Interstellar BBQ — Restaurant in Austin

This BBQ joint, located in an inconspicuous shopping center, has a ton of hype, as they were recently awarded a Michelin star. One of only four BBQ places in Texas worthy of the acclaimed Michelin star, Interstellar has exploded in popularity recently. I made the early morning drive from San Antonio to see if it lives up to the hype. We arrived at 9:30AM on a Wednesday, as I had heard that Interstellar gets a long, early-morning line regardless of the day of the week. We were third in line. The BBQ joint opens at 11AM and the line had grown to over 50 people by 10:30AM. As you wait in line there is definitely build up of excitement. The BBQ pits are located in the middle of the parking lot for all to see, and the staff are diligently stoking fires and bringing in the goods as you wait. At 10:45 a staff member came out to take drink orders from their coffee bar. I ordered a peach tea, which was only offered unsweetened. It was pretty good. Promptly at 11:00AM the doors were opened and we filed in to a friendly staff and the sweet smell of meaty sustenance. You approach the counter and order from the meat cutter. He says your order out loud to the meat getter, and the meat getter brings the meats forth. They cut them and weigh them right in front of you. I had a plan to order just about everything on the menu to try it all out, and I did just that. The meat cutter offered some advice and answered questions and talked me into getting the lamb shoulder in addition to my other selections. I ordered 1/2 pound of brisket, 1/2 pound of Pulled Lamb Shoulder, 1/2 pound of Tipsy Turkey, 1/2 pound of beef ribs, 1/2 pound of pork ribs, 1/2 pound of Peach Tea Pork Belly, 1/2 pound of Beef Kielbasa, and 1/2 pound of Jalapeño Popper sausage. More meat than any human should ever order, and we still had to order sides. You slide to the right and they are ready for you to order any sides. I ordered the Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese and the Smoked Scalloped Potatoes, and a couple of homemade tortillas. Lastly, I ordered some banana pudding. Interstellar received their Michelin star in November of 2024 and the food is priced accordingly. This place is not cheap, but you can definitely taste the time, effort, and love that goes into making their slow cooked BBQ fare. The TL;DR here is that everything is really good and a few things are exceptional, but let’s get into the details. The brisket is melt-in-your-mouth tender with a fantastic bark, great smoky and salty flavor. The big surprise for me was the Pulled Lamb Shoulder. I had never had this before and it was delicious. Smoky flavor with a slightly “wild” taste to it. The Tipsy Turkey was up there with some of the best turkey I’ve ever had, smoked through and through, tender and tasty. The pork ribs were outstanding, meaty and flavorful. I could easily eat a full rack of these. The Beef Short Rib was thicc, and a powerhouse of intense BBQ flavors. It was fall-off-the-bone perfection. Both of the sausages were juicy and smoky, but the Jalapeño Popper sausage stood out for me. It was oozing with cheese and the slightest of jalapeño flavor. The Peach Tea Pork Belly was insanely delicious. A strange concoction of slightly sweet and meaty, it was succulent and melted in your mouth. Onto the sides! Both of the sides were out of this world. The Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese was smoky, as advertised, and as cheesy as any Mac and Cheese I’ve ever had. It was the perfect consistency for me. The Smoked Scalloped Potatoes might have been the best potato dish I’ve ever eaten in my life. A pure comfort food, one bite transported me to a cabin in the Great North, in a blizzard, sitting by a warm fire, bundled in the warmest of blankets. It’s that good! Absolutely delectable. Last but certainly not least, the banana pudding was amazing. It tasted fresh, the banana flavor was front and center, and it had just the right amount of wafers and banana chunks. I can’t say enough about how friendly and helpful the staff is at Interstellar. From top to bottom they are awesome! I highly recommend...

Overall, it is not worth the hype AT ALL. If you are a true BBQ fan and connoisseur you will be very disappointed. I came in with EXTREMELY high hopes after seeing a Youtube review and the mass amount of positive reviews.

However, these reviews have to be based on people who have no idea of what good BBQ is, basing it on the hype that they went in with it or the overall presentation of the food, or just going with the flow because it is nothing special AT ALL and DEFINITELY not Michelin worthy. They definitely have the aesthetics of looking absolutely to die for and if that is all that constitutes as good BBQ for you then you'll be satisfied.

