Stacy Phipps returns bearing BBQ, courtesy of his new restaurant Stacy’s Smokehouse

I loved Stacy's old restaurant and called him up to congratulate him on his reopening. He grunted a response. That was a preview of what was to come. My friend and I came at noontime on Saturday. The first thing I noticed was that his fried chicken, which used to be the best anywhere, was not available on Saturday. The brusque woman at the counter took my order grudgingly. I counted out what I thought were 28 dollars and change and walked away. A minute later she came to my table to collect another dollar. We ordered two pieces of catfish, rib tips, beef ribs, macaroni and cabbage. Forty minutes later we were still waiting for our order, long after the customers in front of us had ordered and finished eating. When I went up to the counter, the woman looked around and found our order on a table behind her. She told me at that time that they didn't have cabbage. I asked for black-eyed peas. The black-eyed peas were swimming in a liquid that looked like dishwater. The rip tips were fatty and the meat on the beef ribs was tough as shoe leather. The catfish was virtually tasteless. We had to ask for tartar sauce. It was also difficult to cut anything with a plastic knife. Since the barbecue sauce was the best part of the meal, I was hoping that it would come with a slice on white bread, which is standard in most barbecue places. There wasn't any, so I went back to the counter to ask for a slice. The woman at the counter told me that it was 99 cents for two slices of bread. "Surprise, surprise!" was my jaundiced response. She couldn't find any bread, so she brought out one hamburger roll. Maybe I hit his place on a bad day, but it seems like he has declined from running one of the best restaurants in Phoenix to running one of the most unpleasant and inedible rib shacks.

Absolutely the WORST service anywhere. Try going in there at lunch and it can be a 20 minute wait to put in an order while being continuously cut in front of. The fine counter help will let you fend for yourself. NEVER EVER AGAIN will I waste my to short lunch period standing in line there. Stacy's Smokehouse put the appeal back into McDonalds.