Lockhart Smokehouse BBQ — Restaurant in Dallas

Love the atmosphere and the staff was friendly. I observed them explaining the menu to other people who seemed to be there for the first time.

I ordered about a 1/2 lb moist or fatty brisket and 3 original beef sausage links to go. Bread, and pickles were included. Tip and everything all together ran around 40ish bucks give or take.

We ate in the car (parking is a pain in the area). Wife enjoyed the pickles and liked the brisket, but was very greasy. I told her i ordered the fatty brisket and sausage was, well... sausage. Just be sure to get plenty of napkins folks. My daughter really enjoyed the sausage.

I personally had a few issues with the food. I didn't get any sauce because i wanted to taste the meats. The brisket had a good smoked flavor. Wasn't too aggressive, but you could taste it. It was very tender too however, the bark and the brisket itself had almost no flavor. No salty or peppery taste at all.

The sausage was also a disappointment for me. The casing was very chewy. It didn't have a good snap at all. I love smittys, i love southside market sausage links, but it resembled more of a hot italian sausage link than a traditional beef smoked sausage. Still, the biggest problem i had with the sausage was that mine was merely lukewarm in the middle. Almost room temp. My wife's was the same. Couldn't tell you about my daughter's, but she really did enjoy hers.

Im not saying they did, but the sausage resembled sausage that was cooked previously and warmed up. Im not saying they reheat sausage from the previous day, but the chewy casing and the lukewarm middle carry a resemblance.

Bbq is expensive cuisine. It is a lot of hard work, babysitting a fire, go home greasy and smelling like smoke, but there are many other places in the area that just do it better for a similar price point.

Was it dickey's terrible? No. Not at all. But it was just a below average visit for a sunday mid morningish visit with not many people.

Probably go back maybe at peak time to give the sausage another go with my daughter since she loved it.

Brisket just needed some more salt and the sausage nice and hot and it woukd...

06/18/21: It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Lockhart Smokehouse. From what I remembered, I’ve previously only had good experiences when I’ve came by and picked up some bbq. Today it was different.

Service: The service was pretty bad this afternoon around 3-3:15 pm. I purposely came around this time to beat the lunch and dinner crowds. The restaurant at that time had about 10 people eating at 3-4 tables inside and at the bar. I went to the back counter to order my food and there was a couple ordering. The man at the register seemed annoyed with the couple’s questions and requests. Both of the men working the back counter were fairly unpleasant and seemed so preoccupied. I don’t expect the red carpet. Just common pleasantries would be nice.

Food: I ordered to go and got a 1/2+ lb brisket, 1 pork chop (3/4+ lb), 1/2+ lb turkey, 1 small blue cheese Cole slaw, and 1 small brisket eggs for a total of $50.95. I didn’t specify lean or moist and ended up with moist brisket, which I prefer. The brisket was definitely moist, had a good bark, and a nice smoke ring. The flavor was ok, but decent. The turkey had nice flavor, but was a little dry and needed bbq sauce to make it better. The pork chop looked really good, but was juicy in some parts and dry in others. Again the bbq sauce helped the pork chop. The smokiness and flavor were good though. The brisket deviled eggs weren’t as tasty as I remembered them. I would pass on these. The blue cheese Cole slaw isn’t my thing, but my fiancé like it. I do wish they did plates and family meals and had better food packaging. Yeah, it’s rustic or whatever to wrap everything in peach paper, but the juices leak everywhere in the bag.

Overall: This experience was a mixed bag. The customer service wasn’t great and the food was a hit or miss....

First off, the service was excellent. The employees must all love their job because they were all very pleasant and helpful. Young man at the bar watched our drinks and covered them to "protect them", which I found to be very thoughtful and have never had anyone do that before. It was our first time there so we didn't know you had to order in the back and we didn't want to lose our table so we left our drinks behind.

Second, the kind people serving the food and charging us were very generous with their portions and seemed to enjoy what they're doing. I love a place where the staff doesn't look miserable as that is toxic and I avoid places like that.

Finally, the food was really good. We had brisket, sausage, chicken, and the Mac n cheese. My only criticism is, I would've liked a plate, as you eat right off the butcher paper, but that's just me looking for something bad. The place really is excellent. The brisket has a good smoke ring and bark. The jalapeno sausage was juicy and I liked the spice. The Mac and cheese was really good. It tasted much better than I expected. Over all I can recommend this place to BBQ lovers in good faith. I will be going back next time we're in Dallas again.

One last thing that probably needs to be said. The restaurant is located in a really cool part of town with tons of shops, bars, ice cream, other restaurants. We spent all evening hanging out with the locals and listen to...