Smokin Beauty Catering — Attraction in Austin

I'd really like to give them 3.5 stars more so than four.

Firstly, location is a nice quaint area, conveniently located by the Asian market. The interior is pretty quaint, wasn't super busy and the music wasn't loud, so perfect atmosphere for me.

I had the brisket banh mi. Now I know it's fusion so it's not going to be exact, but anything you know about banh mi, you might as well toss it out beyond the bread. Cucumbers were cut into circles rather than strips. While it looks pretty, it makes it somewhat hard to eat. The pickled carrots were way too strong in vinegar, so it almost seems freshly made and didn't have enough time to pickle, or maybe too much Mirin?

So your first initial bite is about 60% cucumber, 25% carrots and the remaining 5% is brisket.

The brisket was delicious though, but rather meager. The sandwich was 13-14 dollars, and was given one strip of brisket, I feel like if I paid 14 dollars for a sandwich and fries I would be rather full. I can go down the street and get a regular banh mi and actually be relatively full, which doesn't have any fillers etc, at about half the costs. So price per fullness doesn't really add up here. The fries were good, well fried, crispy just as I like it (others may not), but was rather sparse.

Finally, TOO much soy sauce. After fighting through the cucumbers, and the pickled carrots, the bottom is purely salt. This absolutely ruined the sandwich in my opinion.

My wife ordered the pork belly banh mi, more or less the same, except they add some other sauce that's pretty sour, takes away from the sandwich, then on the second bite, you get the same TOO much soy sauce.

All in all, not bad, price per dollar is so so, but I think if they cut the cucumbers the traditional style, and ditch the soy sauce all together it would be definitely better for the...

Best thing on the drive-thru menu? Surprisingly, the fries! Hear me out - they are thicker fries, which usually aren't my favorite, but these were piping hot and fresh, perfectly crispy and salted just right. I had to eat some out of the bag on my drive home. And the portion size was huge - perfect and delicious.

We also ordered potato salad, the pork belly banh mi, and the banh mi burger. Everything was super fresh and made with care, but while individual parts were great, they didn't add up to wow us. The baguette and bun were delicious, the veggies crisp, and the meat really well executed - especially the pork belly. But we were searching for flavor. The banh mi lacked moisture you typically find with banh mi, and I chalk it up to not enough mayo or creamy cilantro, and the burger, while perfectly cheesy, didn't have any kind of discernible sauce on it to give it that extra kick. It's possible the sauces were forgotten by accident, but we doctored it up at home with some kewpie and sriracha. Surprisingly, I ended up preferring the burger to the banh mi even though I'm not typically a huge burger fan but am obsessed with banh mi. The potato salad was also just fine, a little sweet and mushy for us, but the portion size was large as well.

Overall, I give this spot 4.5 stars for the soft opening! I'll definitely be back to check it out, especially once they have some time to get settled and work out any kinks, and would recommend as a solid Viet fusion spot in the neighborhood. Will update my review once I try out their dinner menu items, especially the...

Saw good reviews for Smokin Beauty so wanted to try it out. I checked out the menu on the website, it shows 2 meat with 2 sides for $17.00 or 3 meat with 2 sides for $20. Went to the restaurant and the menu was entirely different than the menu on the website, same food just organized differently and quite a bit more expensive. No 2 meat but had a 3 meat but doesn't include sides and is $20. Sides on website (fries, slaw, potato salad) are $4 at the restaurant $5 to $6. So if I would have gotten a 2 meat by the pound and added 2 sides it would have been about $10 more, the 3 meat with 2 sides would have been about $12 more.

On the website if you click the menu it shows the cheaper menu but shows online ordering temporarily disabled. Once I got back to my computer I noticed from the home page if you click order now it takes you to the current, more expensive menu. I didn't notice that before I went to the restaurant.

I ended up just getting 1/4 lb of brisket and jalapeno cheddar sausage and both were great. Good smoke, great flavor.

2 stars for the confusing menus, 4 stars for the meats. I'm not opposed to paying this much for good BBQ but hope the menus get fixed.

I am sure the difference is due to supply chain and staffing issues and will probably try again...