Food For Thought: Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse

Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse is located at 7500 State Rd. right off I-95 Bringing a little southern style to our fast-paced big city, Sweet Lucy’s is best known for its barbecue-style meats and all-you-can-eat buffet on Monday nights. Sweet Lucy’s does not suggest elegant dinning, but rather, welcomes a sawdust-on-the-floor, casual dining outing for the whole family.

First opening its door to our public in 2003, Sweet Lucy’s has worked hard to maintain its status of serving the best southern barbeque to the Northeast. Sweet Lucy’s has a small parking lot and also has street parking available, which may be useful if you come on Monday evening for the buffet, as the restaurant fills up fast. Open seven days a week for both lunch and dinner, Sweet Lucy’s is kept clea.n Although the table I was seated at was sticky, the waitress immediately wiped it down upon our request.

One of the best things I found about this lovely southern eatery was the hospitality of the staff. Every person, whether it is the host, servers or owners, exudes warm southern hospitality and kindness. From the moment you enter Sweet Lucy’s you feel welcome and at home with the fantastic service by the staff. I would give the service, which was prompt, efficient and friendly, five stars.

I ventured here for the Monday night buffet, which is $19 per adult, including soft drinks and dessert. The buffet is open from 5:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. every Monday night. My favorite style of meat offered at Sweet Lucy’s was the Texas Shredded Beef, which was served surprisingly warm for a buffet. The meat almost fell apart on its, own it was so tender and juicy. The corn bread was baked to perfection and the garlic mashed potatoes were a delightful treat.

I was surprised how warm the food was considering it was a buffet; usually things get cool easily, but most all the food was served warm. I was not a fan of the gravy that was supposed to accompany the mashed potatoes, as I found it to be too thick and not properly seasoned, but the barbecue sauce well made up for this flaw. The sauce was absolutely delicious and complemented the meats from the buffet nicely.  The Barbecue Hickory Smoked Chicken pieces are a must try if you travel to Sweet Lucy’s. The chicken was crisp on the outside and tender on the inside and, was especially tasty when dipped into the sauce.

Feel free to fill up on the buffet of assorted meats, as the desserts were nothing to be desired. Mostly they offered cookies and brownies, which weren’t bad, but were nothing special to write home about.

Sweet Lucy’s offers excellent service and a great buffet of tender, flavorful meats for the whole family. Vegetarians beware – this is definitely a meat lover’s place that offers barbecue-style dining to its Northeast patrons.

Food For Thought is a NEast restaurant review column written by Donna Ward that runs every other Thursday on NEastPhilly.com. See all of Donna’s reviews here. Read other NEastPhilly columns here.