Cowboy Chow - Roanoke

I came across some notes I made on this place. As usual, we had high hopes going in just based on the menu and overall idea.  But, we won't be going back.  First off, I have many ties to the city of Roanoke. I have several friends there and went to High School with the City Manager and his brothers & sisters so I am glad to see it becoming a kind of dining destination. That said, aside from Babe's we haven't had that great of an experience at the few new places we've gone. But, we'll keep trying.

Back to Cowboy Chow....   There was a wait, seemingly not bad, so we saddled up to the bar and had a cocktail. Getting service was tough at first. There was only a couple people at the bar (including us) but the bar staff was nowhere to be seen and when they were around they ignored us.  We finally got our drinks, nothing special, and continued waiting for our table.  Seemed like a forever wait and didn't feel like anyone was leaving. We finally saw a bar table opening up and asked if we could order food there. Yes was the answer so we moved over.  Having plenty of time to check the menu we knew what we wanted but the waitress seemed to want to chit chat with the bartender more than work her tables.  Finally she comes by and takes our appetizer order...then vanishes...we were ready to order food too but she turned and left.  Cowboy Nachos....really? Potato chips with a sprinkling of cheese and pico? There MIGHT have been 6 chips in the bowl and not even enough cheese and pico to touch each chip. We were getting restless.  We got our food order in...One chicken fried steak and one rack of the "7 Hour" baby back ribs. I had to order these because I can not imagine needing 7 hours to cook baby backs. The chicken fried steak was good, a little tough but tasty and the jalapeno gravy was pretty good too. It wasn't nearly as good as across the street at Babes though. When you have that type of competition you gotta bring something to the table.  The ribs were a total disappointment. You would think after 7 hours of cooking (and you would assume wood or charcoal) the ribs would have some kind of smoke flavor. None. Not even a hint of smoke anywhere. They must have used just a salt & pepper rub because there wasn't much else going on. They were also completely overcooked. The meat was mushy and you couldn't even pick them up to eat. The only thing that semi-saved them was the BBQ Sauce. We declined dessert.

After eating we were ready to go. The live music they had wasn't doing it for us and was becoming more annoying than anything else.  Another long wait for our change was a fitting end. Finished how we started. 

I know I shouldn't judge based on one trip so MAYBE we should give them another try. It has been awhile since this visit and things may have changed a little there. But there are so many other options.