Pok-E-Joe's [Restaurant Review]

Pok-E-Joe’s opened in 2023, promising to deliver the Texas barbecue experience to Vinton, Virginia. We recently visited this restaurant to see if it lived up to the local hype!

We visited on a beautiful fall weekday and were surprised to find that the restaurant already had several dinner patrons.

We were greeted warmly and shown to a table. Our server was friendly and attentive and she took the time to answer our many, many questions and make recommendations on what we should try.

Good to know: Pok-E-Joe’s automatically adds a 20% gratuity charge for parties of 8 or more.

Pok-E-Joe’s Food

Because I wanted something lighter, I ordered a chicken tender salad. The hand-breaded chicken tenders, diced and added to the top of the salad, were delicious. This classic southern salad also featured bacon crumbles, shredded cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions. It was $13.99 and, despite the picture, was actually quite large! It was a filling meal.

I also tried Pok-E-Joe’s highly-praised chips and fries. Both were perfectly seasoned and cooked, which is sometimes hard to find with hand-cut potatoes. I preferred the chips overall, but that’s probably because I’m a sucker for a handmade chip! Sharing the platters also gave us all the chance to sample the table barbecue sauces. The Sweet & Spicy was my favorite.

Wings are another one of my absolute favorite foods and these wings were delicious! They were flavorful through and through, likely due to being smoked. I went outside of my comfort zone and had them tossed in Silverback Mango Habanero sauce. It paid off! The sauce was an excellent blend of just-a-bit sweet and just-a-bit spicy. I would happily come back for more and could polish off the entire platter by myself.

The kids’ menu also did not disappoint! The burgers were large, adequate for an adult with a smaller appetite, and weren’t the usual sub-par patties that kids often get served. Burgers came with a choice of hand-cut fries, hand-cut chips, or applesauce. My son had his cheeseburger with barbecue sauce and pickles (thick-cut dill chips) and he enjoyed the barbecue sauce so much that he dipped his fries in it, too.