Went to THE WORLD FAMOUS BBQ house -----Salt Lick, in Driftwood, Texas.

[zcomanche]

Seen the Travel Channel and Man vs Food go into this restaurant and rave about how good the BBQ was.So, we were in the area and decided to stop in and try it.

What a major dissapointment. I ordered the 3 meat combo, with ribs, sliced brisket and smoked sausage.The smoked sausage was pretty good, a little heavy on the smoke, but pretty good. The 1 rib it came with was very average maybe below average, not tender not tough, not much smoke. The brisket was TOUGH and DRY and cut almost a 1/4 inch thick, couldnt hardly chew it. And to top it off all the meat was smothered in some honey mustard based, yellow sauce.

The platter came with cole slaw, potato salad and pinto beans. The beans were dynamite, especially with the jalapeno and onion chunks on the side. The cole slaw and potato salad, I swear had NO TASTE, NO TASTE.

Didnt come here to bash this restaurant, but it was one of the worst BBQ hoiuses I have ever ate at.

Im no expert smoker and will always give credit to good smoke. However with everything I have learned here.....the 3-2-1 method on the ribs, the beef brisket sticky and the pulled pork sticky....I swear, my smoke was far better in every aspect. Even my wife after 1 bite said, your brisket is wayyyy better.

Thanks for having this great site and for helping make me a good smoker.

 

[africanmeat]

Every day we learn new things and all of us get better

 

[ecto1]

Too each his own I have been to the Saltlick several times and agree with you on the ribs potato salad and Cole slaw. You mustnof had bad brisket because they have the best resurant brisket I have ever had. In Texas we slice our brisket thick. In cook off here they tell you 1/4 to 3/8 inch or about the width of a pencil.

 

[ecto1]

Sorry about the spelling stupid phone

 

[southensmoker]

I have also been there twice, I live about an hr from there and I don't care for it!!  The only reason I went twice is grandma likes to go there on her birthday.  Funny thing is if you read the fine print on the bottom of the menu it says everybody must order at least a $5.00 meal or something like that so if you go with someone who doesn't like BBQ or is not hungry you will still have to pay for them to eat.  Also make sure you bring CASH as they don't take credit/debit card and there is not a AMT on site.  You would think that a restaurant with this much success would take plastic.  Guess they still want to get paid under the table and cheat on income tax?

 

[alblancher]

Timely thread, 

I plan on driving to Colorado from SE Louisiana at the end of September.  Will pass through Dallas on the way up and either San Antonio or Austin on the way back.  I will travel for good BBQ,  any recommendations in that area or in Colorado for that matter.

 

[jirodriguez]

LOL... yeah this site has ruined going out to BBQ for me and my family. Since I have started doing my own smoking I have yet to find another BBQ place that I like better than what I can make at home..... and my kids ain't shy about blurting out (in the resteraunt) "DAD! YOUR BBQ IS WAY BETTER THAN THIS BBQ!"...... usually within 10 ft. or less of a waiter... lol.

 

[zcomanche]

 Thanks guys.....glad I wasnt the only one who had this opinion.

And +1 million on the comments of how "we" can out smoke these world famous bbq houses....LOL....I can hear the kids saying DADDY your smoke is better....

 

[SmokinAl]

Funny how it always tastes better when you smoke it yourself. With the help of all the guys here on SMF, how can you go wrong?

 

[austexrod]

Seen the Travel Channel and Man vs Food go into this restaurant and rave about how good the BBQ was.So, we were in the area and decided to stop in and try it.

What a major dissapointment. I ordered the 3 meat combo, with ribs, sliced brisket and smoked sausage.The smoked sausage was pretty good, a little heavy on the smoke, but pretty good. The 1 rib it came with was very average maybe below average, not tender not tough, not much smoke. The brisket was TOUGH and DRY and cut almost a 1/4 inch thick, couldnt hardly chew it. And to top it off all the meat was smothered in some honey mustard based, yellow sauce.

The platter came with cole slaw, potato salad and pinto beans. The beans were dynamite, especially with the jalapeno and onion chunks on the side. The cole slaw and potato salad, I swear had NO TASTE, NO TASTE.

Didnt come here to bash this restaurant, but it was one of the worst BBQ hoiuses I have ever ate at.

Im no expert smoker and will always give credit to good smoke. However with everything I have learned here.....the 3-2-1 method on the ribs, the beef brisket sticky and the pulled pork sticky....I swear, my smoke was far better in every aspect. Even my wife after 1 bite said, your brisket is wayyyy better.

Thanks for having this great site and for helping make me a good smoker.

Being from Austin, the SaltLick ain't bad. True, once you have SMOKED your own, it's hard to eat it at a restuarant.

The SaltLick has a great reputation and if you ask me it's more of a tourist attraction. On a positive note it IS the only All-u-can-eat BBQ place that I know of.

That being said, some of the BEST Smoked barbecue in Texas is at Smitty's (http://www.smittysmarket.com/  ) and Kreuz's (http://www.kreuzmarket.com/index.shtml  ) in Lockhart, Texas. These smoke houses are purists NO SAUCE!