Red Chimney Bar-B-Q — Restaurant in Carlsbad

Update: As an answer to your reply what I meant was that your BBQ sign should be taken down. I believe if you are advertising as being a BBQ restaurant you should have great BBQ plain and simple. As for your assumption of my possibly reading old reviews from years ago you should recheck your reviews. There is one as early as 4 months ago and another 8 months ago. You told both people you would fix the problem. Apparently you didn't. I personally would not try your other BBQ menu items because if you can't make great brisket, which is thee signature meat of any BBQ joint, and you advertise as being a BBQ joint and having great brisket what's the point. I would be taking a chance at waisting more money and being disappointed again. Your first point of quality control is your chief. If he or she thought that brisket was of high enough quality to serve, when there wasn't a trace of juice on the plate, why would I believe they would be any better at detecting any other substandard meat preparation. That is also the reason we didn't say anything. How could they fix it? They already fixed it once. We weren't looking for a free or discounted meal. Just a good one. Feel free to read my other reviews. I am not a complainer. If my experience is good I say so. If it's bad I also say so. I have probably had more good experiences. Just not at your establishment. Original post below: For a place that advertises as being a BBQ joint all I can say is WHOLLY DISAPPOINTMENT!!!!! My wife and I got there a little after 7pm. We had been on the road for 10 hours and wanted somthing to eat before going to our lodging. We came across the Red Chimney and gave it a try. The prices seemed a little higher but we feel great BBQ is worth it. We had also planned on returning the next night to try some of the other BBQ on the menu. We, as other people said in their reviews, wanted to try the brisket. As other people also said it was beyond dry, it seemed microwaved, and I also have had better beef jerky. We were thankful we were provided a large glass of water, which really helped. When we first got there it took a while to get service. We ordered our food which surprisingly took around a half hour to get. Everyone else there had already been served. No idea why it took so long. The server didn't come by until we ate the things we could and asked for the check. We didn't mention anything to our server because by this time at least an hour has passed and we wanted to be on our way. I read the reviews after our experience and was disappointed to see that others had the same experience and were told things would be improved. Well they weren't. I also BBQ and smoke meats at home and have not tried brisket. If I did and it turned out like this, I would definitely not serve it let alone charge money for it. I wouldn't recommend any of the BBQ items on the menu simply because if you advertise you are a BBQ joint and you don't have great brisket, you should take...

I had been waiting to find a BBQ restaurant to eat at since arriving in the Southwest 10 days ago. My wife and I entered 6 establishments and promptly walked out of all 6. They were either grease covered, or to dingy or just plain dirty. We were beginning to think that this quest might be futile. Then on our way to our hotel in Artesia, we saw this establishment. We went online and checked it out. Great reviews and lots of nice comments. We had to wait another day since we were a good distance away. We passed it again on our way to Carlsbad Cavern and made a mental note to stop after a day of spelunking in the Cavern. On our way back we entered the address into the GPS and went with hope and anticipation. We walked in and were greeted by all of the wonderful taxidermy one could imagine. Bison, deer, raccoons, you name it ; it was there and other beautiful western & southwestern memorabilia. They were sparkling and pristine as the day they were placed there. We were greeted and seated at our table for two by a very gracious and courteous young man. I’m sorry I did not get his name. Our waitress, Stormy, then came over and gave us our menus and said she would return to help us with what we wanted. Each time she passed she asked if there was anything we needed and if we needed anything explained. We did ask about one thing on the menu which we purchased for our appetizer. Now to the food. We started with calamari steaks. We did not know what they were but as Stormy explained, they are the tube of the squid flattened and deep fried. So this BBQ’s spin to do away with the rings and serve as steaks was rather unique. They looked like mozzarella cheese sticks but were filled with calamari instead. Simply fantastic and served with a Kentucky (St. Louis) style BBQ sauce making them over the top um, um good. I ordered the combo and my wife ordered the 2 meat choice of smoked turkey and brisket. Each plate came with pinto beans cooked to perfection, and a choice of 2 sides for which we both chose coleslaw and fries. And to make a perfect meal even better toasted rolls (kings Hawaiian style) and a squeeze bottle of honey to put on top. Now we’ve had BBQ before and have been amazed but the “Red Chimney” has a simple do it right method that made our experience the best experience to date. Done simple and done well, adhering to traditional recipes and an establishment with a knowledgeable and courteous staff. Thank you Stormy for making our visit extra special. Oh, and BTW, everyone was taking some of their meal home with them but we ate every morsel of our piled to the sky plates. No scrimping on...

Third time disappointment in a row. I won’t be back. I ordered a brisket plate to go for $30 at a normal restaurant’s supper time. 7:00 pm. Maybe that’s my mistake. But, you would think a barbecue restaurant would know how to at least slice a brisket. You would think a barbecue restaurant would not serve dried out toothpick clods instead of moist sliced brisket to a paying customer. The meat was inedible. Luckily the salad on the side was enough to save my stomach from being completely empty, but even that wasn’t outstanding. It was nothing you couldn’t get in an iceberg salad kit at any grocery store. I had high hopes with the green chile cheese grits until I took a bite and realized they didn’t know how to cook a grit. They should not be “sorta done.” Just because they’re called grits doesn’t mean to make them “gritty grits.” Come on, can’t you do a little better? If you don’t have prepared food for sale, don’t sell food. If I have any positives about the place it is consistency. They are consistently serving sub-par food at too big a price. Sadly, if you’re from anywhere back east or out west traveling through Carlsbad, eat barbecue in Texas. This ain’t the place. Is F-minus a grade? It should be with Red Chimney. They don’t have...