Dickinson Barbecue & Southern Comfort — Restaurant in Dickinson

Unfortunately, I had high hopes for this location. The hospitality was amazing when I walked in. I informed the staff that it was my first time and that I wanted to order something large, family-style. The attendant at the register said, "I think we have them, but I don't know where." At this point, he just stared at me as if we were out of luck. I had to ask him to get help from someone so I could order a larger amount for an event.

We looked over the menu, and I informed them that I wanted the 4 lb family special—3 lbs of brisket and 1 lb of sausage. They said, "Not a problem, we will get it ready for you." I ordered that way because my event was mainly attended by individuals who do not eat pork.

Once I got to the event, I unwrapped the order only to find that they had not done it correctly. Instead of 3 lbs of brisket and 1 lb of sausage, they gave me 2 lbs of each. Unfortunately, this would not cover my event, which is exactly why I ordered the way I did. My event was also over 25 minutes away, making it impossible to go back and buy more. At this point, I had to send someone else with my card to Rudy's BBQ off of 45 to get the missing meat we needed. That order went smoothly, as always, and was packaged in front of the customer.

I reached out to the store to inform them of the mishap and was placed on hold to speak to a manager. However, I was greeted by the same gentleman, Christopher. We went back and forth, and I asked him, "Even though the menu does not state that the meat is equally split, is that what you all did?" He said yes, that's the way they do it—even though they did not tell me or correct me when I was ordering. His response was essentially, "Sorry, just know for next time."

I then asked the manager, "So that's it? Am I just out of luck?" He replied, "Sorry, you are now informed for next time," even though the menu clearly stated "MEAT OF CHOICE." I told them, "No problem at all, I guess I'm just out of luck," and let them know I would leave a review. They said "OK" and hung up.

The sad part is that I was hoping everything would go well so I could add this location to my approved vendors list for my marketers. I have over 15 different healthcare events next week alone on the south side of town and had heard amazing things about this place. However, the mistake, combined with their unwillingness to help or even offer a solution beyond "Oh well, now you know," was unprofessional and unacceptable. I wouldn’t have minded if it was just for myself, but this affected my business. So, unfortunately, it's a 1-star rating across the board. I didn’t even get a chance to taste the food before I already had a sour taste in my mouth from their service.

P.S. Review from 10 people:

Rudy's BBQ: Phenomenal—from the bark to the texture, it was super moist with an explosion of flavor. 10/10 gave a thumbs-up and said they would eat it again.

Dickinson BBQ: Most of the meat was super dry and lean, even after requesting the moist cut. Only 2/10 said it was "OK"— they enjoyed it but, given the choice, they would pick...

DICKINSON BARBECUE AND STEAKHOUSE

As part of Alvin Senior Group Visit

Atmosphere 🙂🙂🙂🙂 liked western decor pleased with spacious aisles between tables and serving area clean and easily accessible restrooms nice floor Customer Service 🙂🙂🙂 not very friendly or well organized for a group with everybody (19) in one line rather than three lines to three registers did not seem necessary to have flashlights to alert to orders ready was uncertain why manager hovered and was taking up trays before we started to eat Food and Potables 🙁🙁 barbecue was lukewarm; bun was not fresh; brisket was in a too spicy sauce (take a tip from Rudy’s, best barbecue place in Clear Creek-Dickinson Region, with Pappas’ a real close second, where a customer can sauce to taste); potato salad was yucky: had unpeeled potatoes which is a lazy NO NO, was grainy as if stirred with leftover coleslaw from other customers, was “too unfaithful” with excessive mustard but surprisingly white (so at first I thought I would have to add mustard); was too sour (use sweet not dill [omg] pickles) and salty without pepper, would be more interesting with onion, pepper, pimiento spooned on top of mashed potatoes not slivered and seemingly underboiled potatoes—-disappointed even if only charged $2.99 no Coke 0 and Diet* Coke 00 was flat and not icy cold, only advantage not having to get Pepsi, not having to buy Diet* Pepsi, which is liquid dessert or else tart like an Alka Seltzer Lime Sparkling Water posing as a soft drink which can sting your gum and lip as acidic disproportionate to sweetness despite the plus of not hating on people with Aspartame due to conservative libertarian snobbery of Congress

Location 😗😗 hard to find and to see from the road of Dickinson Blvd, hidden behind Dairy Queen’s protrusive signage and on a clearing around an arbored curve out of view; only being less unenjoyable than AASHTO’s, HGACOG’s and TXDOT’s unwarranted jurisdiction of strictly terminal regional roads suited to off-system posting with certain letter-labeled expressways or thoroughfares (in this case, Dickinson Blvd N, 3/4 mile east of Clear Valley Expressway B, Exit B1X, 10 miles east from Alvin; 19 miles from Galveston; 10 miles southeast of Friendswood) not much light in the back, little or no scenic view Value 😌 unusually pricey at $13.39 for about $10.08 worth of items, except state and sub- division sales tax 2.86% too low to provide real property tax relief by prohibiting nonregional governments in nonrural county territories and revenue for non- proprietary functions...

Five stars for moist and pull apart tender, pecan smoked brisket.

My Texas roots are in Central Texas, in the German and Czrch communities around Shiner. In those communities, the use of pecan wood for barbecue is pretty common. Probably, for this reason, my favorite wood is pecan. Pecan can be tricky. It will leave a very black finish on the brisket exterior. But if done right you will not get any of the creosote taste. I talked to the people at Dickinson and they confirmed that they clean their pits monthly. I asked if they were using a Southern Price gas smoker and was pleased to learn that, "no", there's is a wood fired smoker. An Oyler Pit by J&R Manufcturing that was patented by Herbert Oyler in 1968. Another beloved barbecue venue, Corkscrew, also uses an Oyler.

Now as noted above, my review is of the brisket. It was not overly salty. Since I am more sensitive to salt than most people, this actually limits my enjoyment at a lot of barbecue places because I can't handle the saltiness of their rubs. Because I will always default to what is now called "moist" cut over a "lean" cut (might as well just have roast beef).

I suspect that, even though DBBQ has an extensive menue that includes CFS, seafood, steaks, etc. I will always go for the brisket which was fabulous on this first visit.

Now, I also thought highly of the perfectly balanced, mild and sweet bbq sauce offering.

I did not try any of the cakes. But I learned that "Miss Anna", a 74 year old local, makes them in her home and brings them several times a week.

Dickinson BBQ gets a big...