CM Smokehouse — Restaurant in Austin

Let's start with the bad before the good.

First off, I had to ask 3 people if they closed or moved because their food truck located in the front of the building is empty and not used anymore.

Tip 1: They use a food truck labeled with another restaurant name in the back of Bouldin Acres. Gringo something.

Tip 2: If you want to walk up and order, you can at the bar in the back. Just ask for a menu.

Speaking of tips, they add a MANDATORY 20% tip. Tipping is already out of control, but these establishments that charge a mandatory tip with little to no service are highway robbery. You order on your phone, they bring you the food, and there's no communication after that.

For a brisket crunchwrap, biscuit sandwich, a kids meal, and a cinnamon roll with 2 soft drinks it was $100 with their mandatory tip.

The good:

The crunchwrap was above average. The brisket was juicy and the veggies tasted fresh. That said, the $23 price tag was not worth it imo. I'd rather go to a well established BBQ spot and get a brisket sandwich for 25% less that would have more meat and taste even better.

The bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit was the star of the show. Homemade biscuit was great and everything inside was perfectly cooked besides the egg yolk which was not runny, but more like a yolk of a boiled egg. That didnt deter me or my girlfriend from devouring it though.

The coleslaw was also fresh and flavorful. Nice on a hot summer day.

The bad (again)

The cinnamon roll looked nothing like the videos on IG. There was barely any icing and the dough was a bit hard/tough to chew through. We did come near the end of brunch, but I have been to Cranky Grannys all times of day and their cinnamon rolls are always UNREAL fresh.

I hate giving lower stars for reasons other than the food, but the pricing and tip is a bit ridiculous. If we didn't have a kid and two dogs with us, we would've just went to another place to eat.

EDIT: The owner says it's not mandatory. I won't be going back to find out, but if it's not, the 20% tip is AUTOMATICALLY applied and is in smaller text to change so its harder to notice... because I didn't.

It's sad the owner won't default it to no tip (because I know you can do so) and allow people the choice to tip if...

CM Smokehouse was located at Bouldin Acres providing a food option for those hangin out in the sports bar or outside. It was my first time here to experience both places at once, but right now talk about CM Smokehouse. It was little warm outside so decided to sit in the bar. To order anything like food and drinks you need to scan a code on the table to open the Union website or app if installed. It’s a cashless environment here, so all your items are placed in a cloud tab and use a credit card or Apple Pay for holding. Once you are ready to leave Bouldin Acres you close the tab, select tip, and then submit payment.

I ordered the Smoked Chicken Wings (naked- no sauce) and side of ranch dressing. The bartenders were cool and made us feel very welcomed. The place had some fun activities to enjoy and lots of TVs showing sports channels. I noticed a few order directly from the bartender so that option still open.

6 wings were placed in front of me where they looked and smelled really good. They were cooked over firewood and could tell. The seasonings was killer including the last of the chicken. I place these wings in the upper echelon along two others in Austin who also has the same tremendous bbq flavor.

There were many other items on their menu and have to give them a try knowing how...

This place was recommended by Kill Tony so my wife and I gave it a shot. BIG MISTAKE. Confusing place. Had to ask 3 people (including the bar tender) to locate the food truck, that doesn’t say anything about bbq, to read a sign that says we need to sit at the bar and scan a qr code access the menu. The Menu was sparse and pricey. We ordered the tiniest, most dry, sorry excuse for a brisket sandwich. It was like a brisket slider that they added toppings to in order to give it some sort of flavor. Also, seems like they had Salt Bae in the kitchen over salting everything. Not real texas BBQ. In fact im convinced it wasn’t real at all. On top of everything they slapped a pretty hefty automatic gratuity. Do yourself a favor and go to Terry Blacks instead, its 5...