My Meat Wagon — Restaurant in Dublin

Born and raised Texan here. Y'all buckle up here for this one. I live within 6 hours drive of about 10+ nationally ranked Texas BBQ joints of the best dang BBQ you could have. My fiance and I were skeptical about eating here because of what we are used to but we felt it was our duty as Texans to try out a Texas style BBQ joint in our favorite place in the world, Ireland. And as a Texan I can honestly say we have the best BBQ there is. I'll die on that hill. Can't beat that hickory smoke.

And lemme tell you what, some of best Texas BBQ I've EVER had was right here. It has been a few years since we have been here, but I'll never forget it. Y'all don't know how good y'all got it. I've posted about this place on reddit, told Irish ex-pats in Houston about it every chance I get. I could stop here but I aint gonna.

Texas BBQ is real big on the brisket. It's the focus; our Sistine Chapel of BBQ meats if you will. Has to be the correct balance of moist, tender, smoked and with a very narrow window of blackened/burnt on the outside. And that takes HOURS of heat and smoke and monitoring to get right and years to master the process. You want to grade Texas BBQ, you go straight for the brisket. And dangit if we aint downright snobby about it too. There's zero debate on this. Well y'all nailed the Brisket. Was just like my Uncle Bugs makes and better than the stuff my buddies and I turn in for county cookoffs. And we even wrap that stuff in bacon and and do stuff like stuff it with jalapenos and cream cheese. I wanted to cry.

Another important point is the amount of meat. Literally you order by the pound and by the tray, not by a plate of food. This aint one of them "light" meals you eat for brunch before going and doing something productive with your day. If you don't have to undo the top button on your pants or dont feel the meat sweats after eating Texas BBQ then you didn't get the authentic experience. Well, you guys nailed it here too.

Now we are SERIOUSLY considering moving to Ireland within the next few years. You Irish are the best people in the world. I'm so happy a little bit of true Texas culture is in Dublin, and right next to Jameson. I'm so sorry it took me so long to review this place, I'll buy y'all some drinks (pints?) at the pub to make up for it when...

Pros: The place is lovely, with a great atmosphere.

Cons: Ordered two burgers and a portion of meat in a box.

The meat in a box was great, the beef brisket portion was huge, was delicious and well cooked. The mash is proper potato mash, no cheap instant powder mash. The fries were alright, but overkilled with salt.

Unfortunately, although tasty, the two burgers were a joke. Their size was equivalent or slightly larger than the McDonald's euro saver burger and were tiny compared to the photos seen online and compared to what I had in the past. For a moment I felt that I might be a bit dramatic, till I noticed that the table behind us had a burger that was significantly larger, so I am not sure why there was such a difference between the two, as the menu is already pretty small and the options that evening were limited (half of the menu was sold out). We also ordered garlic mayo as a side which we never got.

To be fair with the staff, as soon as I expressed my disappointment they did remove the garlic mayo from the bill, they fully discounted one of the drinks we had (one discounted drink for two burgers) and apologized more than a couple of times; which probably that was the only thing a team member could do without involving management. Yet, we still felt that this discount was too little too late.

In a nutshell If the burgers are the same size as the ones we got, then you are better off with meat in a box, as the burgers we had were not worth the twenty quid; they were hugely overpriced. The meat in box is conservatively twice as big (in terms of meat weight) and you get two sides instead of one paying only one or two euros extra.

If your visit is solely to have a burger and you are hungry, you better try somewhere else. I can name at least ten restaurants where the same money can buy better and larger burgers, even on the...

I honestly don’t know how My Meat Wagon has any decent reviews, because our experience was beyond disappointing. From the moment we walked in, the staff made us feel like we were a burden rather than paying customers. No smiles, no warmth, no effort, just cold indifference. To make things worse, they didn’t even bother to bring us forks, knives, napkins, or glasses. Are we supposed to gnaw on our food with our bare hands like cavemen? Or was this their way of telling us we weren’t welcome there?

The food itself was a massive letdown: bland, forgettable, and frankly not worth the price. We politely asked if they had any sauce to make it bearable, and they did bring some and then sneakily charged us for it without saying a word. That kind of shady behavior is just insulting.

And here’s the real kicker: they were out of nearly everything. No chicken, no beef on the bone, no chili, no corn. What exactly do they serve at a place literally called My Meat Wagon? This wasn’t late at night, it was the beginning of the evening. How do you run out of your entire menu before dinner service even starts?

This is, hands down, the worst treatment we’ve experienced in Dublin. Everywhere else we’ve gone, the people have been lovely. Here, we felt like we were intruding on a private staff gathering rather than being served in a professional establishment. Completely unacceptable.

Avoid this place. There are plenty of better options in Dublin that actually value their customers and serve food that...