Fat Boys Fine Foods — Restaurant in Caddo Valley

After a long day of traveling, my husband and I wanted to stop someplace to enjoy a great meal. We stopped at Fat Boys on recommendation from a friend.

He ordered the two meat combo with Brisket and Ribs, sides of okra and onion rings. His ribs were so dried out and over-cooked that the meat was pastwy. He had to douse his ribs in ranch just to get the ribs down (because the BBQ sauce was overly sweet and tasted like a cheap knock off). The brisket was flavorless and also over cooked. Instead of tender, melt-in-your mouth brisket, it tasted like Grandmas dried, over cooked Sunday pot roast.

I also had a two meat combo with catfish and pork loin. I started with the pork loin, which was doused in the dollar store BBQ sauce, but that was the most redeeming quality of the tough and dried leather slices being passed off as pork on my plate. The hush puppies were probably the best thing on either of our plates. My catfish was good and is the reason I'm even leaving a single star review. Fat Boys should stick to what they know--fried foods. After our disappointing meal, we hoped a good southern fried pie would be a morsel of redemption. Unfortunately, we were let down. The chocolate had zero flavor. It tasted like slightly sweetened goo stuffed inside a bland pastry. The total bill was over $40, which was much too expensive for the food quality. The restaurant boasted signs throughout the dining room regarding their opinions of complaints. Clearly the owners do not care if their customers are dissatisfied. However, it is also clear that most patrons do not know good food. We will never be back. We will stick to what we know, too. Which...

I stopped in on Saturday, July 6, 2024 for lunch. I arrived just about at 12noon. The waitress, very nice, let me know they were out of ribs and out of sausage (by noon on Saturday) - bummer part was that those are usually my top 2 when visiting a new bbq place. I went with the 6 wing plate, with onion rings and green beans and an unsweet tea (watching my sugar intake!). The entire meal was $16 ($20 after tip). The wings were alright, I tend to prefer mine without breading, but they were good. The onion rings were nothing to write home about, just okay - not bad, not great - definitely not hand-breaded (just fyi). The green beans had good flavor, there did look to be bits of bacon fat in them. I thought they were good. The unsweet tea was as expected (its hard to get fancy with unsweet tea). The place was pretty packed when I arrived, but cleared out fast. No tvs (which was fine with me) and some general music. I had people consistently hitting my table or chair as they were squeezing between my table the one next to me to pay/exit. The service was the best part of stopping here, the waitress was...

I realize that BBQ north of the Red River is hit and miss, but this was a huge miss. Ordered the BBQ nachos and chopped beef sandwich. The beef was flavorless and gelatinous.

It was clear that there was no or almost no rub used and the brisket was not properly trimmed. No smoke penetration in the portions we had. I'd wager it was pulled too early as well. Ballpark 195 sound right guys? The fat wasn't completely rendered and there was a fair bit of the hard fat from the pocket that wasn't removed.

The waitress was excellent and understanding. The cook came out and was much more abrasive. She seemed almost offended we sent both plates back, and even asked "Do you even like beef?"

I ordered beef... So yes... I do. I couldn't in good conscience sell beef so poorly done, though.

Please watch some Youtube videos if you don't want some hands-on training. You really need to learn how to smoke a brisket properly. It was clear you were making amateur mistakes that are easily corrected. Your locals will love the improvements, guaranteed. They probably haven't experienced a great brisket in...