One Star Ranch, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

Through the late 1990s, Atlanta was home to a pair of barbecue restaurants called The Rib Ranch. They each went in for Texas-themed design and big plates of ribs, and, without a lot of foodie fuss, had a small legion of fans. Today, they are owned by different relations within the same family. The Marietta store, which we wrote about in the spring of 2013, is still called The Rib Ranch. The one in Buckhead, on Irby Street, changed its name to One Star Ranch in the early 2000s, and branched out to an additional location in Alpharetta that lasted from 2002-2011.

The Rib Ranch is a pretty good restaurant and I don’t mind eating there at all, and I guess that I figured that the food and experience in Buckhead were about the same. In a very pleasant surprise, it turns out that the Buckhead store is even better.

We met up with our friends Vincent and Helen for a Sunday lunch here and it was completely wonderful. I haven’t a great deal to add, so enjoy some pictures.

Standouts and highlights: the thick spicy sauce, which is reminiscent of the painfully hot sauce at Smyrna’s Old South Bar-B-Q, the wings, the beefy chili, and the smoked turkey. One Star Ranch is especially proud of their beef ribs, but those will have to wait for another visit. An order of those sounded great, but the wallet was thin on this occasion and so they would have taken us a little over budget. The three year-old was really happy with his turkey and corn on the cob, and our friends were really pleased with the wings. The Brunswick stew is meaty with lots of corn, and very tasty.

Helen said that she was amazed that this place turned out to be so good. For years, she just dismissed it as a beer dive, having no idea how good the food is. The experience is a little similar to Daddy D’z, although while I like the food there just fine, I’m even more taken with what they do at One Star Ranch in Buckhead. I’d really like to plan ahead and get those beef ribs sometime soon.

Other blog posts about One Star Ranch:

Blissful Glutton (Mar. 7 2006)
The BIBbq Group (Nov. 24 2009)
3rd Degree Berns Barbecue Sabbatical (Jan. 18 2010)
Road Tips (Nov. 26 2010)
For Frugal Foodies (Mar. 20 2011)

You can see all the barbecue restaurants that we have visited for our blog (more than 280!) on this map, with links back to the original blog posts. It’s terrific for anybody planning a barbecue road trip through the southeast!