On College Street, past Listerhill Credit Union and out of walking distance of campus, is a shop with the best barbecue I have tasted.

I am an avid user of the website TripAdvisor – on a New England trip last summer, I relied on it to give me the best restaurants. On a whim, I looked up Florence on the website, only to discover the No. 1 top-rated restaurant to be Bunyan’s Bar-B-Que, with a top review as “slap yo’ momma good.”

Pulling up to the restaurant, there are a number of four-seater tables with umbrellas outside. As a number of kids walked in on the hot day to get a giant scoop of ice cream, I walked in and ordered a pork barbecue sandwich with a bag of chips and a cold can of root beer. They have a fairly wide selection of chips to choose from, and their drink cooler is stocked mostly with Coca-Cola products.

The staff were very kind and accommodating, offered extra napkins and even made jokes. Having reviewed a few other places before, staff friendliness is pretty high on my list of what I need to see in order to return. While standing in line, I overheard an out-of-town customer bragging on them.

“I’m from Maryland visiting family,” the customer said. “There’s no way you can come to Florence and not stop by Bunyan’s – if you can, you’re doing something wrong.”

Their house barbecue sauces come in a red style, flavored with honey and red pepper flakes, or a white style, with fresh-ground black peppercorn. The sauces are available for purchase by the serving at 40 cents or by the bottle.

The barbecue sandwich was served dry with coleslaw; though, you can order without, which I did (cabbage is not, nor has it ever been, my thing). The pork was moist, seasoned to perfection and served on a buttery bun. Make sure you have plenty of napkins, especially if you order a barbecue sauce. I made the mistake of pouring the sauce on my sandwich and, while delicious, the honey base makes it quite sticky.

My meal was less than $6 and was worth a lot more. Though Bunyan’s is a bit out of the way, particularly for non-commuters without transportation, this place is worth paying someone $1 in gas to drive you there (or even payment in the form of barbecue). If I learned nothing else, it’s that Bunyan’s customer service and delicious food have made an impression on this food critic – I may or may not have gone back two days later.