However, if you are going in looking for BBQ that will melt in your mouth, pop with flavor, and transport you to "another world" as they promise you will be disappointed. It is no better than C&J's or Coopers and really cling to THICK barks that are overwhelming and "specialty sauces" that aren't common or familiar with people. We got all of our sauces on the side and the one thing we didn't they absolutely DROWNED it in it's sauce which was a shame because the meat would have actually been good without the saturation of sauce. Their table sauces are also not very good unless you are a fan of drinking apple cider vinegar straight from the bottle.

In the area, you are better off at Salt Lick or Terry Blacks because it is at least good for the price. Also, the guy at the register was overwhelmed for no reason as the line moves extremely slow and he was overall scattered and asked me the same question multiple times and frequently forgot what he was even doing. This was weird because he said he wasn't the owner, which may have been true, but he was definitely someone of significance so this shouldn't have been an issue. He literally asked the line to "stop and slow down" which was wild since the line was about as slow as it could go.

Lastly, as we were trying to leave, we were packing up our things and grabbing everything and the workers were seating people and cleaning in a rush before we could even remove our things. It was to the point to where I almost had to snap at the worker to chill because it was very pushy and unfavorable.

Overall, do yourself the favor and don't fall for the hype from the sheeple and their coveted "Michelin" star. They look and sound WAY better than they are, it is WAY overhyped, and you will be dissatisfied if you actually know what good BBQ is! It truly is all frills and no skills...and we were there 1.5hrs before they opened and about #20 in line.

We ordered about 6 different meats, one being the tomahawk, and 5 of their sides..So we were among the first to get the freshest and tried a WIDE variety of things and spent 250$. Overall, FOMO is real and what pushes them but I promise you, you will be disappointed. I left 3 stars because it truly was mid, was still edible, but just nothing worth writing home about.

I take food seriously and didn't take this review lightly nor am I trying to be a negative Nancy. However, I went in with high hopes and as a Texan and it being my first Michelin experience, it was just a bummer and nothing special. Granted, it could have very well been an "off day" as I went on a Sunday...but if you cling to a Michelin experience, coveted as top 50 BBQ in Texas, and have a line well over 100 people before opening, it should NEVER fall short...

Ok, so let’s talk about Michelin star rated interstellar. First, I can not emphasize how excited I was to try this place. The images looked amazing and the reviews were excellent. I ordered ahead of time online so I could skip the line. Here is what I ordered and the breakdown of each dish:

Brisket - this to me was the only true standout at interstellar. Truly excellent brisket. Juicy, tender, flavorful. One of the best briskets I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, it went downhill from here.

Spare ribs - OK, chewy, definitely not “fall off the bone” but I know some bbq places prefer their ribs to have a “chew” and not be that tender. It definitely had a chew. A bit dry, a bit tough, overly seasoned and overly smoky (this would be an ongoing issue). Sauces were fine but nothing special. Think ribs from a chain like Smokey Mos. No, that is not a compliment.

Peach tea pork belly - Oh how I dreamt of these pork belly bites. Have you seen the photos on their website? They looked equally impressive in person. Sadly, that’s where the illusion ended. The flavor? Imagine if a pork belly smoked a cigarette. The level of smoke on these pork belly bites was insane. It was so overly smoky that my daughter spit it out saying it reminded her of an ashtray. Needless to say, she hated it. I struggled through it and was really disappointed. The sauce was also rough. Almost like a prepackaged peach tea flavor. I don’t know where they get this sauce from or if they make it themselves but it tasted “plasticky.” I threw several away because no one in the house was willing to eat them. Part of me wonders if a mistake was made that day and they accidentally left these pork belly bites in the smoker for too long. Ultimately, I’m not willing to try them again to find out.

Smoked scalloped potatoes - One word: raw. They were undercooked and actually still crunchy in many places. I feel like these would have been tasty were they not crunchy but it’s pretty difficult to eat undercooked scalloped potatoes. Ironically, not overly smoky.

Jalapeño slaw - ugh, the flavor in this slaw was not to my liking. Very vinegary and really emphasizing the sulphurous attributes of the cabbage. We also ended up throwing this out. No one enjoyed it.

Overall, this was rough. Out of all of the “acclaimed” bbq places I’ve tried in Austin this was definitely the worst. Would not recommend. Except for that brisket. Man, was that brisket good. Just not good enough to get me to go back.

EDIT: I almost forgot about the beef rib with chimichurri. It was pretty good. We had the end piece so it was a bit more dried out and a bit overcharred on one of the sides but the flavor was nice and it was pretty tender. Not as good as the beef rib I had over at Terry Black’s but...