of the past.

Champion’s is even better now that it is at a restaurant location! The food is as tasty as ever, and it’s terrific to see that the owner is very highly involved with the restaurant, and even stopped by each table to chat with customers on a recent Saturday evening. The restaurant was packed– and rightly so– the food is amazing– the best barbecue in the Ocala area!

Excellent food. All 5 in our party felt their meals were great! Left there stuffed and happy!

A long time food truck, now with a real, permanent restaurant. Excellent BBQ, nice ambiance, friendly service and reasonable prices. The portions are huge. (We ordered full racks of baby back ribs and were unable to finish them.) I’d definitely eat there again.

Worst place in Ocala… I was so excited when I saw that they had open a restaurant because when they were in the food truck it was awesome but the quality of food that they serve in the restaurant is complete garbage not only was it Extremely expensive for two people but once we received our food after waiting forever the Mac n cheese looked and tasted disgusting ribs were super salty and needless to say me and my husband both were sick for two days after eating here never again will I go back I did put one star but they clearly deserve half of a star

I thought a long time about the rating for this restaurant after it’s plus & minus’s. I wanted to give it a 1 ½ but without the capability to award a ½ star, it wasn’t poor enough to be a 1. Thus the 2.
Cons:
The first major disappointment of my visit was realizing they are not a steakhouse as they and their signage advertise. This was previously a small Pizza Hut and no changes were made so there is a long counter at one end of the restaurant and the rest is open. There were an abnormal amount of employees standing around the counter area. It appeared to be an average of 3.14 per seated booth at this Bar B Q. I was not given any silverware. A slightly high priced meals with some odd choices that don’t reflect their BBQ. Many types of burgers, salads, nachos, eggrolls, etc. The brisket on my sandwich was dry and overly warmed up — -to the point it was dark so obviously no ring could be seen. The Kaiser bun (not roll) was so soft from over steaming that it crumbled apart and I had to eat my dry, salty brisket with a knife and fork. There were no take out menus. While dining I swatted a couple flies but didn’t think anything of it until a male employee walked around the store picking up dead flies off the window sills. I thought it a bit peculiar but then I saw my neighbor pull a dead fly out of her mac and I definitely took notice.
Pros:
The server had a decent knowledge of the menu and when she didn’t know something she asked. The tables and the restroom was clean. The brisket was ready in no time at all.
I’m still searching the county for that amazing brisket.

What here on Wednesday, 5 August with my son and we were seated pretty quickly. They said it’s next to the window which the sun was beaming in rather brightly which I was surprised that they didn’t have some sort of shades that you could pull because it was rather annoying with the bright sun. The Decore was really nice and when the waitress came over she saw that the sun was bothering us, she asked if we wanted to move to different table and we accepted her offer a move to one away from the sun. Drinks came quickly we ordered some pulled pork eggrolls which were delicious with the dipping sauce. Or food game shortly thereafter which also was pretty good for the most part. The one negative was when we were seated by the window or an off a lot of flies I don’t know if they were drawn to the light beaming in but it was to the point where we’re having to swat every couple seconds which made it rather annoying. Another couple was seated at the table and I saw they were having the same issue with the flies and the light. They stuck it out though and it didn’t seem to bother them too much. I thought I overheard one of the waitresses talking about the light coming in through the windows and that the owners were going to be putting some window fixtures to help control the Sun beaming through. I took a star up for any of the flies in the sun coming through the window which was a little irritating.

We went to Champion for dinner last week and it was awesome. Great staff, great food and great service. Highly Recommend this place!!!

We enjoyed our meal here. We started with the fried pork skins which were still crackling when they came to the table. Fresh and delicious. My husband ordered the beef brisket with stewed tomatoes and baked beans. I ordered the pulled pork with macaroni and cheese and sweet potato casserole. All came hot and tasty. We will return.

Do not waste your money here. The staff is awful. Over crowded and over priced for subpar bbq. Better off going to Sonnys!!!

For the first time, I have found a place deserving of 1 to 0 stars. I took my mom out for lunch yesterday and she wanted to try Champions after reading about it in the paper.
We walked in the door just before noon and stood in line behind a group of guys from a bank. They had been waiting for a table for 5, as all the empty tables were dirty and the staff continued to walk by them rather than clearing them off. The guys pointed us to a table for 2 that was open and clean. The waitress said she would be with us in a minute… 10 minutes later she came to ask us what we wanted to drink. Without menus, I took a shot of them having lemonade, because what bbq joint doesn’t? 15 minutes later our drinks arrived, at which time she took our food order.
Mom ordered ribs and I ordered brisket. First time for me to ever have brisket served shaved thin like roast beef and dipped in au jus like a french dip sandwhich. It was not like any brisket I had ever had. Salty! Moms ribs were marginal at best.
With better options in town, I won’t be back!