Dickey's Barbecue Pit — Restaurant in Benson

Ordered dinner at 4pm on a Monday.

Upon walking in we were greeted and helped to select the best menu items for our small group. I tried starting a conversation with what I assume was the lead cook or manager on duty, and I was basically shrugged off and shot down. This was extremely disappointing considering I was the pitmaster for Grand Olde BBQ in Flynn Springs, ca. I've always been under the impression of anyone that starts asking about the smoker and set up is genuinely interested in whatever the process the business does. They seemed more interested in talking with each other about how many people they have on their night shift. The first person that interacted with us is the only reason for the extra 2 stars.

Food - Burnt ends - they were out when we were there... Kinda odd since it only takes about 15min or so to make more out of smokes brisket. Chopped brisket - extremely dry in my opinion but the other person in my group did enjoy it. Chicken - the best thing I ordered there. Nice and moist, nice smoke to it, just a tad salty. Rolls - yup, they were rolls, nice and sweet. Potato salad - weird. Very sweet, roasted bell peppers in it? Mac and cheese - very cheesy.

Atmosphere - typical fast food setup. They have an open kitchen setup, the kitchen looked dirty and trashed. If you have an open kitchen, clean as you work. Keep your station clean and...

I was very disappointed with the Benson location.. I had been to the Sierra Vista location about a month ago and it was EXCELLENT!! This Benson experience was pretty bad 😢

When you pull into the parking lot it first looks like a deserted restaurant..

The lady kept telling me over and over that she was the owner..

We arrived at dinner time (a little after 5 pm).. they were out of turkey, chicken and creamed spinach... The "owner" blamed it on being slow business during the day. ?? She said we could wait an hour and a half and she could make us chicken.. I'm guessing the creamed spinach was already frozen premade purchased as she said she could make that real quick..

Our brisket and pulled pork were completely dried out and even adding ALOT of sauce didn't help.. The coleslaw was bitter and just didn't taste right.

The owner was not very helpful when I asked for a bigger cup to put condiments in so I didn't have to use alot of the tiny cups.. this was no big deal tho..

I do have good points too tho.. she DID offer to make some of the food we wanted and the two young men working were very pleasant and respectful. 😊😊 And she did honor my coupon..

Just really disappointed because my experience in SV was amazing and I had driven 1 1/2 hrs to get yummy bbq and ended up sadly disappointed..

I guess i will have to drive the 2 1/2 hrs to the SV...

So, I've never been to a Dickey's before and this probably wasn't the one to start with. I have eaten at a lot of BBQ places in California, Texas, Virginia, and Kansas and one of my favorite places is Mission BBQ on the East Coast. Dickey's falls pretty short of all the places I've visited.

It could be this location so I'll try again here in San Marcos. As it went at this location I'd say the following:

Service was good and they had our food ready fairly quickly. The overall quality of the service could be better. Food temperature was a bit on the warm but nowhere near hot enough. Moisture of the meats was inconsistent with the pulled pork I ordered being good but the Brisket was on the dry side. If it hadn't been for the sauces, I would have been chewing a while to get it down. The sides were okay. We ordered the green beans, baked beans, and Mac & Cheese. The green beans were on the salty side and tasted canned. Baked beans tasted like they were canned and the Mac & Cheese was just like what good old Mr. Kraft sells out of his box. No imagination at all on the sides. The sauces were good but not unlike those you can buy from a grocery store. Once again no imagination to create something that would truly set this chain apart from the myriad of other...