Texas Smokehouse Bistro — Restaurant in General Santos

Where to start.. First anyone from Texas is good people to me. So the ingredients here must be hard to find.. this is not criticism of the owner or staff. They seem wonderful. I am simply writing this to lower the expectations of anyone thinking they are going to eat authentic bbq from USA. Authentic Texas bbq.. authentic Memphis style ,, authentic Carolina… authentic Kansas City is not served here.

I ordered Pulled pork sandwich Smoked brisket plate And loaded potatoes

First the trees they are using is a flavor that is hard to take. The smoke reminds me when I attended a first time bbq of a yankee in states and he used various woods including a spruce.. which changed a well cooked meet to this terrible after taste.. not the welcoming flavors of oak hickory mesquite or the various fruit trees. I recognized we are spoiled on our woods for smoke so I would recommend going to straight charcoal with some wet dried coconut for smoke flavor profile needed.

The pulled Pork was dry and served parts cold. There was no seasoning flavor very plain and tasted like a week old microwaved meal 5 days in fridge to long. Also it is filipinoized and served with a pickle or cucumber on sandwich! I was pleasantly thankful they didn’t throw mayonnaise on there to disguise the dryness. Just plain pork and the awful smoke. However the bbq sauce does make it better!

The brisket was cooked right and tender. But dry and no flavors other than beef. No seasonings taste at all. Just that awful smoke.

The loaded potatoes was a huge portion.. way to big . It was loaded with cheese , bacon (I think) bbq sauce and was served cold. I sent it back to be warmed.

The bbq sauce was scratch made and decent to good! And it’s got to be hard to get ingredients here to make the sauce! Kudos for that.

The pilsen was very cold!

The price including the Pilsen was 1700 and some change I tipped 300 So my price for 2 out the door was 2000pesos

I was so looking forward to this bbq because of the reviews I read online and me and my lady took a bus ride down from Davao to eat here and spend night.

It was disappointing.

The service was great! The atmosphere was outstanding! However we were only customers for the 1 hour plus we were there.. 6pm on weds.

I like that e peace of that.. but I think other customers discovered what I discovered.

Toto we are not in Texas anymore!

Again atmosphere is great! Staff and service great!

Just lower your expectations for...

We had friends from San Antonio introduce us to smoked brisket when we were in Texas. They really talked it up. It was good. We aren't in Texas that much. Now we can get the real deal here in GenSan. We like the ambience. The owner is approachable and gives the place that Texas touch. We had brisket and beef ribs and they were both super tasty. Smoked meat is a special way of cooking which you need a bit of experience to know how to do it. Even though this is a Texas thing, it pairs well with rice, so if you don't consider your food a meal without rice, don't worry. They got you covered. Rice is included...

10/29/2025 first of all I am from the United States and this is a place to get real American BBQ. We had the sliced brisket with Mac and cheese, and rice. Obviously here in the Philippines everything is paired with rice but it is a good complement to the meat. The BBQ sauce for the brisket is exactly what I would expect from the U.S. I will be going back again tomorrow for more. Except this time I will order more Mac and cheese. If you want to know how a smoked brisket in the United States tastes like then this is your place. Please come and...