Joe Allen's Pit Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Abilene

Bad experience. This place used to have a quite a reputation back in the day. For starters, I think we made a mistake of going in what felt like the "back door." But probably it was a good thing because I felt like I got to see what happens "behind the scenes." We ordered brisket and ribs. We stood there after paying as to receive instructions or be served our food for a while. I had to eventually ask how we got our food. A gentleman behind the counter who seemed overworked eventually gave us a plate that had our meat. The sides were on a self serve counter. The food did not look appetizing. Positive point: there was sanitizing gel in the beginning of the line and at the end and a sign asking you to use it before touching the serving utensils. My brisket was cold and tough; the rib was burned. Took one bite of the cole slaw and I had to spit it out. The servings my family received and got from the counter were okay they said. But what made me upset was what we all witnessed. A young high school boy came in with two other friends. They were talking loud, not wearing masks and seemed to be coming from some sports activity (not sure). He must have been related to an employee or owner and just walked over to the employee's side of the counter, served himself as if he was "home," while talking to employees and friends then walked over to the bread warmer (we weren't even told there was one!) and served himself (and his friends) while chatting with his friends (served themselves with bare hands). Not ONCE did he clean his hands or had any awareness of any needed sanitation much less any awareness that he was being a horrible example for his friends on how to respect his, theirs and other people's health. Forget Covid! Speaking over food that will be served to the public and touching food (bread) with dirty hands from God knows where on food that will be served to the public is absolutely unacceptable! (Mind you I saw take out orders being filled.) If it was my relative coming into my business, I would require a better example and total respect for my hard earned business meaning NO ONE is excused from sanitary practices. Not my kid. Not my business. But will never set foot here again. I wonder if I would have had a better experience if we had gone in through the "front" door and had a server help us. But then if we had, we would not have see what happens where the food is...

Joe Allen's is a casual restaurant that has a full bar and both sit down dining and short order/take out. Enter the east doors and you are in the bar/dining room. Enter the west door and you are in the take out room. The take out room is less formal. You order and pay for your food and then proceed down a buffet style line to fill your own plate. The restaurant is located in an industrial/commercial neighborhood. The parking is ample and well lighted. The atmosphere is rustic and comfortable and the staff was pleasant and friendly. The service is well attended in the dining room but the short order room is pretty much self serve. I had the brisket plate with sides of beans and corn and added a baked potato. My wife had a stuffed sweet potato with beef brisket for the optional meat. We finished with the peach cobbler. The beef brisket was excellent, as would be expected in a central Texas BBQ. My wife's potato was the best she'd ever had. The cobbler was as good as any homemade. However, there were a few problems, my beans and corn were ordinary but my potato was over cooked and dry. Also the noise from the ventilation system was rather noticeable. I will definitely be going back and try the dining room and bar but until then I will give...

The customer service here rocks! It was a busy night and the order for the table next to me got misplaced somehow... although it was lost, the restaurant bent over backwards to make up for it to these customers. The restaurant admitted their fault and covered the entire bill for that table. No questions asked. I was very impressed! As for the food, I had the BBQ Brisket, Ribs, and Sausage... the three-meat plate only came with ONE rib. My server asked if I needed anything else after she brought me my food and I said... "How about another rib?" Less than 20 seconds later, she brought me another rib and didn't charge extra. The ribs (baby back) were decent, not the best I have had. Tender and not too dry, good smoke ring and decent-enough flavor. The brisket tasted good but was dry, and the sausage was pretty good. Not a fan of their BBQ sauce. It's the typical "Texas Pit" sauce. But hey, this place is in Abilene, TX! So what do you expect? Each person has a different preference. All around, I give this place 4 stars, mainly because of the awesome display of customer service that I...